Zubeen Garg: A Loving Tribute!

 

The fair bright-faced boy with curly black hair, the sweet smile that never ceases to linger on his face and his eyes, his carefree ways and a great sense of humour, his brutal honesty and equally brutally outspoken, and yet the simplicity of his magnetic personality is overwhelming. These are the images that come to my mind whenever I think of him or his songs; even more now when his sudden untimely tragic accidental demise has shattered millions and millions across Assam, across India and across the world. These images are of the late 90s and early 2000s (unfortunately, I don’t have personal photographs as personal cameras or mobiles were conspicuously absent those days.). He is Zubeen Garg. He has been  a living legend of Assam, second only to Bhupen Hazarika, till destiny took him away just when the people of Assam have started celebrating the birth centenary of Sudhakantha Bhupen Hazarika. Zubeen, possibly the greatest singer-artiste ever produced in Assam, in terms of his mind-blowing following—covering/influencing/entertaining almost all of Gen X, Gen Y or the Millennials, Gen Z and even the Gen Alpha. And this is not just for his singing, but more for his sterling qualities that make him a dear friend of all the classes of Assam.

The crowds paying their last tributes all over Assam have been unprecedented with millions of them refusing to leave the streets or the grounds where his mortal remains are kept or awaited earlier for public darshan. Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, initially announced a three-day state mourning from 20-22^nd September, 2025, but had to extend it to 23^rd bowing to the incredible surge of admirers. The state funeral thus is going to be held tomorrow, the 23^rd September, in the outskirts of the city of Guwahati—a decision made on the request of Zubeen’s devastated wife Garima Saikia Garg and his family while there have been demands for being given the same honour from other cities.  His millions of devout admirers are also very angry because of some element of suspicion over his accidental death in Singapore on 19^th September, 2025, and amid mourning their hearts are crying out for the truth and the action that has to follow.

After the huge successes of his first few albums of Assamese songs, folk mixed with modern music for the first time, he landed in Mumbai around 1995 trying to find a place in Bollywood. We too came to know him that time. There was a relative’s son who was an inseparable childhood friend from the Jorhat years of Zubeen, Gautam Chakravarty, and who came to Mumbai for a course in sound recording, and through him we came to acquaint ourselves personally with Zubeen. He brought Zubeen once to our home in Mumbai for lunch and then onward we continued to meet him in the studios and in the functions organized by the Assam Association, Mumbai during various festivals where he sang invariably. The boy with the golden voice soon found a footing in Bollywood music and started playback singing in various movies.

His song Ya Ali for the movie Gangster (2006) made him very famous earning him a nomination in the Filmfare Awards-2007. Thanks to his commitment to his home state and his own people, he couldn’t fully concentrate on Bollywood, and therefore, apart from the occasional Hindi and Bangla film songs he worked mostly for Assam—composing-writing-singing for albums and Assamese films, as music director for many of these films and also acting in a few of them, not to speak of his immensely popular performances on the Bihu stages all over the state. Very soon Zubeen had set up his own recording studios in Mumbai and Guwahati. As is natural for a legendary singer, awards and nominations kept coming his way. He won his first National Award in 2005, Rajat Kamal for Best Music Director from Assam for the movie Dinabandhu, and in 2007 he received another National Award for Best Music from the then President of India, Pratibha Patil, for the non-fiction film Echoes of Silence.

I rue the fact that for the last decade or so we haven’t had any personal contact with him; however, we always got the news about him, heard from his friends known to us and from the grapevine. Like most of superstars and legends, controversies surrounded him all the years—usually for his unconventional straightforward ways and words, and his outbursts in public places and on the music stages. Perhaps a family tragedy affected him beyond repair. His younger sister, Jonkey Borthakur, who had been emerging as a singer as well as a movie actor died in a road accident in Assam in 2002, at the tender age of 18. The trauma of losing a sibling is always unbearable—the trauma often leaving an inerasable impact on the other siblings, particularly the elder ones. Zubeen tried his best to relieve his trauma through music—releasing an album in her name, but perhaps the pain never left him, making him unpredictable, given to intoxication and created health issues in the recent years.

Zubeen Garg was totally apolitical—raising his voice against anything he found wrong with any political party or ruling parties. He wholeheartedly participated in the anti-CAA movement in Assam during 2021-22, apart from other protests where he took to the streets with his music. He is also known for his charity, never disappointing anybody in need. It’s said by his fans that nobody ever left his house in Assam empty handed. He also participated in setting up a supermarket where products were directly procured from the farmers and villagers.

