Kamalesh Goswami, a manager with NIIT Asia Pacific, says in distant Australia. He could not make it to Assam during the Bihu celebrations last weekend. Unlike the previous years, however, Goswami was able to watch the Bihu celebrations here while sitting in his North Sydney home.

Kumud Borah, who describes himself as "a die-hard Assamese now staying outside my beloved motherland", was also able to participate in the Bihu celebrations, albeit not in person.

There are thousands of Assamese, like Goswami and Borah who were able to be a part of the Bihu celebrations, despite being miles away from Assam, thanks to the Internet. Bringing them live the Bihu celebrations was www.vedanti.com, the portal of the pioneering dotcom company of the North East, SM Computer Consultants Pvt. Ltd (SMCC).

It was for the first time in the state that a public event was live webcast in cyberspace. And, it is probably the first time in their lives that the Assamese, living away from their homeland, had something to cheer about this Bihu.

For four consecutive days, April 13 to 16, events of the Pub-Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan at Chandmari, were available live for net surfers with recorded deferred webcast on the following days. Not surprisingly, homesick Assamese in their thousands, in the US, Australia, Europe, West Asia and just about everywhere else, logged on to the net.

"The response was tremendous", says SMCC director Mamoni Barthakur, who with her husband Sanjib, the brain behind the project, worked day and night with their 10-member team of technicians to ensure the successful webcast.

It all began with a whim. But once the decision was taken there was no going back. "We set up the entire system in just two days," says Mamoni. It was not an easy task. Cameras, computers, metres of cables- they had to be set up at the at the site from where the uplinking was done. On top was the anxiety about the safety of the expensive equipment.

But in the end, everything fell into place. "The committee members were very helpful and without that we could have run into rough weather", recalls Mamoni. There was a slight hitch though. The quality of the images were not as good as one seen in television and there were a few jerks as well.

"It was because of the non-availability of broad band services in these parts," explains Sanjib. Apart from this, the webcast attempt was a great success. Though the actual number of hits during the webcast has not been collated as yet, the Barthakur couple expects it to cross several thousands.

Vedanti.com, even on ordinary days, records upto 4,000 hits each day. The portal has over a thousand pages of information on Assam and the North East covering the entire gamut of the regions life, people, culture, history and resources. One of its specialties is the Cultural and political history of Assam, available in Assamese script. The site provides daily news updates and has features like 100 per cent on-line e-commerce activity, a discussion forum with eminent personalities, on-line virtual exhibitions, free e-mail service, placement services, yellow pages and what have you.

SMCC has many ambitious plans for the future for Vedanti.com. One of the immediate plans is to cover the ensuing Assembly elections in the State extensively. The detailed coverage will include analysis, study of trends, results and public polls.

Vedanti.com already conducts regular polls on various social, political and cultural issues concerning Assam.

An Assamese wedding was uplinked live on to the internet on January 22 at 9 p.m. and continued till 3.30 a.m.
it was for the first time in the North-East region and for the second time in the whole of India that 'Internet Live Marriage' has been arranged. The live event on the internet was hosted by S M Computer Consultants (SMCC), a city based IT company. The company is pioneer in website hosting, development and designing in the NE Region. The company's own website www.vedanti.com carries details on website programme whereas it is in the site www.azury.com hosted by SM Computer Consultants, that the live event was available.

Sri Sanjib Borthakur of SMCC informs that the company now proposes to publish webpages in Assamese language, as well. The company hosts and designs website both in virtual (Domain) and non-virtual structures for organizations and any 'Live Events'.

Chief Minister PK Mahanta welcomed the coming millennium deferred Live on the internet. The video presentation shall be available on the website www.vedanti.com promoted, hosted and developed by SM Computer Consultants of Guwahati from January 1, 2000 onwards for the entire month for the people across the globe to view. Mahanta in his speech highlighted the need of the hour to bring about peace and prosperity not only to the State but the whole country by defeating insurgency.

The other dignitaries who would appear in the website welcoming the millennium include Pranabananda Pathak, Advocate General Mizoram, Dr Gautam Barua, Prof. Computer Science and Dean R&D Administration IIT, Guwahati, R N Mathur (Admn) Assam, D N Barua, ex MD AIDC, J M Mishra, chief general manager, Assam Telecom and Biju Phukan noted film personality. Sri Apurba Kumar Das noted singer and journalist would be performing song written by celebrated poet Sri Navakanta Barua.

City based dot com company SM Computer Consultants Pvt. Ltd. has recently re-launched a website www.vedanti.com on the internet with lots of improvements on content since the site was earlier launched on August 15, 1998.

It may be mentioned that vedanti.com is the first full domain website of the entire North East and has now entered its third year of web presence. Besides having state views updated every evening, the site periodically publishes features on present burning topics of Assam from eminent writers. The site has a mammoth 1000 pages concrete, analytical and statistical information of the economy, industry, planning, infrastructure, natural hazards, wild-life, vegetation, unemployment, resources, income, population, climate, irrigation, communication, forest, minerals, and physiography of the State of Assam. One can read the entire political and cultural history of Assam in Assamese script as well.

The site is a pioneer also in featuring a 100% true online e-commerce activity. It has more than 500 volumes of different order and items in musical numbers, books, cosmetics, and handicrafts exclusively from the NE for online shopping. Visitors browsing the site may enter discussion. Forum for online conversation with leading city-based doctors, astrologers, computer exponents and beauticians. There is provision for live web casting of any event-taking place in the city, which may be later watched from the archival section also.

