Debojit with his mentor Ismail Darbar

Silchar, Feb. 28: Singing sensation Debojit Saha, who arrived to an unprecedented ovation here yesterday following his triumph in a TV talent hunt show, went to his ancestral home at Palanghat near here today.

Mediapersons looking for him after he checked in at the local government circuit house in downtown Silchar last night were denied an audience. The scribes were especially keen to know if he had any special programme planned during his visit to Guwahati, which was scheduled for today.

This correspondent, who called on him at around 10 pm at the circuit house here to find out if his schedule for Guwahati was unchanged, got the impression that he was eager to visit the capital.

But this morning, Debojit altered his programme and let it be known through the district administration that he would be flying out to Calcutta en route to Mumbai on the afternoon Alliance Air flight.

Instead, he undertook a trip to Palanghat, about 25 km south of this town.

When requested by mediapersons, the Cachar district administration finally traced the singer to Palanghat. He rescheduled the press meet to 5 pm, but the newsmen refused to attend.Yesterday, Debojit was the cynosure of all eyes in this south Assam town, which welcomed its new icon on a scale hitherto unsurpassed.

At least a lakh of Silchar?s residents came out of their houses to line the roads stretching from the airport to the circuit house, a distance of some 30 km, just to catch a glimpse of the local lad who has made it big in the national music circuit. It took his convoy over nine hours to cover that distance.

Debojit is also being seen as the architect of a new bonhomie between the Assamese and Bengali communities in the state and as a bridge between the Brahmaputra and Barak Valleys, thanks to the voting support he garnered on the TV reality show.

Extending beyond Assam, a car rally was organised in Shillong today to celebrate Debojit?s victory. A cutout of the new music icon was mounted atop a vehicle, while others carried banners reading ?The voice of India is the voice of Northeast?. The rally was organised by the Shillong Art and Music Lovers Forum. It was flagged off by singer Lou Majaw.