Zubeen at work. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, Nov. 29: Like the Phoenix, fire-ravaged B. Borooah College may yet rise from the ashes with a little help from one of its famous former students.

Youth icon Zubeen Garg is planning a solo concert in the Assam capital in January to raise funds for his alma mater. The singer-composer is also trying to get the British Council to back the fund-raising campaign.

Zubeen discussed his plans with British deputy high commissioner (eastern India) Andrew Hall during the latter?s visit to the city last week. Hall, he said, assured him of assistance.

The Briton was in Guwahati to flag off a roadshow organised by the British Council in collaboration with the British High Commission to expose students of the Northeast to education opportunities in the UK.

?Since I was invited to the inaugural function, I took the opportunity to inform him of B. Borooah College?s predicament. The deputy high commissioner empathised with the institution and assured to help me organise the concert. It will be a major programme and I am planning to write a special song dedicated to my old college,? Zubeen said.

Eight months ago, a blaze reduced the old building of B.Borooah College to ashes. After the catastrophe, leading citizens, former students, teachers and well-wishers resolved to build a multi-storeyed building, but gathering funds for the project has been difficult.

?The fire that engulfed our college shocked and wounded me just as much as the death of my sister Jonki Borthakur in a 2002 car accident did. Both the incidents caused irreparable loss to me personally. How can I forget the college that gave me love, care and strength during my struggle as a singer?? Zubeen asked.

The singer, who passed out from the college in 1994, had planned the concert on his birthday, November 18. He postponed the concert because Nehru Stadium had been booked for another event on that day.

Struggling to restore normality, the B.Borooah College authorities are elated at the prospect of the Zubeen concert.

College principal Rita Deka said Zubeen was eager to help his alma mater in time of need. ?I remember when he came to the college two days after the fire and told us not to worry. He also promised to raise Rs 10 lakh on his own for his college. Though the college has been able to reconstruct its fire-ravaged building, it still needs a huge amount of money for other infrastructure. The college is also planning to build a three-storeyed building, which will cost Rs 9 crore,? she said.

Classes are being held regularly, but under constraints. Students of the science section have been affected the most because the chemistry, physics and biology laboratories were gutted in the fire.

?We have built a temporary Assam-type house with public donations and funds released by chief minister Tarun Gogoi. Though Gogoi had promised Rs 50 lakh, we have only received about Rs 20 lakh,? a teacher said.

Deka said the college has been in constant touch with the singer to organise the concert. Dhurba Choudhury, senior lecturer of the college has been entrusted with the job of corresponding with Zubeen, fixing the venue and writing to the sponsors for the concert.

The principal recalled Zubeen winning the first prize in the inter-college youth festival in 1994 in the western solo category after only half-an-hour of practice.

Zubeen burst onto the music scene in 1991 with his album, Anamika, and has since established himself as the state?s most popular young artiste. Maestro Bhupen Hazarika has acknowledged the singer as his heir in the field of Assamese music.