35 participants, jam-packed hall: First ever open mic in Silchar a grand success

If you have laughed at the jokes of Kanan Gill and Biswa Kalyan Rath sitting at your office desk in Silchar and wished to attend one of those Open Mics live, then you have something to cheer about. No, Kanan, Biswa or Zakir Khan are not coming to Silchar, but today, the city witnessed something which can inspire and grow a new Kanan or Biswa from here itself.

Voices of Inner Mind (VOIM) a social media based group organised its first ever open mic in Silchar. The Gandhi Bhawan auditorium hall was filled with applause, whistles, and loud cheers. The jam-packed hall banged their head in the tune and rap of Hrijoy Kanungo, delved deep into thoughts when poems were recited, stories were told. All over India, this culture of the open mic is spreading like a wildfire. Looking at the success of Tanmay, Khamba, Abhish, among many others, the youth of country realised the potential in creative arts, comedy and recitation.

“We never thought we will get such an exciting response. 35 participants went up on the stage and after that, we had to say no due to the shortage of time,” says Punyabrata Kar, co-founder of VOIM and student of National Institute of Technology, Silchar. He along with his friends Ratnam Deb Kanungo, Mofazzul Hussain Mondal, Joy Dutta started VOIM a year back through social media and now have a team of 70 members spread across, Silchar, Guwahati and Bhubaneshwar.

“The other surprise for me was the attendance, it was packed. I thought few people will come and it will all get over in an hour. But what happened was unrealistic,” Kar adds. He calls this event a great success and is already planning to organise a similar event early next year, “This time we did not manage to include NIT into it as it was right after the Puja and most of them are holidaying. Also Technosis is knocking at the door. Next time we will include them. Also, since this is the first time, we allowed bands too, next time we won’t include bands,” Kar asserts.

The audience left the hall with excitement and newness. “Every year after Puja we see a lot of events, singing, dancing and other activities. This was something different and fresh and certainly, we would like to see more of such events,” says a spectator who sat through the entire event.