“He was the guy next door, hanging at the corner shops just like us”: Neighbours remember Zubeen

For millions across Assam, Zubeen Garg was an icon, a voice that defined their lives, the singer who made them fall in love, cry, and heal. But for his neighbours in Kahilipara, he was something more ordinary, and perhaps more precious — he was just “the guy next door.”

Residents recall how Zubeen, despite his fame, never carried the aura of a celebrity around him. He would stroll down the lane, stop at the corner shops, and chat with people like an old friend. 

Shopkeepers say he often hung around with them, sipping tea, sharing jokes, asking about their families, and even helping out in the most mundane of ways. “He had no airs. You could never tell he was a star when he was here,” one neighbour said.

Children from the neighbourhood remember how Zubeen would sometimes pause to watch them play cricket or football, offering a cheer or a playful tease. 

For the elderly, he was a polite listener, often enquiring about their health. “Whenever anyone approached him for a request — a song, a blessing, a picture — he never refused. He made us feel like family,” a resident recalled with tears.

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At his Kahilipara residence in Guwahati, family members, relatives, and mourners gathered in deep sorrow. Zubeen’s father, 85-year-old Mohini Mohan Borthakur, a retired bureaucrat and acclaimed writer, is battling Alzheimer’s disease and has been kept under medical observation after the devastating news. His mother, singer Ily Borthakur, had passed away decades ago, while his elder daughter Jonki, also an actor-singer, died in a road accident in 2002. 

Even at the peak of his success, when Ya Ali was playing across the world, Zubeen returned home and blended back into the rhythm of Guwahati’s life. For the people living around him, he was not just the voice of Assam but a neighbour who felt within reach, a man whose humility was as much a part of his legacy as his music.

As Assam mourns, his neighbours grieve not just for the singer but for the man they had the privilege to call one of their own — the guy next door who never forgot where he belonged.