What: adda52.com online poker presents The Telegraph Puja Premier League powered by Subhas Bose Institute of Hotel Management and co-powered by Bazaar Kolkata
Where: SB Park Sarbojanin Thakurpukur, Behala
The theme: SB Park Thakurpukur is celebrating its 72nd year of Durgotsav this year and they started building their pandal in January. Their theme of Lok Shilpo Probaho aims at spreading awareness about the talented artisans from different districts of Bengal. The pandal intended to transform into a museum which restores various kinds of art and crafts made by the artisans like kantha stitch, Lokhi-r pyacha and Ganesh-r indur structures. This pandal holds the heritage value of Bengal’s artisans quite artistically.
Organiser speak: “Our theme this year is Lok Shilpo Probaho by which we have tried to display the art made by Bengal’s artisans from districts like Dinajpur, Birbhum, Midnapore and more. So we tried to make a museum which holds this heritage so that people can come in and gain knowledge about these type of art without buying any tickets. In Hoogly District, there’s a place called Balagarh which makes the finest collection of West Bengal’s boats.We used nine of those boats to depict the structures of birds and animals in the pandal. We have also used kantha stich or nakshi kantha made by an adivasi sibling. Every corner of this pandal will give our visitors a taste of newness,” says Sanjay Majumder, president of the club.
“As you know, we have the Gurusaday Musueum, just two or three minutes from here, which has been shut down due to government issues. People can’t visit this museum even if they want, that’s why we paid a tribute to the Gurusaday Museum with this pandal. We want people to come with their children and visit our pandal and relate to our heritage. As you will see, even our Durga idol is holding the work of kantha stich and protecting it. Our pandal has been designed by Partho Dasgupta,” he added.
Devlina interacts with the women of the club and also clicks a selfie with them.
Rooting for the club is: Devlina Kumar. “This is the first time I am visiting this puja and I loved how they came up with the idea of folk culture and used natural things like bamboo and the kantha stich work. It’s really wonderful as they are promoting Bengal’s culture and heritage. I was feeling sad to leave my own para pujo today, but coming here just made me so happy and uplifted my mood. I agree with all the members of the locality as they shared their perspectives
of the pandemic. I have also being associated to a famous puja for years, have seen people losing their jobs and a number of jobs are connected with Durga Puja, especially our dhaaki bhais without whom our pujo is incomplete. This year, I hope we all enjoy pujo safely and also take care of the small artisans and people who help us build our pandals and Durga idols.”
Activities: The evening started with an engaging adda session with different members of the para and special guest Devlina Kumar settling down. President of SB Park Sarbojanin, Sanjay Majumder welcomed the goegeous actor by draping an uttariya and handing over a colourful bhaar of rosogolla. Para members shared their views on the pandemic and how people lost their jobs and loved ones to Covid-19 and how they are going to celebrate this year’s Covid-free pujo. Children from the locality showcased their talents through beautiful classical singing, chau dance and poetry recitation. At the end of the evening, the actor shared how much she felt like homecoming here and loved starting Durga Puja celebrations with such talented people.
A spectacular chau naach performance on Mahishasur Mardini by Debapriyo Bhowmick, Soma Das, Siyonee Ghosh, Aishwarya Das, Amelia Rosario and others on the songs Jaya haya hai Mahishaur Mardini and Ogo amar agomoni impressed everyone.
President of SB Park Sarbojanin, Sanjay Majumder welcomes Devlina with a bhaar of rosogolla.
Rajashree Ghosh delights one and all reciting a Pujor path by Rabindranath Tagore.
Ruby Ghosh, a member of the locality, sang the Agomoni song Bajlo tomar alor benu.
Sandipan Das of SBIHM and Devlina Kumar handed over prizes to Adrija Majumder and Koulik Mondal for their academic excellence.