Hours after the news of his death reached Guwahati on September 19, fans of Zubeen Garg started gathering in colleges, street corners and outside his home and spontaneously started singing Mayabini — a song he held close to his heart. This unrehearsed outpouring was a precursor to what the world would witness two days later.

As his body was brought back to Guwahati from Singapore, over 15 lakh people trooped from the airport to his home and then to a stadium where the mortal remains were kept for people to pay their final respects. Thousands had been at the airport from the night before. His hearse took six hours to cross 30 km.

All of this might seem bereft of logic. But then, the love Assam had for the cultural giant betrayed logic, too. Zubeen’s fandom spanned ages — there’s a video o

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