The other features include online virtual exhibition, online classifieds, selling and buying of any item and free home pages upto IMB space which a visitor can create online. Movies and movie albums are regularly reviewed and placed for online listening and watching pleasure. Any visitor can enter his data on the Yellow Pages online.

The colourful Rongali Bihu of the State is all set to go online soon when the celebrations of the Pub- Guwahati Bihu Sanmilani would be available in the internet for all four days of the festival from April 13. This would enable interested persons with access to internet to go through the programmes of the festivals at the click of a mouse whenever they want for exclusive, uninterrupted live webcast on LCD projectors. The arrangements have been made by the city-based SM Computers and its portal www.vedanti.com, informed a press release of the organisation.

For the first time in the State www.vedanti.com, the portal of the pioneer dot com company of NE , SM Computer Consultants Pvt Ltd (SMCC) has launched the Rongali Bihu into cyberspace with live webcast of the cultural events of the Pub-Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan, Chandmari. The cultural events starting from 6 p.m. onwards will be available on the Internet from April 13th to 16th. In a press release, it was stated that without the availability  of broad band services, the quality of the images would not be similar and continuous as television images. But attempts are made to make the audio quality at par with the best that is available. Computers, cameras with other accessories are being installed on the ground at Chandmari. City dwellers can watch the webcast from the 'Bihu Toli'.

Chief Minister PK Mahanata's millennium greetings will be delivered live on the Internet which will be available on website www.vedanti.com all over the globe from January 1, onward for a whole month. In his greetings the CM has stressed upon the need for peace and prosperity by defeating insurgency all over the country and usher in an atmosphere of all round development and success.

According to a press release, this presentation is promoted, developed and hosted by SM Computer Consultants who are a pioneering institution of the whole of NE region who has for the first time ever telecasted live events on the internet.

Internet browsers will also be able to view cultural and political history of Assam in Assamese HTML script, stated the release. In addition several other dignitaries which includes Mr Pranabanada Pathak, Advocate General, Assam, D N Barua, J M Mishra, CG, Assam Telecom, Biju Phukan, noted film personality and Mr Apurba Das, noted musician would be performing a song by prominent litterateur, Dr Navakanta Barua welcoming the new millennium, the release added.

Chief Minister PK Mahanta's Rongali Bihu greetings will be available on the Internet on the website www.smcconsultants.com and www.vedanti.com from April 14 onwards for a month, a press release said. This live video presentation and the websites have been promoted, developed and hosted by S.M. Computer Consultants of Guwahati , who are a pioneer in web-related activities in the North-east, and are also the first in the region to web cast live events in the Internet. In his greetings, the Chief Minister has conveyed his heartiest Rongali Bihu greetings to all the people of Assam as well as to all those NRIs from Assam living at various places across the globe. He asked the people of Assam to work for peace and harmony within the State and fight terrorism and violence, the release added.

The city based dot com company, SM Computer Consultants Private Limited has recently launched a website www.vedanti.com on the Internet with lots of improvement on the contents since the launching of the site on August 15, 1998, stated a press release. It may be mentioned that vedanti.com is the first full domain website of the entire North-east as it has now entered its third year of web presence. Besides having State news updated every evening, the site periodically publishes features on present burning topics of Assam from eminent writers.

The site also has a mammoth 1,000 pages of analytical and statistical information of the economy, industry, planning, infrastructure, natural hazards, wildlife, vegetation, unemployment, resources, income, population, climate, irrigation, communication, forest, minerals and physiography of the State of Assam.

One can go through the entire political and cultural history of Assam in Assamese script as well. The site is a pioneer in featuring cent per cent, true on-line e-commerce activity. The site also features on-line trading in terms such as - musical items, books, cosmetics and handicrafts exclusively from the north-east.

Virtual exhibition, on-line classifieds, selling and buying of any item and free home pages up to 1 MB space which visitors can create on-line are some of the features of the site. Job seekers can put up their resume on-line for placement and students can train themselves on e-commerce and web development on-line too. Besides, its has free journalism columns where writers may write on any chosen topic on-line.

SM Computer Consultants Pvt Ltd (SMCC) and its portal www.vedanti.com is all set to webcast live the Bihu celebration of Pub- Guwahati Bihu Sanmilani at Chandmari on the Internet, a press release states. SMCC is geared up for an exclusive coverage of the event all over the globe from April 13 to 16.

From the Bihutolis (traditional venues) to the world wide web. Bihu is set to go places. Assam's most dazzling cultural event will shortly make its debut in the hallowed precincts of the virtual world.

In tune with the changing times, the Pub-Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan is preparing to launch the coming Rongali Bihu into cyberspace with "live webcast" of the celebrations.

General secretary of Bihu Sanmilan, Basanta Das told The Telegraph that "webcasting" of the event was almost final. The Sanmilan had tied up with city-based portal <vedanti.com> for the purpose, he added.

"We want to do something different and reach out to all those who cannot be present through this inventive medium. This would enlarge our audience. People interested in this region and its rich culture would also find it interesting," he said.

Bihu celebrations at the Assam Engineering Institute grounds at Chandmari would be held from April 13 to 16. All the programmes would be available on the world wide web.

The cultural function of the Pub- Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan- started in 1961 - is one of the most eagerly awaited annual events in the city.

