Anda: An artisan of his own kind

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, April 12: Meet this artisan from Ghorbhoga Nitaipukhuri in Sivasagar district! He is fond of making flutes, pepas and many other things that can be made from bamboo. He even makes bamboo spoons, frames of spectacles, trunks of khul, garas, jackets and what not. This is his hobby, not an occupation. He has been fond of this hobby since 2003. By profession, he is a farmer.

In a one-to-one with this reporter, artisan Anda Gogoi, said: “Within three days I could make a six-foot-long pepa (a bugle). As many as 29 pieces of bamboo ribs had to be joined to make this pepa. In earlier days such long pepas were used as war bugles by the kings in Assam. By now, I have sold three such long pepas in Dibrugarh, two in Kaziranga tiol Park (KNP) and two at the Artfed Fair at Khapara in Guwahati. A particular bamboo species locally called as ‘medang’ is used to make such long pepas. I did take part at a fair at Pragati Maidan in Delhi in 2011 with such products. Though no such long pepas could be sold there, other items like bamboo spoons, bamboo combs, small pepas, flutes, gogos etc., could be sold there. Now I’m planning to make a pair of tabla and a doba with bamboo. I’ve nurturing a dream to present Prime Minister rendra Modi a bamboo jacket.”