Critic Hiren Gohain speaks at the tribute meeting on Monday. Telegraph picture

Feb. 13: The city today paid rich tributes to littérateur Medini Choudhury who died on this day in 2003.

Under the aegis of Medini Choudhury Trust, writers, literary critics and Choudhury’s family members organised a tribute meeting this morning where they recalled the contribution of the littérateur and rued that Choudhury was deprived of proper recognition.

Hafiz Ahmed, a member of the trust, said although Choudhury hailed from the Bodo community, he always dreamt of a united Assam. “When he was on his deathbed at a private nursing home in the city, I met him along with one of my friends. He told us that differences between indigenous and non-indigenous communities, Hindus and Muslims had sprung up in Assam and he was hurt by it,” Ahmed said.

Born on March 31 in 1928 at Ramsa near Goreswar in Kamrup, Sahitya Akademi Award winner Choudhury contributed immensely to Assamese literature through his short stories, novels and non- fiction writings. He entered the literary world through poems. His first short story, Ximarekha, was published in 1948 in a vernacular. Ananya Prantor (1972), a book on the local influences on spoken Assamese, written in the form of a travelogue, took the Assamese literary world by storm in the early 1970s.

His other works include Banduka Behar (on Baishnavite saint Madhabdeva), Ferengadao (on Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha), Jadugharar Kirtimukh, Taat Nadi Nasil, Yangjoo Nadir Paar, Nibandhita Anubhab, Kholakotir Taal, Barak Luit Aru Islam, Bipanna Xamay, Bodo Dimasa of Assam, Tribes of Assam Plains and Making a Leader.

For his novel Taat Nadi Nasil, Choudhury was honoured with Publication Board Assam Literary Award in 1997 and received Sahitya Akademi Award in 1999 for Bipanna Xamay.

An Assam government employee, Choudhury authored about 30 books. He has to his credit a good number of short stories like Xihote Kewal More.

A memorable lecture highlighting the life and ideals of Choudhury was also organised in the programme. The lecture was delivered by Pratul Chandra Sarma, a retired civil servant and short-story writer of the Ramdhenu Age. Sarma said a book should be prepared on the life and works of Choudhury.

The meeting highlighted and respected Choudhury’s dream of a united Assam which is against the sectarian attitude gaining momentum among the Bodos of late.

“His works are like a big canvas of greater Assamese society. He has not got proper recognition yet,” Sarma said.

Littérateur Nirupama Borgohain, critics Hiren Gohain and Pramod Chandra Bhattacharyya were among those who attended the programme.

“He was an exceptional man. He knew so much that I am not sure whether his books could reflect his knowledge. The bitter reality is that while he had always worked for a greater Assamese identity, others neglected him as he was a Bodo,” Gohain said.