Unfortunately I don't belong to that age of my parents where I could have claimed with pride that our generation contributed to our culture.I belong to that age where we complete our Bachelor Of Technology, and take up jobs in Bangalore.My generation does not share my father's passion to do some good to his village – fight tirelessly so that a higher secondary school is established in the vicinity.I do not take pride in this situation. I wish I was as concerned as my grandfather about the usage of our language – no, I'm not. But still I can claim I'm one of those better read persons. I grew up reading Sofura, Mousak, Nabakanta Barua …and on growing up Homen Borgoahain,Nirupoma Borgohain,Anuradha Sharma Pujari, Mamoni Roisom Goswami
My memories of Bihu are - Mukoli Bihu in Judges' Field, a few of my college mates' attempts back in Regional Engineering College to familiarize the students of the rest of India with our colourful bihu culture,of feeling a restless in me whenever I hear the familiar beats of bihu .. so clichéd, but those who have felt their feet dancing to the beat of Bihu would understand what I mean.
Two years back I was in Seattle during Magh Bihu. Fortunately one of my close friends from school/college – Sanghamitra Borgohain was also there at the same time. Both of us have a big passion for Bihu. I remember how everyone – specially Debobrata Sharma uncle and Juri Aunty , were excited about our performance. "Eibaar ami Assamese Conventionot prize anihe erim!". Right at that time I had to go back to Bangalore.
Well, what I wanted to say at the cost of being verbose – its time we took some efforts to preserve our culture – preserve Dr.Bejboruah, preserve the greatest contributor to bihu songs in their most original form – Khagen Mahanta.If we fail to do so the coming generation will never discover the magic of "Mon hiradoi", will never realize the beauty of impromptu Bihu songs.I'm a big fan of Khagen Mahanta. Many years back I had seen his live performance in Judges Field in a charity show.Dr.Bhupen Hazarika and Jubin Garg were the other performers, and Archana Mahanta had accompanied Khagen Mahanta – they definitely represented three generations. What's striking about Khagen Mahanta is his in-depth knowledge of Bihu, and the way he can use it to entertain people. He had kept the audience thrilled for almost an hour by singing the same verse over and over, "De dheki de dheki de , dheki aaijoni jora naam efaki gaai", and punctuating with his inimitable knowledgeable anecdotes.
This is where my generation can do something worthwhile for our culture – organize efforts to preserve the old assamese movies in DVD format, preserve the old songs in digital format. Many movie songs have already been digitized, but we also have to preserve rare songs like Mahanta's husoris, AIR broadcasts, nagra naam,uja pali. If we fail to do so now our future generation will not have enough knowledge to distinguish a "husori" from a "jeng bihu".All like minded should collectively put efforts to preserve our greatest assets – our movies, our songs and dances.Looking forward to preserve all we have, looking forward to enriching our culture, looking forward to give the future generation ample material to help them discover their roots and establish their identity.
Kakoli
Minneapolis,MN
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