Saturday 8 August 2015

The 2015 Asamiya meet at Volkach -- another anniversary

This year has been a year of anniversaries...it had already started last October with my father's birth centenary celebrations. This year was also an anniversary of sorts for me. It was also the fifth anniversary of the first meeting in August 2010 of a small group of Asamiya living in and around Germany. Since we had hosted that first event, we thought it would be nice to do it again at home... what this year's event turned out to be was much more than I could have ever imagined...


We were a little wary in the days before the meet because we did not quite know what to expect; we were also not sure how many people would eventually turn up; also since we did not know most of those who had signed up to come, we were not sure how it would work...anyway,... we (that is, my husband Stephan and I) decided to take the plunge and go for it... Stephan was not at all sure how all this was supposed to work but he was willing to play along and help me put everything together. When the numbers went up to more than 20, I began to worry about having enough space, and bed clothes and towels for everybody -- do bring your sleeping bags, I panicked... 

People were supposed to arrive on Friday afternoon and leave on Sunday... I started shopping on the Tuesday and cooking from the Wednesday... I wanted to cook (or at least half-cook) a few dishes beforehand so that we did not spend too much time on cooking when we actually met... but cooking for so many people people in a kitchen meant for two is not entirely trivial. Bijoy arrived on Wednesday night and helped us with the preparations...Nirode da was one of the first ones to arrive -- why do I get a bed when others have to sleep on the floor, he objected... were we not all supposed to sleep on dhola bisonas? It was only because he had to share the room with Kumarda that he agreed to the arrangement ... I  want no special privileges, he said, not at a time when we are still mourning Kalam...I needed no further proof that I was in the presence of a great man.

Kumarda and Rahul arrived on a motorcycle late on Friday night. In the end we were a full 25 of us... the highest number ever for any of our get-togethers so far. There was no set programme about what we would do...the idea was to just be together and get to know each other... and chatter and make friends and have fun....When Srimanta arrived with a 5 kg rou mas from Hamburg on the Friday afternoon, I was about to collapse... who will clean the fish, who will cook it, which pot will be big enough, etc. etc?...late in the evening, when it was pitch dark outside, Bhagat decided to take charge -- the fish could be scaled best when it was still frozen, he declared... so around 10 p.m. a big exercise got under way on our terrace of getting the fish pieces ready for cooking the next day... the only thing I was required to provide to the group of fish-cleaners were straws, so that they could contune to drink their beer even while cleaning fish!

Saturday morning, Pankaj and Bhagat declared that they would make lusi-bhaji for everybody for breakfast. They could hardly wait till the shops opened at 8 to get the maida and the oil, It was well before 9 that they, ably assisted by Rahul, put more than a 100 lusis on the breakfast table! Later, one group went shopping, another went for a walk through the vineyards while the rest of us started to get on with preparations for lunch. Two couples (all 4 young professionals) arrived around 11 from Munich. They were coming for the first time, had come just for the day; but there was not much time to waste -- can you two make the bhendi bhaji and the bengena pitika, I asked the ladies... don't know whether I would have taken no for an answer... we have nothing for the vegetarian Panchi, I realised... no problem, Sucismita told me, I can make a paneer matar...so that was settled....who would have guessed that we had never met before... 

When Bhagat's fish curry was ready we had lunch -- a sumptuous meal of not less than 10 different things... of course it was only later that we found out that Bhagat's father had met with an accident in Guwahati the previous day and was in hospital -- he was constantly on the phone with his family there, but did not want to spoil the mood here... so he had kept it to himself and had got on with the cooking... truly the stuff heroes are made of. The evening session started with a surprise --  I was hoping nobody had noticed that it was my birthday a couple of days back, and had strictly forbidden Srimanta who had noticed and Bijoy who was there for it, to tell the others. But in the end, there was no way to keep that secret, and all our guests got together and gave me  a lovely birthday surprise ...and it was just so very nice. .

