The Voyage

About the author

 Bhupen Hazarika was an Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet, actor, artist, editor, filmmaker, professor
and politician from Assam, widely known as Sudha Kontho (meaning cuckoo, literally "nectar-throated").
 Bhupen Hazarika is one of the most well-known personalities from Assam, India.
 Born in 1926, in Sadiya, Assam, he holds an M. A. in Political Science in 1946.
 He was posthumously awarded both the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award, in 2012, and the
Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 2019.
 He received the National Film Award for Best Music Direction in 1975

Summary

 The Voyage is extract from Bhupen Hazarika's transcipted life-account where he recalls his experience of embarking
on a journey to the United States of America in 1949.
 The time in which the journey was undertaken was quite different from today, which is why he had the experience of
travelling by all three modes: land, air, and sea.
 In this account, Hazarika talks about his journey from the airport in Guwahati- Kanhikuchi Airport
 He suddenly realized that the bag containing all the important papers, including his passport, was not with him.
 The plane had to be stopped and the journey began when things were in order.
 Bhupen Hazarika writes that he did not choose a direct route as he wanted to see different locations during his
journey.
 He first travelled to Dumdum airport and then to Visakhapatnam.
 His next stop was the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.
 He writes of his memorable experience in Sri Lanka where he witnessed a dance that reminded him of Assam's
cultural ethos. He reflects how the threads of culture create a harmonic bond.
 The demon dance which he witnessed in the Sri Lankan city of Kandy and his memory of Assam's deodhani dance
provided him the scope to reminisce about his own cultural traditions
 From Sri Lanka, Hazarika embarked on a ship-journey that was take thirteen days.
 During the stop at the city of Djibouti, which under Italian occupation then Hazarika disembarked and visited the
place. He was surprised to find that there was hardly any development in the region with stark signs of rampant
poverty.
 From Djibouti the ship went to Cairo, the capital city of Egypt.
 Although he had hoped to see the famed Pyramids, he could not do so during the course of this voyage.
 Hazarika also recounts his incredible memory at sea when he was witness to a star above the crescent moon-a very
rare occurrence.
 Hazarika took snapshots of the event with his Rolleiflex camera, which was something he cherished immensely.
 He was witness to another remarkable vision during the course of this voyage: a herd of phosphorous fish lit up the
sea with a 'dazzling' array of lights.
 The journey of Bhupen Hazarika is not only an account of an individual's voyage into a new territory, it is also a
chronicle of an artist's vision of life, society and culture which enables us to see things from a fresh, new
perspective.