Assambirds

The Death of Shakyamuni The Death of the Buddha. By Mithu Das   November 13, 2019 Before he died, the last message Shakyamuni Buddha gave his disciples was: "Be a torch unto yourselves". It was December, 482 BC(?), Shakyamuni or the Buddha—who was eighty years old then—was en rout to Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India). He was accompanied by Ananda, his first cousin, and several other disciples. In the late December, they crossed the Ganges river and arrived at a village called Bailva. There they stayed for a few days, begging house to house by preaching Buddha's thought...

A Bike Ride From Golaghat To Furkating A boy enjoying riding his bicycle on Golaghat-Furkating Road, near Tetelital. By Mithu Das   October 30, 2019 Riding a bicycle from Golaghat to Furkating can be pretty exciting, especially on Sunday afternoons in October. It can be pretty exciting because the roadway connecting the two places is a single roadway on which traffic move from both directions. There is no separate lanes for bicyclists or pedestrians. Accidents are inevitable if one should not careful with their driving or biking. It was the Sunda...

Do You Believe in God, Sir/Madam? The letter Mr Tony Blair sent us from 10 Downing Street, London. By Mithu Das   May 06, 2019 When I was a young adult, I had been sending letters (from 1996 to 1998) to a dozen of famous people, asking them three questions about God and the meaning of human life. Those who had responded were Mr. Tony Blair, Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia, Mr. Bittu Shagal, Sister Nirmala Joshi, Nirupoma Borgohain, Dr. Dinesh Chandra Goswami and Santanoo Tamuly. My three questions to them were: (1) Do you believe in God?, (2) What is the meaning of life?, and (3) How a human being should try to live? ...

A Tyranny of Hooch The recent hooch tragedy that struck Assam, in which died about 170 people, has put the State on near the top of all deadliest hooch tragedies in India. A mass funeral of the victims of hooch was taken place in Halmira field on the bank of the Dhansiri river on 23rd February, 2019. By Mithu Das   April 10, 2019 It was Thursday, February 21, 2019. The dusk had just fell over the lines of labourer houses at Halmira Tea Estate, Golaghat. The labourers, after finishing their daily work at the tea garden, came home tired and, some of them, lik...