Magh Bihu was celebrated in United Arab Emirates by the Axom Xomaj UAE on 14^th January, 2000. The venue of the day long program was the scenic Al Mamzar Beach Park on the Dubai-Sharjah border.

The function saw the participation of about 50 people including tiny tots – the youngest of them being the three month old Arjun Jeet Chaliha ( Dubai born son of Monojit & Linu Chaliha). We however missed presence of quite a few who could not make it to the function due to other commitments.

Guests started trickling by around 10 although the Full House was seen only by noon. The delay was not unexpected due to the cozy winter morning and that too on a weekly off (Friday) for most of the people. The few to arrive early headed straight to the beautiful beach at the Mamzar Park and enjoyed the sea and the sun till well past noon.

In spite of an early morning arrival in Dubai from Delhi, Mr. Bikram Barua & family of Guwahati chose not to miss the function and hopefully they did not regret it.

The presence of Doi, Chira and Gur took quite a few by sweet surprise and could not stop their temptation of relishing this typical Assamese Snack, that too on the Magh Bihu Day. To top it, Champa treated everyone with Til Pitha – fresh all the way from Assam.

Although traditional Assamese dishes were missing, still the lunch turned out to be delicious for everyone with a variety of North Indian delicacies on the platter. 

Soon after the Lunch, the Group Photo session was arranged – not taking a chance to miss out those who had to leave early. For a change a lot of cameras were seen in action for the Group Photo. (One of the photographs did make it to the print editions of The Assam Tribune & The Sentinel of Guwahati about a week later!)

All the scheduled activities of the morning could be held only after lunch, due to lack of quorum. The beginning was made with the ever popular Memory Game conducted very professionally by the ‘Natun Koina’ Rukshana (Mamoni) well supported by her husband Arman (Hazorika). The Rose brothers (Rajeeb & Sanjeeb) stole the show with scores of 16 & 15. It was good to see everyone getting so involved in the game!

Then was the innovative ‘Lemon & Spoon’ race under two categories - Ladies/girls & Gents. Seema came with flying colours, closely followed by Diya (Harshita). When it was the Gents turn, Suman (Bordoloi) did not have any problem tacking the round lemon on the almost flat spoon and reach the finishing mark.

Muthanna conducted ‘Tambola’ next – two rounds left some lucky ones richer by a few Dirhams. 

After a small tea-break, it was time for “Koloh Bhonga” game ( with a modified target in place of the traditional ‘Koloh’)– this time on the sands of Mamzar Park. Every one including the children were keen to have a go at it. Phunu (Bordoloi) took quite some time to zero on the target and hit it with a bang and won a prize for it.

After a busy afternoon, we called it a day around 5:30 in the evening. Thank you everyone for making the function a success.