Zubeen Garg was born and named after the legend Zubin Mehta to parents Mohini Mohan Borthakur and Ily Borthakur—his father a poet and lyricist apart from his civil service career and his mother also a singer who was Zubeen’s first guru. He changed his family surname ‘Borthakur’ to his gotra ‘Garg', perhaps to assume an Indian identity.  His father, around 85 years of age now, survives him along with Zubeen's youngest sister and wife Garima Garg. Today, we join the prayers of his family, friends and the millions of his admirers. May God bless his noble soul and rest him in eternal bliss. And his music is going to flow on unabated…more than 38 thousand songs in more than 40 languages and dialects keeping us tuned for ages to come. Salute the great artiste!

Padma Vibhushan Dr. Prabha Atre (1932-2024): The Complete Artiste Breathes Her Last

On the eve of Uruka, Magh Bihu, this Saturday morning delivers us a shattering blow—more devastating because of its suddenness and unexpectedness. The legendary Hindustani Classical Vocalist and the senior-most artiste of the Kirana Gharana, Padma Vibhushan Dr. Prabha Atre has passed away in the wee hours at his Pune residence at the age of 92. Ragini’s Guru cum friend-philosopher-guide cum an away mother for both of us for a span of nearly 35 years has ceased all of a sudden, leaving us helpless and perplexed. It is very sudden and unexpected as, defying even the nineties, she’s had always been lithe, lively, active and spirited; she’s had been commuting between Mumbai and Pune constantly—still climbing the three flights of stairs in her Matunga flat in Mumbai and doing her creative work and teaching in her Gurukul residence in Pune. Madam, as we called her since 1990, was to perform tomorrow in Mumbai at the Sureshbabu Hirabai music conference that she herself started in 1991 at the Tilak Vidyalaya Premises, Vile Parle. Only last week she called up Ragini asking about her music and everything, and as always asking about me ‘Chinmay kya karta hai’ and asking us to come to Pune to stay with her. Our grief has increased all the more because we’ve been planning to visit her positively this time, during the last week of January, and this has come to a naught. We also feel helpless: in a repetitive cycle we invariably fail to be with our closest ones during times of death  or distress for reasons beyond our control which, naturally, are interpreted by others as mere excuses; this time too we’re unable to at least go and have a last darshan of the legendary artiste in Pune, because Ragini had a surgery in a Thane hospital in the last week of December 2023 and has been strictly instructed by the doctor to not travel for one month. We ask Madam for forgiveness and pray for the eternal bliss of her great soul.

Memories flood in. Ragini’s Guru Birendra Kumar Phukan and her father Sangeet Jyoti Bibekananda Bhattacharyya had suggested Dr. Prabha Atre as her future Guru in Mumbai. Accordingly, one day I went to the SNDT Women’s University at Marine Lines, Mumbai where she was the then Head of Music. On being directed to her practice room I peeped in asking the few ladies present inside for Dr. Atre. Her profound simplicity and modesty struck me the moment she came out into the passage with a warm sweet smile. I introduced myself and told her about the purpose of my visit. She listened very carefully and then gave me a telephone number to call her after a few days. For about fortnight she kept us hanging which, we understood later, was just to test Ragini’s sincerity and dedication to music learning and to pursue a career. Finally, she called us over to that SNDT practice room and asked Ragini to sing, also allowing me to sit on the carpeted floor of the room where a few other disciples were also present. And Ragini qualified to be the legend’s disciple along with some sound advice and instructions. That was sometime in 1990 and since then Ragini has been learning from her in various ways—in her direct class lessons, from the telephone conversations and through the conferences/stage concerts/lectures.  In her classes at her Mumbai flat as well as in all stage concerts I too was most welcome whenever I could make it. We were also blessed to have the love and attention of her lovely parents who lived with her in Mumbai. 

In less than two years I came to know the great artiste from very close quarters and discover the greatest human being in her. We got bold enough to invite her to Assam in March 1992 for stage concerts. To our ecstasy she accepted immediately and spontaneously, without bothering about the fees she normally charged that time. She performed at Ravindra Bhawan in Guwahati and also in Nagaon. She stayed in our Sankardev Nagar residence and in Bauli Bahor, Nagaon, like a most intimate member of the family. In a souvenir published for the Guwahati concert I wrote an article on her describing her as ‘The Complete Artiste’. To my profound delight and gratitude, she praised the article like anything, and later got it translated into Marathi and published it in a Marathi music journal.

