North East News Agency

CEC-Assam’s No.1 institute, having a reputation for conducting National level shows in Assam   since 2000, organized a mega event titled “Parampara”, ‘Assam Bangkok Fashion Show 2006’ on February 26h at “The Ruby Hall” of Indra Regent Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand.  This mega event was sponsored by Heena beauty parlour of Guwahati.

A myriad of retrospective images found in this cultural colourful land was depicted in this event by a clutch of smart and talented upcoming designers. Many aspiring designers are slowly making their presence in the highly competitive fashion market in every nook and corner of the North-East with a blend of good tailoring and smart designs. There is a tremendous potential for the new lot of designers to get a good market for the unique and authentic designs.

Breaking the perception of anomalies within this reverberating territory CEC, a frontrunner in fashion designing courses and as an organiser of various successful fashion shows, is trying to bridge the gap between the fashion trends and to give a good platform to various Fashion Designers  by this rendezvous of colourful North-Eastern states & South East Asia. 

Dresses of around 18 students of CEC have been selected for the event. A selected student designer of CEC namely Mridul Mazinder Baruah of Tinisukia accompanied the team to Bangkok. It may be mentioned here that all the expenses of Mridul was borne by CEC.

The dresses of the event were a blend of Assamese and Thai culture. Earlier a photo shoot of the dresses had been done with some Thai models in Bangkok on January 26, 2006. The designers prepared dresses which were worn by Thai models was prepared using materials like Eri, Assam Silk, Muga etc. The designers can expect a mini avalanche of orders for the fusion garments that blend unique craftsmanship and color with North- East Indian silhouettes and South East Asian finishes.

Many upcoming designers armed with a diploma of fashion designing from the institute do not get scope in the competitive fashion market. This ‘Assam Bangkok Fashion Show , 2006 provided a golden opportunity to the aspirants and also the zooming fashion industry of Assam.

In this context, former ‘Mrs India World’ first runner-up Arunima Dutta, who happens to be the first Assamese lady to win the title, joined hands with Dr. Vatana Supromajkr, an internationally renowned cancer specialist and MD, Bumrungrad International Hospital, Bangkok, for the breast cancer awareness campaign she is conducting in the North-Eastern region of India. Arunima Dutta accompanyied the CEC team for the show in Bangkok.

Parampara - Assam Bangkok Fashion Show provided a much-needed fillip to promising fashion talents of this region..Founder  President of CEC Society Dipankar Dutta thanked the helpful hands of various sponsors in making this mega event a memorable one.

The following Fashion Designers were selected to participate in Parampara, Assam Bangkok Fashion Show, 2006.

Mridul Mazinder Baruah, Manjit Das, Soma Sen, Shikha Deora, Mayurakshi Hazarika, Azim Azad, Shilpi Bora, Nazrana Choudhury, Puja Biswas, Sujata Das, Rashmi Rekha Balary, Rimanjali Dutta, Rinky Sarkar, Deepjyoti Baishya, Krishna Sahariya, Kiki Bajpayee, Tahsin Nilufar Khalil, Archana Devi, Mwnabili Brahma.

Winter Festival
The Winter Festival provides the opportunity to savour the diverse arts and cultures of the NE along with rest of the country.

North East News Agency

The land of eight sisters, the North-East India is a picturesque region comprising the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Miaoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. The Region is hemmed by Bhutan and  China on the north, Myanmar on the east and south and Bangladesh on the west.

The region is bestowed with bonanza of bewildering variety of landscape, having scenic beauty. The eastern Himalayan ranges are covered virgin forests, and the numerous rivers meander their ways to the angel’s heart! All these have made this land an ideal haunt for tourists as a whole.

The people of this region manifest a century old tradition of mutual coexistence. People of the region viz. tribal and non-tribal populace have produced an exotic cultural synthesis. Ethnically, this diverse and heterogeneous region boasts of 209 tribes and 192 languages and dialects. Many races and culture fuse and ‘melt into the composite culture of the melting pot that is India.

