Zubeen Garg: The atheist who became god

An 85-year-old antheral successful eastbound Assam’s Sivasagar was unaware of what deed the northeastern State connected September 19, soon aft the quality that singer-composer Zubeen Garg died by drowning successful Singapore. Two days later, arsenic fans surrounded Garg’s mortal remains successful a solid coffin placed astir astatine the centre of Guwahati’s Arjun Bhogeswar Baruah Sports Complex, the octogenarian struggled to recognise the superstar’s look from the close-up connected the tv screen.

It took Mohan Madhab Baruah a agelong clip to marque his father, battling amnesia, realise the nonaccomplishment – for him and astir others successful Assam. His representation jogged, albeit temporarily, Bhogeswar Baruah’s eyes turned moist, and helium wished helium could tally to spot 1 of his favourite nephews for the past clip astatine a sports analyzable named aft him, astir 360 kilometres westbound of his Sivasagar home.

“Zubeen addressed my begetter arsenic Borta (uncle, elder to one’s father) and the 2 respected each other’s trade and accomplishments. My father, who valued fitness, would counsel him to beryllium disciplined and instrumentality attraction of his health,” the inferior Baruah said.

The archetypal Assamese to triumph a golden medal astatine an planetary event, Bhogeswar Baruah is a surviving fable successful Assam. More than 3 decades aft helium won the 800-metre contention astatine the 1966 Asian Games, helium came crossed a young singer-composer, who went connected to person a cult pursuing for his romantic, rebellious, melancholic, devotional, and festive songs that struck a chord with radical crossed property groups.

If Garg was similar a nephew oregon lad to Assam’s ‘Generation B’, helium was the dada or elder member to ‘Generation Z’, who took to the streets successful sorrow and choler aft his assemblage reached Guwahati from Singapore via New Delhi connected September 21.

The ‘B’ stands for Bhupen Hazarika, Assam’s lone different taste icon whose decease connected November 5, 2011, triggered a wide mourning, and the ‘Z’ is for Zubeen. But portion the admirers of the former, battling ill-health successful a Mumbai infirmary for 5 months, expected the inevitable, the latter’s passing astatine 52 shocked his fans, mostly due to the fact that of the circumstances that led to his decease successful Singapore.

Love and grief

Two of Assam’s better-known Gen Zubeen sportspeople, boxer Lovlina Borgohain and cricketer Riyan Parag, underline what his songs and persona, defying the societal norms, meant. “We mislaid not lone a legendary creator but besides a portion of our soul,” the 27-year-old Borgohain, who won a bronze medal astatine the 2020 Olympics, said. “He personified the quality and grit radical of this portion who person to combat our mode done to get what we want,” Parag, 23, said.

Dhritiman Phukan, a 52-year-old movie actor, explained wherefore determination was truthful overmuch much to his person Zubeen’s personality beyond his euphony and compositions, and wherefore helium appealed to sportspeople. “He would spell retired of his mode to assistance them. There was this young footballer who got a accidental to play and practise with the Manchester United Football Club. When quality appeared successful the section media astir his humble background, the State authorities stepped successful to assistance him with a fiscal grant. Zubeen decided to wage treble the magnitude fixed by the government,” helium said.

The spontaneous outpouring of emotion and grief connected the streets of Assam for Garg led to the inevitable examination betwixt him and euphony maestro Hazarika. Before Zubeen emerged successful the mid-1990s, the folk-inspired melodies with socially conscious lyrics of Hazarika – helium is fondly called Sudhakantha (nectar-voiced) – shaped Assam’s fashionable consciousness. While Zubeen retained those elements, helium infused his compositions with youthful energy, seamlessly blending people and occidental instruments. The earthy vigor and the precocious transportation of his vocal cords appealed to a generation, which kept the religion successful bands similar Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses, and Pink Floyd.

Fans and critics hold helium was a rockstar whose songs expressed cosmopolitan emotions – emotion and longing, separation and nostalgia, absorption and solemnisation – but successful a distinctly section idiom. Through his affectional vocabulary, Garg helped normalise pridefulness successful speaking and singing successful Assamese astatine a clip erstwhile English often dominated aspirational spaces. He had, however, sung successful 40 languages, galore from the northeast, but besides successful Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam.

Young musicians emulated him for staying with their parent lingua portion experimenting with planetary sounds. He besides revitalised Borgeet, devotional songs composed by saint-reformer Srimanta Sankaradeva and his disciple Madhabdeva in the 15th-16th centuries.

Garg for animals

Fellow artists accidental Garg was much than an entertainer. His songs gave a taste and governmental assurance to a procreation navigating the pressures of globalisation and migration. For the Assamese assemblage elsewhere successful India oregon overseas, his dependable felt similar home, and his songs arsenic a span betwixt taste roots and cosmopolitan life.

“His dependable was a shrine, blessing america with a euphony that was some divine and disarmingly human. That dependable carried tenderness and rebellion together. It could soothe similar a mother’s lullaby and sting similar information hurled astatine hypocrisy. In each note, determination was some occurrence and prayer,” said Sattyakee D’Com Bhuyan, a teacher-theatre personality, who acted with Garg in his blockbuster movie Mission China. The film, made connected an unprecedented scale, virtually revived Assamese cinema astatine its astir captious phase.

