ITANAGAR, Jan 31: The Nyishi Elite Society (NES) has deeply mourned the demise of former NES education and literature secretary, Ter Tana Tara, who breathed his last at the Baptist Christian Medical Hospital in Tezpur (Assam) on 29 January.
He leaves behind his wife, four sons and two daughters.
Born to late Tana Tacho and late Tana Puming on 1 March, 1953 in Selsemchi village in Papum Pare district, Tara
had done his primary schooling from John Firth Mission School in the erstwhile North Lakhimpur district of Assam, and completed matriculation from the Govt Secondary School in Makokchung in 1965. He later graduated from Gauhati University in Assam in 1973.
He had been appointed as a junior teacher in 1973 in Koloriang administrative centre, but resigned in 1974 and dedicated himself to Christian missionary work. He was one of the founding members of the Nyishi Baptist Church Council (NBCC), and played a vital role in building the NBCC, the NES informed in a condolence message.
“He was also one of the leading followers who translated the Bible into the Nyishi language,” it said.
Describing late Tara as “a man of noble heart with utmost commitment and dedication, and a friend of all ages, admired by all sections of the people,” the NES informed that he had contributed a lot to the development of the Nyishi language in the initial stage.
“He was one of the founding members of the Nyishi Elite Society, and became the first education and literature secretary of the NES from 1987 to 1992,” it said, and added that “the dream of late Ter Tana Tara of having the Nyishi language has been fulfilled today as the Nyishi script has been developed and is being taught in schools.”
“His untimely demise is a great loss to the Nyishi community in particular and the state as a whole, and has created a huge vacuum in the society which is difficult to fill,” it said.
The NES prayed to the almighty to grant eternal peace to the departed soul, and to bestow strength and solace on the bereaved family.