The scenic beauty ‘of the region, its rich and varied culture, melodious songs and vibrant dances, handloom and handicrafts which are exquisite in colour, excellent in design and craftsmanship are so interesting that no tourist can resist the temptation to visit again. In other -words, the region presents a veritable cultural mosaic of a diverse pattern in costumes, ways of living, dances, songs and music, art and crafts, customs, rituals and dialects. The tribal art and culture have roots in their indigenous faith and beliefs. Their songs and dances, fabrics, arts and crafts, etc. reflect these.’

The North East has probably the richest cultural heritage in terms of variety, not found anywhere in the country. Owing to geographical barriers and difficult communication, the people of this remote region remained isolated for centuries.

The establishment of the Zonal Cultural Centre was first announced by the former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi for the northern region during his visit to Hussainiwala Punjab on 23rd March 1985. Government of India announced setting up of seven Zonal Cultural Centres with the concept of uplifting the cultural heritage and bringing unity and understanding amongst the people of India setting aside their diversity in caste, religion, place etc. through cultural integration. The ZCCs are autonomous bodies under the Department of Culture, Govt. of India. The seven Zonal Cultural Centres with their headquarters are North Zone Cultural Centre - Patiala, North Central Zone’ Cultural Centre - Allahabad, West Zone Cultural Centre - Udaipur, Eastern Zonal’ Cultural Centre — Santiniketan, North East Zone Cultural Centre - Dimapur, South Central Zone Cultural Centre - Nagpur and South Zone Cultural Centre – Thanjavur.

The Zonal Cultural Centres were established for preservation, disssemination, growth, development and evolution of various forms styles of the arts.

IAF’s awareness campaign  

IAF organises stunning air show, a static display and a concert by Air Warrior Symphony Orchestra as part of its campaign.

North East News Agency

With 1500 aircraft and 1.5 lakh personnel, the India Air Force (IAF) is today the fourth largest Air force in the world. IAF consists of the men in blue whose motto is taking the sky with glory. Today the IAF is regarded as one of the best in terms of personnel, machines and equipments and further modernization is still on.

In a bid to make the IAF popular in the North-East, an air awareness campaign was organized for the first time in Guwahati, the hub of the region. The campaign was broken in to three parts – a stunning air show over river Brahmaputra, a static display and a concert by Air Warrior Symphony Orchestra.

The bank of Brahmaputra got flooded with people to witness the flying display. And what they saw was simply breath taking. After the fly past by Chetak and MI – 17 helicopters, the MIG’s, Jaguars, and Mirage’s took over the sky. Even as the crowd gasped to see the game of speed and precision, the Surya Kiran Aerobatic team 9the crack aerobatic team known nationally and internationally for its precise skills and high standards) stormed in and literally opened up the sky with its stunning and hair raising maneuvers. The dynamic low level display, flown in both six and nine aircraft formation, included some synchronized heart stopping maneuvering and precise united flying with a speed of 200 to 600 kmph with the aircraft wings a mere five meters apart. The Suryakiran team was followed by the skydivers called Air Devils, the IAF’s world known parachuting team. They also carried out daring manoeuvres during their free fall and landed in front of the spectators to mark the end of the great show.

The two-day static display was the actual ground to desire the awareness campaign home. Four helicopters (MI-17, MI-18, Chetak and Cheetah) were at display. Also at display were air armaments like bombs, missiles, rockets, guns and ammunition of different types. The two-day display got fantastic response. Huge crowd particularly youths were seen taking interest in the display. Air Force personnel were found forthcoming in explaining all the finer points to the eager onlookers. A movie hall was also set up to show motivational video films to visitors to built up inspiration to join IAF. Two publicity stalls were also set up one by Air Hq and the other by 11 Airmen Selection Centre to provide required information to the visitors. Printed materials and elaborate information about joining IAF in different cadres was given out by these publicity stalls. There were long queues at these stalls to get access to this information.

The last part was the first ever Air Warriors Symphony Orchestra Concert in the North-East. It was a musical extravaganza complete with popular melodious composition of great musicians. The first half of the musical evening included eight tunes including light cavalry, Symphony 40, In the mood, Hungarian Dance No. 1, Athens, Chal Gori and Beatles Medly. The second half of the evening had Motherland, Dil Hai Chota Sa, Lahu se Lahu, I love your boli, Love Story, etc. The 70-member band played Flute, Saxophone, Bass, etc.

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