GUWAHATI, Aug 18 – It is in a way a resurrection of a forgotten war hero of Assam laid to rest in Singapore during the height of World War II. Dr Tarani Kanta Roy of Sorbhog in Barpeta district who served in the Medical Corps of the Allied Forces embraced martyrdom on February 13, 1942 when the hospital he was working in suffered heavy bombardment by the Japanese air force. It was only on August 8 this year that the resting place of the brave-heart was stumbled upon by his niece and niece-in-law during their visit to a war memorial in Singapore, the Cranzi War Cemetery. Inscribed on the sepulchre were the words ‘Their name liveth for ever more: Tarani Kanta Roy-doctor and Satya Paul Khosla-doctor.’
“It is unbelievable news for us at the fag end of our own lives – to know where our father is lying in eternal sleep. Perhaps it was destined that way, and all in the family are yet to come to terms with the startling development,” noted theatre personality Dulal Roy, the second son of the late Dr Tarani Kanta Roy, said.
Roy, in fact, never saw his father as he was still in his mother’s womb when his father left for Singapore. “I was told later that he was given a ceremonial send-off by hundreds of villagers on the eve of his departure. Though just into his thirties, my father was as popular as he was respected,” he said.
Reminiscing, Roy said that the Army doctor had a distinguished service before he met with premature martyrdom. “A surviving colleague of his once told us that during the aerial attack on that fateful day, my father was attending his duties unflinchingly even in the midst of the bombardment. He was of the firm belief that the enemy would never target a hospital,” he said.
Roy said that till the discovery of his father’s tomb, it had been rather hard for his family members to accept his demise. “My mother, who survived just four years after his death, never acknowledged it, always believing that he would return,” he said.
The immediate family members of the late Army doctor include, besides Dulal Roy, his elder brother Hemendra Roy and elder sisters Kusum Thakuria and Arundhati Das (all into their 70s now).
“When our niece Bidisha Roy Kalita and her husband Manoj Kalita (they are now settled in Singapore) broke the news, we were dumbstruck and did not know how to react. Now we plan to visit Singapore and pay our homage to our father,” Santichaya Roy, wife of Dulal Roy and an artiste in her own right, said.
His distinguished military service apart, Dr Tarani Kanta Roy had a deep cultural orientation and took interest in arts. “He was obviously culturally-inclined, and among other things wrote poems,” Roy said.
Roy said that the family was planning to do something in memory of the late Dr Tarani Kanta Roy so that his legacy endures.
“It is unbelievable news for us at the fag end of our own lives – to know where our father is lying in eternal sleep. Perhaps it was destined that way, and all in the family are yet to come to terms with the startling development,” noted theatre personality Dulal Roy, the second son of the late Dr Tarani Kanta Roy, said.
Roy, in fact, never saw his father as he was still in his mother’s womb when his father left for Singapore. “I was told later that he was given a ceremonial send-off by hundreds of villagers on the eve of his departure. Though just into his thirties, my father was as popular as he was respected,” he said.
Reminiscing, Roy said that the Army doctor had a distinguished service before he met with premature martyrdom. “A surviving colleague of his once told us that during the aerial attack on that fateful day, my father was attending his duties unflinchingly even in the midst of the bombardment. He was of the firm belief that the enemy would never target a hospital,” he said.
Roy said that till the discovery of his father’s tomb, it had been rather hard for his family members to accept his demise. “My mother, who survived just four years after his death, never acknowledged it, always believing that he would return,” he said.
The immediate family members of the late Army doctor include, besides Dulal Roy, his elder brother Hemendra Roy and elder sisters Kusum Thakuria and Arundhati Das (all into their 70s now).
“When our niece Bidisha Roy Kalita and her husband Manoj Kalita (they are now settled in Singapore) broke the news, we were dumbstruck and did not know how to react. Now we plan to visit Singapore and pay our homage to our father,” Santichaya Roy, wife of Dulal Roy and an artiste in her own right, said.
His distinguished military service apart, Dr Tarani Kanta Roy had a deep cultural orientation and took interest in arts. “He was obviously culturally-inclined, and among other things wrote poems,” Roy said.
Roy said that the family was planning to do something in memory of the late Dr Tarani Kanta Roy so that his legacy endures.
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