19th July. It still strikes my mind with terrible disbelief as how life poses some of the most unexpected and unfortunate circumstances. The untimely death of Dr Anamika Roy was one such. It was a Cultural Studies class in Cotton College when I first met her and from then on she remained a beloved teacher. Dr Anamika Roy hailed from West Bengal but in course of time she soaked herself wholeheartedly into the Assamese culture. After completing her post graduate studies she came to Guwahati for the first time in 2005 to pursue her research on traditional communication methods among the Karbis of Karbi Anglong and Kamrup. In 2010 she achieved her Doctoral degree from the prestigious Visva Bharati University and that most certainly was her very first contribution to Assamese life. Dr Roy had huge number of research papers to her credit on Assamese mass media published in several international journals and some fifty papers she had read in various national and international seminars. It is quite notable that none of her research works concerned the place she originally belonged to. Collaborating with her husband Dr Ankuran Dutta she wrote two books for the Mass Communication students of Assam Janasamparka(2008) and Biggyapon (2010) both of which were published by Bina Library. Dr Roy had translated a book on science communication into Assamese and Bengali during the period 2008-09. The most impressive aspect about Dr Roy was her personality and the intensity with which she loved the Assamese language and culture. She mastered the Assamese language in no time and started writing valuable articles and books. She was a regular contributor to Employment News, The Assam Tribune, The Sentinel and so on. The kind of sincerity and responsibility that she felt for the Assamese language and culture led her to translating four books of Assamese literature into Bengali in an attempt to disseminate the sheer beauty of Assamese literature. She translated the much loved novel Asimat Jaar Heral Sima, Mribal Talukdar's 1962 into Bengali, both these two works are on its way to be published. Moreover, she completed translating Lakshminath Bezbaroa's Mor Jiwon Xowaran and Dr Bhupen Hazarika's Moi Eti Jajabor she had planned to complete by the end of July. Who knew destiny had some other plan for her that put an end to everything she might have planned to do. How much energy should a person put to accomplish things she is passionate about? Dr Roy was engaged in more than ten projects at the same time. Dr Roy was a dedicated educator with a noble heart. There have been numerous instances when she even helped students financially. For an orphanage at Jalukbari she took entire responsibilities to teach the students English so much so she engaged one of her own students with a salary from her own pocket.
From June 2006 onwards Dr Roy got herself consistently engaged in media education in Assam. She gad taught in the Media study centre of Cotton College, Gauhati University and Sikkim Central University. It is utterly heart-breaking to write this on her death anniversary. Her passion, creativity and nobility towards media education in Assam will remain incomparable.In an unusual case of medical negligence Dr Roy lost her life. May there be asequate evaluation of her works, may there be proper justice to her unfortunate death. Assam will forever keep you in its heart, ma'am! May you rest in eternal peace!
Author: Daisy Barman
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