Amulya Baruah
From WikiAssam
'What do you write about a young woman who was only twenty two and had died of leukemia?' This or words to this effect formed the opening one liner of Eric Segal's 'Love Story'. The same could have been said of another young man, who had seen only twenty four summers before his life was cut short by the infamous Calcutta Carnage of 1946. It was the crucial year when India stood on the threshold of freedom from British rule. The Muslim league which had struggled shoulder to shoulder with others for India's Independence had suddenly made a volte-face. It demanded a separate independent state for the Muslims of India. Predictably there was strong opposition to this demand even from a major section of Mohammedans. Sensing road blocks to their demand, the leaders of Muslim League threatened to observe a direct Action Day to-LarkeLengePakistan!
On the appointed day, August 18, 1946, hordes of goons and thugs professing to be League members descended on the streets of Calcutta and massacred hundreds of innocents. Amulya Baruah, a post-graduate student of the Calcutta University was one such victim.
But unlike the young woman of Eric Segal's Love Story, there are plenty to write about Amulya. This twenty four year young man is hailed in the literary circle as the pioneer of Modem Assamese Poetry. It is now unanimously admitted by the literary pundits that he had given a new direction, a wider dimension and a separate identity to modem Assamese Poetry. Amulya during his brief life span had written only a few dozen poetry but almost all his poems have been acclaimed as trend setting milestones of Assamese literature. Amulya departed from the off beaten track of romantic escapism by his predecessors and decided instead to come down to stark realism. Most of his poems reflected the poet's inner turmoil and anguish at the ever increasing chasm between the haves and the have-nots and angst for the weak, the oppressed and the deprived. Several of his Path-breaking poems have been translated to English, French and German besides Bengali, Hindi and Oriya. But unlike many of his contemporaries, Amulya was not a pessimist. 'Amar Ache Manuhar Oparat Biswas, Amar Ache Bhabishyatar Sustha Ronga Smjar Pine' Chaku" (We have faith in fellow human being, our eyes are on the healthy, glowing sun of the future), he had declared in this poem Biplabi (The revolutionary). Some of his most widely acclaimed poems are Beshya (the sex worker) Kukur (the dog). Koyla (The Charcoal), Biplabi, Andharar Hanhakar (the wails of darkness) and sihat Tetia Jiba (Then they will come alive). Amulya is the only Assamese poet whose poems Kukur and Beshya have found place in the prestigious volume 'An Anthology of Modem Indian Poems', Published by the Sahity Academy when Jawaharlal Nehru was its president.
Poetry was Amulya's forte, but his literary talents were not confined to it alone. He was again the first Assamese whose radio plays like Bohagir Biya (wedding of the spring season), Matir Moh (The Enticement of the Earth) were broadcasted from Calcutta at a time when Assam did not have a Radio Centre. Still a student; Amulya had edited and published Rupjyoti, a collection of poems of the doyen of Assam's romantic poet Ganesh Gogoi. His preface to the book is still considered a masterpiece of constructive critical appraisal of late Gogoi's poetry. A prolific writer Amulya had published critical appreciations of the works of many contemporary Indian and overseas litterateurs.
Amulya Baruah was born on June 30, 1922 to a middle class family of Jorhat, a town in the Upper Assam, known for its tea industry. His father Pramode Baruah was an officer of the Public Works Department. Eldest of six siblings, three brothers and three sisters-Amulya had his schoolings at Jorhat. He passed matriculation examination from Jorhat Government High School in 1941 with Competitive merit scholarship, did his I.Sc. from Cotton College-but for some domestic problems came back to Jorhat and graduated in the Arts stream from J.B. College Jorhat, in 1945. In the same year he admitted himself to the Calcutta University as a student of MA in English and next year he fell victim to communal fanatics' knives on August 18, 1946.
Poetry used to come to Amulya as naturally, as fragrance comes to flowers, effortlessly. While still a student of a Junior class in school, Amulya along with a few poetically inclined classmates had edited a poetik-jouma1"KavitaMalancha-(a bouquet of poems). His first poem appeared in print in Awahan, the most prestigious Assamese literary journal of those days, in 1939. And ever since there was no looking back for Amulya. His revolutionary poems scaled Olympian heights within the short span from 1939 to 1946 to be acclaimed as the architect of avant-garde Assamese poetry. Amulya did not live long enough to see for himself the passionate ardor with which the new generation of poets and poetry lovers has idolized him. If achievement is the true measuring stick of a man’s life, Amulya achieved in 24years what an octogenarian might not have been able to in several life times.
Written By Shri Anil Baruah, Guwahati, Assam
