GUWAHATI, July 16 � The 34th Assam Convention was held in Detroit, Michigan, USA and organised by the Assam Association of Michigan (AAMI). The three-day mega event, held from July 4 to 6, was attended by around 400 people from USA, Canada and India. This was stated in an e-mail received here from the USA.
The opening ceremony, began with the lighting of the ceremonial lamps by Dr Kripanath Borah and Dr Prafulla Baruah. The guest speaker, former vice chancellor of Dibrugarh University, Dr Kulendu Pathak appreciated the efforts of the non-resident Assamese diaspora for keeping the rich cultural heritage of Assam alive. The opening ceremony included the rendition of the national anthems of both USA and India under the flags of both the countries.
The meticulous decoration with various Assamese artifacts, the colourful traditional dresses and the warmth and camaraderie of the hosts and attendees helped to convert the venue, the Centerpointe Marriott, into a mini-Assam. The three-day affair included various activities like youth forum, children�s activities, Assam Trivia quiz competition, art exhibition, and a fashion show highlighting the traditional dresses of Assam and India. The guests also enjoyed scrumptious food throughout the event including a variety of traditional home-made snacks like sira-doi, kordoi, nimki, narikol laroo and pithas. The Red Carpet area, a first-time addition, which provided a perfect backdrop for pictures was a hit among the attendees. The host committee also presented the attendees with a souvenir magazine titled Oikataan.
The forum presentations included a presentation on environmental issues, titled �Healthy Luit Happy Axom� by Dr Chandan Mahanta from IIT Guwahati. In addition, there were several presentations on topics ranging from a proposal for a North East Ethnic Village by Hiren Sarma to the life-story of an orphaned youth, Kisan Upadhaya, who got re-united with his family through on-line and mainstream media.
Young Riddhiman Das who was recently honoured with the prestigious �Champions of Change� award by President Barack Obama for his achievement as an immigrant innovator and entrepreneur was the guest of honour. He shared his entrepreneurial experience and gave a brief idea about opportunities for youth in USA.
The Kamna Das memorial award for community service was presented to Aradhana and Robert Satin. The Late Anima Chakravartty chorus competition, which is in its 7th year was won by the Minneapolis chorus team.
The annual general body meetings of the three sponsoring organisations, Assam Association of North America, Assam Foundation of North America and Assam Sahitya Sabha of North America were also conducted during the course of this event.
Apart from guest artists from Assam, various artists, both adults and children, from different parts of USA and Canada performed with excellence. Noted Satriya dancer Dr Mallika Kandali, who was sponsored by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Govt of India, presented spectacular renditions of Satriya Nritya winning the hearts and minds of all the attendees. While the melodious voice of upcoming singer Prarthana Choudhury mesmerised everyone, the popular young artist Simanta Shekhar rocked the stage with his exuberance and kept the crowd dancing to his Bihu and dance numbers late into the night. For the first time in the history of Assam Convention, this event was covered on a real-time basis by a popular news channel from Assam.
The three-day programme concluded with the rendition of O Mur Apunar Desh. This very successful convention, was enjoyed by people from all over North America and now everyone is looking forward to the 35th Assam Convention to be held in New Jersey next year.