- Roopa Sharma
Assamese community of Chicago celebrated Rongali Bihu with great enthusiasm on the 17th April. The celebration was well represented by the Assamese families from Wisconsin and Indiana. Many thanks to Mr. Dipak Kolita and his very efficient volunteers for organizing a wonderful Bihu. The evening stared with meeting and greeting with appetizers and home-made authentic delicacies - ‘pitha-pona’.Jahnabi Bora and Priyanka Das were two elegant emcees for the evening.

The group Bihu dance by very young dancres Farasha, Rimjhim, Falisha, Caroline, and Jack, the solo bihu dance by Farasha, and a solo dance by Ragini stole everyone’s hearts. Young Abhishek’s speech on Bihu, Udish’s guiter playing, and Meyher own poem’s on Assam were very much appreciated and enjoyed by all.

The energetic teenagers enthralled the audience with two Bollywood group dances choreographed by Bidula . The talented participants were Priya, Bidula, Anya, Bitan, Arvind, Udish, and Debesh. The audience hummed along with the chorus - everyone’s favorite “Bistirna parore”. Arup Bhuyan and Kobita Sundi each beautifully sang a few songs. Newcomer student Leon mesmerized the audience with his excellent playing of ‘dhol ‘and ‘pepa’. Everyone greatly enjoyed the three dances – a modern Assamese group dance by Farhana, Arundhati, Nivedita, Namrata, and Writuparna, a solo Bihu dance byJahnabi, Bihu dance by Gayotri and a solo modern hindi dance by Nivedita.

The hall came alive with the hindi duet sang beautifully by Fardeen and Arundhati. Then came much-awaited ‘Mukoli Bihu’ and it was a blast. One of the highlight of that evening was a speech by Mr. Dipak Jain from Assam who, until last year was the dean of prestigious Kellogg’s School of Business in Northwestern University of Chicago. He told the children, “Being from Assam or being an Assamese is never a weakness for you. It is your strength - because of the Assamese values. The challenge ahead of you is lesser than the force behind you”. The evening ended with a fabulous Bihu feast. We all parted with happy memories in our hearts and hoping to celebrate again next year our “otikoi senehor bohagor Bihuti…”