A playful rhino as mascot, a Bhupen Hazarika song as theme for 12th South Asian Games

The 12th South Asian Games will be held simultaneously in Guwahati and Shillong from February 6 to 16, 2016.

South Asian Games, South Asian Games 2016, 2016 South Asian Games, Bhupender Hazarika, Hazarika, sports news, sports

Tikhor the rhino calf appears in a blue cap, red T-shirt, and blue shorts as the mascot of the 12th South Asian Games. (Source: PTI)

Tikhor, a rhino calf as a sharp, naughty, sporty, and modern boy, was on Sunday here declared as the mascot for the upcoming 12th South Asian Games that will be held simultaneously in Guwahati and Shillong from February 6 to 16, 2016. A Bhupen Hazarika song on the other hand has been chosen as the theme song of the event.

Unveiling the mascot Tikhor, along with the logo of the event – a flower with eight petals representing the eight participating nations – jointly with Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, union sports minister Sarbananda said Tikhor not only represented an energetic all-rounder, but would also focus on the natural heritage of the Northeast in the form of a rhino calf.

“With traditional and sporty costumes, Tikhor would be playing all games and welcoming every new idea in sports,”he said. The highly endangered one-horned rhinoceros is also the state animal of Assam.

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Tikhor incidentally is a popular character in Assamese folk literature, who figures in a story called “Tikhor aru Chutibai”immortalized by Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa, the doyen of modern Assamese literature in“Burhi Aair Sadhu” – the first collection of Assamese folk stories published more than 100 years ago. Tikhor, a naughty, energetic orphan boy, not only plays various pranks in the story, but by dint of his presence of mind also helps his sister Chutibai survive all odds including fighting a tiger that had plotted to eat them.

While Tikhor the rhino calf appears in a blue cap, red T-shirt, and blue shorts as the mascot of the 12th South Asian Games, it was another rhino called Rangman – a happy person with a smiling face picked up from a number of Bhupen Hazarika songs of the 1960 – that was the mascot for the 33rd National Games held here in 2007. While the mascot, designed by Anant Khasbardar of Kolhapur, has been selected from among 450 entries by the organizing committee, the logo has been designed by Abhijeet Krishna of NIFT Patna.

Sonowal also said that while about 4500 athletes and officials from eight nations were expected to participate in 23 different events during 10-day long Games, it would also promote Guwahati and Shillong – and with them the Northeastern region as a tourist destination in the seven other countries.

“The Northeastern region is a full of diversities and we need to strengthen these diversities by promoting unity and South Asian Games would be the right platform to promote unity among the South Asian countries,” Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said.

Bhupen Hazarika song

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Meanwhile, a Bhupen Hazarika song has been selected as the theme song for the 12th South Asian Games. Written way back in December 1995, the song – ‘Ei prithivi ekhan krirangan/krira hol shantir prangan’ (This world is a playground and sports is a symbol of peace) – is being translated into at least eight languages to represent the eight participating nations.

“Bhupen Hazarika was such a versatile lyricist and singer that he had composed a song befitting almost all kinds of human activities. While he wrote this song way back in 1995, it fits so well with the very spirit of the South Asian Games which also intends to promote peace and cooperation among the neighbourhood nations, that it appears as if he (Hazarika) had composed it specially for this occasion,” union sports minister Sonowal said. (ends)