-By Debabrata Sarma

A six member Seattle team participated in the Anima Chakravartty Chorus competition at the Assam Convention 2013, Detroit. Though the Seattle team did not win the prize, it was a great pleasure to sing “Dola, He Dola,…”, a Dr. Bhupen Hazarika song. The convention was a blast! Cannot resist the temptation of describing my experience!


Never seen so many post congratulatory emails on Assam Convention before!
There is no doubt that it is the best Assam Convention we ever attended since 1990 in Huntsville, Alabama (though we were AANA members since 1981). Mr. Rupesh Saikia and Mrs. Probha Saikia single handedly could make all the arrangements then, not anymore. Thanks to Nirmali Baruah of Columbus for hooking us to Assam Convention. What a joy since then! Needless to say, last year’s Calgary Assam Convention was also great, so was the one before, the Chicago Assam Convention, and the one before, …, and it goes on and on and on!
To get such a huge success and perfection, you have to have all the Stars at the right place at the right time! And the Stars happen to be, all the dedicated and highly talented AAMI members!
Starting from Jolsa on day one, it was a packed program for the next two days. It was blessing in disguise that another singer did not get her visa, otherwise, it would have been a nightmare for the organizers to find time slots in the packed two day program.

The hotel, food, decoration, children program, guest artists’ performance, and the local artists’ talented show was enjoyed by everybody and the dancing by the attendees continued to the wee hours of the morning on both days!

The forum discussions and the collection of speakers were very appropriate. It was a pleasure to see Riddhiman Das being felicitated for his recent accomplishments and to listen to this young computer scientist cum entrepreneur. Dr. Chandan Mahanta of IIT Guwahati spoke on the Brahmaputra basin, a topic for which huge amount of money was spent over the years with no tangible results which now is getting importance due to the multi Dam controversy, and possibly the Uttarakhand devastation will provide the additional impetus. The heartfelt story of Kisan Upadhaya moved everybody and his determination is a lesson to learn.
All the three organizational meetings of Assam Association of North America (AANA), Asom Sahitya Sabha, North America (ASSNA), and Assam Foundation of North America (AFNA) passed some important resolutions paving the way of continuing excellence in their respective missions.
The next Assam Convention organizers of New Jersey area need to be in constant touch with the Detroit Host Committee members to learn the tricks of trade on negotiating with the hoteliers and of course in other departments as well. Amazed at the continuous supply of tea and snacks, Ruma Barua and her team may have found some trick to sustain the flow!
An unsolved Assam Convention problem for everybody! How to get all the attendees show up in time at the beginning of every program and of course after every tea break?

- Chiranjit Deka

Rathin and Meenakshi Devchoudhury of Raleigh represented the community at the annual Assam Convention 2013 in Michigan. Rathin Devchoudhury’s Assam Fun Trivia on various topics of Assam was once again received with  enthusiasm by all at the convention. (see a sample screen shot here.) “It was really a great convention. We have attended most of the past conventions and must say that you guys have raised the bar. Everything was flawless, starting from the greetings when we got there to the end of the convention. The decorations were beautiful. The food was delicious. The program was excellent. The performances by the invited artists as well as the local ones were of very high quality. “ – Rathin and Meenakshi Devchoudhury.