July 10, 2007 - Visited Shillong and rediscovered her beauty

These are some of the snaps taken from the car. Isnt she beautiful?

NH 44

A place enroute, from here a part of Bangladesh is visible. The water covered area is a part of Bangladesh.

Another one from my car. The breathtaking red river and blue hills !!!

July 15, 2006 - Hope Floats

Here comes hope.....

Something to feel good, reading...

# Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.

   --Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

# Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well,

   but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of

   how it turns out.

   --Vaclav Havel

# Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

   The important thing is to not stop questioning.

  --Albert Einstein

# We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.

   --John Fitzgerald Kennedy

# While there's life, there's hope!

   --Ancient Roman Saying

# Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible

   and achieves the impossible.

   --Anonymous

However, there is an exception, as everywhere....

# He that lives upon hope will die fasting.

   --Benjamin Franklin

July 13, 2006 - Mumbai vs. Guwahati Blasts

How important Northeast news for the National news channels? Recently, I have seen the scrolling ‘News Flash’ on NDTV Profit, displaying the news, ‘Bangalore makes helmet wearing compulsory for the pillion riders’, ‘one killed in road accident in Chennai’. I know, you must be thinking what my point is.

Yesterday an Oriya friend of mine sent me this sms asking me to pray for the people who were killed and injured in the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai on 11^th July 2006 and to pass on the same sms to my other friends. I have my sympathy towards the people who suffered in the blasts. As it has been observed, NDTV, Sahara and Zee news channels are all into the incident that rocked Mumbai.

Ok, now the point is the sms, which really made me think. I had never received sms asking me to pray for the lives of the victims of Guwahati blasts that happen every now and then, I have never seen a news flash of similar kind that was displayed about the Bangalore/Chennai or any other city of the country. My question is, why? Why the Northeast in general and Guwahati in particular gets the least importance in the Media? Is it that the lives of the people killed in Guwahati blasts were not as important? Why it takes so long for the national TV or other media to get the news displayed on their respective channels? Isn’t it pure negligence? Shall we not ban all such TV channels from being aired in the Northeast? Shall we not lock such channels with the parents lock for ourselves? Don’t we deserve to know the news of Guwahati as soon as it happens? Can anybody suggest something to make the channels realise this issue?

If news of some incident come to us, as a normal behaviour, we run to the TV or the Internet to get the latest update. But there is no news channel national or local, which caters to this need of the people living in this part of the country. What a pain!

July 7, 2006 - Zubeen News !!!

Hey guys, check out once more zubeen.com, there is a new song playing. Its one of the melodies from Strings. Moreover, Zubeen has replied to all our discussions and posts there and have promised to make his site one of the bests. Wish him luck too. He has also informed that he has sung for Sunny Deol and for Himesh Reshamiya’s music. Now Zubeen singing for Himesh? Yeah, that’s why I say that Zubeen possesses a BIIIIIG HEART. If it was anybody else, his EGO must have had come into play, but see Zubeen, he is ALWAYS THE BEST.

June 28, 2006 - Makeover Magic !

Oh wow!!! Red and white it is, a world class combination of colours!!! ...and what a coincidence, this is my favourite colour combination too !!! I SIMPLY LOVE THE NEW LOOK OF www.bihu.in. We definitely needed this change. I mean it. Now, time to change the background theme to some more realistic “dhulor sapor” or some “mohor hingor pepa” instrumental. Thank you administrator/webmaster for this change. I liked it. I liked the photograph of the model as well; somehow I could relate myself to her ;-) GOOD JOB!!!

June 28, 2006 - Somethings we already know...

In life, there are many things that we know and we know that we know, but sometimes it becomes difficult to actually realise what we know. Yes, it sounds confusing. It did the same to me until I have read and heard the pod casts of Robin Sharma. Whatever he says and discusses, is so true and we so much know them all. But it takes someone else to make us realise the meaning of the things we know. I suggest a visit and an ear to Robin Sharma’s pod casts and I am sure some of you will definitely thank me for the site named http://www.robinsharma.com/. I have also enjoyed reading his blogs on the site. His book ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’ is a wonderful read. Presently I am reading his ‘The Greatness Guide’ and so far, I am enjoying every word of it.

June 26, 2006 - 10 on 10 at Customer Service

Till recently I had no example to cite if somebody asked me about my experience of best customer service. But recently I have come across one such customer service that definitely goes that extra mile to make you feel important and precious. I am talking about the Kingfisher Airlines. I had to go to a city I had never been to. I was a little worried. But soon after reaching the airport, I had no doubt that - this journey is going to be a comfortable one. In the new city, especially on my return, I felt like a Queen flying the good times. The moment I stepped into the airport car parking a red uniform clad boy came to receive me and carried my trolley to the screening area. From there, another ‘red boy’ took me to the counter where I collected my boarding pass. From there a wireless talkie ‘red and white’ girl took me to the check-in area and after the formalities it was time to board the craft. The best part was, they were all smiles and sending across positive vibes! Its not that this is the first time I am flying or travelling alone. But I had never experienced such focused and friendly customer care ever. Moreover, the in-house entertainment system and the route tracking map with details of altitude, location, countdown timer and temperature records is fantastic. Kingfisher is here to stay and give its competitors a hard time. The experience of flying the 'good times' is worth every penny. Mr Vijay Malya, you surely taught your crew to treat all the passengers as ‘guests in your home!’ We the satisfied customers want you to keep up the good work.

June 24, 2006 - Guwahati is outside India !!!

