GUWAHATI, Oct 28 � The 562nd birth anniversary of the great saint, Srimanta Sankardeva was celebrated at Kent in London city, UK with a daylong programme recently, an e-mail received here said. People from UK and other places thronged Kent to pay obeisance to the saint.
The day began with the traditional �naam-prasanga.� The makeshift Namghar situated in Kent, known as the �Garden of England,� at Harton Kirbe and South Dareth auditorium at the altar of the �Guru Ashan�, the symbol of devotion of the Assamese people, was redolent with the aroma of incence and echos of drums, khols and claps. In the naam-prasanga, Boloram Dutta led the group. All the devotees from London and other places participated in it. Surjya Hazarika and his wife Dr Eva Hazarika came from Assam to attend the naam-prasanga. The devotees from England included Dr Anil Ranjan Borthakur, Bhuvan Baruah, Kamal Hazarika, Gagan Hazarika, Dr Khogoswar Lahon, Dr Karuna Sagar Das, Tapan Sarma, Dr Tarun Choudhury (Bhor-tal), Dr Saroda Sarma, Dr Apurba Chandra Baruah, Dr Deva Bora, Binod Sarma and others. Lahori Barthakur, Dhira Hazarika, Jevan Kumari Baruah, Manjeera Choudhury, Puspa Hazarika, Binita Dutta, Surabhi Lahon, Christiana, Binu Sarma, Geeta Baruah, Krishna Baruah, Geeta Sikdar and others added emotions with spiritual flavour to the naam-prasanga institution followed by the distribution of maah prasad to all devotees. On account of the cooperation extended by Dr Mitam Baruah, Pranab Dutta, Arun Bora, Rashmi Baruah, and Arnav Agarwala, the members of the organisation expressed their gratefulness to them.
In the evening, a cultural show began with a song sung by an elderly citizen of London, Kamal Hazarika. Satriya dance was performed by artiste Satarupa Chatterjee. Later, the president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha unit of London,UK, Lahori Barthakur introduced Padmashree recipient Surjya Hazarika to all the devotees and other people present there as a special guest of the day. The eldest citizen of England among the Assamese people in the UK, Bhuvan Baruah offered public felicitation to Surjya Hazarika on behalf of the Assamese residents of England. He mentioned the contributions made by Hazarika to the cause of Assamese art, culture and literature and conferred the �Achievement of Excellence Award, 2010, UK� for his outstanding contribution.
Having received the award at the international forum, he appealed to all to take pragmatic action for the spread of the name and works of Srimanta Sankardeva who was born in Assam and threw light on how to proceed in this respect. He also appealed to the Assamese residents in England to establish an international cultural centre styled as the Srimanta Sankardeva International Cultural Centre. In the meeting, Dr Eva Hazarika who came from Assam read out a self-composed poem, Asomee Aair Ekajali Ashirbad.
Two books published by Surjya Hazarika were released � one has been authored by Dr Sanjib Barkakoti under the title Srimanta Sankardeva and Sri Sri Madhavdeva in English and the other one is a book of poems composed and compiled by the younger brother of Dr Bhupen Hazarika, Prabin Hazarika entitled Mon Sagaror Dhou. Both the books were released by Gagan Hazarika, the ex-president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha, UK.
Another attraction was the screening of the feature film, Srimanta Sankardeva, directed by Surjya Hazarika and produced by Paran Barbarooah under the banner of the SH Educational Trust, Guwahati. Dr Anil Ranjan Borthakur, Dr Tarun Choudhury and other eminent dignitaries appreciated Hazarika as one of the most skilful and efficient film directors at the international level.
The Assamese residents of England also appealed to Surjya Hazarika to make necessary arrangements to showcase the film at the world forum. The people present there felt that owing to lack of publicity, the name of Srimanta Sankardeva has failed to receive the same status as those of Swami Vivekananda, Guru Nanak, Swami Narayan and others as a household name. But they expressed the hope that with such type of work as the film, a time would come when Srimanta Sankardeva would become a household name, too.
At the end, the vote of thanks was offered on behalf of the organising committee for the all-round success of the programmes of the day.
