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Bihu in Thailand, Ganesh Bora, Kansas

Bihu in Thailand
The Assamese residents in Thailand regularly celebrate Bihu there. I was in Thailand
from 1996 to 2000 and enjoyed the celebration every year mainly hosted in the campus
of Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). There were 10 to 15 people at some point of time,
but we never had problem of gathering as many other Indians, Thai and Chinese friends
joined us in the feast and dance. Though we did not have ‘dhulia’ and ‘dhol’ at that
period, but we made full use of music systems for our continuous bihu dance. As many
people did not know what bihu is, we took that opportunity to explain to them who drops
by seeing the dance party. It may be mentioned that AIT’s almost 70% students and
faculties are from 40 different countries.

The main festival of Thailand is New Year festival known as ‘Songkran’ and celebrated
exactly at the same time as Bohag Bihu. It starts on April 13 every year and lasts for 3
days. Songkran in Thai word means "move" or "change place" as it is the day when the
sun changes its position in the zodiac. It is also known as the "Water Festival" as people
throw water believing that water will wash away bad luck.

There are some similarities between Bohag Bihu and Songkran besides being the ‘New
Year’ celebration and much romantic enthusiasm among younger generation. During
Songkran, people also apply a kind of talc powder that gives cooling effect to the body,
as April is hot summer in Thailand. That reminded me of our applying ‘Maah’-‘Halodhi’ to
prevent ‘Boxonto’.
(The writer Ganesh Bora is from Manhattan, Kansas and studied and worked in Asian
Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand from 1996 to 2000)
Ganesh Bora, Manhattan, Kansas