Website on vintage Assam launched in Jorhat
From a Correspondent
JORHAT, May 12: An amateur historian Avinibesh Sharma of Jorhat has come up with a website www.vintageassam. com which was launched for the first time at a programme held at the Jorhat Press Club on Thursday in presence noted intellectuals and eminent persolities on the dais such as Dr. Anda Saikia, former Principal Mariani and Cinmora College, establishing president of NESSIA, Faiznur Ali and Dr. Nirmala Sarma, former Principal of Jorhat Normal School.
In a brief introduction to the assembled public and the media, Avinibesh Sharma said, “In the year 1905, Sir Edward Gait who wrote the path-breaking work A History of Assam, lamented the fact that there is probably no part of India regarding whose past is generally less known. In the histories of India, as a whole, Assam is barely mentioned. More than 100 years have passed since then but Gait’s observations on the invisibility of Assam in standard historiography remain true as ever. And as a need of the hour I started pursuing the dream of launching a website to enlighten the people about vintage Assam.”
The amateur historian further added, “I started developing this website from May 2015 with an aim to spread the history of Assam to the world through the internet. I first started with photographs from Assamese society that has transformed tremendously within the past century and roped in photographs in between the period of 1870 to 1900 and further. Then I introduced voice clips which include the interview with Krish Kanta Handiqui and Tilmizur Rahman and others. Then I kept stressing ethnic wares. The website has by and large a collection of vintage photographs, oral testimonies, silent witnesses and vintage letters besides a section on postcards. I request both the print and electronic media in spreading the message about the website which I am sure will let the people fly back to the past and equally let the young generation reminiscence the glamorous Assamese society. There is a scopefor submissions and people wanting to share may feel free to send their treasure at avinibesh_sharma@outlook.com.”
The main objective of the website is to create awareness about the history of Assam among the people belonging to the other parts of India and the world and to hold exhibitions and awareness programme in the towns and villages of Assam to educate the locals about their past, besides unearthing previously unknown stories of remarkable individuals and historic events and to act as a platform for exchange of ideas regarding preservation of sources and dissemition of information on Assam history.
