The Assamese community in the Northeast USA celebrated the death (“tirovav”) anniversary of the great saint and scholar Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardev on the 27th of September 2008. As has been the tradition year after year, the community came together to celebrate the “Sankardeva Tithi” at the Kingston Presbyterian Church, Kingston, New Jersey. The celebration started off with delicious snacks and tea provided by the attending families. After the initial pleasantries, everyone got to the business of the day, remembering the teachings of Sankardev. There was naam, ably led by the elders of the community. Kripa Borah enthralled with his rendition of the Borgeet. The gathered friends participated in the naam led by Brojen Bordoloi, Bimal Rajbanshi, Pronoti Dutta and Sanjib Bhuyan. The attendees also remembered Drs. Sonit Das and Kamna Das’s beloved father Late Kunjabihari Das, who passed away a year ago in Assam, in the naam’s conclusion or sewa. Everybody enjoyed the Assamese prasad, of “but-mogu, phol-mul.”
The naam ceremony was followed by the usual scrumptious fare of Assamese vegetarian food. Again, the ladies of the community excelled in not only providing great food, but also in keeping the kitchen running like clockwork. It was a great way to remember the teachings of Sankardev in these times of strife and unrest. We hope the annual tradition of the North East Assamese community will continue for eons to come. The organizers thanked all the members of the community who came forward to make the event a big success and the Das Family for bearing almost half of the expenses for the event. The next community event will be the Bhogali Bihu in January 2009.
Reported by Shravani Sarma, Marlboro, New Jersey. Photo by Satyajit Dutta, Plainsboro, New Jersey
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