GUWAHATI, Nov 7 � Family members and thousands of fans of music maestro Dr Bhupen Hazarika received his body in an emotionally charged scene when the mortal remains of the celebrated artiste reached his Nizarapar family residence here this evening.
The family members and fans of the bard were waiting for the whole day today to receive his body and to pay their last respect to him. Along with his family members, his fans gathered in the Nizarapar area since the morning hours and their eager wait ended at 7.30 pm when the vehicle carrying the mortal remains of Dr Hazarika entered the locality amidst the performance of the gayans and bayans and the sounds of uruli.
The mortal remains of Dr Hazarika were expected to reach the Nizarapar residence around 2 pm, but with unprecedentedly large crowd gathered all along the road from the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi airport to pay their last respects to the most beloved son of Assam of the modern times, the arrival was delayed. The delay only resulted in the rise in the size of the crowd in the Nizarapar residence and the police had to set up barricades to control it.
A touching scene was witnessed in the family residence of the renowned artiste when his mortal remains reached the house and the people failed to control their tears and sounds of sobbing made the atmosphere heavy. There was an unruly scene for about 10 minutes with the policemen having a tough time to control the situation. However, after the coffin bearing the body of Dr Hazarika was laid in a room, the situation improved and the people were allowed to visit the room in a queue to pay their last respects to the departed soul.
The coffin was opened by the family members only after about an hour of its reaching home and the rituals were performed before the mortal remains were put in the coffin again. Though the mortal remains were to be kept in the Judges� Field to enable the people to pay their last respects from this evening, family sources said that the whole process would be delayed and the mortal remains are expected to be taken to the Judges� Field only later tonight.
�As the people are still pouring in to pay their last respects, it will not be possible to take the mortal remains to the Judges� Field till the flow of crowd thins out,� a family member said.
A large number of fans of the maestro also kept on singing his popular numbers in unison in front of his Nizarapar residence right from this afternoon, while, the people of the Nizarapar area lit earthen lamps in front of their residences.
