GUWAHATI, April 23 ? Rongali Bihu this time witnessed tremendous web interface by the global Assamese community. Enthusiastic Assamese abroad ? Non-Resident Assamese (NRAs) ? as well as in India were requesting living legend Dr Bhupen Hazarika for their favourite numbers and exchanging views through on-line interaction and live webcast on the internet. The programme, displayed on three giant screens at the Pub Guwahati Bihutoli, Chandmari by SM Computer Consultants Pvt Ltd, Guwahati through its popular website www.vedanti.com witnessed unprecedented response from almost one corner of the world to the other.
During the Bihu Celebrations this web portal brought to the world the programmes arranged by Pub Guwahati Bihu sanmilan and demonstrating the very best of web technology comprising video, audio and text conferencing including IP telephony on broad band which several thousand netizens (browsers) across the globe used for interacting with each other as well as with the performing artists during the live webcast. It may be mentioned that the portal (vedanti.com) had brought Bihu to the world through the net in collaboration with Pub Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan last year. Then it was something unprecedented for the whole Assamese community abroad and was a topic of discussion for quite some time. But this year?s programming was more pragmatic as it involved live interaction through the internet involving a number of participants.
Achieving something good at the new time of the year is always a unique experience. And when this new is achieved through the wonders of scientific and technological excellence, the feeling and the atmosphere is always different ? that?s a combination of joy and fulfilment. Here the joy was for the global Assamese community and fulfilment for the organisers. During the programme Netizen Nandini Borah Das says from USA, ?To be able to view Bihu on-line from USA is a dream come true for us.? Abhilash Barua from Canada says, ?I am happy to see the Bihu Programme of Dr Bhupen Hazarika and talk to him from Canada through vedanti.com. Thanks to vedanti.com and Pub Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan, Chandmari for bringing the entire Assamese community across the globe together during Bihu and enabling us to be a part of the Bihu celebration at Chandmari, Guwahati although we are far away at Canada. Mala says from Singapore ?I feel homesick during Bihu, but the on-line interactive Bihu has comforted me.? Rajib Gohain from Arizona, USA sends ?Antarik Bihur Ulog to the people of Assam.? Suresh says from Singapore ?Bhupenda is looking better this year.? Dipankar and Rajkanya Talukdar from Santa Clara, California wishes Bhupenda and everyone else ?Happy Bihu?. They further chat on-line with Bhupenda requesting him to sing ?Asom Amar Rupohi? and ?Xuno Xuno Re Xuno?. Excited Bhupenda interacts with them and is all too happy to sing their favourite number. Enthusiast netizens Utpal Das and Pranita Das says from Michigan, USA ?Your Live programme is excellent!? They interact with Bhupenda to sing ?Bistirna Parore? and Bhupenda does so. Mubinul Islam interacts from Milan, Italy ?I am proud of being able to talk to Bhupenda from Milan, Italy and forward my request to him for a song ?Aoi nilaj pahar?. Jaan and Ankita from Arizona, USA, Nilakshi Medhi from Syracuse University; Rashmi from England; Himadri from Birmingham; Jugabrata from Kenya and many more interacted on-line through vedanti.com with Dr Bhupen Hazarika. Requests for various other popular songs kept pouring in continuously. Many a times more than one request poured in on-line simultaneously from various parts of the world much to the excitement of the spectators at the Chandmari Bihutoli and they witnessed the on-line interaction of Dr Hazarika with each of the callers who were from various parts of the world. Dr Hazarika had patiently obliged all requests for songs one after another. Bhupenda also obliged by singing ?Mahabahu Brahmaputra? and ?Bohag Mathu Eti...?
Another interesting feature was the interaction between friends and relatives staying across the globe exchanging greetings and jointly discussing about what song would they request Dr Hazarika to sing. There was Suresh from Singapore who was exchanging greeting with Rashmi from England on-line through vedanti.com and they both were chatting and exchanging complements on Dr Hazarika, on-line Bihu and the Pub Guwahati Bihu Committee and had jointly decided what song should be sung by Bhupenda! Similarly, Partha from England chatted with Juri of Bangalore. This was followed by many more on-line chats and requests to Dr Hazarika. There were requests for the noted singer Malabika Bora, also from Rajib Barua and Simanta from Boston, USA to sing from the film ?Hiya Diya Niya.?
There were also on-line chatting, greetings, requests from netizen from various parts of India like Jayanta Borah (Bangalore), Bhaskar Chetia (Pune), Rishi Pathak (Hyderabad), Shyam Pratim Dev Choudhury (Delhi), Gunajit Sharma (Bangalore), Dipankar Talukdar (Silchar) etc. The interaction during those three days April 15, 16 and 17 was immense and the site vedanti.com was hit over 2 lakh times during the period of Bihu activity raising more than 1 GB of data transfer; and these figures are phenomenal by all standards of web activity and only goes on to witness the tremendous interaction viewers had on the Internet those days. Today, when a large number of people have become global-minded, ready to venture out of the state at the slightest opportunity to pursue a career that involves comparatively higher standards of living and scientific and technological know-how to keep them at par with the ultra-modern world, the one thing they can hope far always is that they can enjoy bihu at the touch of a button when the season comes.