GUWAHATI, Feb 13 - Tributes were paid to the memory of Narayan Bezbaruah, eminent dramatist, actor, composer and lyricist, at a memorial function held at North Guwahati on Wednesday.
Addressing the function presided over by Mohan Saikia, senior journalist DN Chakravartty, who was a junior friend of Bezbaruah, dwelt at length on the rare eloquence and inimitable poetic calibre of Bezbaruah who reigned supreme in the All India Radio (AIR) Guwahati for over three decades with his baritone voice.
�His astounding narrations during the days of the Chinese aggression in 1960 are well remembered. A large number of listeners in Assam used to wait eagerly to listen to the programmes directed by Bezbaruah,� he said.
Terming him as a multifaceted genius who made outstanding contributions by writing several hundred poems and lyrics, Chakravartty said that Bezbaruah had enriched AIR by directing and producing over a hundred dramas which kept the audience enthralled.
He added that although Bezbaruah inaugurated the music sessions of the Asam Sahitya Sabha and presided over the cultural sessions of the literary body for a long time, he had been largely neglected by the Assamese intelligentsia in general and the Sahitya Sabha in particular.
Dr Dilip Kalita, Secretary, Publication Board, Assam, described Bezbaruah as a genius of rare calibre who was an orator in the pattern of Edmund Burke, Bipin Chandra Pal, Surendranath Banerjee and Swami Vivekananda � all of who were his idols.
Utpal Bezbaruah, son of Bezbaruah, thanked the organisers for holding the function. Several self-composed songs of Bezbaruah were sung by a few local artistes.
Earlier, Gauri Kakati welcomed the guests.
