This Assam village is not celebrating Magh Bihu. Here’s why?

Today is Uruka and entire Assam will be immersed in a festive fervour and arrangements for a feast night are in full swing across the state.

People from all walks of life will come together, sit around bonfires, and celebrate this festive occasion with pomp and gaiety. However, for the residents of Kekerikuchi in Tamulpur, the Uruka night symbolises a far more solemn occasion than the rest of the state. And this has been the case for the last 26 years.

They have kept themselves away from merry making and having Uruka feast in their homes as on January 13, 1998, on Uruka evening, 17 members of 4 families were brutally shot dead by unidentified miscreants, turning Uruka into a day of sorrow.

At around 8:10 pm on that day, while people around the village were busy preparing Uruka feast in their homes along with their families and children, armed gunmen entered the village and brutally killed 17 of them, leaving the villagers grieving.

The prepared Uruka feast remained untouched and since then, every Uruka brings back horrowing memories for the locals.

Since then, instead of feasting on Uruka, the villagers light 1000 earthen lamps at the memorial constructed in memory of the 17 gunned down people.

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