The All Assamese Students Association (AASA) had recently organized the ‘Bohagi Utsav’, their annual cultural extravaganza in New Delhi.
Bohagi Utsav is supposed to depict the importance of ‘bohag’ or ‘rongali’ bihu. ‘Bohag’, also called ‘rongali’ is supposed to mark the Assamese New Year and welcome the season of spring.
The event was organized by AASA to make sure that the students that are staying away from home do not miss out on the festivities. Hundreds of students from the North East came to partake in the celebrations.
“I am very happy that we are organizing our 10th Bohagi Utsav and it is a long journey. We are taking forward our seniors legacy,” said Mrigen J Kashyap, the General Secretary of AASA. “To give that homely feeling to the students and to breach the cultural gap between northeast and the mainland India is our main motto. We showcase our different cultures. We are happy that we have organized the festival in the mainland of Delhi University,” he added.
The event started with a traditional Bihu dance called ‘Mukoli Bihu’, meaning open Bihu, performed by a group of young students dressed in traditional outfits.
“The indigenous ‘Bihu’ tradition is shying away and I think it is the generation gap. Young people of this generation are not aware of our indigenous ‘Bihu’ culture so we are focusing on to bringing that out to the audience,” said the vice president of AASA, Debashish Kashyap.
A dance drama was also presented by a group of talented artists in order to help the students understand the significance of Bihu.
Neel Akash, an Assamese singer, performed the famous song ‘Buku hum hom kare’ along with several other performances.
A tribute was paid to renowned artists Jayanta Hazarika, Archana and Khagen Mahanta who have been influencing figures in art and culture.
Assamese actress Amrita Gogoi was also present for the event. Gargi Priyardarshini who is a student of Delhi University had this to say about the event, “I feel amazing, because of this ‘Bohag Bihu’, everyone stays away from Assam missing home, and right now we are getting this homely feeling, it makes us so happy,”.
“It is great to see the Assam’s culture so closely. The best part of this celebration is the unity among the students and they are so well cultured and traditionally rich.” said Shiv Sarkar, Secretary of Arts and Culture Society of Zakir Hussain College.
The event was attended not only by students of the North Eastern part of the country but also included people from all sorts of backgrounds.
