The bloody clashes over the past few days along the Indo-Bangladesh border that have reportedly claimed the precious lives of 16 BSF personnel once again highlight the oldest and the basic cardinal principle of war, or rather its quintessence-the element of surprise. As in Kargil two years back, this time too our forces were caught napping. Unfortunately, this has been the hallmark of all the major conflicts that India fought as an independent country, be it the 1947, 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars or the more recent 1999 Kargil conflict.

It is strange but true. But even at the dawn of the 21st century there are people in the state for whom the AGP is a kind of "beej," (a seedling), the Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is "something unknown" to them, and Mahatma Gandhi is the "father" of Indira Gandhi.

The Bihu day started with a picnic at the beautiful Kitty Hollow Park in southwest Houston. The weather was perfect with sunshine and a clear blue sky. Little kids were fishing from the wooden piers with their fathers and grandfathers under the shade of trees. Some others were flying colorful kites at a distance behind a hillock reminding me of the lazy hazy days of summer in Guwahati.

When 67-year old Maulana Abu Syed Munshi, the Imam of Natun Majid at Thakuranbari village woke up on Wednesday, he was shell-shocked to find himself all alone in the village. The other villagers were nowhere to be seen. The 112 odd houses wore a deserted look, with not even a dog or a chicken in sight in the village that stretches for 1.5 kilometre.

India has lodged strong protest with Bangladesh against aggressive acts in that country's borders with Meghalaya and Assam and asking Dhaka to desist from such inimical activities. In the wake of the series of such incidents-first at Pyrduwah village where BDR personnel encircled the BSF post, killed one BSF jawan and took some of the injured personnel captive, drove out the villagers and settled Bangladeshi civilians on indisputably Indian territory and then shot down a BSF patrol party inside Indian territory at Boraibari also in Meghalaya.

To soothe the body and mind seared by soaring temperatures, a host of chilling options have hit the town. And, of course, without cutting deep into your pocket.

The mouth-watering tarbooz (water melon) is seducing the passerby at every road junction in the city. These round characters have come from outside the state-all the way from places as far as Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Siliguri, etc.,-and have been strategically placed at busy crossings and market places in the city.

The overnight program was attended by more than 80 from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman and Oman. It was for the first time that the Assamese Community of United Arab Emirates celebrated the advent of the Assamese New Year in a big way together with their counterparts from Oman.