FAKIR HASSEN
Bengal-born medical professional, artist and poet Dr Amitabh Mitra was on Sunday honoured by the Bengali Association of South Africa (BASA) for his three decades’ commitment to serving the people of not only South Africa, but a number of other countries.
Mitra’s award was part of the annual event by BASA, “Kobi Pranaam”, which honours the revered polymaths, poets and composers of Bengal, including Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Rajnikant Sen, Dwijendralal Roy, Atulprasad Sen and Salil Chowdhury.
“We aim to bring the art and culture of Bengal to all the (expatriate) Indians and also the South African Indians, who like this sweet language (Bengali),” said BASA president Gourish Chakravorty as he expressed confidence that even the sizeable number of people in the audience who did not understand Bengali would appreciate the items because of the universal language of music.
Adult and youth members of BASA paid tribute to the legends through song, dance, and drama performances.
Indian High Commissioner Prabhat Kumar reminded the audience that there were very few in the world who did not know of Tagore.
“Who doesn’t know our national poet, the writer of our national anthem? He travelled the world and wherever you go, from Japan to Argentina, you will find that he has been there. Also Kazi Nazrul Islam – the way he lived and the poems he wrote are also known to all of us, so thank you to BASA for honouring them,” Kumar said.
Accepting the award, Mitra explained that his love story with Africa began when he first worked as a UN volunteer in Niger, doing orthopaedic surgery under tents for six months.
Currently based in East London, Mitra first arrived in the country in 1993 as the country prepared for its first democratic elections after Nelson Mandela was released from 27 years as a political prisoner to become president in 1994.
“The apartheid-era was in its full strength and I had to take permission to enter East London, which was largely a white-dominated area. I felt the gradual rumblings of the fall of apartheid and wanted to be there when the country celebrated its first ever democracy,” Mitra said in an earlier interview with the African Writer magazine.
“I took over the orthopaedic section of Umtata hospital. After that, I joined the South African military service as a captain and worked on the Mozambique border, where the highest military honour was given to me,” he added.
Describing his work in the trauma field, mainly as head of the department of accident and emergency, trauma and the Thutuzela Gender Violence Assistance Centre at the Cecilia Makiwane Heritage Hospital in the township of Mdantsane, as “painful”, Mitra found escape from this through painting and writing, stemming from his belief in fusing art, poetry, and medicine for ultimate healing.
His work has been exhibited in South Africa, India and Europe.
Mitra has also served as an orthopaedic surgeon in high altitude hospitals of the Kingdom of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh.
“I was associated with the African National Congress even during 1979 onwards when I helped the ANC and its representative’s office at New Delhi through the then Indian government. I am passionate about politics of both these countries which bear so close a resemblance to each other. Sometimes as a mediator, I help each of them understand the socio-cultural influences in political exchanges,” he said.
Mitra’s numerous awards include the South African Police Service Provincial Commissioner’s Ambassador Award in 2022; the provincial Eastern Cape Minister of Arts and Culture’s Special Award in 2018; and the Discovery Foundation Award for research in 2017. He was the first English poet awarded in memory of Indian National People’s Poet Mukut Bihari Saroj at Gwalior in 2022.