This year's attractions include a cultural troupe from Kokrajhar which would showcase various Bodo dance forms. Performances by a troupe from Monipur is also in the offing.

A spokesman for <vedanti.com> , acknowledging that the project was in its final phase, said it would be the first on-line webcasting of a public event here.

Pixel by pixel, the portal intends to extend real-time coverage through at least four cameras that would beam uninterrupted images of the celebrations into cyberspace. The portal would use the three "hubs" in the city-VSNL, Satyam on-line and Smart- for the purpose.

He, however admitted that without the availability of broad band services, the quality of the images would not be similar to television images.

But the audio quality will be at par with the best that is available. The cost of the webcasting would not be less than Rs 5,000 per hour, he said.

The city portal shot into limelight when it webcast a traditional Assamese marriage over the internet in 1998, the first such venture.

It also has an extensive database on various topics of Assam and the Northeast.

Its regular pages, numbering about 1,000 offer a variety of information from regional, political history to cultural history and e-commerce.

SM Computer Consultants Pvt Ltd has recently launched a website www.vedanti.com on the internet with lots of improvement on content (since the site was earlier launched on August 15, 1998), stated a press release here.

It may be mentioned that vedanti.com is the first full domain website of the entire North-east as it has now entered its third year of web presence. Besides having state news updated every evening, the site periodically publishes features on burning issues of Assam by eminent writers. The site has a mammoth 1000 pages concrete, analytical and statistical information of the economy , industry, planning, infrastructure, natural hazards, wildlife, vegetation, unemployment, resources, Income, population, climate, Irrigation, communication, forest, minerals, and physiography of Assam. One can read the entire political and cultural history of Assam in Assamese script as well. The site is a pioneer also in featuring a 100% true online e-commerce activity. It has more than 500 volumes of different orders of items in musical numbers, books, cosmetics and handicrafts exclusively from the NE for online shopping stated the release.

FROM LUSH paddy fields to wooden platform and off to the Internet, Rangali Bihu has traversed a long way. In perfect tune with vicissitudes of nature, this integral dance festival of Assam has made an indelible imprint in the hearts of many.

For the first time the essence of this Spring Festival would be frozen on the web for everyone across the globe to see around the year. A Guwahati based website has decided to telecast Bihu programmes live via its portal www.vedanti.com.

"This is a novel idea. We felt that with rapid increase in the numbers of Internet user in the region, this added attraction would create more impact and bring a variation in the way we view festivals", said Sanjib Borthakur of SM Computer Consultants, the brain behind the idea.

The site was launched keeping in mind, Assamese people residing outside Assam. Despite being miles away from their homeland, the live telecast of Bihu would bring unfathomable joy right into their living rooms be it in Delhi or Detroit. This year the telecast would focus solely on the pub-Guwahati Bihu Sanmilani that will be held at Chandmari in Guwahati. The telecast would start on April 13, the inaugural day of Bihu and would continue for another three days. The telecast would start at seven in the evening, said Borthakur.

Netizens who would miss the programme can view it the next day. "The programme would be available on the net for one month and the recorded version of the same would be available on demand," said Borthakur. The organizers have struck a deal with Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd and private Internet service providers to uplink the telecast on the net. But then, with bliss, blemish is also on the cards.

According to Borthakur, unlike the metros, there is no broad band in Guwahati and this would, unfortunately, affect the picture quality.

Guwahati : Rongali Bihu this time witnessed tremendous web interface by the global Assamese community. Enthusiastic Assamese abroad- Non-Resident Assamese (NRAs) -as well as in India were requesting living legend Dr Bhupen Hazarika for their favourite numbers and exchanging views through on-line interaction and live webcast on the internet.

The programme, displayed on the three giant screens at the Pub-Guwahati Bihutoli, Chandmari by SM Computer Consultants Pvt. Ltd., Guwahati through its popular website www.vedanti.com witnessed unprecedented response from almost one corner of the world to the other.

During the Bihu Celebrations this web portal brought to the world the programmes arranged by Pub Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan and demonstrating the very best of web technology comprising video, audio and text conferencing including IP telephony on broad band which several thousand netizens (browsers) across the globe used for interacting with each other as well as with the performing artists during the live webcast.

It may be mentioned that the portal (vedanti.com) had brought Bihu to the world through the net in collaboration with Pub Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan last year. Then it was something unprecedented for the whole Assamese community abroad and was a topic of discussion for quite some time.

But this year's programming was more pragamatic as it involved live interaction through the internet involving a number of participants.

Achieving something good at the new time of the year is always a unique experience. And when this new achieved through the wonders of scientific and technological excellence, the feeling and the atmosphere is always different- that's a combination of joy and fulfillment. Here the joy was for the global Assamese community and fulfillment for the organisers.

