GUWAHATI, April 4 � Friends and admirers fondly remembered his qualities as a poet and an administrator as they bade adieu to Assamese poet and former bureaucrat Ajit Barua whose mortal remains were consigned to flames at the Nabagraha cremation ground here.
A number of people from various walks of life paid homage to the Sahitya Akademi Award-winning poet at his residence in Jorpukhuripar Naojan Road and also at the Nabagraha crematorium. His funeral pyre was lit by his grandson, Aditya Mohan Chandra.
Many eminent personalities, including writers and poets, came to the cremation ground to offer tributes and bid farewell to Barua, whose contributions immensely enriched the Assamese literature.
�He gave a new dimension to modern Assamese poetry, with his intellectual intensity and linguistic brilliance. His works defined what should be the language of modern poetry and what techniques should be applied to that,� said eminent poet Hare Krishna Deka.
Other eminent poets and litterateurs, including Nilim Kumar, Samir Tanti, Rajib Barua, Pranab and Kumar Barman, among others, came to the crematorium. Other admirers, including Ranjit Kumar Deb Goswami and Professor Gautam Baruah, also paid homage to the poet.
�The appropriate and judicious use of words was the speciality of his poems and analytical literature. His death is an irreparable loss to the Assamese society,� said eminent poet Samir Tanti.
