Gita Debi: A Tribute

Gita Debi passed away on Sunday, April 28, 2019 at her Silpukhuri residence, survived by four children, their spouses, and her five grandchildren. She was born in 1942, the daughter of the late Binod Kumar Barua and late Omiya Debi of Uzan Bazaar, but was brought up in Digboi until her marriage to late Sachindra Nath Sarma, retired Secretary, Flood Control Department, Assam. Gita, as a wife and mother, was firm that her offspring should excel in schooling so as to achieve the careers outside domesticity that few women in her generation had the opportunity to do. This ambition was realized when her three daughters became college professors and her son qualified as an MBA. But she retained a burning desire to be a creative artiste, often speaking of how marriage at sixteen halted her singing lessons, but not her will to make music. Once her children were grown, with her spouse’s encouragement and her own determination, enabled Gita Debi to resume her musical avocation with gusto, first on the violin, and then with Hindustani vocal music. Undeterred at being a mature music student amongst school-going pupils, she passed her Visharod examinations with distinction, in both violin and vocals. Over the years, she began to make a name for herself among Guwahati’s musical connoisseurs, composing and singing her own poetic compositions, with occasional appearances on stage, radio, and television. Gita Debi lives on not only in the memories of her family, but through her musical musings, several of which are available for posterity to enjoy, as in the songs ‘Maina’ and ‘Senehi Gaokhoni’

– Dr Jayeeta Sharma (Julie)

(On behalf of Gita Debi’s family from Toronto and Guwahati.)

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