DL BLock

The residents of DL Block savoured the flavours of the season through some low-key celebrations this year. The Basanta Utsav, organised by the block’s resident association, also coincides with their 36th Foundation Day.

“We did not want to give up on a tradition of over three decades because of a pandemic. But we reduced what used to be a day-long affair to a two-hour cultural programme in the evening,” said Krishna Prasad Saha, the secretary of the association. The residents would begin their Holi celebrations with a I that saw them singing, dancing and playing colours in their traditional best at the break of dawn. Songs, dance and meet-and-greets were a day-long affair to be wrapped up with dinner.

“This time there was none. Our block has a lot of senior citizens. So, we ensured that everybody came for the cultural programme in masks and there was some distance between the chairs,” added Saha. The audience, however, preferred to sit in huddles. Songs of spring, folk moves and poetry was what they were treated too.

“Ten of us danced to a mix of popular and lesser-known songs this year. We named our group dance Aaj Fagun-e. It was a blend of creative and folk,” said dancer and advocate Arpita Chatterjee, a resident of the block and the director-choreographer of a part of the evening. “Most dancers are my students. Many of them are still working and studying from home. Otherwise, I could have included many more dancers. We would typically dress in white and yellow and start playing from the morning. This time we met straight for the cultural programme. The rehearsals were also held at my home and not in the community centre like previous years.

The performers came from all over Salt Lake. “I stay in the CD Block where no programme is being organised this year. I miss performing on stage. But this is a close-knit affair. So my sister Riya and I are happy to be a part of this celebration,” said teacher Priya Chatterjee, whose husband and 20-month-old son were part of the audience.

Chandreyee Ghose

CD BLock

Residents of New Town CD Block were hoping to smear one another with colours this Holi but then the event at Rabindra Tirtha got called off. “Even last year, our probhat pheri was cancelled due to Covid,” said Sithi Kana Ghatak, cultural secretary of Newtown CD Block Residents Forum. “So we organised the next best option — an online celebration.”

Basonto Adda, on the eve of Holi, began with the Rabindrasangeet Laglo dol jole sthole by Ruma Baul. “While Holi is usually about playing with friends, family and neighbours, this year we have to make do with video calls,” she smiled Baul.

Patralekha Mukherjee spoke on the festival recounting the legend of Prahlad, Hiranyakashipu and Holika and about how the festival celebrates victory over evil. “Holi also marks the arrival of spring — the season of love, joy and hope,” she said, before reciting her favourite poem Bhalobasa by Nabaneeta Dev Sen.

Mandakranta Sen’s poem Basanta Utsav was recited by Rita Basu who said that though stage performances had a greater impact, she felt more quite comfortable performing in the virtual world.

Swati Bairagi sang two popular songs Ami tomare bhalobeshechhi and O Shyam jakhon takhon, originally rendered by Sandhya Mukhopadhyay and Arati Mukherjee respectively. Purba Kar entertained listeners with a humourous travelogue on a trip to the jungles of Palamou in Jharkhand around the time of Holi in a previous year.

Gopa Basu recited Subhas Mukhopadhyay’s Phool phutuk na phutuk aaj basanta and Sumi Paul, an IT professional, recited Sreejato’s Bishu pagoler Kobita. Archana Bala and Aparna Sarkar together sang Etodin je boshey chhilem and De tora amay.

Ghatak recited Tagore’s Patralekha and the show concluded with Mukherjee’s rendition of the Tagore song Se kon boner horin.

Suhridbrindo, AC Block

Suhridbrindo, an AC Block-based cultural group hosted a virtual show last week called Basante Tomar Kobire Dao Dak.

To welcome the spring season and mark the celebration of Doljatra, an introductory music was played from Basanta, a musical, that included some recitation in the voice of Tagore himself.

Theatre personality Arup Ghosh welcomed everyone, sharing the background of Dolpurnima and Dol celebrations, naming Radha-Krishna as the pivotal figures.

The show was divided into three phases. The first phase concentrated on theme-based Tagore pieces, Nazrulgeeti and modern songs by Manna De, Shyamal Mitra, Suman Kalyanpur. This was followed by duet and solo dance recitals on a specific theme by Aniska Das, Shatatara Mitra and Adriti Chowdhury.

Theatre personality Bijan Ghosh recited a self-composed poem Bipake Swargo while Debesh Saha and Jolly Brahma recited poems by Joy Goswami and Srijato.

The second and third phase focussed on songs by legendary lyricists Sudhin Dasgupta and Mukul Dutta, rendered by the likes of Prabal Bhattacharya, Samit Roy, Pallavi Sarkar and Rama Biswas.

Nandita Chatterjee sang a composition by Jatileswar Mukhopadhyay and Sucheta Sen presented a popular number originally sung by Subhamita. The programme concluded with the song Ei kathati mone rekho by Kuntal Das.

The show was co-ordinated by Samit Roy, Prabal Bhattacharya and Arup Ghosh and was compered by Animesh Mukherjee, although the latter received a nickname for his effort. “You are playing from behind the cloud! So Animesh you are really Indrajit today,” joked Bandana Sarkar.

Appreciation poured in not only from Salt Lake but also from viewers in Tokyo, Canada, the US and the UAE.

Bharati Kanjilal