Binod Mudiar vividly remembers the floods of July 2005. Every ground floor house in his colony in Panvel was destroyed and till date they continue to remain vacant. But he says the devastation finally persuaded his Assamese colleagues and neighbours to move out of Navi Mumbai and populate Mumbai’s northern and western suburbs.

Until then, recalls the 64-year-old retired geologist, “Before the floods, no one wanted to move out of Navi Mumbai.” So while Kharghar continues to remain the hub of the Assamese community, significant numbers are now spread across Mira Road, Andheri and Kalina.

While the Assamese community traces its presence in Mumbai to the 1920s, the first large waves of migration took place in the 1970s when the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) set up shop here. “After oil was discovered in Mumbai, ONGC needed experienced officers to work here. So they transferred a lot of engineers and officers from Assam, where ONGC has been present for many decades,” added Mudiar, who retired from the ONGC in 2012.

Mudiar is also the president of the Assam Association of Mumbai, which is based in Vashi. Apart from ethnic cultural programmes, the association organises celebrations of the harvest festival Bihu in January and April. “Those who can’t make it to Vashi celebrate Bihu in small groups in their own localities,” says Dipak Das, the association’s vice-president.

The association also helps with the accommodation and counseling of patients from the north-eastern states who come to Mumbai for cancer treatment. “We arrange for patients to travel to the hospitals and book appointments for them. There is also an Assam Bhavan in Vashi, which provides accommodation exclusively to cancer patients,” Das adds.

Over 5,000 families from Assam are currently estimated to have made Mumbai their home. “When we first moved here, we had to celebrate Makar Sankranti on January 26 because that was the only day when members of our community who work in the defence sector get holidays,” says Deepa Jahan, who is in her sixties.

A retired professor of chemical engineering at Bhagubhai Mafatlal Polytechnic in Vile Parle, she says Mumbai is a “non-interfering” city and has eased her adaptation. “We adapt to all cultures very easily,” she says.

She rues however that in Mumbai, she gets to see fellow Assamese women dressed in traditional silk mekhala chador and men in dhotis only during weddings and on Bihu.

“The generation brought up here is a little detached but we are trying to ensure that they remain rooted to our culture,” she explains.

The first batch of now-retired engineers, officers and lower-level employees have now given way to larger migration of youngsters, who have come to dominate the city’s music industry.

Jutika Mahanta, a journalist and another vice-president of the association, says Mumbai is the obvious destination for gifted musicians. “The music industry in Mumbai is dominated by people from Assam. Mumbai is a dream city and that is why they want to come here,” she says.

Music composer and producer Ambar Das concurs. “You will find a lot of people who are musicians. For us, Mumbai is the pace to be,” said Guwahati native Das, who settled in Mumbai five years ago. He adds, “Walk into any recording studio in Mumbai and you will at least one sound engineer from Assam.”

National award winning music composer Anuraag Saikia admits to suddenly discovering familiar voices while in the studio. “There are times when I am frustrated and utter some slang in Assamese. The sound engineers then look around and say, ‘You are from Assam? Wow! Come to our place for dinner.’”

At 26, he has spent the past four years living in Mumbai. Saikia, who won the award for the best music director in 2014 at the 61st National Film Awards for the Assamese language film Yugadrashta, says that he does not find much difference in the folk music of Assam and Maharashtra. “Seventy per cent of people from Assam in Mumbai are here for the music. It’s a little crazy. Wherever we go, me mix so beautifully,” he says.

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