Inquisitiveness, curiosity n proudness filled me as I got ready to attend the 62nd Independence Day at Indian Embassy,Kuwait. As we drove to the Embassy at 6.30am to reach and be part of the flag hoisting at 7.10am ,my mind was filled with different thoughts…thoughts of the many Indenpence Day we celebrated in our motherland Assam under the shadow of Assam Bandh . My one year daughter too wake up early that day as if she understood the importance of this special day. As we approach’d the embassy my husband park’d our car atleast 1km from the embassy as there was no space as hundreds of cars were already parked. As we came near the embassy we were pleasantly surprised to see hundreds of Indians from different walks of life and some like me with infants. People had Indian Flags in their hands. I felt so happy and proud when my infant daughter too took a flag and was waving. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Mera Bharat Mahan echoed in the air. The “Borah Drummers”, the members are Guajarati Muslims exhibited their talent and skills. Small school children and Doctors community sang patriotic songs. The Indian Ambassador Ajai Malhotra hosted the national tri-colour flag as we all stood there with proudness. He read out the Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh’s message ,the speech which he gave to millions of Indians from the Red Fort .He also read out the various facilities and schemes that the embassy has taken for thousands of Indian workers. After the cultural programme was over ,the Ambassador met the common people and listen to their grievances if any. Deep feeling of proudness enveloped thousands who gathered there to be part of such a celebration. Mughal Mahal, a famous Indian restaurant gave free breakfast (paratha,chola,sweets) to thousands of people who gathered . Free supplements on Independence Day were distributed by The Times(Kuwait’s premier weekly newspaper) and Arab Times(Kuwait’s national daily).
In a foreign country that too in a Middle East Muslim country like Kuwait we celebrated it so much fun, proudness and most importantly without fear, then why not in our motherland Assam??Can’t we be like rest of India and foreign countries in observing our Independence Day???When will such a day come???These thoughts filled my mind as we drove back home.
I remembered Jawaharlal Nehru’s Independence Day speech…. "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again."
Its time for us, all assamese people to defy the Bandh and celebrate it with love, fun and frolic.
PermalinkSubmitted by SKumar on Mon, 07/09/2009 - 06:37
The Ambassador infact read out the President of India's message and not the Prime Minister's. Anyhow thanks to Parimita for sharing her thoughts. We too feel proud like her to be part of the celebrations of our great nation.
PermalinkSubmitted by Chintu Nath on Mon, 07/09/2009 - 14:59
Pom-ba, it was a great coverage for us to know about how NRIs feel about their country and Independence. We Indians are actually, patriotic by birth; it is in our subconscious to feel great and own about our country. No matter where we live in heart we are always INDIANS, and the whole world today recognizes that.We must always endeavor to do better than before wherever we are, and mere that doing only will take our nation even higher and greater. Vande Mataram.
On behalf the Journalists’ Forum, Assam we strongly condemn the callous and irresponsible comments of the self styled ULFA military chief Paresh Barua threatning to the journalists and intellectuals of the State who dare to oppose the diktat of the banned outfit.
ULFA, now under severe crisis after most of its leaders behind the bar, is imposing a ban on the celebration of Independence Day and Republic Day since long back. They argue that there is no meaning of celebrating these Days in Assam and Northeast India.
ULFA leaders not only impose diktat on the celebration, but also issue threats to everyone who come against their diktats with dire consequences. It is observed that a...
Twenty four hours after ULFA Commander in Chief Paresh Baruah’s threatening, the rebel outfit on Thursday said that its chairman Arabinba Rajkhowa was arrested in Bnagladesh only after Dhaka struck a deal with a huge amount of money with Delhi.
In its mouthpiece Swadhinota, the proscribed outfits alleged government’s lack of interest and goodwill for holding talks with ULFA. The outfit also charged the government with trying to downplay the image of the ULFA leaders in their captivity. “With goodwill we set up PCG to carry forward the peace process. But it stopped only because of a circle of people who does not want peace in Assam,” it said.
