Mamoni Raisom Goswami at the Gandhi Basti library in Guwahati. Picture by Eastern Projections

Insight into Assam’s rich cultural heritage

Not many people are aware that Assamese is the first modern Indo-Aryan language into which the Ramayan was translated in the 14th century.

However, now with the efforts of writer Mamoni Raisom Goswami, many more have to come to know about this.

By setting up a first-of-its-kind Centre for Ramayan Studies in Assam at her Guwahati residence, Mamoni intends to popularise the state’s culture to the outside world.

She is also giving away around 500 books to the institute. Mamoni has already got an assurance from Dispur to fund two scholars from outside and two students for each semester.

The writer is herself an expert on Ramayan and two volumes on the epic and another on Ravan — which she has authored — will be released this month.

Goswami said she was trying to get the centre inaugurated by Ramayan scholar and senior AICC leader in charge of Assam PCC, Veerappa Moily.

Guitar show

A troupe of veteran musicians from Assam, under the banner of Sur Sangam, has embarked on a mission to help the capital city of Meghalaya enlist its name in Guinness World Records.

The Scotland of the East, Shillong, will be attempting to break the existing world record by staging the largest guitar ensemble at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Friday. The show will be a part of this year’s Autumn Festival.

Kansas city in the US holds the world record for the largest ensemble of guitarists (1,721) at present. Veteran guitarists J.P. Das and Charu Gohain have been contacting fellow guitarists in Assam to be a part of the ensemble to help Shillong break the record.

"The culturally rich Northeast has a huge number of musicians. If the musicians of the region get together, we could easily break the record," Das said. He, however, rued that most of the musicians in Assam and other northeastern states do not know about the attempt to be made in Shillong on Friday. “We are trying to get these musicians together."

Gohain, another veteran guitarist from Assam, said he would love to be a part of the “greatest guitar show in the world”. “It would be a great feeling if the Northeast earns a name in the world in music. The event would prove to the world the richness of the Northeast,” he said.