My father Shri Rabindra Chandra Bora passed away on 31st
December at the age of 84. He was born to renowned freedom fighter and ex MLA
of Nagaon Shri Mahi Chandra Bora.
My father viewed education as the key to success in life. After graduating in Nagaon College, he received admission at the Banaras Hindu University and travelled the length of the country by train to join one of the most prestigious Central Universities in the country. In his memoir my father wrote with great affection about this period for it created the foundation of the kind of life he led. After receiving his Master’s Degree in English he headed back to Nagaon to begin his career as a lecture of English, at A.D.P. College. He had a profound command over the English language, an ear for great anecdotes and near-photographic recall of large and small episodes of his life. Along with his teaching profession he indulged in his passion for writing. Starting in the early eighties he began writing book reviews of different authors written on various subject matters ranging from religion, biography, poetry, novels, short story, literary criticism, journalism, travelogue and children literature. Innumerable articles got published in the Assam Tribune, the North East Times, and the Amrita Bazar Patrika. His essays were interspersed with literary thoughts of Plato and Aristotle, quotations from plays of Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw or especial references to the novels of Earnest Hemingway and James Joyce. They were so packet with information that parts of them read like fascinating commentary on different aspects of literatures and perhaps planted the seeds on as decades later I started writing for the Horizon and the Sunday Reading in the Assam Tribune.
I came to the United States as a Software Professional
two decades back. It was in the late nineties, and we were some of the first
batch of qualifying Engineers from Jorhat Engineering college selected by
various Multinational companies. It required a lot of hard work and when I
think about that achievement, I think of my father who gave wings to my academic
dreams. My father was there at the Delhi International airport biding me goodbye
as I boarded my first international flight to a new world. And so, among all
the other things I owe him, I owe him the gift of a certain kind of freedom I
received from him, the freedom to do things differently.
When I think about my father, I think of another
abiding quality- dignity of the self. That sense of dignity meant he was always
his own man. It also meant that he was less inclined to admit infirmity of mind
and body and was disciplined in taking care of both. My father died a natural
death, it was perhaps the end of a dignified journey as the poet Hiren
Bhattacharyya once wrote “Mrityuto eta shilpo, jibonor kothin shilot kota
nirlobh bhaskarjya” (Death too is an art, an unimpassioned sculpture on
life’s granite). Ankur Bora resides in Dallas , Texas ,
USA
Sorry to hear about your loss, our heartfelt condolences. I
really liked reading your touching tribute and knowing more about your
father. We will keep him and your family in our prayers.
Chandan Mozumder
So sorry to hear the sad news about the loss of your father who was a great inspiration for you in shaping your life. These are the instances of life which we have to bear. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and Anjana. Anvi and Riddhi may also have been very saddened, love to them. We pray for the departed soul to rest in eternal peace in heaven.
Debabrata da and Juri baideu
So sorry to get the sad news. Our heartfelt condolences to you and your family.
May God gives you the strength to cope up with the difficult time. May your father's soul rest in peace.
With deepest sympathy
Parul baideu and Deben Dada.
Rupak Borah
I pray that his pious soul may rest in peace. Your beautiful tribute brought back very sweet memories of my association in the early days of my life. You are blessed to have a father like him and he must also have been proud of you. Please convey my condolences and warm regards to your mother. Best wishes,
Madan Bezbaruah
Binoy K Bordoloi
Lukuba and Kailashda
My deepest condolences to you and your bereaved family. May you all get the strength to face this difficult time. Regards
Aklantika Saikia
Alpana Baideu and Ram da
With regards,
Rukmi Dutta
Buljit Buragohain
Enakshi Baruah
Anwesa Mahanta
Niren Choudhury
Published in Assam Tribune January 10th .
Beautiful tribute! It is wonderful to know about his scholarly, dignified and accomplished life. May he rest in eternal peace and live through you and your writings. Great translation of Hiru da's famous line on "Mrityu".
ReplyDeleteDear Ankur , it's a very heart-touching and beautifully written tribute to your dear father who I have known since my childhood too. He along with your mother were the intellectuals and academicians in our small Nagoan community, and immensely contributed their services there. We pray for his soul's Moksha and Sadgati. Om Shanti- Dipu da
ReplyDeleteDear Ankurda, I felt very sad when I got the news on that day from a local source. He was a kindhearted person. When I look back, found that a tall man with a smiling face discussing some serious topics. Both our families have a strong bonding as both our parents belongs to the same fraternity i.e. Teaching. They've a great respect to each other. Although I didn't got a chance to become His student, but my friends told that He was a great orator. On this sad moment my deepest condolences to Malati Mahi, you, my childhood friend Anuj and younger brother along with your entire family and pray God for His eternal peace. Om Shanti.
ReplyDeleteDeepest condolences to you and family, @Ankur Bora.
ReplyDeleteNice to read the tribute expressing details about Peha, who was also close to my father in Jorhat and had visited him just a few years back at our Jorhat home. Peha's qualities will always inspire us. Our regards to and prayers for the departed 🙏🏽
Dear Ankur: Our Heartest Condolenses for the sudden death of your father, Rabin. We are praying for the departed Soul to be peaceful. I knew him during our college life in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) as well as when he was Professor at the Naogaon College. He was a very good student and loved to read various books. The most striking feature of Late Prof. Rabin's personality was the dignity of the self. He was a profound writter as you mentioned. God blessed the departed soul
ReplyDeleteProf.Arvind Phukan
In this moment of grief and loneliness, I pray to the almighty to give you strength to carry on. May the departed soul rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteI am very sorry to hear about the loss of your father. Losing a father brings indescribable pain and agony into the heart. Knowing the fact that he won’t exist here on earth anymore makes it even more painful.
