Guwahati, Nov. 21: His childhood memories of his grandparents telling him about their Assamese roots are still fresh in the mind of 33-year-old Thant Zin, who hails from Mandalay - the second biggest city of Myanmar.

Today, Zin's long-cherished dream of visiting the place, where once his ancestors lived, turned into reality when he, along with his mother and two of her sisters, landed in Guwahati on their maiden trip to Assam.

Zin, who is a drummer in a popular music band of Mandalay called "Theme", told The Telegraph that he is very happy to be here in Assam, a place he had heard a lot about from his grandparents when he was a child.

"I am quite excited that finally I got a chance to visit this beautiful place from where my ancestors had migrated to Myanmar around 200 years ago," he said.

Zin, along with his 72-year-old mother Chandramoyee and her two sisters Ratna Moni, 75, and Pushpamoyee, 67, arrived here on a flight from Imphal today. They had flown down to Imphal from Mandalay yesterday. They were accompanied by Madhurjya Gopal, a Myanmarese citizen whose ancestors were from Bengal.

Gopal, who can speak fluent Hindi, acted as their interpreter here.

Between 1821 and 1825 when the Burmese invaded Assam, defeated Ahom king Chandrakanta Singha and brought the Ahom kingdom under the Burmese control, many Assamese were taken to Myanmar as "prisoners of war" while some came to Mandalay as assistants of Ahom princess Hemo Aideo, who was married off to a Burmese king.

It is believed that Bhamo city in Myanmar's Kachin province is named after Hemo Aideo.

Though over the years they had assimilated into Myanmarese society and embraced the Burmese language and culture, they are still proud of their Assamese origin.

"I can't speak Assamese but I am proud of my roots. Like me, other Assamese-origin people in Myanmar also want to come here to see the place from where their forefathers were taken long ago," Zin said.

Ratna Moni said today they visited Kamakhya temple and would visit other places of tourist attractions in and around Guwahati before returning to Myanmar on November 24.

"I feel at home here. This time we have come on a short trip but I want to come here again for a longer stay," she said.

"Apart from Mandalay, people of Assamese origin are also in Bhamo, Mogong and Mitkina in Myanmar," said Tapan Kumar Sarma, president of Association for Historically Dispersed People of Assam (Ashdipa), a local NGO that facilitated their Assam trip.

Sarma, a teacher of North Guwahati College, along with city-based surgeon Satyakam Phukan and businessman Binoy Sarma, had established contact with these people in Myanmar during their visit to that country in 2013.

Jyotishman Das, secretary of Ashdipa, said the visitors will be felicitated by the history department of Pragjyotish College tomorrow and jointly by Ashdipa and Asam Sahitya Sabha on Wednesday in the city.