Over the decades Ragini stayed and traveled with her on various occasions; both of us lived with her for some time in her Matunga residence; and she also came to stay with us at our Wadala government quarters for a few days along with her associate Dr. Bharathi MD. She occasionally involved me in hers books too and acknowledged my contribution accordingly. Apart from being a performer par excellence she’s also been an organizer of music conferences-workshops-competitions, musicologist-author and an avid music teacher-Guru.

We feel sorry that we couldn’t meet in her in person for the last few years, particularly after my transfer from Mumbai. However, she kept up constant contact with us, with words of advice, encouragement and persistence, both as a Guru and as a mother. Thanks to my stint in Mumbai Doordarshan News the legendary artiste was humble enough to request me for publicity for her various events that continued till now. In the meantime, she started her YouTube channel broadcasts and I used to get the publicity matter, dot on time every time. The last time she talked to me directly on phone was in September 2022 (her Birthday on 13^th September) when the celebrations were going to for her 90^th Birthday.  She gave an invaluable article on various music theories and guidance to upcoming vocalists that she wanted me to try publishing in leading newspapers as well as in my blog. In Kolkata that time , I put in my maximum efforts to justify her confidence in me and published the article also in my blog. Luckily, I still have the link to that invaluable article.

We have lost one of the closest persons on earth for us, but we feel she’ll be with us for the rest of our lives and that her music is all set to go on, forever. A Salute to The Complete Artiste. 

(A while ago I've received the confirmatory email from Dr. Prabha Atre Foundation along with the artiste's full bios.)

Hindustani Classical Music Living Legend Dr. Prabha Atre Speaks!

The living legend of Indian Classical (Hindustani) Music and the senior most vocalist of the Kirana Gharana, Padma Vibhushan Dr. Prabha Atre celebrates her 90^thbirthday on 13^th September, 2022. This is indeed a most significant and momentous occasion in the history of Indian classical music as the complete artiste goes tirelessly on serving the cause of music with her lilting compositions, her sweet and melodious presentations, her scholarly discourses, her progressive outlook, her in-depth research and enlightening books and her devoted role as the most ideal beloved Guru for her countless disciples. Dr Prabha Atre holds the world record in releasing 11 books on a single subject which is music and has been instrumental in propagating and popularizing Indian classical vocal music in the West as the late Pt. Ravishankar did with the Sitar. On this occasion the legendary artiste is also initiating a new chapter with the inauguration of the Kirana Gharana Library and Resource Centre in her Gurukul in Pune on the morning of 13^th September.

 

I have had the good fortune of knowing this great personality for over the last thirty years thanks to her adopting my wife Ragini Chakravarty as one of her leading disciples. I had great moments of meeting her in various ways—as a motherly figure in her home or in our home, her precious lessons to my wife and her sternly professional form in public concerts. What fascinated me from the beginning has been her modesty, simplicity and a down-to-earth approach to life. Her exemplary lifestyle is indeed the secret of her boundless energy and astounding success. To mark this great occasion, we reproduce below Dr Prabha Atre’s appeal to the music lovers and a thought-provoking article on music that could very well lead to the much-needed reforms apart from enlightening the music learners as well as music lovers on the modern trends in music. (Courtesy: Bharathi MD, Secretary, Dr. Prabha Atre Foundation. Thanks to the efforts of the Foundation the gems and the evergreen presentations of Dr. Prabha Atre are being made available on a weekly basis on YouTube.)

Dear Music Fraternity

Namaskar!

 

Standing at the doors of 90, I, as a classical singer would like to share my thoughts

about raag-ras and raag-samay concepts in Hindustani classical music. We all know that

tradition is not a stagnant pool. It is a river flowing with time, assimilating new trends and

discarding outdated practices. We have to examine today’s music performance in the

context of present times. I request you all to go through the write-up given below. Don’t

 you think we should make necessary changes to make our music richer based on logical

 and scientific reasoning?

