JORHAT, Feb 3 — Come February 4, and all roads will lead to the ‘Remnant of the Raj’ at the historic Khelmati field here. And why not? For the State Government’s much-touted Tea Tourism Festival, which is to be held concurrently with the 125th Jorhat Races 2002 at the Gymkhana Club, is all set to showcase the myriad ethnic dresses of the North East in all their traditional splendour and riot of colours. Promising to lend a nostalgic ambience to the carnival atmosphere is Bisa Nong Gam, the grandson of the then (1823) Singpho ‘King’ of Margherita, late Bisa Gam. While the latter has been immortalised in the pages of history for having introduced wild tea bushes to British prospector and businessman Robert Bruce, his progeny will be present at the festival as distinguished guest, and will also be felicitated, revealed the Upper Assam Commissioner Dr Birendra Kumar Gohain while speaking to mediapersons at the Circuit House here on Monday evening.
The festival will be inaugurated at 7.30 am on February 4 by the State Chief Secretary Pranab Bora followed at 8 am by flagging off of the car rally by Rupa Ganguly, the TV star of Draupadi fame in the mega tele-serial Mahabharat. The six-day extravaganza will include a five-a-side ladies’ football match from 2 pm on February 4, cycle-polo on the afternoon of February 5, para-sailing at 2 pm on February 8 to be arranged by the Assam Tourism Development Corporation, besides tennis (men’s mixed and American doubles) and golf (one club) tourneys to be held throughout the Race Week. Each day will be rounded off with a cultural evening and cocktails party. A plenary session at 5.30 pm on February 9 will be presided over by the Governor Lt Gen. (retd) S K Sinha. The prize distribution ceremony starts from 7.30 pm on the same day, which will be preceded by fireworks at 7 pm. Notably, only February 5, 7 and 9 will be race days. Though shorn of its share of thoroughbreds as is the days of yore, the races will nevertheless witness participation by atleast 70 ponies, according to steward and vice-president of the Jorhat Races, Aboni Borgohain.
With an eye on targeting both foreign and domestic tourists, and resolving to market the State’s unique tourist potential abroad, the Union Government has already incorporated the Tea Tourism Festival in its national calendar of significant countrywide events that merit recognition and this has been timed to coincide with the Jorhat races held during the first week of February every year. As a part of the festival, a North East ethnic dress show at 7 pm on February 8 too is likely to add variety and colour to the ‘Rodeo of the East’, which is already famous for its saddle-less Mising jockeys. With the participants at the ethnic dress show attired in their exotic best, the event will help, in part at least, to showcase the racial, linguistic and cultural kinship that binds to Seven Sister states, where the brown and yellow races meet and mingle, observed the honorary secretary of the Jorhat Races consistently for the past 19 years, Sri B C Mahanta.
Also aiming to cash in on ‘emotional pull’ that inspires and attracts many a kith and kin of bygone British tea planters to visit the gardens and bungalows of their childhood dreams, around 20 tea estate managements in and around Jorhat, Golaghat and Sivasagar have been mobilised for arranging accommodation for at least 60-70 such category of tourists. Experiencing a feet of the garden way of life, they will also get to see the various stages of tea production, right from the nursery to the factory, besides savouring the delights of an estate executive’s daily regimen.
“With its dual aim to promote the tea industry and also accord tourism its much-needed boost, an insight into tea manufacture will, it is felt, convince the normally health conscious foreigners that Assam tea is indeed free from harmful toxic residue originating either from chemical fertilisers or pesticides”, opined Sri Borgohain. “Only recently, a 26-member German delegation visited the Tocklai Experimental Station (TES) for a first-hand experience on tea manufacture. On witnessing only organic manure being used in the gardens, they were reassured about its ‘qualitative’ residual aspect, especially at a time when the concept of generic promotion of tea as a health beverage is being marketed worldwide”, he added.
Given Jorhat’s proximity to the world famous Kaziranga National Park, historical relics at Sivasagar, and the first Assamese organised tea planter Maniram Dewan’s Cinnamara Tea Estate located in the backyard, aspiring tourists will be taken on tour to these and such other spots of historical, architectural and scientific interest, besides the TES and the Assam Agricultural University. The organisers are therefore hopeful that their carefully-thought-out package would permit the tourists to take back a slice of Assam in their mind’s eye, if not otherwise.