Kohinoor Theatre

The Kohinoor Theatre (Assamese: কহিনুৰ থিয়েটাৰ) is a mobile theatre group of the North-Eastern Indian state of Assam, founded by Sri Ratan Lahkar in 1976.

From Dhubri to Sadiya, from the north bank to the south bank of the Brahmaputra, Kohinoor Theatre performed its dramas, attracting thousands of spectators who came to see them perform.

Apart from initiating a theatrical movement, Kohinoor Theatre introduced co-acting on the stages of Assam. In 1931, Brajanath Sarma, with the help of theatre actor and playwright Phani Sarma introduced female actresses for the first time to appear in their drama productions at a time when male acting was completely dominant, revolutionizing the nature of Assamese theatre. Ratan Lahkar has done significant job by performing real drama based on Indian, Assamese culture and some famous drama of Shakespeare. Also he brought the Atlantic ocean on stage by performing the famous movie "Titanic" which even surprised people from Hollywood. He has introduced double acting on stage which is really surprising.

Kohinoor Theatre is the only Assamese mobile theatre group that has performed outside Assam. National School of Drama (NSD) had invited the troupe to perform in New Delhi in the year 2010 for 3 days from April 25 to 29.

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Chicken Reciepies

Chicken in rice powder gravy, is a common and very popular dish in every Mising household and everyone has their own special way of preparing it.

Ingredient:
Chicken -1/2 kg (best if its local chicken),
2 tbsp mustard oil,
2 onions,
2 bay leaves,
3-5 red chillies,
2 tsp ginger garlic paste, salt,
1/2 cup rice powder (rice soaked for 20 mnts, drained and powdered coarsely i.e. for about 10-15 secs in the grinder), 
4 cups boiling water.
Heat oil in a kerahi/wok, add chilli and bay leaves and fry the onions.
Add chicken pieces , ginger garlic paste and sauté till the chicken turns light brown in colour. Pour the

boiling water on to the chicken till the water covers the chicken. Let the gravy come to boiling point. Add  the rice powder gradually and keep stirring the gravy at this point. Stop adding the rice powder when the gravy attains dal like consistency. Cook for about 7-8 mnts , add cherry tomatoes (optional), coriander and take off heat. Serve hot with rice.

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Asomiya Chirajugamiya Geet

Listen Songs : Click Here

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Joymoti Assamese Movie

Joymoti or Joimoti (Assamese: জয়মতী), released on 10 March 1935, was the first Assamese film made. Based on Lakshminath Bezbaroa's play about the 17th-century Ahom princess Soti Joymoti, the film was produced and directed by the noted Assamese poet, author, and film-maker Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, and starred Aideu Handiqueand acclaimed stage actor and playwright Phani Sarma. The film, shot between 1933 and 1935,^[1] was released by Chitralekha Movietone in 1935 and marked the beginning of Assamese cinema.

Joymoti was screened at the 50th International Conference of the Society For Cinema and Media Studies (SCMC) of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, in March 2011.^[2]

Other screenings include:

• India-Bangladesh Joint Celebration of 100 Years of Indian Cinema, Dhaka (2012)
• UCLA's Centre for India and South Asia Studies, Los Angeles (April 2010)
• Osian-Cinefan's 10th Film Festival of Asian and Arabic Cinema, New Delhi (2008)
• Filmbüro Baden Württemberg's Internationales Indisches Filmfestival, Stuttgart (2006)
• Asiaticafilmidale (Encounters with Asian Cinema), Rome (2006)
• Munich Film Festival (2006).

Although never a commercial success, Joymoti was noted for its political views and the use of a female protagonist, something almost unheard of in Indian cinema of the time.

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Assam Saraighat Bridge

Saraighat Bridge is the first rail-cum-road bridge constructed over the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati. It was opened to traffic in April 1962 by then Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru. The Lachit Borphukan Park is situated on the south end and Chilarai Park situated on the north end of the bridge.^[1] The 3,015 metre long road bridge was built for the North Frontier Railway.^[2]

Construction of Saraighat Bridge was started on January 1958. It was opened to goods traffic in October, 1962 and opened for passenger traffic on 7 June 1963. The estimated cost of the bridge was Rs.10,65,16,891. A new three lane concrete road bridge is being constructed by the side of the Saraighat Bridge.

Saraighat is a historical place where fight between the Mughals and the Ahoms(rulers of assam from the 12th century for about 600 years) took place where the Ahoms triumphed.

The Saraighat Bridge over the river Brahmaputra, which is the vital link between North East region and the rest of the country, has completed 50 years of its existence and according to the experts of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, the bridge is still fit enough to serve the region for the days to come. The idea of construction of a bridge over the river Brahmaputra was first mooted in 1910 and the thought gathered momentum during the Second World War. But there were doubts over the stability of the Railway line between Bongaigaon and Amingaon following devastating floods in 1942-43. However, the then Railway Minister announced the decision to construct the bridge in the Budget session of the Parliament in 1958 and the construction work formally started in January, 1959. The bridge was completed in September, 1962 by the Hindustan Construction Company and the first engine plied over the Saraighat Bridge on September 23, 1962, followed by Goods Train service from October 31 that year.

Though the Saraighat bridge was put into use in 1962, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru formally inaugurated the Bridge on June 7, 1963.

Giving details of the construction of the historic Bridge, Railway sources said that the total cost of construction was around Rs 10.65 crore and the total length of it is 4258 feet. The road is 24 feet wide with six feet wide foot path on both sides. The Bridge is designed to withstand earthquakes up to G 10 (Richter scale).

Sources revealed that the Bridge has 12 spans and 14000 tonnes of steel, 4.2 cubic feet concrete, 40,000 tonne of cement, 100 million cubic feet of earthwork were used to construct the bridge, the first of its kind in this part of the country. A 40 feet clearance is kept from the normal high flood level to ensure free navigation under the bridge, sources added.

April 2012, the Railways entrusted the IIT Guwahati with the responsibility of studying the effect of age on the bridge. The experts gave the opinion that the structure and all the pillars of the bridge are in sound condition and the bridge would be able to serve the North East region of the country for years to come.

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