After the cake was eaten, Bijoy was asked to read one or two of his poems -- but when little Julian came up to him and wanted to sit on his lap and share the spotlight, he could not control himself -- his little Ro'd was so far away...Then there was a round of introductions... about half of the group were students, all doing Ph.Ds or M.Sc.s in reputed European universities. [Only one girl though in that bunch -- the realisation made me a little uneasy... I would have to find out what this meant, I told myself.] A few had finished with their studies and had started working... It made me proud. But that was not all. Later  they spoke of their other interests -- Bhagat and his friends had already done many things including creating Asamiya fonts and managing many Assamese on-line portals and magazines -- sahitya.org and others. Deep later told me that in their free time they translated important Wikipedia pages into Assamese...just like that, he told me, somebody has to do it, no? I was taken aback... these youngsters sitting so far away from home not only did their studies and everything else they had to do, but volunteered to spend some of their free time translating Wikipedia pages into Assamese for no other reason but that someone has to do it... Raktim was going to run the Frankfurt Marathon in October to support an NGO working for children in Tamilnadu, Rahul asked me if I knew of any NGOs in Assam which were worth supporting and volunteering for ... 

Is there anything we can do to improve something back home -- seemed to be the question all of them seem to be asking, some had found answers, different answers, others were still looking, but they were all, without exception, asking the same question... what did this mean? is this only a form of home-sickness that drove these youngsters to want to do something? Are youngsters back home also asking the same question? If every young person is asking this same question, then why are things not changing faster back home? I had no answers... except that I knew that I loved these kids for caring enough to ask that all important question...this bunch is much better than us oldies...they will
make those things happen that we have not been able to do...another difference I noticed about them is that they do not complain, they are positive, they simply do what they can instead of just blaming others or complaining ...in sharp contrast to the likes of me who are always finding fault with the system, pointing fingers at others, being unhappy and negative... there was a lesson to be learnt in the enthusiasm and positive energy of these young people ... they were not just arm-chair idealists... they also did what they could -- even if they were little things -- to make their dreams come true... wasn't that the way to proceed?

`Sanghatik Sandhiya' our evening session was called... Baideo, we have too many Sanskritik Sandhiyas, so we wanted to have a Sanghatik one this time... and Sanghatik it was, as it began with Deep's five minute long headstand and was followed by Mahanta da driving his huge car into the midst of our lawn in order to provide the right audio assistance to the Bihu husuri group...Mahantada, Srimanta and Panchi were the only ones who knew how to dance... the others pretended they did... and it worked. By the end of the evening even Nirode da and Stephan had joined...and when I was ordered to get a sorai with tamul-pan and some manoni so that the husuri group could bless our home, I felt that there was nothing more than I could have wished for... 

The best things come in the end... Rita and Fernanda had made lovely narikal  laroos and the young men had gorged themselves so much on them that they had not much appetitie left for dinner. But nobody missed the Rasmalai that Rita had also made and brought for us -- the best Rasmalai that I have ever eaten in my life... and the next morning, there was home-made guri sandah with doi and gur for breakfast...

The two days went by very quickly... When people started to leave I was sorry...in the end it was just the two of us and Kumarda -- that makes sense I told myself, because Kumarda is the only one from the whole group, who I know from back home in India, the only one who I know almost all my life. He is almost family for me, and I knew that he would be there when we needed him -- this time to clean up and get the house back in order.  Panchi made and put up a wonderful video of our meet in no time -- aren't girls always the best and the smartest, I gleefully asked myself. Doesn't matter if there was only one sample in the group, she was one of the best.

This bunch of people had come together almost by chance just because they are Assamese and happened to be near enough to be able to make it to Volkach, but after the two days it feels as if there is something more... a shared memory of something nice -- a coming together and being together that brought people even closer... a feeling that makes one want to smile when one looks back...a feeling that even though one is so far away from home, one is indeed not alone...




24 comments:

  1. Very nice and vivid, wish to attend one of these in a year or two.

    I think the sentence "but cooking for so many people people in a kitchen meant for 2 is not entirely non-trivial" should be "but cooking for so many people people in a kitchen meant for 2 is not entirely trivial".

