NORTH GUWAHATI, Sept 4 � The multifaceted genius, Hem Boruah, also known as Asom Gaurav, whose birth centenary is being celebrated throughout the year and which will end on April 22, 2015, was remembered at his native land, North Guwahati, with much enthusiasm. Under the auspices of the North Guwahati Sahitya Sabha and the North Guwahati branch of the Hem Boruah Memorial Committee, a meeting was held on the occasion at the auditorium of North Guwahati College.
The function attended by several office-bearers of the central committee � Kumud Deka, Satyendra Prasad Deka, S Maheswari, Dr D Deka and Prof Dhiren Kalita � started with the illumination of earthen lamps and floral tributes at the portrait of the late mass leader. Madhusudan Medhi, secretary of the organising literary association, anchored the proceedings of the meeting.
After offering floral tributes to the Asom Gaurav, educationist Manindra Kumar Boruah narrated in detail, the early history and cultural heritage of the North Guwahati people where five former presidents of the Asam Sahitya Sabha � Karmavir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi, Nalinibala Devi, Upendra Lekharu, Hem Boruah and Lakhyadhar Choudhury � were born.
The meeting was presided over by senior journalist and president of the North Guwahati Sahitya Sabha, Bhairab Sarmah. The secretary of the central committee, Kumud Deka, a writer of repute who first compiled a biography of the Asom Gaurav, stated how late Boruah contributed to various spheres in welfare-oriented politics and literature and also underwent two years� imprisonment during the 1942 Quit India movement.
Dr Satyendra Prasad Deka, S Maheswari and Dr A Deka urged the people to learn how the Asom Gaurav moulded himself to become a leader of the masses.
The meet was made attractive by a singing performance by Chandra Das, retired headmaster, and the recitation of two poems by Bhairab Sarmah and Kamal Bora.
In his presidential speech, Sarmah narrated how Hem Boruah�s father, Binandi Ram Sarma Boruah, a descendant of Madhyam Khanda, became an unavoidable part of the social life in the locality. Sarmah reminded the people how late Boruah could prove that Assam was not the �home of jungle people.� His oratory skills and speeches even moved late Jawaharlal Nehru to a great extent, he added.
Gauri Kakati offered the vote of thanks at the end of the meeting.
