It was shocking and heartbreaking news, even for an emotionless creature like me. Within a few days, we have lost at least three AECian friends because of ailments. Their untimely demise was highlighted and mourned in the WhatsApp group (created for the 1985-90 batch of Assam Engineering College, under Gauhati University). I just became clueless about how to address the emotional issue. Should I write an obituary (being a professional journalist, that’s an easy job for me), but it was too painful and difficult to pen any article about our classmates, with whom we stayed in a serene AEC campus in Jalukbari behind a hill to the Gauhati University campus. We all arrived in the prestigious institutions with a lot of dreams and left the campus with commitments to our family, society and nation. My journey got deflected after the college days as I started working for an Assamese daily newspaper from Guwahati in far eastern Bharat/India. An accidental decision changed my entire working life until attaining the retirement age.
My busy and cramped lifestyle (which often turns unproductive!) was shattered when the information about Jyotiprakash Kurmi’s sudden death flashed in the social media group. Kurmi, a tall and handsome guy with decent attire, was my branch-mate, and I remember our days from classrooms to mechanical workshops to numerous hostel 7 moments. We used to attend the classes where many acclaimed professors, including our Principal sir (Dr Aparna K Padmapati) guided us to solve mechanical problems from the boring textbooks. He was a rational student and always stayed with us as a soft-spoken gentleman. Kurmi lost his battles with recently diagnosed kidney ailments. Days back, Kamal Das left this world after living with a prolonged post-accident disaster, where the smiling chap lost his usual brainstorm for months. Another companion, Sugyan Dutta, died after battling serious diseases a few months back. Even when it appeared that his days were numbered because of complicated health issues, Sugyan called me, but never described his painful moments. Rather, he had a whole lot of complaints about my profession!
Years back, we lost two AECian classmates as Sandeep Goel breathed his last after fighting severe sickness. He was intelligent and largely sober. Unlike me, Sandeep used to speak when it became necessary. A serious student who later improved himself as a successful professional, and finally, Sandeep grew as an adorable family man. Another depressing news within a week saddened us with the demise of Gunagovinda Buragohain. Guna was my hostel-mate, and we faced initial troubled days on the college campus. A jolly man, Guna was so simple, well-behaved, and friendly in nature. I often recollect the memories of college days, rushing to classes in the morning hours and reaching the Sundarbari market for evening tea and snacks. Occasionally, we went to discover Guwahati from different dimensions and very often we failed in our adventures, but Guna remains optimistic all the time.
Soon after leaving college, I opted to work in a newspaper (my gratitude to AEC Professor Dr. Surendra Nath Medhi and Natun Dainik’s founding editor Chandra Prasad Saikia). Our college-mate Pradip Medhi, who was looking for a good job at that time, used to meet me at the press club premises. He was critical and sometimes even abusive to me, as I preferred a profession with no financial security. He always fantasized about his future days as a successful engineer. But a heart attack cut short his journey, which I came to know a little late. Meanwhile, we lost many AECian friends including Prabal Choudhury (a hard-hitting debater), Uttam Kumar Roy (fantastic theatre actor and a creative director), Manju Borah (a fascinating friend), Swapan Kr Das (gentleman in a real sense), Bipul Sarma (humble and friendly in nature), Kamal Krishna Gupta (stood always stout and stable), Monilal Brahma (a man of thoughtful temperament), Imliakum Longkumar (popularly known as Akum), Parag J Baruah (introvert with a poetic mind), etc. Pranabjyoti Bordoloi, a leader of our batch, died in a fatal road accident during college days. My friends in Bajali College (now Bhattadev University), namely Jayanta Kr Das, Kailash Sarma and Manoranjan Talukdar also bid final farewells to us.
During high school days at Makhibaha in Nalbari district, we encountered the untimely demise of classmate Shiva Prasad Thakuria, with visibly thick and black hair, who was suffering from a serious illness for some time. He was followed by a number of classmates from our locality in the later part of life, who left for the heavenly abode too young. Srimati Barman (married an early age to a distant village), Gopal Seal (who worked for national armed forces), Bhupen Bhattacharya (an agri-engineer), Phatik Thakuria (another engineer), Mahesh Sarma (a popular footballer), Ranjit Pathak (a strongman among us), Dinesh Deka (police officer), Srimati Barman (lady with an open heart) and Dilip Deka (a practicing doctor, Dilip was the first boy in classes and went missing nearly two decades back during the troubled days in western Assam) joined the list of departed souls.
I remember the day when we received horrible news of losing a friend during my middle school days at Bhojkuchi, a typically isolated village in western Assam. Some of our friends were playing at the school playground when a white ambassador car arrived. We instantly followed the vehicle without knowing that one of our beloved childhood friends was lying inside it. Our classmate Prahlad Barman (whose handwriting was appreciated by everyone) suffered from some heart-related ailments. Just before the seventh standard examination (at that time, it was the last exam in our school), he died in a Guwahati hospital.
For the last time, we saw Prahlad, sleeping peacefully in the courtyard amidst heartbroken cries of sorrow by his mother and other relatives. The next day, we had a condolence meeting at our school. Everyone wept while remembering him as a bright student with an amiable nature. Until then, no photograph of Prahlad was available with his family. Later, a close-up snap was arranged from a group photograph, where we all were present on the school campus, and was taken by Tihu-based legendary photographer Mahendra Barua just before Prahlad went for treatment in the city. Whenever I visit my village, I can feel his warm presence in that photograph and even hear his crispy voice.
Goodbye, my friends, till we meet again somewhere, sometime….
