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As serene as Assam
Leaving a beautiful place like Assam was not easy for these families that came to settle down in Lucknow. The Assamese have been migrating to Lucknow for jobs or to earn a livelihood through business for a long time. Though they have been able to keep their culture alive in faraway Lucknow, they do miss Assam on special occasions.
Leaving a beautiful place like Assam was not easy for these families that came to settle down in Lucknow. The Assamese have been migrating to Lucknow for jobs or to earn a livelihood through business for a long time. Though they have been able to keep their culture alive in faraway Lucknow, they do miss Assam on special occasions.
Assamese have been migrating to Lucknow since independence. Biju Bhagwati, a teacher at Bhatkhande Music Institute Deemed University, says, “About 70 per cent Assamese who have settled in Lucknow have come here due to job transfers. There is another percentage that came here to learn music or study other subjects, but settled here.”
He added, “When Bhatkhande was established in 1926, the Assamese who came to learn music established a hostel at the Maqbara Road. It has come to be a tradition that whenever men from Assam come to learn music they settle in this hostel, which has become a den for Assamese musicians. But it really feels like home.” There are about 40 to 50 Assamese families that have settled down permanently in Lucknow and 30 families that migrated as a result of job transfer.
Approximately 500 jawans came to Lucknow when the Assam Regiment settled in Lucknow last year.
The Assamese celebrate all their major festivals here. There are three Bihus, or festivals, in Assam—in the months of Bohaag (Baisakh, the middle of April), Maagh (the middle of January), and Kaati (Kartik, the middle of October). Each Bihu coincides with a distinctive phase in the farming calendar. The Bohaag Bihu marks the New Year at the advent of seeding time, the Kaati Bihu marks the completion of sowing and transplanting of paddies, and the Maagh Bihu marks the end of the harvesting period. Apart from Bihu, the Assamese here too celebrate Shankar Dev Ji’s birthday in August.
This year, the Assamese in Lucknow celebrated the Bohaag Bihu at the Dilkusha Gardens. Almost all the Assamese staying in Lucknow, belonging to various age groups, participated in the celebrations and enjoyed. They cooked traditional food like ‘peetha’ and ‘dahi-chura’. Besides, there was fish and rice, the Assamese staple food. What was special about the celebrations was the way everybody had dressed in the traditional Assamese costumes.
“Initially we didn’t like Lucknow. It is just the opposite of what Assam is—the climate, the culture, the people—everything is different. But as we settled down and interacted with the people we realised that people were good and Lucknow offered good food too. I grew fond of the food and am enjoying myself here,” said R Goswani.
