Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia
Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia was one of the Greatest sons of Assam. Born in the year 1932, this multi-faceted personality has given his tits and bits to both the Asamese literature, as well as, Assamese cinema. He was a noted short-story writer and a famous film director, producer whose films ‘Agnisnan’, ‘Sandhyarag’, ‘Anirban’, ‘Sarathi’ etc., won him national accolades and various awards.
Bhabendra Nath Saikia Photo
Education & Career:
Bhabendranath Saikia was born on February 20, 1932, in Nagaon, Assam. He had completed his B.Sc. degree with honours in Physics from Cotton College, Guwahati. Then he secured M.Sc degree in Physics from Presidency College of Calcutta. In 1961, Saikia earned a Ph.D. Degree in Physics from the University of London. He had also obtained a diploma from Imperial College of Science & Technology, London.
Dr. Saikia started his colourful career as a physics teacher in Sibsagar College. Then he moved to Guwahati University. Later, Bhabendra Nath Saikia served as Secretary of the Co-ordination Committee for production of textbooks in regional languages. He had also served as the Chairman of the Railway Service Commission for North East Frontier Railways.
Works:
Bhabendra Nath Saikia is regarded as one of the best writers, Assam ever produced. His literary works include many short stories, novels, stage plays, essays, and children’s literature. Dr. Saikia was also a film director and producer. He had directed eight feature films, which were screened at various international film festivals such as Canners, Sydney, Munich, Montreal, Toronto, New Delhi, Balgalore, Calcutta, Nantes (France), Valladolid (Spain), Algiers (Algeria), Pyong Yong (North Korea) etc.
Awards & Recognition:
Dr. Saikia received the ‘Sahitya Academy Award’ for his literary masterpiece ‘Shrinkhal’ in the year, 1976. He was also awarded with the ‘Assam Valley Literary Award’ in the year, 1990 and ‘Sankaradeva Award’ in the year, 1998. In 2001, the Dibrugarh University conferred the Degree of D.Litt, honoris Causa on Dr. Saikia in recognition of his outstanding contribution in the fields of cinema and literature.
The famous ‘Sankardev Kalakshetra’ in Guwahati was the brain child of Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia. He served as it’s Vice Chariman till 2003. Dr. Saikia’s dream project was Bhabendra Nath Saikia Children Welfare Trust (known as Aarohan), a program for the educations, cultural and intellectual development of children. Aarohan is now fully functional at Basisthapur, Guwahati, Assam.
On 13th August, 2003, Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia passed away. His death caused a great loss to Assam.
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Short stories of Bhabendra Nath Saikia are simply just awesome. The way he portrays the little details of a particular scene is spectacular, and also his method of forming and describing a character is differs from others. When I first time finished his short story Sendur I became speechless for few seconds, I mean how can somebody finish a short story so beautifully. His Shrinkhal is another great masterpiece of all time.