        

(Prabha Atre) 

 

 

RAAG-RAS AND RAAG-SAMAY

 

Music is considered to be the purest form of art. It does not represent anything in this world.  It has its own language and meaning.  Its abstract nature detaches it from all the ‘known’ in this world. Man has used music consciously or unconsciously to express his feelings. Thus, the abstract in music became concrete and specific for him. The abstract quality of music is best represented in the concept of raag in Indian music where music exists for itself, it remains within itself.   To approach raag in its bare form, therefore, is difficult both for an artist and a lay listener.

 

The association with some ‘known’ element helps the artist in giving character to the raag and listener to experience its emotional content. Therefore, in the process of creating a raag the artist in spite of having good knowledge of theory and technique looks for some outside help to transform the ‘abstract’ in raag into the ‘concrete’.

 

The concepts of raag-ras and raag-samay are an attempt to provide ‘concrete’ to the ‘abstract’ in raag. By identifying melodies with gods, seasons, hours of the day, etc., man attributed ras or moods to melodies, which helped him to create his music with distinct character.

 

Raag-time theory is also an attempt to provide ‘concrete’ to the ‘abstract’ in raag.At one time, man was very close to nature which perhaps explains the relation between a raag and a particular time. Today, man is far away from nature, living in closed walls, in an artificial environment. His life-style and habits have changed considerably. Under these circumstances, can one relate raag with time?

 

The abstract in music can be experienced best when there is some visual, some past association and some verbal communication to go with it. The time theory provided necessary context, especially to distinguish between melodies having similar features.

 

The modern theory of enjoying music advocates thatthe aesthetic emotions are generated mainly through the expressiveness of the voice, treatment of the musical material and tempo. The verbal text, visuals if used effectively, or associations, can also help to produce a specific ras or mood in music. A raag can express different shades of the same mood depending upon whether it is using aalaap, taan, sargam, or bol-phrases. Tempo, however, plays a vital role in creating moods.

 

A number of questions arise in the context of raag-ras and raag-time theories:

1. Raags are attributed specific ras. But very often the themes of the bandish i.e., song-text are contradictory to the ras. E.g., raag Bhairavi is supposed to convey Karuna (pathos) ras. The diverse themes of the song-texts in Bhairavi seem to give their meaning to raag, and listeners still enjoy it thoroughly. Raag Bhairavi is sung at any time.

2. Almost every raag, irrespective of time seems to create a lively, happy atmosphere when it enters into a fast tempo.

3. Over the years, some raags have changed considerably retaining their old names. What about their ras and time?

4. What is the time and ras of mishra (mixed) raags — raags evolved out of the combination of two or more raags having different ras?

5. What is the ras and time of a newly created raag?

6. Does an audience — Indian or non-Indian experience the same ras of a raag at a particular time?

7. When the same raag is presented by different artists, or when the same raag is presented by the same artist at different times, does every listener have the same experience?

All these go to prove that the raag-character and the raag-mood are intrinsically related to its own musical material and its treatment. Its characteristic phrases and their flow give it its musical identity and beauty, and generate aesthetic emotions.

These aesthetic emotions are converted into a specific ras or mood independently by the performer or the listener depending on their state of mind.

There are various other things which make one to think about the relevance of raag- time theory.

1. Radio, TV, and recording companies record any raag any time and that does not seem to have any effect on the presentation of the raag. Not only that, radio and TV channels broadcast these recordings at any time, according to their need. It is only in public performances that time is imposed on a raag to manifest its mood.

2. One practices any raag any time, according to his convenience and that does not seem to affect or tarnish the mood of the raag or its character.

3. What about mishra raags? Why should Bhairav-Bahaar and Yamani-Bilaawal be presented in morning only? Bahaar and Yaman are night raags.   Why shouldn’t these raags be rendered at night also?

4.  When one listens to film songs, naatya sangeet (theatre songs) of Maharashtra, or devotional songs based on a pure raag, the raag-time principle does not even remotely cross one’s mind. On the contrary one seems to enjoy any raag any time.

5.   Carnatic music is considered more tradition bound; yet it does not follow the time theory strictly. However, Hindustani music with all its flexibility still advocates the time theory!

If time theory is to be strictly followed, then there is a danger of losing raags which fall outside the concert timings. Isn’t that a great loss to Indian music?

All these queries need to be addressed scientifically, logically.

 

At present, raag-ras and raag-samay concepts are mentioned more due to the conditioning of tradition than to be followed strictly. These concepts have been deeply embedded in our psyche due to age old traditions. They have lost their relevance, context with the passage of time, but they are still followed blindly. Don’t they need to be tested scientifically? It is tradition alone which provides new pathways. If tradition starts hampering the progress and growth, then it needs to be redefined in the changed context. In such circumstances, it does not get broken or mutilated, but gets rejuvenated to provide new directions.

