GUWAHATI, July 9 - The Curzon Hall, which was later renamed as the Nabin Chandra Bordoloi (NCB) Hall and Library, was built at the cost of Rs 6,000 saved from the fund raised from the people of the State to accord public reception to the then Viceroy of India Lord Curzon, who visited the State in 1900 to take stock of the post-1897 earthquake situation.
The Curzon Hall was the first public hall of the State, noted scholar and former Cotton College Principal Late Ramcharan Thakuria wrote in an article (Guwahati Aru Manik Chandra Barooah) published in the first volume of the Paurabichitra published in 1978 (Saka 1900) and edited by Ramesh Chandra Kalita.
This Assam-type building was later handed over to Cotton College, then the lone college of the State, for using it as its library. After about 10 years of constructing the old building of the Curzon Hall, a new building was constructed at the site on the bank of Dighalipukhuri, at which the NCB Hall and Library now exists, to use it as the new Curzon Hall, said Thakuria. The money for constructing this building was provided by the Government, he said.
Thakuria also said that the proposal for construction of the Curzon Hall was first mooted by the Honourable Manik Chandra Barooah at the meeting of the reception committee formed to accord reception to Lord Curzon. The proposal said that Assam is poor and hence there should not be any pretention that its people are rich. It said that money should not be wasted on festivity, rather it should be used to build a public hall in Lord Curzon�s name, which will not only make the memories of his visit to the State permanent, but will also remove a long-felt need of the people.
However, when contacted, noted writer Kumudeswar Hazarika, who is also writing on the subject, told this correspondent that both Thakuria and he (Hazarika) used the book Manik, authored by Kusum (Kumudeswar Borthakur, Sonapati Deba Sarma and Mohichandra Bora) and Manik Chandra Barooah Aru Teor Yug, authored by Dr Prafulla Dutta Goswami, as the source books, while writing on the NCB Hall. And hence, their information on the topic are the same, said Hazarika.