During the programme Netizen Nandini Borah Das says from USA, "To be able to view Bihu on-line from USA is a dream come true for us." Abhilash Barua from Canada says, "I am happy to see the Bihu Programme of Dr Bhupen Hazarika and talk to him from Canada through vedanti.com. Thanks to vedanti.com and Pub Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan, Chandmari for bringing the entire Assamese community across the globe together during Bihu and enrolling us to be a part of the Bihu celebration at Chandmari, Guwahati although we are far away at Canada. Mala says from Singapore "I feel homesick during Bihu, but the on-line interactive Bihu has comforted me." Rajib Gohain from Arizona, USA sends, "Antarik Bihur Ulog to the people of Assam." Suresh says from Singapore "Bhupenda is looking better this year." Dipankar and Rajkanya Talukdar from Santa Clara, California wishes Bhupenda and everyone else "Happy Bihu". They further chat on-line with Bhupenda requesting him to sing "Asom Amar Rupohi" and "Xuno Xuno Re Xuno". Excited Bhupenda interacts with them and is all too happy to sing their favourite number. Enthusiast netizens Utpal Das and Pranita Das says from Michigan, USA. "Your Live programme is excellent!" They interact with Bhupenda to sing "Bristrina Parore" and Bhupenda does so. Mubinul Islam interacts from Milan, Italy " I am proud of being able to talk to Bhupenda from Milan and forward my request to him for a song "Aoi nilaj pahar". Jaan and Ankita from Arizona, USA, Nilakshi Medhi from Syracuse University; Rashmi from England; Himadri from Birmingham; Jugabrata from Kenya and many more interacted on-line through vedanti.com with Dr Bhupen Hazarika. Requests for various other popular songs kept pouring in continuously. Many a times more than one request poured in on-line simultaneously from various parts of the world much to the excitement of the spectators at the Chandmari Bihutoli and they witnessed the on-line interaction of Dr Hazarika with each of the callers who were from various parts of the world. Dr Hazarika had patiently obliged by singing "Mahabahu Brahmaputra" and "Bohag Mathu Eti..".

Another interesting feature was the interaction between friends and relatives staying across the globe exchanging greetings and jointly discussing about what song would they request Dr Hazarika to sing. There was Suresh from Singapore who was exchanging greeting with Rashmi from England on-line through vedanti.com and they both were chatting and exchanging complements on Dr Hazarika, on-line Bihu and the Pub Guwahati Bihu Committee and had jointly decided what song should be sung by Bhupenda! Similarly, Partha from England chatted with Juri of Bangalore. This was followed by many more on-line chats and requests to Dr Hazarika. There were requests for the noted singer Malabika Bora, also from Rajib Barua and Simanta from Boston, USA to sing from the film "Hiya Diya Niya".

There were also on-line chatting, greetings, requests from netizen from various parts of India like Jayanta Borah (Bangalore), Bhaskar Chetia (Pune), Rishi Pathak (Hyderabad), Shyam Pratim Dev Choudhury (Delhi), Gunajit Sharma (Bangalore), Dipankar Talukdar (Silchar) etc.

The interaction during those three days April 15, 16 and 17 was immense and the site vedanti.com was hit over 2 lakh times during the period of Bihu activity raising more than 1GB of data transfer; and these figures are phenomenal by all standards of web activity and only goes on to witness the tremendous interaction viewers had on the Internet those days.

Today, when a large number of people have become global-minded, ready to venture out of the state at the slightest opportunity to pursue a career that involves comparatively higher standards of living and scientific and technological know-how to keep them at par with the ultra-modern world, the one thing they can hope far always is that they can enjoy Bihu at the touch of a button when the season comes.

Guwahati : As in previous years, Pub Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan will celebrate Rongali Bihu at the Assam Engineering Institute playground, Chandmari from April 14 to 17, according to a press statement. As usual the 4-day extravaganza will include cultural items, competitions, children's programmes etc. For the second year in succession the programme will be available on the internet and local cable TV channel, Prag Channel. A special feature of this year's programme will be the internet facility (www.vedanti.com) through which viewers from all over the world can request any song of their choice, from Dr Bhupen Hazarika while he is performing on stage.

The city-based www.vedanti.com the first and the complete web-portal of N-E region, after its success in live webcasting of Bihu celebrations, Cotton College Centenary Celebrations and Election Analysis earlier this year, has come out with a unique membership service. Individuals may apply for membership of the Vedanti community on an annual basis, either on-line through the website or through membership forms available at the company's office and in several other outlets across Guwahati. The membership forms shall be made available in the major towns of Assam and elsewhere in the country as well. After becoming a member, one gets access to financial benefits and other services.

There shall be a fortnightly draw, beginning mid-November this year on which, a member has to attempt on-line quizzes and score points on it. After meeting the qualifying requirements by taking different quizzes, once or twice in a day, a member can win prizes worth Rs 15,000 every 15 days. There shall be a minimum of 24 such draws, during the period of membership, extended over a period of one year, and members can thus , win upto Rs 3,60,000 by year end. In an another category of membership, there is provision for a super-draw with a prize money of additional Rs 1,00,000 by year end. Moreover, apart from these financial benefits, a member can download MP3 Assamese Music from an archive of one thousand odd numbers constituting renowned artists like- Bhupen Hazarika, Jayanta Hazarika, Zubin Garg, Biren Dutta, Khagen Mahanta and many others. There is a service, called Movie-on-Demand which a member can avail of clicking a button and watching thereby classic Assamese movies on-line. Prominent shopping centres in the city are giving attractive discounts to the members of the Vedanti Community.

Guwahati : vedanti.com will webcast live celebration programmes of Cotton College centenary. Interested persons can log on to the Vedanti website by clicking www.vedanti.com/cottoncollege.

The alumni day of the centenary celebrations will be organised tomorrow beginning 8.30 in the morning.

The Cotton alumni of Barak Valley also held a rally recently at Cachar College, Silchar.