According to the...
The United Liberation Front of Asom on threatens to launch a massive attack on security forces along with a section of police and intellectuals waging war against them. In an e-mail statement, ULFA Commander in Chief Paresh Baruah on Tuesday said they would also target national celebrations like Independence Day and Republic Day. Baruah said his outfit will not target the public places and that people in general will punish any ULFA cadre responsible for any explosion in public place. He further warns of dire consequences against the intellectuals and villagers acting as police informers.
Baruah's statement comes up at at a time when government is trying to hold talk with the ULFA top...
Once again the best of the music talent in the Northeast will get a chance to showcase their immense talent in the newly released album The Great Eastern Rock Volume 2 which have hit stands. This time 17 bands have been chosen out of 723 entries to be featured in this album which is available free of cost with TNT-The Northeast Today Magazine.
'The first Great Eastern Rock CD had a tremendous response and we were all pleasantly surprised with the response of the readers of the magazine and the music fans and we have taken note of all the recommendations to ensure that this album is better than ever' says Geetharatha Mushahary who also works as the talent spotter in the TNT team. With...
The Centre is ready to talk with ULFA if they drop the sovereignty demand. Reiterating it at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, Union home minister P Chidambaram said that if the rebel outfit operating in Assam wants to sit in talk with the government they must eschew the path of violence. The Union minister further hoped that the ULFA do these in 2010 to ensure a meaningful peace process. On the other hand, the Centre has extended the ceasefire term with NDFB and DHD(J). During this period, there will be no crackdown against the two rebel outfits.
A moderate intensity earthquake has jolted Assam and its neighbouring north eastern states on Thursday. The tremor was felt at around 3-28 in the afternoon forcing a section of residents in Guwahati to come out of their houses. However, there is no immediate report of any casualty and damage. The quake has rattled two days after the quake of 5.4 intensity that jolted the region on Tuesday. Details are awaited.
Immense resources available for development for the north eastern region will come up for a thought provoking discussion as the non resident Indians from Assam will rub shoulders on January 11 and 12 in Guwahati. Organised by the Friends of Assam & Seven Sisters, the two days event will begin at the Machkhowa Cultural Complex on January 11. Disclosing this at a press conference, the Assamese NRI club officials said in Guwahati that summit will discuss the potentials to uplift the region's solar power, rural health, oil-energy and human resources. The summit will be attended also by a few prominent scientists who are at work in various parts of the country.
The fifth North Eastern Business Summit to woo investment from outside, organised by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region would be held in Kolkata on January 8 and 9. According to informaiton, organised by DoNER, in the summit, Indian Chamber of Commerce took the initiative to bring foreign investors from Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia besides leading business groups.
All chief ministers of the region, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Minister for DoNER, B K Handique, Union Commerce Minister, Ananda Sharma are scheduled to participate in the summit. Noyably, the first North East Business Summit was held in Mumbai in 2002...
A court in Dibrugarh has remanded ULFA top leader Raja Borah to seven days police custody after he was produce before it on Sunday. Borah, the body guard of ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, has a pending murder case registered against him with Joipur police station. He was sought in the murder of Cheniram Borah, a resident of Barhoni gaon near Nahorkatiya in 2005. It may be recalled that he was produced before Kamrup Chief Judicial magistrate on Saturday along with ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and military spokesman Raju Baruah and the duo were remanded to judicial custody and ordered Bora to be sent to Dibrugarh.
A strong earthquake has struck Assam and its neighbiuring areas pushing panic button among the people on Tuesday. The massive jolt was felt at 2-32 in the afteroon forcing a section of the people in Guwahati to come out of their homes immediately after the tremor. According to the US Geologocal Survey Centre, the intensity of the tremor stands at 5.4 in the Richter scale and its epicentre was Myanmar-India border. There is, however, no report of any loss of life and property til now.
Comments
Pages
Add new comment