Gogoi ’discovers’ an economic index in Assam girls’ hairdo

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, January 25: The Saraswati Puja in Guwahati got a special flavour this time around with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi enjoying a fashion show in a city college and posing for a photo shoot with models. This is not all. Gogoi used the diverse hairdo of state girls, each spending around Rs 4,000 or so in Saraswati Puja or Bihu, as an index that ‘precisely indicates that the residents of the state are fincially more affluent than before’.

The Chief Minister took part in the Saraswati Puja function of B Barooah College in the city today. After enjoying fashion show their, he extended fincial assistance to the college.

The Chief Minister also made an announcement that his government would erect hostels in the city so as to accommodate students from other districts of the state and outside.

Most of the schools and colleges of the city observed Saraswati Puja today. Cotton College, Handique College, SB Duarah College, B Barooah College, Gauhati Commerce College and others observed Saraswati Puja today. A number of educatiol institutions, including Gauhati University, observed the puja yesterday.

The astrologers of the tion were divided in their calculation on the exact span of time which Shukla Panchami, the time period when Saraswati Puja is performed, ranged this year.

One group of astrologers was of the opinion that Saraswati Puja should have been performed on January 24 (Saturday). This group argued that Shukla Panchami fell from 5.20 am on January 24 to 2.36 am on January 25, and as such the puja should have been performed on January 24 morning that fell well within the time span of Panchami.

The other group, however, contested this calculation with the assertion that Shukla Panchami this year ranged from 4.59 am of January 25 to 8.11 am of the same day, thus the span of time left for the puja was just three hours and 12 minutes.      

This controversy swept the entire state as, along with the astrologers, various schools and colleges of the state were also divided in their decision on the day of the puja.