After a break of a year, Eastern High resumed the practice of painting alpona on the complex premises.
“We had started this custom in 2018 but last year since the activity requires a gathering, we had to cancel the event. This year we are doing it on a bigger scale,” said Shilpi Saha, who drew the outlines of the alpona along with Swati Bandyopadhyay, Bonny Das and Suchandra Das.
Children, senior citizens and the middle-aged were given separate time slots to prevent crowding. “In one slot, I had 38 kids as volunteers. The youngest was four and half years. The small ones would cry if they were not allowed to paint,” said Saha.
Kabita Ghosh and her teenaged daughter Maitreyee Roy were among the volunteers. “We painted the alpona in three spots this year, seated in a spaced-out manner,” she said.
Smritiban reopens
Picture courtesy Nairit Datta Gupta
Smritiban in BB Block, New Town, has reopened to the public from September 28. The park, maintained by the forest department and under NKDA’s authority, was under lock and key since the start of the lockdown in end-March 2020. According to sources, there was no budget available for park maintenance in the Covid-hit year.