Rongali Bihu celebrated in the City of Joy
Ratan Bhattacharjee
Kolkata on the eve of Rabindra Jayanti really turned to a City of Joy when on April 7 Mahajati Sadan was resont with the celebrations of Rongali Bihu. The programme started at 5.30 pm in the evening that brimmed with vibrant audience consisting of poets, artists, dancers and intellectuals when the artistes on the dais sang Bihu geets and folksongs and danced in traditiol attire of dhoti, gamosa and saadar, mekhela with traditiol instruments of dhol, pepa (buffalo hornpipe) and gaga adding joying to the celebrations. Many were oblivious that they were watching all these in Kolkata , hundreds of mile away from Guwahati or Dibrugarh when the event titled ‘Kolkata Rongali Bihu 2016’ was iugurated by Soumitra Ray, renowned singer and composer and lead singer of “Bhoomi” band along with Debasish Chakraborty, Trade Advisor & Director of Movements – Government of Assam (Kolkata), Deepakanda Bharali, Chief Mager – Assam Oil Division, Kolkata, Satish Chandra Kouli, Deputy General Mager – ONGC, Gautam Prasad Baroowa, noted economist and actress Aimee Baruah gave the programme a splendid height of excellence. The evening showcased some of the fine talents of Assamese culture with folk based rendition by Apom Anupam and Shrabanika Changmai. Another segment covered the dance performances by Alloy Group and the members of theorganization. The audience packed hall grooved to the beats of the fusion of Bihu Dhol and Western Drum performance by Amitra Baruah and Daipayan Dutta Gupta. The Bihu husori performed by the KACA group brought alive the raw fragrance of the dance moves and the beats to which everyone at the venue enjoyed to the fullest
The audience got buoyant withthe vibrant talk of renowned actress Aimee Baruah who in a short hour of her address cast a magic spell over all present in the hall. Kolkata Assamese Cultural Association (KACA) has been celebrating Bihu for more than seven years in Kolkata but this year there is an extra mile going with the initiative of bringing all Assam Associations of India under the umbrella of All India Assam Association and the celebration became meaningful from literary point of view as the social-cultural literary organ ‘Sristi’ , a trilingual annual magazine, was released .
The Annual Magazine contains write ups of high quality and what is most important is that Bengali poets and writers contributed in Assamese and Assamese writers in Bengali too.
Even Bengali intellectuals and academicians present in the hall felt themselves immersed in Assamese culture and heritage. Dr Gitanjali Himanka of Sri Lanka and Prab Hazarika who did a lot for organising this festive programme were not present but they inspired a lot of Bengali poets and writers too get in the thick of Assamese literature and the brilliant outcome is reflected in the annual magazine ‘Sristi’ edited by Ratul Bezbaruah.
In Kolkata artists captured theBihu moment in an outstanding way with artistic performances of high standard. The hall was full to the brim when all are agog with the songs, dance and musical instruments of artistes like Amitra Barua and Daipayan Datta Gupta. Aimee Baruah who was on her way back from Puri came in media res and she during her short performance stressed on the need for loving and promoting Assamese and warned the audience in her own style not to get swayed by the Anglicised cultures and habits. Inside the Mahajati Sadan auditorium the evening was lost in Majuli magic with Bihu geets and folk songs being sung by the artistes with traditiol instruments and attires.
Children artistes like Birilihir and others were wonderful in their performances. The whole hall clapped loudly when. Oriha Ojha, the Secretary of the Association in presence of the President. Atul Kumar Bharali felicitated Rupam Bhuyan on the dais and the child artiste Birilihir Hatkhowa handed over the certificate and Dotara to Rupam Bhunya. Other child artistes too performed so well on the dais, the audience got wonderstruck.
The colourful sway of the attires during Bihu dances and the smiling countences of the artists were all adding to the melodious spirit of Rongali Bihu outside Assam.
Mahajati Sadan was very close to Tagore House in Jorasanko and the programme was organised close on the eve of Rabindra Jayanti celebration on May 8. The promotion of a wonderful cross cultural interactions was also the dream of Tagore and the celebration of Rongali Bihu on the day before Rabindra Jayanti coincidentally becomes meaningful for all sections of people who were present in the hall. The evening concluded with theperformance of the guest artist Rupam Bhuyan who came down from Assam and enthralled theaudience with his heart touching renditions.
