CALM AND QUIET, FAT AND ROBUST, V-E-R-Y MISCHIEVOUS! By Bhabendra Nath Saikia

Dr Bhabendra Nath Saikia Assamese 1932 2003 is recognised as one of the top ranking writers of Assam Many stories have been translated into English Bengali Hindi Telugu Malayalam Marathi Gujarati etc He had also written a large number of plays for All India Radio AIR The plays Kolahal Durbhiksha and Itihaas were taken up by the AIR as national plays Kolahal was selected for broadcast from foreign centres He has been associated actively with the stage as a playwrit and director He has written many plays for Mobile Theatre of Assam and a number of One Act Plays. He had directed eight feature films These films have been screened at International Film Festivals held at various places such as Canne Dr Bhabendra Nath Saikia Assamese 1932 2003 is recognised as one of the top ranking writers of Assam Many stories have been translated into English Bengali Hindi Telugu Malayalam Marathi Gujarati etc He had also written a large number of plays for All India Radio AIR The plays Kolahal Durbhiksha and Itihaas were taken up by the AIR as national plays Kolahal was selected for broadcast from foreign centres He has been associated actively with the stage as a playwrit and director He has written many plays for Mobile Theatre of Assam and a number of One Act Plays. He had directed eight feature films These films have been screened at International Film Festivals held at various places such as Cannes Madras Hyderabad New Delhi Bangalore Calcutta Karlovy Vary Czechoslovakia Nantes France Valladolid Spain Algiers Algeria Pyong Yong North Korea Sydney Munich Montreal and Toronto Has also directed one episode of a Doordarshan series on Rabindra Nath Tagore s stories in Hindi Seven out of his eight films have been selected for Indian Panorama Section of the International Film Festival of India He received the Sahitya Akademi India Award in 1976 the Rajat Kamal Award of the Government of India for the film Sandhyarag in 1978 Anirban in 1981Agnisnan in 1985 Kolahal in 1988 Sarothi in 1992 Abartan in 1994 and for Itihaas in 1996 He was adjudged as one of the Twenty one Great Assamese Persons of the twentieth century in a literary weekly news magazine of Assam. Bhabendra Nath Saikia was born on 20 February 1932 at Nagaon town He passed his matriculation examination in 1948 and the Intermediate examination in Science in 1950 both with first division marks He passed BSc Examination in 1952 with honours in Physics from the Cotton College of Gauhati University He received a post graduate degree in Physics from the Presidency College of Calcutta University He obtained his PhD in physics from the University of London in 1961 He also obtained a Diploma from the Imperial College of Science Technology London in 1961 He later worked as reader in Physics at the Gauhati University He became a Member Sangeet Natak Akademi India. Saikia edited the Prantik an Assamese monthly magazine and a children s magazine named Xaphura both in the Assamese language He was also the president of the Jyoti Chitraban which was for a long time the only film studio in Assam He had the unique distinction of having won the National Awards for each of his seven Assamese films For his services to the literature culture and cinema of Assam Dr Saikia was awarded the Padma Shri in 2001. Having spent his childhood in poverty Dr Saikia established the Aarohan Trust in Guwahati using the money he received from the Assam Valley Literary Award to provide free training to poor children interested in art theatre and music Dr Saikia died on 13 August 2003 in Guwahati and is survived by his wife Preeti Saikia and two daughters The Assam Government has named a road in Guwahati and a state award in his honour site_link Experience every alley and every impulse of childhood What endears the readers to the characters is that none of them are any different from the average child next door who laughs cries lies quarrels and occasionally comes up with that whimsical obsession to do things beyond their means Set in middle class families of the late seventies the work takes the reader through situations which are very simple yet leave a lasting mark in the mind You wouldn t even realize how at the end of each episode of Calm and Quiet Fat and Robust V e r y Mischievous either a smile unknowingly spreads across your face tears well up in your eyes or leave you thinking how little children are sometimes so much wiser and nobler than grown ups CALM AND QUIET FAT AND ROBUST V E R Y MISCHIEVOUS I have read the original Assamese version It s such a fun and heart warming story a must read Bhabendra Nath Saikia