Guwahati : A flurry of activities amidst a festive spirit marked the day today as everyone- present day students as well as former ones- is waiting with baited breath for the big event starting tomorrow early morning- the hundredth birthday of the great alma mater- Cotton College.

Already informal events like meet of former office-bearers of the Cotton College Union Society (CCUS), yesterday, that of officials and employees today have started much to the happiness of those who managed to attend these programmes.

In yesterday's meet of the office-bearers of CCUS from past years which was made lively and enjoyable by the recalling of reminiscences and anecdotes by the stalwarts who passed out of the college including Dr Bhabendra Nath Saikia, Minister of State for Home Pradyut Bordoloi, Dr Anima Guhaan alumnus of the 1949-50 batch of the college.

Another major attraction of yesterday's event was the recalling of her remembrances of her grandfather and founder principal of the college late Mr Submersion and also of her memories about the college in those days in a voice choked with emotion by Mrs P White.

The CCUS of the present term has come out with a good collection of T-shirts commemorative of the 'big event' for boys as well as for the female students costing Rs 130 and Rs 150 respectively. An office-bearer informed at the college premises that sales have already been picking up and expected it to continue in the coming few days of the celebrations.

Significantly the Prag Channel and SM Computers have taken up the initiative for live webcasting and telecasting of all the events for the three days including those of the cultural evenings except the performance by noted singer Sri Hariharan.

Guwahati : Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has appealed to the NRIs belonging to Assam to exchange know-how in various fields and invest in the State to bring about its all-around development.

Industrialisation of the State would reduce unemployment and help restore peace, Gogoi said during an interview with www.vedanti.com the web portal of the city-based SM Computer Consultants Pvt. Ltd. This was stated in a press release issued by the company this evening. The full interview is currently available on the portal.

According to the release, Gogoi suggested that the Assamese staying in the developed countries can contribute in the areas of education, agriculture, industry, etc. He agreed that the economy of the State was currently in bad shape and said that a committee of experts will be constituted soon to suggest ways and means to raise resources to overcome the crisis.

Guwahati : www.vedanti.com, the web portal dotcom company of the NE region, S M Computer Consultants Pvt. Ltd. (SMCC), provided election result updates both on the website as well as over their two telephones 662156, 662105, to the anxious voters from all over, Assam, from Karimganj to Tezpur and from Sadiya to Dhubri, a press release said. Every minute there was a phone call on both the telephones and the vedanti.com team had direct interactions with each caller who wanted to know about the election result updates, and this continued from 9 am on May 13 throughout the night till the counting continued next day. There were nearly 2000 telephone calls including local and STD.

Guwahati : Here is good news for all those interested in getting minute-by-minute updates on the results of the State Assembly elections www.vedanti.com the web portal of the region's pioneering dot com company. SM Computer Consultants Pvt. Ltd. (SMCC), will bring for net surfers worldwide, complete analyses and onwards on May 13.

According to a release from the company, one of the highlights will be the live video presentation of discussions and analyses on the recent trends and the political scenario of the State. To be hosted by senior journalist Samudra Gupta Kashyap, the discussion will have representatives from the AGP, BJP, Congress, TGP, etc. putting forward their views.

The site will also have running audio commentary during the counting process. There will also be analyses based on exit poll survey. Viewers can also put in their queries regarding the elections by sending e-mails on webmaster@vedanti.com or by calling on phone numbers 662105 and 662156 on May 13 from 11 am, the release added.

Guwahati : Sir,-Thanks to modern technology, I and a few friends were able to watch Rongali Bihu live on the web. It brought back lovely memories to me when I used to climb on my father's shoulder to watch the faraway dancers dancing on the stage among the sea of humanity fighting my sleep and tiredness. I congratulate the creators of vedanti.com for providing a pretty comprehensive website that captures many issues about what Assam is. Though the webcast was not the best I have seen, I am sure that it will be better overtime and many more such enterprising portals will come about which tell people of the beauty and culture of Assam and the whole of North East. People, most Indians in fact, still are pretty ignorant about the North East India and we need to show them that there is much more to the North East than guns, bombs and fear.- Yours etc., SHANTANU K DAS , Minneapolis, USA.

Guwahati : There was tremendous web interface on April 15 from the global Assamese community requesting the living legend Dr Bhupen Hazarika for numbers and exchanging views through on-line interaction and live webcast on the internet the SM Computer Consultants, which organized the interface, in a press release here. Being displayed on the giant screens at the Pub Guwahati Bihutoli, Chandmari by the firm.

The programme was welcome by several viewers across the world. Netizen Nandini Borah Das said, from USA. "To be able to view Bihu online from USA is a dream come true for us." Abhilash Barua from Canada says, I am happy to see the Bihu programme of Dr Bhupen Hazarika and talk to him from Canada through vedanti.com. Thanks to vedanti.com and Pub Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan, Chandmari for bringing the entire Assamese Community across the globe together during Bihu and enabling us to be a part of the Bihu celebration at Chandmari, Guwahati although we are far away at Canada." Requests for various other popular songs kept pouring in continuously. Many a times more than one requests poured in on-line simultaneously from various parts of the world much to the excitement of the spectators at the Chandmari Bihutoli and they witnessed the on-line interaction of Dr Hazarika with each of the callers who were from various parts of the World. Dr Hazarika had patiently obliged at requests for songs one after another.

