-by Dr. Debabrata Sarma

Back to back for two years in a row, North West folks got the gorgeous sunny day to celebrate Bohag Bihu in the Seattle area on April 14, 2012, which definitely is a rare phenomenon around here in April. The day started on a well decorated big stage with Jetuka President, Joydeep Buragohain, presenting the agenda of the day and then invited Dr. Debabrata Sarma to light the lamp and inaugurate the event with a welcome speech. The cultural event started right after, compered by Dr. Dwipen Bhagawati. The first item was a chorus written by Ambika Giri Roychoudhury, “Aaji bondooki sonde ...” The participants were, Mridul Gogoi on Keyboard, Amlan Chakravarti on Tabla. The singers were, Minakshi Bhagawati, Ruby Deka, Jonali Gogoi, Priyanka Bora, Rinki Sengupta, Jubi Barua, Ranjan Barua, Saranga Goswami , Dwipen Bhagawati, Rubul Das, Trideev Gogoi , Angshuman Bezbarua and Bhaskar Deka. The next item was the most anticipated ladies’ Bihu dance, which was very well choreographed and excellently executed by the Seattle ladies.

The participants were Julie Buragohain, Gitashri Goswami , Manashi Das, Priyanka Borah, Rubi Deka and Jonali Gogoi. The children program started with a humorous Osomiya folklore recitation, “Baahor moorah ...” by Rishika all from her memory. Ananya (Barbi) did an excellent Odissi dance number displaying each mudra with meticulous care and concentration. Riya and Lana nicely synched in tandem to entertain the crowd with a nice Bihu dance. This was followed by keyboard recitals, first by Sachetan and next by Rishi. Niribili followed with a flute recital of two songs, one being, “O’ mour aapoonar desh ...”

The last item from the children was a big group performance from age 3 to 12, based on the Osomiya folklore, “O’ phool, O’ Phool noophoolo’ keeyo’...”, which was enjoyed by everybody and nicely choreographed by Sanghamitra Gogoi , surprisingly, the children clearly spoke the lines in Osomiya! Sujata Talukdar sang a Jyoti sangeet and a Rabha sangeet. Latha Nath sang two Hindi songs. This was followed by a solo by Jonali Gogoi and a duet by Trideev Gogoi and Jonali Gogoi. A surprise Hindi movie dance was nicely performed by Jonali, Ruby, Priyanka, and Gitashri. Angshuman Bezbarua completed the singing with a Hindi song. The cultural event ended with a Bihu dance from the gentlemen, performed by Bhaskar Deka on dhol, Vavani Sarmah, Saranga Goswami, Dwipen Bhagawati, Trideev Gogoi, Mridul Gogoi, Rubul Das, and Kaushik Bora. The night ended with a delicious dinner of many items which was in abundance, although the organizers were very concerned about shortage due to the jump in the number of participants from the original calculated 75 to 120. All items were prepared at home and everybody brought a dish to show their culinary talents! In addition to the dinner, there were plenty of snacks in the afternoon with pithas, sweets and salties. The organizers did a wonderful job with a nice venue selection, a record number of participants, and a cultural event with excellent professional like performance from everybody.