Girls celebrate at Judges Field in Guwahati on Tuesday. Picture by Eastern Projections

April 14: It is that time of the year again when the Nishita Goswamis and Gayatri Mahantas don’t mind breaking into a jig in the middle of a field with you.

When the red blouses and beige mekhelas dominate the sartorial mosaic in almost every town and village of Assam and beyond.

And revelry looks like the official state of being.

Early this morning, dhols and pepas announced that Rongali Bihu, Assam’s biggest and most colourful festival, had begun.

Thousands of revellers thronged the Bihutolis and troupes set the stage for the nearly-monthlong festivities that mark the advent of spring.

Bhupen Hazarika made an unscheduled visit to the Bihutoli at Judges Field and hoped that “the spirit of Bihu will help the state strive for peace”.

He also crooned the first lines of his famous song, “Bohag mathu eta ritu nohoi, nohoi bohag eti maah/ Asomiya jatir ee aayush rekha...” (Bohag is not just a season, nor is it a month/ it is the lifeline of the Assamese people...)

The open-air Bihu celebrations at Judges Field — organised by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) — is one of the most popular functions in the capital and sets the tone for festivities in the days ahead.

Actresses Moloya Goswami, her daughter Nishita, and Gayatri Mahanta joined the revellers and danced the day away.

Latasil playground, where Bihu was first hosted on stage way back in 1951, also had its share of fun.

The Assamese community in Meghalaya, too, refused to miss out on the revelry at home. They planned their own bit of festivity at Shillong Vidyalaya in Bishnupur.

Organised by the Shillong Central Rongali Bihu Celebration Committee, it will be two days of fun-packed menu.

Today, the celebrations began with the hoisting of Bihu flag, followed by games for children.

The veterans, however, remembered the time when Shillong was the capital of undivided Assam and the vibrant celebrations of the fifties.

“At that time, there was a large presence of the Assamese community in Shillong. We used to celebrate Rongali Bihu in an open space near Lady Hydari Park, adjacent to Pinemount School in Shillong,” recalled 76-year-old K. Gogoi, a resident of Laban.