Another interesting feature was the interaction between friends and relatives staying across the globe exchanging greetings and jointly discussing about what song would they request Dr Hazarika to sing. Partha from England chatted with Juri of Bangalore. This was followed by many more on-line charts and requests for the noted singer Malabika Bora also from Rajib Barua and Simanta from Boston, USA to Sing from the film "Hiya Diya Niya." There were also on-line chatting, greetings, requests from netizens from various parts of India like- Jayanta Borah (Bangalore), Bhaskar Chetia (Pune), Rishi Pathak (Hyderabad), Shyam Pratim Dev Choudhury (Delhi), Gunajit Sharma (Bangalore), Dipankar Talukdar (Silchar) etc.

It needs to be mentioned that the site vedanti.com had been hit more than 2 lakhs time during this period of Bihu activity raising more than 1GB of data transfer. These figures are phenomenal by all standards of web activity and only goes on to witness the tremendous interaction viewers had on the Internet those days.

Guwahati : People from across the globe enjoyed the live performance of the living legend Dr Hazarika last night at the Pub Guwahati Bihu Sanmilanee. Thanks to the technology used by the SM Computer Consultants private limited in the Bihutoli.

When Dr Hazarika appeared in the stage at 11.35 p.m., requests from the NRIs, and specially those of Assam origin from the various countries, started to pour in. Dr Hazarika, in his more than 90 minutes program had fulfillment each and every request of the NRIs. He enthralled the user of www.vedanti.com along with more than ten thousand enthusiastic crowd at the Bihutoli with his old melodies which were requested by the users as well as the audience here.

It may be mentioned that the people from across the globe enjoyed the performance of Dr Hazarika through the interactive webcasting of the Bihu with the web-site, www.vedanti.com. With the conferencing facilities using video, audio or text tools user from places like USA, Canada, Russia, France, Italy, Australia, Kenya, Singapore, United Kingdom, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Tezpur and even from the various places of the city, requested Dr Hazarika to sing their favorite numbers. The user also used IP telephony, video and audio tools to interact with Dr Hazarika. The giant screen at the Bihutoli even displayed the caller's video and the text.

Terming this interactive webcasting of the programme where people of the globe got the opportunity to enjoy it as a positive step, Dr Hazarika said, this development will help the Assamese songs to attain global popularity more easily.

Guwahati : Pub Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan, Chandmari, has entered into a negotiation with SM Computer Consultants Pvt. Ltd., Guwahati for live interactive web cast of their Bihu celebrations this year through their popular web site www.vedanti.com , stated a press release. 

Although web casting will be at the same rune as that of last year when 22,000 hts were recorded in just four days, there shall be two major exceptions to it. Firstly, the web casting will be interactive in which the Internet user shall be able to communicate with the performing artists at the Bihutoli at the same time with conferencing facilities using video, audio or text tools.

The user may asked for a number to the performed by Bhupen Hazarika on April 15 or even discuss using IP telephony, video and audio tools. The giant screens at the premises shall even go on to display the caller's video, text and amplify his audio message to the general public. A local TV channel will also telecast the video and audio feed received by the web site. Secondly, the web cast shall be on breadboard connectivity so that signal feeds are faster and better, the release added.

Guwahati : The Pub Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan is going to celebrate this year's Rongali Bihu from April 14 to 17 at Chandmari field, stated a press release. The Sanmilan, according to it, has emerged as the biggest Bihu Sanmilan of Assam and will stress on the folk cultural of Assam as well as North-east. Several eminent artist like Dr Bhupen Hazarika, Mr Dwepen Barua, Mr Samar Hazarika will enlighten the occasion along with Mouchumi Saharia and Trishna Devi among others. The programme will be available at the website www.vedanti.com besides the local cable TV channel, "Prag Channel".

Guwahati : "Just Request". Organisers of the Chandmari Bihutoli may not have taken a cue from a popular music channels programmes of the same name, but then worldwide audiences can actually have Bhupen Hazarika croon their  favourite  numbers through an Internet "request" programme this Bihu.

As dusk settles over the Chandmari field on April 15. Hazarika will have a tough time obliging his fans at the venue. Additionally, he will have to entertain hundreds of e-mail requests from around the globe.

Rongali Bihu celebrations at the Chandmari playground are organised by the Pub Guwahati Bihu Sanmilan committee. Web portal <vedanti.com> will offer a live interaction programme with Hazarika during his stage performance this year.

"We wanted to extend this interaction facility to other artistes as well, but had to drop the idea because of several constraints," Basanta Das, general secretary of the Bihu committee, said.

The Bihu function in Chandmari is believed to be Hazarika's personal favorite. He refers to it as his "para Bihu" (colony Bihu).

Das said the image of a fan (making a request), as captured by a web camera, would be reproduced on giant screens at the venue.

"The audience will witness the interaction between Hazarika and his fans elsewhere. It need not be just the song it could also be a conversation between the maestro and one of his countless fans," he said.

Das said the portal received 22,000 e-mail messages after its pioneering webcast of last year's Bihu celebrations. "Everyone wanted us to do a similar thing this Bihu. But we thought of doing something different. Our aim is to make use of modern technology to promote our culture."

The Bhupen Hazarika concert will be telecast live on a local cable channel, as in previous years.

Other singers who will perform at the same Bihu function include Dwipen Barua. Samar Hazarika, Trishna Devi, Malabika Bora, Moushumi Saharia, Kalpana Patowary, Pankaj Dutta and Mayukh Hazarika.

