There are thousands of barowari (community) pujas in Kolkata and West Bengal, but Tridhara Sammilani in south Kolkata’s Monoharpukur Road is probably the only club that has been publishing a Puja special magazine for the past 10 years.
On Friday evening, the club launched this year’s magazine at an event in the presence of several personalities from the field of art and culture.
(Left) Chief patron Debasish Kumar shares a light moment with Sovandeb Chattopadhyay and (right) Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri and Shiboprosad Mukherjee at the event on Friday
The event was graced by the presence of filmmaker Shiboprosad Mukherjee, journalist Ranjan Bandyopadhyay, historian Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri, politician Sovandeb Chattopadhyay and artist Shuvaprasanna among others.
The event started with the felicitation of each of the distinguished guests by the club members. And then the magazine was published. “More than 50 writers and poets have contributed this year and the cover has been designed by none other than Suvaprasanna,” said a member of the club. The production and printing process of the magazine starts around six months ahead of Durga Puja. “I have been associated with ‘Tridhara’, the magazine, and I am happy to say that this effort is commendable,” said Suvaprasanna.
Mentioning the fact that the magazine was not for generating revenue and would be sold at a minimal price, Shiboprosad Mukherjee said the magazine may not generate return in terms of money, but definitely in some other way. “I can say this because I am a filmmaker and directly work with a revenue-generating system. The real value of these types of works is usually seven years after they were done,” Mukherjee added.
“This is one of its kind. There are several big clubs in Kolkata organising Durga Puja for decades. Many of them publish puja magazines but they are mostly souvenirs filled with advertisements. None of them includes serious literary works,” said publisher Sudhangshu Deb.
“It is not only a nice magazine, but in the past 10 years, I have seen it getting better and better. That is very important and this wouldn’t have been possible had the organisers not been serious about their intentions,” said Ranjan Bandyopadhyay.
The dignitaries at the launch of the Puja magazine