ReplyDeleteI went through this pain thirty-two years ago when I was just a student living in a faraway university hostel. Till today I miss him so much as if a part of my life and existence is missing. I wish my words of condolence give strength to push through the trying time. The truth is, no word is right, and no word is strong enough to offer at this moment, but we have to say things that will soothe you even temporarily.
My father also returned after his MA to his home town to serve in a local college for most of his life. Also served as an MLA but resumed his teaching immediately and became the Principal thereafter. Passed away also on a new year night that made every new year after that day a painful remembrance for me. I can see so much similarities in our fathers. That was a great generation of passionate educationists of Assam who spread the light of learning in remote corners of the state without thinking of making a "career" in big cities. I pay my tribute to the departed soul of your father just as mine.
My deepest sympathy goes out to you and your family as you mourn the loss. May the heavens console you in a special way and help you surmount this very sad time. I just want you to know that at this moment in time, my heart knows how you feel and I pray God replaces your sorrow with blessings.
After my father’s death, I asked elders and sages what I can do for my father as nothing will reach him physically in the ‘other world.’ They said I must do good things to the poor and needy and say to God that the blessings of that good deed should pass to the departed soul of my father. Also, they said, I should contact and reach out to his close friends, respect them and take care of them, in any way necessary. That’s what I have been doing for the last thirty-two years. When I meet my father’s friends, the smile and happiness in their eyes seeing me is what goes as blessings to my late father’s soul. Over the years, the number of those friends decreases and only a few are left (my father would be 82+ now, if alive) but I am in touch – even through phone calls. These two activities gave me a lot of peace – it is a tested formula. I am sharing with you, if it helps.
Just remember all the good times you shared with your father, much more than what unfortunate ones like me got in life.
My deepest condolences.
Sincerely,
Bahar
..........................
Prof K M Baharul Islam
Chair, Centre of Excellence in Public Policy and Government,
Indian Institute of Management Kashipur
Kundeshwari, Kashipur 244713 (Uttarakhand) India
Dear Ankur,
ReplyDeleteOur thoughts and prayers are with you. It great to learn about your father through your nice tribute. Indeed a great man and a great soul. May the lord give you and your family the strength to bear your irreparable loss.
Take Care.
-Reza
In memoriam of your dear father:
ReplyDeleteThe light has gone. But the rays will linger on!
May your memories give you strength
A garden of beautiful memories sprayed with a million tears. Tenderly we treasure the past with memories that will last. Silent memories, true and tender, just to show we still remember. - Anonymous.
Dear Ankur,
In your touching eulogy to your father Shri Rabindra Chandra Bora, you have introduced the "scholarly, dignified and accomplished life" of your father to the public (to borrow the words from Krishanu's tribute to the deceased soul).
We mourn the demise of your dear one and share your grief and this tragic loss with you and your family. May the Almighty grant the soul of the deceased eternal peace and give you and your family fortitude to bear this loss. On occasions like this, we are short of words to comfort you and your family. You lost not only your dearest father but also a very fine human being. We all grow old. Lead our own lives. We become, parents and grandparents. But our father and mother will remain our father and mother. Their affection and support is a treasure that we all carry with us.
Your father devoted his life to educating others contributing to the upliftment of society. It is a huge loss to society. We have all lost a veteran torchbearer.
I know what the death of a mother or father means to a son. I lost my parents a long time ago. I was not able to go home. Time and distance did not permit. I still feel their absence. This is where we humans realize that this is life and we all have to accept what God’s wishes are.
It is always very sad when a dear one leaves for the eternal abode. Try to remember not that your dear father died, but he lived and his life gave you all memories too beautiful to forget.
Yes, your father has left us. Yes, the symphony has stopped playing. Yes, the public has left the hall. But the melody lingers on. And to quote Tagore “Let us cherish his memory like the afterglow of sunset at the margin of starry silence”.
Although it's difficult today to see beyond the sorrow, may looking back in memory help comfort you tomorrow. Rabindranath Tagore said: "Nirvana" is not the blowing out the candle, it is extinguishing of the flame because the dawn has come.
It is no wonder that we die. But it is a wonder that we live. There is no answer to death but to live and to live vigorously and well.
To conclude – let me use the words of Joyce Grenfell from If I should go:
“Weep if you must | Parting is hell | But life goes on | So sing as well!”
With kind wishes and prayers,
Wahid da
Wahid Saleh
The Netherlands
Dear Ankur da,
ReplyDeleteVery sorry to hear about your father. Please accept my deepest sympathies. I am praying for his soul to rest in peace.
Kind regards,
Satyam
Oh ..OM SHANTI..May his departed soul rest in peace. It's great opportunity to know about your father...And it's always painful as you wrote ....."It is always very sad when a dear one leaves for the eternal abode. ...."
ReplyDeleteAnkur da, I feel the emotions and affections from your writing about your father and you are always an inspiration for me ....
Hitesh Kalita
Guwahati