Saurabh Kumar Chaliha (1930 – 25 June 2011) is the pen name of Assamese short story writer. His real name was Surendra Nath Medhi. His short story collection ''Ghulam'' won the prestigious

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 1974. Chaliha did not go to receive the award himself and it was later sent to him by the ''Akademi''.

Biography

Saurabh Kumar Chaliha was born in 1930 in the town of

Mangaldoi Mangaldoi; also spelt Mangaldai, , is a town in the state of Assam, India. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Darrang district. Etymology It is named after Mangaldahi, who was the daughter of the Raja of Darrang. She was marrie ...

in the

Darrang District Darrang () is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located at Mangaldoi. The district occupies an area of 1585 km2. Etymology The etymology of Darrang reflects its historical significance ...

of Assam, India to

Kaliram Medhi Kaliram Medhi (18 October 1880 – 24 January 1954) was a prominent linguist, writer and essayist from Assam who wrote in both the Assamese and English languages in the early part of modern Assamese literature. He was the third president of t ...

and Swarnalata Medhi. His father, Kaliram Medhi, was a prominent man of letters and had presided over the 1919 session of the

Asam Sahitya Sabha The Asam Sahitya Sabha (; ) is a non Government, non profit, literary organisation of Assam. It was founded in December 1917 in Assam, India to promote the culture of Assam and Assamese literature. A branch of the organisation named ''Singapor ...

. Noted Mathematician,

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of statistics at

Gauhati University Gauhati University also known as GU, is a collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assembly and is the oldest un ...

and Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology

Jyotiprasad Medhi Jyotiprasad Medhi was a professor of statistics at Gauhati University and Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology. Work and education Medhi started his schooling in Dibrugarh and in 1940 he passed matriculation from Dibrugarh Go ...

was his nephew as Medhi, though older to him, was the son of his elder half sister Kadambari Medhi (daughter of Kaliram Medhi) and her husband Binandi Chandra Medhi. Chaliha started his school life in 1939 at Saint Mary's Convent School, Guwahati and later shifted to Cotton Collegiate School, from where he passed the Matriculation Examination. In 1946 Chaliha joined

Cotton College Cotton College was a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cotton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It was also known as ''Saint Wilfrid's College''. The school buildings were centred on Cotton Hall, a country house used by religious communities fr ...

for studying ISc. He was a brilliant science student and passed the exam with flying colors standing 5th in the state in 1948. Chaliha then opted for a Bachelor of Science (BSc) course in physics at Cotton College itself. However, he was attracted by Communist and Marxist ideologies during his college days, and got actively involved with the

Revolutionary Communist Party of India A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

(RCPI). This resulted in arrest and a jail term for the writer. He appeared for his BSc final examinations from jail. He completed his Masters of Science (MSc) in Physics from

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

Career

Chaliha worked in several educational institutions in Germany before returning to India in 1960 to join the

Assam Engineering College Assam Engineering College, established in 1955, is located in Guwahati. It is the first engineering college of Assam and is affiliated to Assam Science and Technology University. AEC has been the hub of many academic and supplementary activi ...

as a lecturer in the Department of Physics. He retired as the head of the same department and was honoured as a lifetime associate of the college in 1990.

Published works

The bulk of his stories are contained in a few anthologies – # ''Ashanta Electron'' (1962) # ''Duporiya'' (1963) # ''Ehat Daba'' (1972) # ''Ghulam'' (1974) # ''Golpo Nohoi'' (1988) # ''Aji Sukrobar'' (1992) # ''Abarudha Sahar'' (1994) # ''Bhal Khobor'' (1998) # ''Kabi'' (1999) # ''Ekoish Sotika Dhemali Nohoi'' (2004) # ''Janmadin'' (2005) # ''Jonbiri'' (2006) # ''Dron aru'' Goethe (2007) # ''Nabajanma'' (2008) # Marudyan (2009) A few other recompilations are, # ''Swa-Nirbasito Xonkolon'' (1994) # ''Rachana Samagra'' (1999) # ''Soi Dasakar Golpo'' (2001) # ''Saurav Kumar Chaliha Rasanawali'' (2008) Many of these stories first appeared in Assamese magazines and literary journals like ''Banhi'', ''Ramdhenu'', ''Awahan'', ''

Samakalin ''Samakalin'' was a progressive Assamese magazine published from Guwahati in the 1960s. It served as a platform for emerging writers and engaged with the socio-political discourse of Assam during that period. The magazine was published by Pabitra ...

'', ''Sadin'', ''Dainik Asom'', ''Asom Bani'' etc. and many have been translated into other languages such as, English, Bengali, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam etc. and published in various Indian magazines and collections.

Awards

Saurabh Kumar Chaliha won the

in 1974 for his short story collection, ''Golam''. In the year 1995, he was also honored with the

Assam Valley Literary Award The Assam Valley Literary Award () was conceived in the year 1990 by ''Williamson Magor Education Trust'' to honour creative writers who have enhanced Assamese literature. It is given to writers of Assam once a year. The award was instituted b ...

. But, the reclusive Chaliha publicly accepted formal recognition only once. In one of his award acceptance speeches, he went even further and said, 'I feel like an interloper.' Writing under a pseudonym, he directly came into public limelight only once, when he publicly accepted the Assam Valley Literary Award from a corporate body in

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

city under full attendance of the media and the public. Except for this single instance, Chaliha remained an enigma for his countless admirers all his life.

Death

Saurabh Kumar Chaliha was suffering from a respiratory ailment and was admitted to the International Hospital where he had also undergone a minor surgery. He died on 25 June 2011 in International Hospital, Guwahati, at age 81.

References

External links

Saurabh Kumar Chaliha's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaliha, Saurabh Kumar 1930 births 2011 deaths Writers from Assam Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Assamese Recipients of the Assam Valley Literary Award 20th-century Indian short story writers People from Darrang district 20th-century Indian male writers Revolutionary Communist Party of India politicians