Puchkawala, bhuttawala, chanachurwala, mooriwala and more street food typical of Calcutta were brought alive through plant installations by members of the Pushpa Bitan Friendship Society (PBFS). The Floral art Exhibition ‘A Street Affair’ by PBFS also featured a special display by Jyotirmai Bonsai Chapter and was held at Daga Nikunj on January 12 and 13.
Team Balloonwala displayed their creativity by actually creating a balloon-seller out of twigs, gauge pieces and grass. Mita Kanoria of the Balloonwala team said, “I can assure you we have not copied any Pinterest design. It is all our authenticity and hard work of one month.” (L-R) Pooja Agarwal, Mita Kanoria, Ritu Dhandhania and Varsha Jalan
The members of PBFS split into teams that went by the names of their creations, which were food items that are most commonly found and loved on the streets of Calcutta. Who does not like puchka? But to see puchkas made out of sal leaves was a whole different thing. President of PBFS, Kavita Poddar, was elated on the occasion and noted, “You travel all over the world but ultimately you come home. So, we focussed on what we see on the streets of Calcutta. We have grown up going to Victoria Memorial and seeing all the pheriwalas. Our inspiration for today’s theme was all those pheriwalas. All the creations are made by the members of PBFS from scratch.”
Team Mooriwala comprised (l-r) Aditi Agarwalla, Seema Somani, Pinky Agarwal, Alka Gupta, Suvra Dutt and Devika Paul. We loved the team’s passion towards their theme, which was visible in their outfits with the gamchha too!
PBFS is an esteemed floral arts club that is nearly 40 years old and in 1999 it was recognised internationally. The club has also won global shows among over 600 exhibitors in Barbados and Ireland.
Team Ice-creamwala leader Manjari Bagaria (second from left) said, “We conceptualised it in a way where the ice-creams are popping out in different shapes and colours while the children look at it in awe. It was a total team effort of all eight of us.” The team: (L-R) Divya Bhagat, Archana Jhunjhunwala, Swati Kheria, Manjari Bagaria and Minakshi Khaitan.
The team of Shikanjiwala made their exhibit using broken glass and unused dining table parts. (L-R) Sarita Chhawchharia, Aradhana Bhartia, Renu Poddar, Vinita Khemka and Sunita Pasari.