 

What should matter is not the time of presentation, but the quality, the effectiveness of presentation – the raag-roop evolves well and irrespective of time and ras the presentation should to be effective and should give aanandaanubhooti/bliss to both the artiste and listener.

 

 

                                                                                        --- By Dr Prabha Atre

 

                                                                                                           

KK Demise: Bollywood Vs Regional!

There was an ugly kind of mad expression just the day before the Kolkata concert of the famous Bollywood playback singer Krishnakumar Kunnath (KK) who succumbed to a heart attack immediately after that fateful concert, held in a jammed auditorium in extreme humid heat conditions. Due to the lack of space we couldn’t mention it and discuss about this particular madness, obviously a pandemic-induced one to a large extent, in our earlier piece. It came from a well-known Bangla artiste-singer in the form of an enraged expression. He questioned as to who is KK indeed, that why should there be so much craze for such Bollywood singers like him and that there are more talented singers than him available locally in Bengal. No doubt, his comments were condemned in all quarters including the social media. The artiste himself apologized for his behavior and later expressed his terrible shock over the tragedy that followed the concert.

 

However, this kind of ugly conduct cannot be wished away as a one-off thing or as an aberration. Of course, this coming from a Bangla artiste is a bit surprising, because Bengal has a thriving film and music industry that gives ample opportunities to the local singers or playback singers and, from the early ages in Bollywood numerous talented Bangla directors, producers, actors and singers migrated and made it big there, and it’s still in continuation. Our rather unfortunate observation that ‘his comments cannot be wished away…’ is valid in many other states of the country where the respective film and music industries are sluggish and not paying enough to anyone wanting to make a career, barring exceptions, of course.

 

In such a state there’ve always been dissatisfaction, lamentations and rage over the Bollywood artistes coming there and performing to packed auditoriums or stadiums while they just look on helplessly, abandoned as locals without the ‘glamour’ value. Many of us have seen from the sixties at least when local filmmakers go out of the states for music recordings, always preferring Bollywood playback singers to sing for their films even if it involved compromise with the local language. Even now, with high-tech studios coming up almost everywhere the filmmakers do the recordings there, but still prefer famous Hindi playback singers. 

Similarly, local event organizers are always ready to go to any extent to bring in Bollywood singers so that their events become grand successes. Local artists are not considered, because when they’re featured it just becomes a local event, mostly even without ticketing or ways to make money. Only the southern states are the glorious exceptions to this grumpy ‘artistic’ phenomenon because they create their own phenomenal superstars locally and generate the moolahs not just locally, but worldwide.  

 

Well, it’s an established fact that there are thousands of very talented singers all around the country; more now, thanks to the social media and many other digital platforms where they can sing like stars. But everyone cannot make it to the playback singing in Bollywood; forget about making it big there, due to various reasons like lack of enough finances or sponsorship or command over Hindi or lack of connections and kinda godfathers or many others. 

On the other hand, Bollywood thrives on its countrywide or even worldwide acceptance with everything enacted in the national language Hindi that is welcome everywhere except, obviously, in the southern states of India. Thanks to its huge reach Hindi films or songs or actors or singers become immensely popular instantly. And, the local organizers, filmmakers and other professionals vie to get hold of at least a handful of them to make their projects in regional languages look bigger, attractive and more glamorous.

 

The two-year hiatus created by the pandemic has hit the regional artists much more than those in Bollywood, making them frustrated, despondent and angry. Many of them have become like the millions of others who have lost their jobs, sources of income and thus the means of their preferred livelihoods. Therefore, this unfortunate chasm between Bollywood/Hindi vs. Regionals is likely to widen further in a future that is laden with uncertainty, inflation and declining growth of markets. And unfortunately again, we cannot offer any solution to this, because it’s been an issue of creative ventures, preferences and choices. Any kinds of strong regionalism or parochialism can only further the stress within the country.

Tributes: Legendary Santoor Maestro Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma And Cricketer Andrew Symonds!

