Thursday, March 15, 2018

A river runs through it

                                                                                                             Ankur Bora

Out of a vast interaction between ocean, mountain and land, a great river emerges. Rising from a mountain peak, at a mystical lake in Mount Kailash, he runs nearly two thousand four hundred miles, emerging again and again into a fertile passage of blue hills and green valleys, winding its last miles back to the element which gave it origin, the sea. The river Brahmaputra is the soul of Assam and Assamese as a nation is identified to the river. The local people called the river ‘Burha Luit’ (the ancient river) out of reverence and affection. The influence of Brahmaputra in life and culture of people is deep rooted and Assamese people for generations have talked and sung about Luit expressing how deeply they feel connected to their river.

The great river Brahmaputra fulfills our lives with moments of joy and abundance, stimulates our minds with curiosity and wonder and binds us with a vein of unity and togetherness. Our river is also the perfect antidote to urban living – to reconnect people to nature. A few years ago, a young couple in Guwahati, came out with inspiring ways for community to get down to their riverbank. This young man Suresh Goduka had a vision of a clean litter free river, a beautiful place for people to look at and get close to nature, an event where commoners can enjoy river songs sitting together in a starlit riverbed. Working together with Karabee Mahanta and a host of volunteers, they developed concepts of how it could be accomplished. With great excitement and inspirations, and the headlines of a wild challenge before them, they launched a unique initiative. The festival titled ‘Jeevan Kite and River Festival’ was organized to host a variety of events including a campaign to reduce plastic litter and other pollutants, depiction of the river life  through folklores, paintings and sand arts, kite flying and adventure sports at the riverbank  and a glorification of the mighty river through songs, dance, music and prayers. The festival which has been running annually for the last seven years is a tribute to the triumph of one man’s indomitable spirit and this year 2018, we the Assamese diaspora, under the banner of Assam Foundation of North America (AFNA) decided to join hands and participate in this event.    
        
Participants at Jeevan Kite and River Festival 2018

Louhityare bahal parok Pronipat koro” – In this famous song, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, who loved Assam from the bottom of his heart, bowed his head before the wide banks of Brahmaputra. The song is like a blessing so joyful that even in distant corners of the globe we claim with pride the glorious civilization that we have inherited. And it is our connection to our motherland and to our beloved river that keeps us alive and invigorated. AFNA has been publishing a calendar annually managed by young Assamese spread over the city of Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco and others. The proceeds of the campaign is going directly to multiple programs geared towards schools for underprivileged children, providing scholarship to meritorious college going engineering and medical students from economically poor background, disabled adults and women support groups. The Jeevan kite and river Festival provided a unique platform to these AFNA project partners to come together and share their experience of working in their respective fields.   
Suresh Goduka

We became the stories we listen to. The manifestation of the river Brahmaputra can be felt in movies , music , legends, folklore, prose , poetry , television , newspapers – and those stories we listen to form our lives. The AFNA calendar is a portrait of ordinary men and women, people who have turned their talents, efforts and energies towards the uplifting of others, thereby achieving greatness inherent in every human being. That day, the riverbank of Brahmaputra came alive as representatives of Swawalambi, an organization working for the differently able in rural Assam; Seneh, a shelter home for elderly women; representatives of Rickshaw Bank that provides microfinance support to poor rickshaw pullers; Tapoban and Shishu Sarothi,  organisations working for the differently able; Parijat Academy and Snehalaya, an orphanage in Guwahati and Mission Birubala working in the field of eradication of superstition and witch hunting, were lauded and honored for their services. Each of these individuals taught some infinite wisdom to the rendition of epical song “Bistirno Parore”, its lifting music stayed in everyone’s memory to hum the song repeatedly. Perched on the gigantic river, and not very far from the event venue, stands Umananda, the smallest inhabited river island in the world. The song reverberated to the tiny island, as if the trajectories assumed a new meaning and resonance. The participants dispersed thankful to Suresh Goduka for boasting community cohesion in the process and knowing that it was a true tribute to mighty Brahmaputra along.  

Understanding Brahmaputra has never been more crucial to our society, as individual citizens, we all need to know how the river works. Assam is a land of rivers and a land of rich wetlands. We can prosper and industries, agriculture, transportation can strive if and when only we know how to use our water resources intelligently. The Brahmaputra campaign by Suresh Goduka aims to inspire people to take pride in our waterways, understand the challenges they face and come together to create a healthy future for our rivers. It is time to fulfill our responsibility to revitalize Brahmaputra before it is too long, our survival as a species depends on it.  
                                                                                                            ankurbora@hotmail.com
         

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