As I write this, it has been 20 days since Zubeen Da left us. For 20 days, we – the people of Assam (and I say ‘people’ to include anyone who loved Zubeen Da as their own) – have been stuck in a loop, circling the first three stages of grief: shock, denial, and anger.

We are yet to reach the remaining stages of bargaining, depression, testing, and acceptance. With each passing day, that destination feels further and further away – especially with the misguided, at best, and nefarious, at worst, attempts to politicise Zubeen Garg's death, and possibly milk it for electoral advantage, by the stakeholders of power.

Other than the sight of hundreds of thousands of people from every class, caste, tribe, religion, and gender of Assam coming together to bid him adieu, and the air reverberating

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