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    1. right you are, Manjil...thanks...got carried away with the double negative...

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  2. Your words have replayed the last weekend once again. Couldn't have expressed the thoughts any better. You expressed it with your key strokes exactly what I have also been feeling/thinking :-). Thanks for making the get-together such a memorable one! - Srimanta

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    1. We are a good team, aren't we, Srimanta? Hope we can keep this get-togethers going also in the coming years...

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  3. Lovely to have the weekend brought to life again. Beautiful writing. Beautiful memories. ~Kumar

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    1. Thanks, Kumarda...it was lovely to have some time together...

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  4. Meenaxi ba..you have very aptly painted a word picture of our Get-together covering each notable episode :)

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    1. Thanks, Rashmita, you 4 really added a new dimension to it all...and you must come again and stay...

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  5. Sucismita Chutia9 August 2015 at 06:55

    Very well written, Baideo. Thanks for capturing the memory in words. I must admit that I would have probably not come to the get-together if you hadn't been part of the group, but I am so glad I did and got to meet the other wonderful people.

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    1. Thanks for making the effort and coming, Sucismita. It was really lovely to meet you again. Little Julian stole everyone hearts and I was really sorry for Piotr -- I hope he was not too unhappy... you guys must visit us again under normal circumstances. And as you know, I love to play Aita... so do come...

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    2. Sucismita Chutia15 August 2015 at 10:24

      Baideo, sure we will come once more . And if you are ever passing our way, do let us know. Piotr was not unhappy :). He enjoyed himself, he says. Most of all the food.

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Dear Manu, I don't know who you are but your comment seems to have got deleted, I don't know how... can you please put it back again...

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  7. A wonderful flashback of the wonderful weekend amidst such good people from my homeland in a foreign land. This feeling is priceless.
    Thank you Meenaxi ba for taking the lead, and the rest for doing their bit. :)

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    1. Thanks, Rahul, for this... (is this Rahul Dutta or Rahul jyoti nath, I wonder)... but in any case, if you guys hadn't come we wouldn't have had so much fun...

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  8. I missed another wonderful gathering...:-(
    But it was nice reading about it. Thanks Meenaxi ba for this write up. Being there in Germany only during the winter months we do miss out on a lot of things...but can't help it. Still hope Nils and me can make it to the get together someday though. Meanwhile I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the summer days.
    Deep down in the south we are having a harsh winter at the moment but spring seems to be around the corner..:-)

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    1. Thanks for your message Sukanya. yes we all had a great time and missed you and Nils yet again... we have to meet again next time you are here, even if it is in a smaller group. Let me know... hope you both are doing well and are happy...

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  9. I'm sure it had been a truly great weekend there! Isn't the puree making place where Stephan had entertained us with the Bavarian special beverage? I wish I could travel back in time to change my itinerary and spend more time at Volkach.

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    1. Dear Sanjay,
      You would have really enjoyed the company and the food -- it was really special. Yes, the terrace is the same...but you can't imagine the smells -- first of fish being cleaned, then of beer being drunk. then of fish being fried... it was crazy... but just wonderful...

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  10. Bijoy Sankar Barman14 August 2015 at 08:11

    Memories have their own worlds. Sometimes words are too confused to reflect memories, and to express the very soul of memories. And Baideu, as usual you have written this not only with words. Hope this memory of unbound and infinite happiness at Volkach will find its way for expression not only within our hearts and minds but also around our collective entity always.

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    1. Thanks, Bijoy, for your big and kind words... your help and presence made this get-together rather special...

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  11. Meenaxiba, it was awesome reading and re-living those beautiful memories through your blog :) We all had a great weekend at your place, which we all will cherish forever :* Lots of love!

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    1. This blog is nothing compared to the wonderful video you made on the occasion, Panchi. Do I have your permission to link the video to this blog? It was lovely to see you again. Thanks for teaching me to dance...:-)

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  12. beautiful...it must have been great out there.
    here, people are hardly as connected to their roots nowadays. it's sad what we've made of our sensibilities here.

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