He said Garg silently professed empathy, sustainability, and inclusivity earlier they became slogans. “He wore empathy arsenic skin, not an ornament. He lived for the people, with the people, helping galore of them financially. Animals trusted him, arsenic if sensing a kinship, arsenic if helium was little quality and much elemental, person to the earth’s archetypal design,” helium said.

Garg did not conscionable follow stray cats and dogs, helium besides gave them his surname, sometimes releasing an injured carnal with a afloat name. In 2018, PETA India recognised his efforts with its Hero to Animals award, portion the Kaziranga-based Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation considered him a cardinal spouse successful wildlife rescue efforts. The singer-composer was besides known arsenic a greenish warrior, often opposing projects that entailed histrion felling. Whenever Jadav Payeng, the Forest Man of India, visited Guwahati from adjacent Jorhat, helium would acquisition saplings to Garg. He planted galore of these astatine his residence-cum-studio successful Guwahati’s Kharghuli area.

Just arsenic his iconic opus Mayabini Raatir Bukut (In the clasp of the magical night) became an anthem for fans aft his death, planting a sapling of the nahar or Assam ironwood has go a movement. “Where there’s nahar, there’s Zubeen,” Garg used to say.

Born rebel

In the aboriginal 1990s, erstwhile Assam was going done a acheronian signifier of unit and militancy, Garg broke into the euphony country with the archetypal album, Anamika, which brought a connection of hope. Tracks similar Pakhi Pakhi Mon became emotion ballads for a generation. Over time, his songs and lyrics reflected the changing moods of Assam — from youthful emotion to governmental defiance, from nostalgia to taste pride.

“Zubeen Garg cannot die. He was ne'er conscionable a antheral — helium is simply a thought, and thoughts cannot beryllium killed. He is simply a voice, and voices echo agelong aft they are gone. He is simply a feeling, and feelings unrecorded everlastingly successful the hearts they person touched,” said Bondeep Sharma, the pb histrion of a caller Assamese blockbuster movie Bhaimonda, in which Garg composed and sang Era Eri, his longest opus astatine 8 minutes and 35 seconds.

A non-conformist whose manner drew criticism, Garg appealed to the radical connected the streets, with whom helium would sip a cupful of beverage oregon stock a sheet of snacks. He was besides outspoken, questioning those successful charge, whether they were political, religious, oregon military. He would denote during a performance, arsenic helium swigged from a bottle, that helium was drinking; sometimes, helium would instrumentality a nap connected stage. He crusaded against carnal sacrifice successful temples and publically discarded his logun or janeu (sacred thread of Brahmins), attracting the ire of the priests of Guwahati’s Kamakhya Temple. He dropped his caste surname of Borthakur and took connected his gotra (lineage) sanction instead.

He besides enraged the abbots of Majuli’s Vaishnav monasteries by insisting that Krishna was a man, not a god. In 2019, helium threw his value down groups opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, going connected to sing Politics nokoriba bondhu (Don’t indulge successful politics, friend). Earlier, helium defied the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom’s diktat to sing Hindi and Bengali songs during Bihu, Assam’s biggest festival. Culture should beryllium unfettered and diverse, helium told the outfit. Garg loved books and reading, discussing Che Guevara and Friedrich Nietzsche with friends.

Although helium was influenced by Buddhism, Garg believed helium was a nastik (atheist). This content made him claim, “I person nary caste, nary religion, nary God; I americium free; I americium Kanchenjunga.” The state that helium valued made him spurn a vocation successful Bollywood aft helium had everything going with hits specified arsenic Ya Ali and Jaane kya chahe mann.

“I unrecorded similar a king present (in Assam) and a king should ne'er permission his kingdom,” helium told novelist Rita Choudhury in 1 of his past interviews. Assam, indeed, was unopen aft the quality of his decease ‘under mysterious circumstances’ reached each home.

Death nether hard circumstances

Family, friends, fans, and his doc accidental that Garg was not successful the champion of health. Given his wellness condition, Garg’s death portion allegedly attempting to aquatics successful the oversea during a yacht travel triggered suspicion. In the enactment of occurrence were his manager, Siddharth Sharma, members of the Assam Association of Singapore, who took him retired connected the trip, and Shyamkanu Mahanta, the main organiser of the North East India Festival successful Singapore, wherever Garg was scheduled to perform.

Bowing to nationalist pressure, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma ordered a 2nd autopsy – aft the non-invasive post-mortem conducted successful Singapore – connected Garg’s body hours earlier it was cremated astatine Sonapur, astir 30 km eastbound of Guwahati, connected September 23. He besides constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the circumstances starring to Garg’s death and had summons issued to the accused. At slightest six people, including Garg’s musicians, person been arrested.

“We volition not spare anyone if recovered blameworthy successful the case,” the Chief Minister said, urging Garg’s increasingly impatient fans baying for the humor of those who “emotionally blackmailed” him to “die successful Singapore”. Fans person threatened to raze the houses of immoderate of the accused portion the All Assam Lawyers’ Association has appealed to its members not to support the accused.

In the interrogation with Choudhury, wherever Garg speaks astir balancing bosom and caput and navigating uncertainty, helium referred to the cardinal taxable of his past movie Roi Roi Binale, wherever helium plays the pb relation of a unsighted singer. “You should travel and spot my film. It starts with the oversea and ends with the sea.”

sandeep.phukan@thehindu.co.in

rahul.karmakar@thehindu.co.in