Guwahati, Nov 24 (PTI) As Guwahati hosts its maiden Test match, many visitors arriving in the city to watch the live cricket action are also taking the opportunity to pay their respects to Assam’s cultural icon Zubeen Garg, who died in Singapore a couple of months ago.
A number of sports journalists from across the country who are in the city on assignment for the match are making the most of their visit to understand what many describe as the “phenomenon called Zubeen”.
“I must confess that I was not very aware of Zubeen until after his death. I knew a couple of his Hindi songs and thought of him as another good singer. But the spontaneous public outpouring of grief after his demise made us take note of the person he was,” Rupesh Singh, a Delhi-based journalist with a leading Hindi daily, said.
The 52-year-old singer-composer died while swimming in the sea in Singapore on September 19.
Assam Police has a formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the circumstances leading to his death.
Singh said he first sensed the magnitude of Garg’s fandom when lakhs turned up to pay their last respects.
A podcast by a well-known journalist, he added, helped him understand the emotions better.
“I understood the phenomenon called Zubeen after watching the podcast. And when I landed in Guwahati two days before the match, the first things that struck me were his photos everywhere and the cab driver starting a conversation referring to him,” he said.
Singh visited Garg’s cremation ground at Sonapur on the outskirts of Guwahati on his first day in the city.
“It was an overwhelming experience. The sheer love for the man can be felt there,” he said.
Kolkata-based Sourav Modak, another scribe who visits Guwahati regularly to cover sports, said he is also looking forward to visiting the cremation site.
“I had been in Guwahati once since Zubeen died, but was on a very tight schedule. This time, I have made plans to pay my respects by visiting the cremation site,” he said.
While many have discovered the range of Garg’s musical compositions only over the last two months, some visiting scribes said they have been fans of his songs for years.
“There are so many songs in lesser-known Hindi films that have been overlooked. Listening to those over the years made me appreciate Zubeen as a singer. Of course, now I’m rediscovering him as a person,” another Delhi-based journalist said, humming a Zubeen number while typing updates from the third day of the Test.
Local journalist Partha Chakraborty said several visiting reporters with whom he has built ties over the years have asked him for details on reaching Garg’s cremation ground.
“Earlier, visiting journalists would go mainly to the Kamakhya temple. This time, the interest in Zubeen is clearly visible,” he said.
“They want to not only visit his cremation site but are also trying to get a better understanding of what has led to the mass outpouring after his death,” Chakraborty added. PTI SSG MNB
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