Skip to content Skip to navigation

Bhogali Bihu celebration in Mumbai

On the occasion of Magh Bihu, the Assam Association, Mumbai, organised a cultural program with much fanfare in Vashi on Sunday, 18th of January 2015 evening. Around three thousand Assamese people residing across Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane gathered at the venue.

The program  was started with a group dance by a few kids from Kharghar. It was followed by Bihu songs performed by some renowned artistes from the community.

Members of Srimoyee Mohila Samitee, a ladies team from the satellite city, mesmerised the audience with different folk dances and music.

Apart from cultural activities, games like pitcher breaking, musical chair were also organized at the event. Popular Assamese singer Dikshu Sharma and Sampriti Goshwami enthralled the audience with some popular Assamese modern as well as Bihu songs. A ladies' team from Panvel performed another Bihu dance. The programme was concluded with a ‘Mukoli Bihu’ by some renowned Assamese artists and a few members of the association.

Sumantra Barooah, joint secretary of the association said, “Magh Bihu is a harvest festival which marks the end of harvesting season in the month of Maagha. In Assam there is a practice of people erecting makeshift huts called 'Bhela Ghar' and preparing traditional dishes in those huts on the previous night of Bihu. They enjoy the whole night with Bihu songs and bonfire and then burn the huts next morning.”

After the burning of the huts, people sit down to enjoy their fill of traditional Assamese food. In the villages, people also witness bullfights and bird fights. Amid the enchanting notes of flutes and buffalo horns, the youths sing the Bihu songs with lyrics of a good harvest.

“In Mumbai, however, we cannot celebrate it like that, but we have left no stone unturned to make our people realize the flavour of our soil. We have been celebrating Bihu by organizing such cultural functions every year not only to mark the festival but also to create a better social understanding which is quite important in a multicultural, multilingual and multi-ethnic society like ours,” Barooah added.

Pratap Chakrabarty, a member of the association said, “The Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu festival is an occasion when all differences are forgotten and people unite to celebrate the occasion in a pompous manner. The most important aspect of this year's programme was that a huge number of non Assamese people also came forward and joined us in the celebration.”

Assam Association, Mumbai, is a nongovernmental, nonprofit making, socio-cultural organization, which has been working for promoting the art, culture and literature of their state not only in Mumbai but in whole of Maharashtra. Apart from such cultural activities, the association has also been offering helping hand to the downtrodden and weaker sections of the society irrespective of caste, creed and religion.

  

Author info

Jutika Mahanta's picture

Cultural reporter from Mumbai

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

Civilian killing: AASU protest spills to roads

23 Apr 2008 - 4:21am | editor
AASU activists in Sivasagar and Dibrugarh towns took huge protest programmes on Tuesday demanding a judicial probe into the killing of 65 year old civilian Dulen Baruah on April 14 at Moranhat by...

Flood woes in Dibrugarh

10 Jun 2015 - 2:10pm | AT News
Flood waters seem to have wreaked no less havoc in Dibrugarh disrupting normal life in the town on Wednesday. The incessant rains for the last couple of days brought many areas of the town under...

Wild tuskers kills one at Dhupdhara

28 May 2012 - 3:36am | Hamidul Gani
A 45 year old person was trampled to death by a wild tusker in the forest of Khekapara village near Dhupdhara in Goalpara district yesterday. The deceased has been identified as Prafulla Ray of...

