No matter what age you are, eight or 88, Rongali Bihu will invariably bring a spring to your steps. It does not matter if you are not an Assamese. Anyone who has called Assam his or her home, even for a brief period, will vouchsafe that Bihu’s all-encompassing nature is the beauty of this spring festival. It makes you feel young.

In fact, we can feel Bihu. It is out there in nature, in the rhythm of the dhols and Bihu songs and in the wildly fluttering hearts of youngsters. Everything around you, it seems, is awash in the spirit of spring.

Having been brought up in a semi-urban background, Bihu celebrations during my childhood were a fun-filled affair. What I enjoyed the most was being part of the neighbourhood huchori team. However, I must admit that I never had any sense of rhythm and my dancing was atrocious.

But the fun was just in being part of the team. I remember that the money we used to collect from our house-to-house performances was spent in doing something for the community, even if it was as little as buying a football for our local club. The huchori, in my view, is the simplest form of resource mobilisation for the benefit of the community.

Back then, Bihu was the source of simple pleasures — like new clothes, the wait at the Bihutolis from early morning, eating pithas steaming hot right off the stove.

I remember the traditional egg-fights when I used to go from house to house, challenging my friends.

I must say that the youngsters of today are missing a great deal of the fun. Bihu does not bring the twinkle to their eyes anymore. Its urban character today has taken the sheen off the celebrations as we ourselves seek a Bihu, which is neatly packaged and delivered in a time-bound capsule. The nearly monthlong celebrations of the past has been squeezed into a weeklong package.

However, change is a natural phenomenon and it is inevitable. No one can turn the clock back. But I am sure that the modern value-additions to Bihu will only make it more universal in nature.

We tend to become sentimental over the good old days, but the good new days, too, hold as much hope. Like in the past, people will rediscover and reinvent Bihu and the changes will blend in perfectly with our modern lives.