Continuing the previous web log of mine named as ‘Concept of Assam in non-NE people,’ I am here to share a recent experience where I was shocked to see the concept of Northeast, especially of Guwahati, among the highly educated people of the country. Few days back during my short visit to Hyderabad, I came across a girl from Trivandrum who was also been called for the same meeting I was attending. During our introductory conversation she was surprised to know that I am from Guwahati and had gone all the way alone to Hyderabad. She asked me how is Guwahati? How could you make it to Hyderabad in such short notice? I said its no big deal, I had boarded the “good times” and come. She asked me, how far is the airport? How do you come to the airport? Etc. I was surprised at her silly questions. But after explaining my trip from home to Hyderabad, she was silent for some time. Then she said, “Oh I don’t know much about that part of the country. Till recently I thought Guwahati is outside India.” All I could do after listening to her was-lol...!!! I was amused to see the state of her knowledge who claims to be a columnist in The Hindu, metro edition!

June 19, 2006 - That time of the year again !!!!!

It is that time of the year again when the monsoon in Assam becomes the cause of sorrow, as rising water levels in almost all the rivers submerge most of the areas in Assam. Sometimes we think, “Is there any way to prevent flood and save the massive losses?” But then, before we get into any proper and workable solution, we move on with our lives and our personal problems.

Seriously, ever since childhood, I have been hearing news of flood and losses of lives and property. But there has been no solution so far. I think, its time we learn to live with flood and find out ways to minimise the losses and maximising the advantages of annual floods. Complete flood control in Assam seems impossible due to so many obvious reasons. Controlling flood partially is also a Herculean task, as it involves huge amount of finances and technical expertise. Now, the question that comes to mind is, “Should we at all try to prevent floods?” The immediate best way to avoid casualties would be to have an effective early warning system for floods based on rainfall and river flow data. This will help the inhabitants of the flood anticipated areas take respective precautions. Now, improvement in the flood forecasting system is a must here. Any idea on this is welcome.

June 12, 2006 - Whats wrong with bihu?

Hey, something is wrong with this site. I can’t see it properly and can't read the first blog by somebody. Its a junk of some symbols. Please help. BTW, thanks Siva (IITGan) for sending me the snaps of Guwahati bloggers meet. The quality of the photograph is however not up to the mark. Looks like a lot of the bloggers like me, couldn’t make it to the event on that day. I am sorry for myself. It would have been better if the photographs accompanied the names of the respective person on it. Now, Babul, please do something about the bihu.in, I am not liking the disturbance on its page.

May 17, 2006 - Ya Ali

...... and Zubeen's song YA ALI.... yes, well sung, what say? I liked it. Agree or disagree, he sings well and I am a big fan of his. Check out his web site http://www.zubeen.com/. It was a much needed site. Want to know something more about YA ALI’s success? Check out this link:

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060511/asp/siliguri/story_6207913.asp

April 24, 2006 - Namaskaar

Just like that, I felt like offering an Ohomiya Namaskaar to the ones visiting my blog !

April 20, 2006 - Bhujan Thelaa

Hi All !

Do you know that in Assamese, jolokiya (chilli) is also called BHUJAN THELAA. You know why? Suppose you are not feeling like having food (bhujan) and you still sit down and take your food with a jolokiya, it makes the food tastier - making you eat, even though you were not feeling like it. In simpler words, bhaatkhini theli petot humuai diye aru hei karonei bhujan thelaa

Bon Appetite

Manashree

April 19, 2006 - Assam Valley School

Hi All !!!

Now that I have all of you here, may I expect some information about Assam Valley School in Tezpur? I know I can search it in the Internet, I did. But the information I am looking for is not available on the net. I wanted to know the real picture of the school. My sister wants to study there. Shall I send her? How is the science stream there? Do u know anybody who has passed from that school? Please help. Replies expected!

Manashree

April 14, 2006 - Masoloi jaon nakhaon nakhaon huda bhaat

April 14, 2006 - Concept of Assam in non-NE people

The concept of Assam and assamese, in the minds of the people just outside Assam is so vague that it hurts. I would like to share a few incidents that I have faced in Delhi.

Once I was watching a movie in PVR Saket. The movie was "Dil Se". One lady and her child were sitting on my back row. The child asked his mother, Assam kahan dikhaya? Mother said, "Yehin to hai Assam, jo dikha raha hai, jaha Shahrukh Khan ko mara tha". The son said woh Assam hai kya? woh to Jungle hai. Mother said, "Assam kya hai, jungle hi to hai." Grrrr... I was so angry at the mother that I told her aapne kabhi Assam dekha hai ? She said, mere husband ka wohi pe posting hai. I said aur aapko "Assam jungle hai" ye baat unhone bataya? She replied positively. I told her, iska matlab ye ke ya to unhone aapko bebakuf banaya hai yato unhone khud Assam nehin dekha. Assam ka matlab "jungle" nehin hai, aapke bete ka geography gyan mat bigadiye.
I think its time we stand up and put our point across. During my days in Munirka, the land lady used to ask me, why assamese boys and girls stay together? You know what? she meant about the Naga and Mizo boys and girls some of whom used to stay together in big single rented rooms. Yes I definitely cleared her mind explaining that they are from Nagaland and Mizoram. Their culture is different and I am from Assam. Assamese peoples' culture is also different. Don’t club all the NE people together and call them assamee, they are not even assamee they are OXOMIYA.
There are several incidents like that and I am determined to correct all the misconceptions regarding NE that I come across.