I used to have a friend. She was doing her MPhil ( if I am not wrong) from DU and a social worker. Once she wrote to me that the previous day she had met a very well known person ( I would not name him) who was a student leader from Kashmir. I don’t know why but I have a kind of hatred for all the politicians and specially student politician, that may be an off shoot being from Assam, whose sorry state of affairs is testimony of all these that went wrong. Anyways, so as it always happen with me, I opened my mouth. And from the very next day she was nolonger my friend. She even accused me of being the typical Software pro, who can just talk sitting in air conditioned room. I have no qualms against her, but she never talked to me again. But today I want to tell about something which I think is a revolution, a first hand account and also a successful one….
I was born in a very very small village called Bahalpur , which had a single primary school, a high school , branch of a bank and a hospital. My father was doctor there. All of my siblings and I started our schooling there only. We used to sit on the floor on mats in rooms which had no walls. Anyways I dont dislike those days, instead I enjoy, savor those moments. In our home papa alws used to bring two magazines one was 'Prantik', it was a magazine for the grown ups and the other was 'Xaphura', a childrens magaizne. Those were the only kinds of magazine always full of fun and knowledge. Those were the doors for us to the outside world. ' Then as days progressed we got another magazine called 'Vigyan Zeuti' a science magazine for students. With these magazines we travelled to moon with Neil Armstrong, went to the MIT in the US, learnt about what love can be from Anuradha.. They were alws with us. Whatever I am today, whatever my brother is today and my sister too for that matter, we owe everything to these magazines. We traveleld to diff places with papa with his postings and alws found a teacher who would show us the door ahead, and alws an avid reader of Prantik.
There would be thousands like me who have grown up with 'Xaphura' and 'Prantik' and 'Vigyan Jeuti'. And the editor of all these magazines were a single person 'Bhavendra Nath Saikia'. I have never seen him, I have never met him. I have never seen him giving lectures in front of some people about revolution. During the peak time of Assam movement we never heard him issuing any statement, only read the true side of all the stories in Prantik, he never joined politics, he was never the president of Axom Sahitya Sabha. He was truly a succesful man. He was a responsible father(His daugther was a state TT player), and great husbad, and visionary and scientist(his papers in Physics were published in international journals). I need not talk about his books, his movies.
This is revolution. Which silent but so forceful and so effective.
