Mugdha Das

Assam bids tearful adieu to cultural icon ‘Zubeen Da’

Digital Desk: The air at Kamarkuchi, Sonapur, in Assam was enveloped thick with grief, with the region’s gateway and the rest of the Northeast and the nation being hurtled into eternal darkness and a pall of magnanimous gloom, which will take time to sink in.

Assam Heartthrob and Legendary Artiste Zubeen Garg, otherwise known for his maverick, dead-honest, devil-may-care, two-hoots attitude in the public arena, was laid to rest amid full state honours.

All nooks and crannies in Assam reverberated with the cult rendition of ‘Mayabani’ from the equally cult Munin Barua 2001 directorial ‘Daag,’ which has emerged as a magnanimous anthem from the soil in Assam to that of the whole of the nation and to international shores.

Beloved artist Zubeen Garg was cremated with full state honours on Tuesday at Kamarkuchi village, which lies about 20 km from Assam State Capital City Guwahati.

Earlier, his mortal remains were taken in a flower-decked ambulance from the Arjun Bhogeswar Baruah Sports Complex, where lakhs of fans, celebrities and well-wishers had gathered over the past two days to pay homage to the region’s beloved and much-adored ‘Zubeen Da.’

The singer’s body, draped in the traditional Assamese gamosa and placed inside a cold glass coffin, was accompanied by his 85-year-old father, wife Garima Saikia, and other family members. Thousands of fans walked behind the cortege, raising slogans and singing his songs one last time before the pyre was lit.

In keeping with tradition, Zubeen Garg was cremated by his sister, Palmee Borthakur, as crowds chanted his name in grief and reverence.