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O Mur Apunar Dekh
A song that ties more than 30 million people together
This article has nothing to do with the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 that has recently sparked several protests all across Assam. I have written other posts about the pain and I will continue to write till our voices are heard.
This article, though, is about love.
What is it about a national anthem that makes our eyes water with emotion and our chests swell with pride?
When we grow up with a song, it becomes imprinted in our hearts, making for itself an indelible place in our consciousness. It isn’t surprising that we feel an instant kinship with people singing it, more so if our homeland is under attack from a third party, or when we are in a distant place away from all that we hold dear.
With the non-violent protests flaring up all across Assam, I saw a post by Prag News that showed thousands of Assamese people spontaneously breaking into O Mur Apunar Dekh. If you weren’t aware, this is the state song of Assam, penned by Lakshminath Bezbaroa in 1909 and attuned by Kamala Prasad Agarwala.
At a time when the rest of the country has been ignoring the plight of the Assamese, seeing such a sight where so many of my brothers and sisters broke into the song made me well…
