Assamese world over enjoy Bihu on Net

GUWAHATI, April 18: Kamalesh Goswami, a manger with NIIT Asia Pacific, stays in distant Australia. He could not make it to Assam during the Bihu celebrations last weekend. Unlike the previous years, however, Goswami was able to watch the Bihu celebrations here while sitting in his North Sydney home. Kumud Borah, who describes himself as "a die-hard Assamese now staying outside my beloved motherland", was also able to participate in the Bihu celebrations, albeit not in person. There are thousands of Assamese, like Goswami and Borah, who were able to be a part of the Bihu celebrations, despite being miles away from Assam, thanks to the Internet. Bringing them live the Bihu celebrations was www.vedanti.com, the portal of the pioneering dotcom company of the Northeast, SM Computer Consultants Pvt Ltd (SMCC). It was for the first time in the state that a public event was live webcast in cyberspace. And, it is probably the first time in their lives that the Assamese, living away from their homeland, had something to cheer about this Bihu. For four consecutive days, April 13 to 16, events of the Pub-Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan at Chandmari, were available live for net surfers with recorded deferred webcast on the following days. Not surprisingly, homesick Assamese in their thousands, in the US, Australia, Europe, West Asia and just about everywhere else, logged on to the net. "The response was tremendous," says SMCC director Mamoni Barthakur, who with her husband Sanjib, the brain behind the project, worked day and night with their 10-member team of technicians to ensure the successful webcast. It all began with a whim. But once the decision was taken there was no going back. "We set up the entire system in just two days," says Mamoni. It was not any easy task. Cameras, computers, metres of cables - they had to be set up at the site from where the uplinking was done. On top was the anxiety about the safety of the expensive equipment. But in the end, everything fell into place. "The committee members were very helpful and without that we could have run into rough weather," recalls Mamoni. There was a slight hitch though. The quality of the images were not as good as one sees in television and there were a few jerks as well. "It was because of the non-availability of broadband services in these parts," explains Sanjib. Apart from this, the webcast attempt was a great success. Though the actual number of hits during the webcast has not been collated as yet, the Barthakur couple expect it to cross several thousand. Vedanti.com, even on ordinary days, records up to 4,000 hits each day. The portal has over a thousand pages of information on Assam and the Northeast covering the entire gamut of the regions life, people, culture, history and resources. One of its specialities is the cultural and political history of Assam, available in Assamese script. The site provides daily news updates and has features like 100 per cent on-line e-commerce activity, a discussion forum with eminent personalties, on-line virtual exhibitions, free e-mail service, placement services, yellow pages and what have you. SMCC has many ambitious plans for the future for Vedanti.com. One of the immediate plans is to cover the ensuing Assembly elections in the state extensively. The detailed coverage will include analysis, study of trends, results and public polls. Vedanti.com already conducts regular polls on various social, political and cultural issues concerning Assam.