Another highlight of the Bihu celebrations at the Chandmari playground will be the "Asom Bihutoli" competition for "Bihu Ranis" and "Bihu Kunwaris" from across the State.

The contests for the titles of best Bihu dancer (male and female) and best Bihu team are slated for April 15 and 16.

Guwahati : With the meltdown in the US economy, the IT industry has been badly affected. No wonder that Indian companies like infosys, Satyam, Wipro, together with Internet portals such as 123india.com, indya.com, go4i.com and the like are facing different times.

However, in the middle of this rubble, there are still a few who have managed to not only remain standing but have also consolidate their position. It, therefore, is perhaps a matter of pride that quite a few websites from the region did not had to bit the dust. Rather, a number of them have already started to gear up to combat the poor response to e-commerce and trading. 

Says Sanjib Barthakur of vedanti.com, one of the earliest North-East web sites launched on August 15, 1998. "The response to e-business has been very poor. Even through on an average we get 4000-5000 'hits' everyday, the public is not yet accustomed to the idea of buying and selling online."

The web site has various stores such as books, music and video- it even allows one to trade online through classified ads. Even then, these categories haven't really done as well as expected. Although there are four methods through which one can buy things- credit card, cheque, demand draft and cash-on-delivery, people are still apprehensive about the security of such transactions.

Vedanti.com, therefore, has other means- web casting to be precise - to rope in viewers. During the Bihu celebrations this year, the web site transmitted live as well as deferred telecast of the functions held at various 'bihutolis' around Guwahati . The web casting was the first of its kind in the entire North-East. Reliving its short history, Barthakur stated that the web site initially had an investment of Rs. 65,000. The annual costs, too, were not very high for the first two years. But after re-launching itself, its annual costs have risen to Rs 35 lakhs. "The fact is that vedanti.com would break even within the next 6 months," he said.

On future plans, Barthakur said the site would go in for major changes and include MP3 music (including vernacular ones!) as well as on-demand web cast 24 hours a day. For this, the site has already acquired broadband facilities. The servers, on the other hand, are located at Gurgaon, Haryana and a mirror site at Colorado, USA.

"I expect areas of e-commerce such as membership services to do well but have doubts about direct buying and selling," Barthakur observed.

But the first purely B2B (Business-to-business) and B2C (Business-to-commerce) web site from the North East is guwhati4u.com. Launched last November, this web site was started as a reaction to the fact that Guwahati lacked a proper e-commerce web site. It also helped that one of the partners had the required infrastructure in place already. The total initial investment was therefore Rs 1.5 lakhs.

"The monthly costs roughly work out to Rs 25,000- by next month, we should break even, said Sunil Jain of guwhati4u.com.

Guwahati4u.com is a youth centric portal and its chat rooms are very popular according to Jain. Another popular feature is pizzas delivery. "We have a large choice of pizzas at fairly reasonable prices. They are delivered at your doorstep within 45 minutes," Jain said.

Guwahati : After the successful live webcasting of Bihu celebrations, Cotton College centenary celebrations and last election analysis, vedanti.com, the first and the complete web portal of the North-east, introduced a new package with a unique membership programme. One may earn huge money and many her incentives by participating in the programme.

After becoming a member, one gets access to financial benefits and other services. On the fortnightly drew which will begin in the middle of this month, a member will have to attempt on-line quizzes and score points on it. After meeting the qualifying requirements by taking different quizzes, once or twice in a day a member can win prizes worth Rs 15,000 every 15 days. There will be a minimum of 24 such draws, during the period membership, extended over a period of one year and members can thus win up Rs 3,60,000 by the year end. In another category of membership, there is provision for a super draw with a prize money of additional Rs 1,00,000 by the year end.

Moreover, apart from these financial benefits, a members can download MP3 Assamese music from an archive of 1000 odd numbers constituting renowned artists like Bhupen Hazarika, Biren Dutta, Khagen Mahanta, Zubin Garg and many others. There is a service, called Movie-on-demand which a member can avail of by clicking a button and watching thereby classic Assamese movies on-line. Prominent shopping centres in the city are giving attractive discounts to the members of the vedanti community. Some of them include Kay Cee Computers (on HCL computers), Cyber Zone (on internet browsing service), Computer Book Centre (on computer books), Digital Computech System (on computers). Satyam On-line, the leading ISP of Asia, is offering various value-added services and free gifts to vedanti members. Multibyte Computers, the leading and fully accredited DOEACC 'O' Level Institute is offering up to 10 per cent discount for various computer programmes. The winners every fortnight will be felicitated in a public function and their profiles will be publicised in various media including TV membership forms will be accepted on-line only from non-resident Indians and the details of which may be found in the website.

Individuals may apply for membership of the portal on an annual basis through on-line services of the website. Membership forms are also available at the company's office and several other outlets across the city. The membership forms will be made available in the major towns of Assam and elsewhere in the country as well.

Forms are available at cyber Zone (B Barooah Road, opposite to Nehru Stadium), Kay Cee Computers (GS Road), Computer Book Centre (Panbazar), Digital Computech System (RGB Road, near Commerce College), Asom On-line (Silpukhuri, opposite to Goswami Service), Dolly's Point Hallmark Card Gallary (RGB Road, opposite to Usha Court), besides the promoters SM Computer Consultants Pvt. Ltd. (GNB Road, Silpukhuri, Guwahati -3) Phone No 662105, 662156; e-mail: info@vedanti.com).