I did indeed have some regrets though as I couldn’t pay my homage to the legendary Santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma on time, and as an aftereffect failed to write about the Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds. Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma passed away in a Mumbai hospital on 10^th May 2022 after a prolonged period of kidney ailments and dialysis, at the age of 84. The glowing and flowing tributes paid to him from the music world, particularly the field of Indian Classical Music, and from all other fields which are still continuing show what a music stalwart he had been since the fifties. Panditji had introduced a folk string instrument called Santoor that used to be played in Kashmir and had Persian origins to Indian Classical Music and popularized it immensely with his learning, concerts and fusion all over the globe and through an invaluable collection of albums. At his very initiation to this instrument by his vocalist father Uma Dutt Sharma young Shiv Kumar observed the playing styles of the instrument that integrated Sufi notes with traditional Kashmiri folk music.

 

Born on 13^thJanuary 1938 in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, then a princely state, Shiv Kumar was taught vocals and tabla from the early age of just five by his father. Later his father introduced him to Santoor and a legend was born.

 

Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma released his first solo Santoor album in 1960 and started performing all over the country. In the process he collaborated with the legendary flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia and legendary tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain in many of his fusion concerts or jugalbandis and in various instrumental music albums. Before getting deeper and deeper into classical music he was open to composing film music too, and as early as in 1955 he scored a piece of background music for V Shantaram’s classic film Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje. Settled in Mumbai he actively collaborated with Hariprasad Chaurasia that created the famous music director duo known as Shiv-Hari. They composed music for several of Yash Chopra’s superhit movies: Silsila (1981); Faasle (1985); Chandni(1989); Lamhe (1991); and Darr (1993). However, as we indicated earlier, he started delving into the depths of classical music, and famously said later, “Classical music is not for entertainment. It is to take you on a meditative journey”, which resulted into his moving away from composing Bollywood movie music. Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma has been showered with numerous national and international awards including the Sangeet Natak Akademy Award in 1986 and Padma Vibhushan in 2001.  

 

Personally speaking, I knew Panditji as a music director of the Shiv-Hari duo since the early eighties and saw Zakir Hussain as an young boy with long hair playing tabla like a magician on various Doordarshan clips. I didn’t know much about classical music those days. Only after my marriage to Ragini, a Hindustani Classical Vocalist herself, in the late eighties I began my guided initiation into classical music, both Hindustani and Carnatic, and started enjoying immensely. Thus began our musical journey in the musically enriched Mumbai environs, attending and listening to various recitations in various popular auditoriums in various localities of the city of dreams. We watched the classical legends perform live. The concerts of Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharm with Zakir Hussain were unforgettable and we never missed an event when the duo was to perform. In the meantime, Ragini too started her vocal recitations on various famous Mumbai stages and I got immersed into the depths of classical music, now understanding why Panditji referred to classical music as a meditative experience; although primarily for the performers it’s for the sincere listeners too.

 

A globally famous musician, but a very humble and modest human being, and with striking good looks and a tall astute figure. Being a disciple of Padma Vibhushan Dr. Prabha Atre, Ragini had several opportunities to meet and interact with the legend during music conferences and concerts, and she says till today what a great musician he has been; what a modest soft-spoken gentleman he has been; an imposingly handsome person, but with striking simplicity. Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma leaves behind his wife and his two sons, the first son Rahul is already an established Santoor performer. We salute the Santoor legend.

 

Cricket Australia has been hit again with the third tragedy in the last few weeks as one of its most lively cricketers Andrew Symonds died in a single car crash on 14^thMay 2022, at the young age of 46. This comes after Rodney Marsh and Shane Warne passed away within twenty-four hours of each other. We remember Andrew Symonds as a feared Aussie cricketer as India fans, thanks to his ferocious hitting with the bat and effective attack with the ball—both pace and spin—and of course, and a fielder of extraordinary abilities and reflexes; former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting described him as the best fielder he had ever seen. During his active cricket career from 1998 to 2008 for Australia he played in all three formats, however, made his impact mostly in the one-day internationals, at a time when the Aussies were invincible. He had been a part of Australia’s ICC World Cup triumphs of 2003 and 2007. Symonds, unfortunately, had had his share of controversies mainly due to his alcoholic habits and the infamous ‘monkey gate scandal’ involving India spinner Harbhajan Singh during India’s tour of Australia in 2008. It is really tragic that still in the prime of his cricket career Andrew Symonds had to finally retire in 2012 and his life ended now by another fatal tragedy. We mourn his demise and pay our tributes to a great cricketer.

(With some inputs and photos from Wikipedia)