The Assamese people in Colorado had the opportunity to celebrate Rongali Bihu on April 15, 2006 at the beautiful home of Jugal and Bonmayuri Kalita in Colorado Springs amidst a lot of fanfare and gaiety. The daylong program started with traditional snacks like doi chira with gur, various kinds of pitha, narikolor barfi, kata nimki etc., courtesy Anima Goswami and Subalita Baruah of Fort Collins. Mukoli Bihu, in which everyone joined in with great enthusiasm, followed. Paban Sarma, Bharat Baruah and Rinku Dewri kept the Mukoli Bihu going in full swing, with their spirited participation in both the dancing and rendering of the dhol. The next item on the agenda was the delicious lunch, some of the favorites at which were Sagarika’s mutton biryani, Bonmayuri’s mutton curry, Reeta Kastner’s chicken curry, Nandini’s maasor tenga, Bhaskar Das’s coconut chicken and Ranjan’s special fish preparation, for which we failed to come up with a name, but was sumptuous. Lunch was followed by games. Jishu Das and Subalita Baruah won the first and second prize in tekeli bhanga. The winners of the koni juj were Reeta Kastner and Bharat Baruah. Finally Subalita Baruah, followed by Chandan Das in second place, won the musical chair, which was enjoyed by everybody. Ranjan Saikia who was also the coordinator of the games gave away the prizes. There were also special prizes for all the children for participating, which left Abhishek, Jishu and Anoushka all smiles. Jukti Kalita, who was visiting from New Jersey with his son Abhishek, gave away the prizes.
Next was the gift exchange program, which was a simple and inexpensive way to recapture the spirit of giving and receiving gifts in Assam on the day of Rongali Bihu.
The evening ended in a relaxed mood with a cup of tea, more snacks and a lot of laughter and jokes.
This Rongali Bihu witnessed several new additions to the Assamese community of Colorado. Chandan Das and his family who have recently relocated from South Dakota, Rajib Das who has arrived from Guwahati to pursue an MBA Degree at the University of Denver and last but not the least, little Anannya Kalita, the four-month-old daughter of Jugal and Bonmayuri Kalita who seemed to have enjoyed the Bihu festivities as much as anyone else, capturing everyone’s hearts with her cherubic smile.
By Nandini Borah Das, Colorado
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