The IT sector has proved beyond doubt that Indian films take on the world. The new breed of Indian entrepreneurs is confident it can break even with the best of the world. Aggressive and fearless, some have even built brands that are recognized globally .Back home, the project called Vedanti Net is the first and foremost high bandwidth high -profile fiber- enhanced Metro Area Network of eastern India in Guwahati. This network is the first in the country to cover a whole city. Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi & Chennai have done it in parts. Indian Express's sister publication, Express Computer has written that Guwahati has shown the way with VedantiNet blanketing Asom's capital city & providing multiple services, including news, e-ticking and even online software licensing.

          One has to think big to achieve big. Setting up search a project with the infrastructure and manpower available in the Northeast is something like reaching for the starch. Guwahati is recognized as the Gateway to the North East not only in terms of Communication access and geographic location but also in terms of IT infrastructure development ant strategic nodal point. the government has also offered good incentives in the form of bonus subsides to IT projects in the region. SM  Computer Consultants has taken up the ambitious task of networking personal compuers(PCs)across Guwahati by means of metropolitan area network (MAN). with technology, function, services and operation s focused at the highest international level, there has been no compromise in quality at a reasonably affordable limit.

        The project offers multiple services to the subscribers using a fiber optic backbone. The fiber backbone is laid overhead across the city's main streets across 40 km upon 300 prefabricated steel posts. It is  an inter-networking environment of independent households , sky rise, industry houses, corporate offices and all other set-up, including schools, colleges and universities. The  inter-networking facilitates internet gateway access with video, voice and data services. Video on demand and audio on demand are two top business propositions in the US and this is being offered in the city. Apart fro the Broadband  internet, video conferencing and voice over internet protocol (VOIP), SM Computer Consultants offers Instant News.

        In addition to web casting video-audio news capsules at scheduled intervals, every viewers gets access to telescripts of news in automated process around - the -clock. Events are fed from local, national and international news networks on current and latest affairs. Reputed TV producers present weekly news programs called video magazine from the local context. City monitoring provides information on Guwahati city, which includes every possible  department. It also renders information on weathers, entertainment, road show, yellow pages, sports cultural, profession, police and you name it.

       The Guwahatian would no longer need to trudge to the air, rain and surface transport offices for reservation originating in Guwahati. E-ticketing in the metro area Network enables a member to get the status of booking online, and better still, the ticket gets delivered on your door steps next day. Tele Medicine service offers scheduled medical consultation involving leading city-based Nursing homes. The consultation is confidential and it can be carried out on video or scripts. Medicines and  other prescribed steps also get delivered on the patient's premises after electronic billing expenditure is met. The only difference is that there is no physical examination of the patient.

         Members can get access to a library of over 50,000 digitally redesigned MP3 Audio albums fro traditional and classical chartbusters with the numbers increasing with regular intervals, a member has the privileges of demanding his individuals choice of album being played number less times at the click of the mouse. Video on demand enables a member to access a library of over 5,000 digitally re-mastered video albums from Bollywood , Hollywood and Asomiya and Bengali Chartbusters, including documentaries. Another service is  access to 100 and more web TV channels dealing with news, music, sports, video and other entertainment area.

         IP-VPN service allows corporate, institutional, Banking and other business in the city to be network into a fool prove private Network of their own for inter-office actives. A single or multi-layer access to the backbone and internet allows coordination's and transfer of files, distributed processing, multimode report generation and online liaison and E-shopping activities among branches. Online software leasing enables as members to procure software from leading manufactures such as Microsoft, lotus, Novel, AT and T, Borland, Norton and others. Electronic cash transfer through online trading of services is also on offer in E-Shopping. In network Gaming, hobbyist and enthusiasts of computer game play online from a library of 3,500 titles over the network for amazingly different experience. one plays football or cricket with 11 others in private over the network.

            Early on in 2002, SM Computer Consultants, through its web portal www.vedanti.com, demonstrated the best of web technology compromising video, audio and text  conferencing including IP telephony or Broadband to bring Bihu to several thousand browsers across the global. the program displayed  on three giant screens at the pub Guwahati. Bihutoli, Chandmari witnessed unprecedented response from various corners of the worlds. Non- resident Assamese requested Dr.Bhupen Hazarika to sing their favorite numbers even as they exchanged videos through online interaction.

        The state government is using this services of the national informatics centre for linking district and sub divisional headquarters with Dispur. Another project in the pipeline is the Assam State Wide Area Network (ASWAN),  a government of India project. Because VedantiNet is a private enterprises, it become a policy matter for the government to avail of its services. But if it so prefers, the concepts of E-governance or paperless governances can be applied through the network in the city to cater to government departments. "Apart from the flow of information at great speed and resultant decisions, there is, more importantly, enough time for work analysis which no one is doing literally", says Sanjeeb Barthakur, CEO of SM Consultants.

          Adds Barthakur: "What we had on our minds was high-speed connectivity access of our customers. We sought to offer a number of services through a physically laid-out network and the idea was all about using Metropolitan Area Network". Conceived in mid-2004, the project went live in May, 2006 and still growing. In the  near future thousands of computers would be linked to the MAN grid even as IDBI, Indian Oil and NEDFi avail multiple sources of the network in Assam Capital city.