A Birthday That Echoes Beyond This World
Rhituparna Chakraborty shares a deeply personal Zubeen Da birthday tribute. She recounts gentle, posthumous echoes—a dragonfly and a shooting star—as messages from her beloved idol beyond this world.
Happy Birthday Zubeen Da. Yes, it is Zubeen Garg, our very own Zubeen Da, whose birthday is on the eighteenth of November. And here I am, wondering how I should wish him. Through social media, or a phone call, or a message. But I never had his number. I only began following his Instagram account recently. Yes, I am his fan. A fan who did not always check his posts, but a fan who remembers him vividly, remembers his aura, his presence, his voice… a fan who turns nostalgic with every memory of him.
Nineteenth September 2025 was the day that shook every admirer of his. I was one of them. Almost two months have passed, and people assume it is only a matter of time before his fans step out of this trauma. Really? Can a fan ever walk out of such pain? A question I will answer today, on his birthday.
And here is a story. Yes, a story when grief meets a gentle sign.
It was only a few days after I received the devastating news of Zubeen Da’s travel from earth to a better place. Yes, it has to be a better place, because Zubeen da deserves nothing less than paradise.
I was lost in his songs. The one I kept playing was “Buku te Buku khon thoi kune nu kaande, xodiyar kulate bohi…” I kept watching the video where he wore a vibrant attire resembling rainbow colours, with our Gamusa wrapped as his bandana, a symbol of his eternal love for Assam.
I sat alone in the dining room. Since it was evening, as usual, I had closed all the windows and doors of my home lest mosquitoes come in. When the song ended, I closed my eyes and pressed my palms over them. That was when I heard a sound. I looked around but found nothing. The sound persisted. My eyes went to one of the windows in the living room. The window was shut. As I walked towards the window, I saw something. It was a dragonfly. Its colours were the very same hues as the shirt and trousers Zubeen Da wore in the song I had just watched. One of its wings was stuck in the window.
Very gently, I freed it and lo and behold, it flew away.
Well, I believed it was perhaps Zubeen da who had come to meet me in the guise of a dragon fly. I truly believed that.
And then, a whisper from the night sky. Yes, another moment came only a few days ago. This time, I was not lost in Zubeen Da’s songs. I was lost in his thoughts. Sitting at my desk, I tried reading, yet my mind kept drifting to him. I closed the book, walked to the balcony, and looked up at the night sky.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bright streak of light flashed and vanished. A shooting star. I remembered how people once told me to make a wish whenever we see one. But how did the shooting star know that I was thinking about Zubeen Da at that very moment?
Memories and love do not need justification. Perhaps these anecdotes may seem imagined or exaggerated. But no true fan would ever fabricate stories about someone they love with all their heart. Yes, maybe the dragonfly was just a creature. Perhaps the shooting star was only an astronomical event. Yet my heart whispers that both were messages from Zubeen Da..
People judge. They say, “Come on Rhitu, do not be so emotional. He was just a singer.”
Through my tears, I ask, “Just a singer? Zubeen Da was just a singer?”
I try to explain, “Zubeen Da is not just a singer…” but I pause, because my words cannot be understood by anyone who never knew him as we did. So I remain quiet, and I sob.
Yes, “Roi Roi Binale” released. His last movie. No, I have not watched it. I cannot. Because I will break again, I will shatter again… and once again, there will be countless judgments. “Why are you crying for a singer?”
No. I am not crying for a singer. I am crying for my Zubeen Da. The Zubeen Da whose voice now fills paradise, while we, mere earthlings, must live with the recordings he left behind. We will never hear him live again.
And here is a Birthday wish straight sent to Paradise. Let me come back to the question of how to wish for Zubeen Da. How do I do it?
I will wish him directly from my heart.
And I know he will hear me.
I know he is watching me write this for him.
So yes, Zubeen Da…
Happy Birthday.
I love you.
And I am sorry that I cannot bring myself to watch Roi Roi Binale. My heart breaks each time I remember that there will never be another film of yours after this. Wherever you are Zubeen da, please celebrate your birthday. We will sing Happy Birthday to You from Earth.
Lots of love
Rhituparna
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