GUWAHATI, Nov 12 - The Assam Association, Mumbai celebrated its silver jubilee with an interactive session on �Universality of Dr Bhupen Hazarika� followed by a grand cultural programme on November 4 at the City & Industrial Development Corporation Exhibition Centre at Vashi, Navi Mumbai. This was stated in a press release.
A large number of Assamese diaspora attended both the events. Established in the early eighties, �The Assam Association, Mumbai�, was formally registered in 1991. Since its inception, the association has been engaged in promoting the rich culture of Assam in this part of the country and also propagating cultural values among the younger generation by organising various traditional festivals. These were possible due to the untiring efforts of the founder members viz., Bholanath Borah, Naren Baruah, Sudhir Chandra Handique, Mesbah Jahan, Golap Chandra Borah, Ranjit Das, Padma Bhushan Jahnu Barua, Bhuban Gogoi, Dilip Kumar Borah, Jagannath Talukdar, Sarbeswar Gogoi and Debajit Dutta.
The seminar was organised to commemorate the 7th death anniversary of Dr Bhupen Hazarika. Speaking on the theme �Universality of Dr Bhupen Hazarika�, invited speaker Mayur Bora gave many insights of Bhupenda, particularly his deep connection to the roots which he ascribed for his universal acceptability breaking the geographical barrier and time horizon. During the subsequent panel discussion, Padma Bhushan Jahnu Barua shared his experiences with Bhupenda while recording the title song of his super hit film Aparoopa. Manisha Hazarika shared many unique aspects of lyrics and music of his songs. Sashidhar Bhave, a Marathi writer who had written books on all the eight states of NE India emphasised the need to translate the rich contributions of Dr Hazarika to other languages through National Book Trust of India, so that his writings reaches other parts of the country and abroad. Kalpana Lajmi inspite of her poor health also graced the occasion and shared her 40-long year association with Bhupenda. Devasish Sharma spoke about his association on many occasions at Assam Bhawan and particularly during his last few years. The session was ably coordinated by Nandini Sen Sarma, a multi-faceted woman, an Assamese entrepreneur, CEO, actor, voice-over artist and a creative writer.
The Chairman and Managing Director of upstream oil major Oil India Ltd., Utpal Bora, a life-member of The Assam Association, Mumbai, graced the occasion as the chief guest with his family in the cultural programme. A galaxy of reputed artists of film and music industry took part in the cultural programme. They included veteran singers of Assam and Bollywood fame viz., Samar Hazarika, Manisha Hazarika, Shashwati Puukon, Rupjyoti Devi, Writam Changkakoti, Sharmistha Das, Mizee Geetashree, Binod Pegu, Jutika Barman, Baiju Mangeskar, (nephew of Lata Mangeskar), Ravi Tripathi, Rishav Das and Raj J Konwar., the release added.