ASSAM : Pranoy Phukan is a gynaecologist, writer and social contributor, all rolled into one. While on duty, he dedicates his time to healing and bringing new lives into the world. When he is away from his medical commitments, he lets his imagination soar to weave words into poetry and prose. However, his life has another, philanthropic, side to it.
Born in Dikhowmukh in Assam’s Sivasagar district, Phukan is the head and professor of the gynaecology department at the government-run Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh, a premier medical institute of the Northeast. He has taught and mentored numerous medical students in a career spanning over three decades. He has served as a university examiner for MBBS, MS and PhD programmes; contributed chapters to postgraduate textbooks of gynaecology and paediatrics; and published more than 50 research papers.
These accomplishments are impressive, but tell only one part of the story. Phukan is also an accomplished writer, with a literary career spanning more than four decades. He is the author of 13 books: six poetry collections, a work of poetry criticism, a novel, a short story collection, two edited volumes on river-based poetry, including an anthology of Assamese poetry on river, and two books on maternal and child health and infertility.
Phukan has been writing Assamese poetry since his youth, drawing inspiration from rivers, deep woods and green paddy fields. His literary gifts were recognised and nurtured by Homen Borgohain, one of Assam’s most revered writers, critics and journalists.
Critics have observed that Phukan’s poetry is not merely aesthetic, it is socially conscious, carrying within it the breath of ordinary lives, the depth of human longing and a protest against injustice.
His selected poems have been translated into Bengali. He has written prose, with his short story collection on Assam’s environmental realities, urban struggles and the quiet loneliness that settles into modern lives. “I started writing poems in college. Slowly, I got influenced by Assamese poets, including Hiren Bhattacharya and Nilamani Phookan, as well as English poets like Pablo Neroda, Irwin Allen Ginsberg and Federico Garcia Lorca,” he said.
Goaded by Borgohain, Phukan started publishing poems when he was 30 years old. “I met Borgohain during a literary event where I recited a poem. I don’t know why but from then on, he kept encouraging me to publish my poems,” said Phukan, who writes for an Assamese daily.
He received awards and honours from various local organisations for his contributions to Assamese literature. He works with students and teachers to popularise and promote Assamese literature. He had earlier headed the literary wing of his medical college. “I mostly attend literary events that are organised in our region,” he said. Those who know Phukan well speak of something quieter and, perhaps, more enduring aspect of his life, that is, his unwavering support for students who cannot afford to continue their education. Over the years, he has quietly supported the education of students from underprivileged families, asking nothing in return and seeking no recognition for such noble gesture, but leaving a mark on the lives it has touched.
He comes from a place that has a mixed population, where a section of students faces a lot of difficulties in pursuing education due to financial hardship. He helps the deserving students buy books, pay school, college or university admission fees and fund their education.
Till date, he has helped around 20 students, including some who pursued university education. A few of them went on to become school and college teachers. Among those who benefitted is a young woman who studied at the University of Delhi. Eventually, she secured a job at a college.