Other Contents by Author

Sajit Warrier's filmmaking journey started in Los Angeles, where he produced and directed numerous short films. His films have premiered at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Hollywood and International Film Festivals in America, Australia, Japan and Canada, winning awards and accolades. He worked in the Hollywood film industry with the VFX team behind some of the iconic Hollywood films like Independence Day, Godzilla, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow etc.. Having worked with some of the biggest names in the Hollywood like Oscar winning Special Effects supervisor Volker Engel (Independence day), Producer/Director Claudio Faeh (Hollowman2, The Hole, Viking) and Music Composer...
A viral podcast posted on 6th January 2022 by Hirav Shah, a prominent Astro strategist and Business Astrologer, has gone viral for its awe-inspiring message. In the short video, Hirav Shah talks about his unique take on the 2022 New Year resolution - something that brings joy to our regular lives. Shah’s brainchild and the now-viral trend, Telepathy, focuses on creating a fresh chain of positivity and treasure by wishing your loved one's goodwill and fortune. “Wish your associates good fortune, rather than long life”- this motto of Hirav Shah seems to have resonated with thousands of Indians. The video is gaining fast traction from social media users with over 30k views in just 24 hours...
After the recent launch of her Acting School, which is the world's first of its kind, Jaswinder Gardner is all geared up to take her first Free Acting Workshop in North East India. Her acting school is the only school in the world that imparts training not just in the craft of acting but also provides holistic learning which prepares her students to live happy and successful lives.  There is an in-house counsellor for students who feel the need  for counselling on personal and professional matters. Timely and readily available counselling helps keep her students away from taking any adverse steps. This is in a nutshell the vision of Jaswinder Gardner..,TO CREATE SUCCESS...
Babumoshai Bandookbaaz fame actress Bidita Bag recently shared a video to express the tumultuous experience of living amidst a pandemic. The nationwide lockdown, being observed since March 2020 to control virus spread, is causing restlessness among countrymen. Actress Bidita Bag supports famous fashion photographer Somsubhro Sarkaar's concept through an unique video named 'Pandemic' to celebrate 73rd I-DAY and pay tribute to the nation which is fighting a pandemic situation. Bidita Bag took to her Instagram account to share the message, which read, “A Pandemic. A Lockdown. Life upturned. Humanitarian crisis. A feeling of being caged. Switch from physical to virtual. Uncertainties all...
MUMBAI: It’s the day when Mumbai beloved Bappa leaves the city with much fan-fair and Kalpana Lajmi too chosen the day to say good bye to her friends and family ! Renowned woman filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi died today, Sunday, 23rd of Sep at 4.30 am in Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital.. She was 64 and was suffering from chronic kidney disease and liver failure. The writer-director was cremated in the presence of family, friends and loved ones at the Oshiwara crematorium in Mumbai. Various personalities that includes Film Maker Mahesh Bhatt, his wife and Kalpana’s close friend Soni Razdan, Shabana Azmi, Shyam Benegal and few others from the Hindi film industry paid their respect to...
MUMBAI: A pall of gloom envelops the film fraternity  following the sudden demise of Biju Phukan on Wednesday evening. Award winning film maker Jahnu Barua who is attending IFFI Goa said,” I am shocked to have learnt it. He was my intimate friend although we, of late, have not met often. Bihu played main role in two of my films Aparupa and Papori. I don't have much to speak. It is a huge loss for us.” Another epoch making actor Seema Biswas said,”we will never have such personality again. It’s a permanent loss to the nation. I pray to the almighty to give strength to his family to bear such huge loss I am really very shocked and sad after hearing it.” Same shock...
With an appealing name “That Gusty Morning” eminent director Jahnu Barua has yet again gifted us with an utter sensitive film to rejoice.We might wonder why he chosen to keep an English title. But as the story progresses his attempt turn evident that an alarming issue like alzheimer deserves global attention and appeal. The film takes us through a complicated journey of life and left us spellbound. This film is a great effort to break the taboo around mental illness and the director picked up the right chord - marriage alliance . The most crucial thread of our society still remains as marriage alliance where everything comes to a stand-still.With mind blowing performance by the actors...
Born in a family of folk musicians of Assam, Sangeeta is gifted with musical talent. She took her initial training in Vocal under her father Shri Gandheswar Chamuah. She was further molded in the art under the tutelage of Late Laxmi Saikia and then from renowned Violinist Pandit Bidyut Kumar Mishra and also from famous violinist Dr. V. Balaji of Varanasi., Sangeeta has a distinguished style which is a colorful blending of Gayaki techniques. Her style is marked for deep and soulful alaap, followed by gradual and formidable sargam, gamak and intricate and fast taans, all the while maintaining the gravity and purity of the raga. She has enthralled the audience with her remarkable...
Arunachal Pradesh in north eastern India is a land of 26 ethnic tribes and more than 100 sub tribes, shrouded by myths and mysteries, traditions and rituals. Its panoramic landscape of snow covered mountains, lush green forests and gurgling mountainous streams is as breathtaking as it is remote and elusive. Once disconnected from mainstream India, this solitary land is slowly losing its uniqueness and culture, as the consumerist mainstream is slowly and surly making its way into its land, in the garb of development. The Film “The Head Hunter” brings forth a pertinent question about the creation of a homogenous culture of existence and morality. It is about an old tribal man from a...
Gogona, an assamese community organisation of Mira Road celebrated 'Rangali Bihu' at Mira Road on April 13 with great enthusiasm and spirit. Nayan Jyoti Bhuyan, a member of Assam Association has taken keen interest and initiative to organise the Assamese people residing around Mira-Bhayender area. This is for the first time at Mira road,  Assamese people got together and celebrated 'Rongali Bihu' with various cultural activities. The cultural evening started at around 7 pm and lasted till 11:30pm. Renowned Geo-Magnetism Scientist and the first Assamese scientist to go to the Antartica for survey, Dr. Raghav Chandra Deka, young and most dynamic celebrities like sound engineer Debojit...