GAURIPUR, May 5 - Noted elephant expert of Asia, Prakritish Chandra Baruah alias Lalji, the illustrions son of the Zamindari estate of Gauripur, was remembered on his 102nd birth anniversary at a function held in the Bagari Range of Kaziranga National Park. A get-together of the family members of the elephant expert and mahouts was held on the occasion on April 30 and May 1.
Manju Barooah, son of Prof Birinchi Kumar Barooah, has been organising such memorial meetings since the last few years, enlisting the participation of mahouts of KNP and the neighbouring areas. This year also, he organised a similar get-together in which Parbati Baruah, daughter of the elephant expert, Pranati Baruah, Prabir Kumar Baruah and his daughter, famous Goalpariya folk singer Pranam Baruah, were present. Folk songs were sung in memory of PC Baruah. The memorial meet was attended by a large number of mahouts who were accorded a warm welcome by the organisers of the function.
Prabir Kumar Baruah, the son of the famous elephant expert, rued that the contributions of his father have been forgotten by the people of Gauripur, and that no one has remembered PC Baruah as an illustrious son of the soil and father of the legendary folk singer, Padmashree awardee Pratima Baruah Pandey.
Besma fest celebrated: Under the auspices of the Greater Gauripur Besma Celebration Committee, Besma, the biggest festival of the Rajbongshi community, was celebrated at Maharaja Naranarayan Samannay Kshetra with a three-day programme from May 1 to May 3.
On the opening day, the flag of the festival was hoisted by the president of the celebration committee. This was followed by the garlanding of the portrait of Chilarai, the great general of the Koch kingdom. Various sports, folk song and folk dance competitions were also held.
Recitation of the poems of Kumar Sauvik, modern Rajbongshi songs in memory of Samarendra Nath Ray Mandal and Rajbongshi folk dance in memory of Malati Bala Ray were held on the second day of the festival.
On the concluding day, a �go-as-you-like� competition was attended by hundreds of people of the locality. Besma Re, the souvenir published on the occasion, was released by Dr DN Bhakat, retired professor of Chilaray College.
The open meeting held in the evening was addressed by Dr Dwijendra Nath Bhakat, Dr Upendrajit Sharma and others. A number of prominent persons, including Dr Gita Sarkar Bayan, Gaurimohan Ray, Ratneswar Ray alias Mantu Daroga, and Manas Chakrabarty, were felicitated for their achievements in various fields.
A cultural show was also held in which local and invited singers took part and regaled the audience.
