Rabindra Tirtha in New Town has a packed schedule this winter.

The festivities will start to the beat of the chabrung on Saturday as the Limbu community artistes take the stage at the auditorium. This is part of the two-day Hill Folk Festival, being organised by banglanatak.com in association with Rabindra Tirtha.

There will be 57 artistes from four communities in attendance from the districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong. If it is the Limbus and Mangars performing on Saturday evening, it will be the turn of the Dhimal and Tamang community artistes on Sunday evening.

Contemporary Australian jazz will meet Bengal folk music on December 22 at 6pm when the Australian High Commission will present a programme titled The Three Seas.

The next day, the Kolkata Poush Utsav will start in the lawns. “Rabindra Tirtha will turn into mini Santiniketan,” said Hidco chairman and managing director Debashis Sen.

There will be 25 exhibition stalls showcasing handicraft and handloom by 30 women entrepreneurs from Birbhum, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24-Parganas, Nadia, Midnapore and Darjeeling. Traditional snacks, including items popular in the Tagore family kitchen, will be served at 35 food stalls.

In the evening, there will be cultural programmes daily from December 23 to 30. Rezwana Choudhury Banya is the artiste on the first night, while Tagore’s dance drama Balmiki Pratibha will be staged by undertrials under the baton of Alokananda Roy on Christmas. There will be folk music on offer on December 24, 26 and 28 when Sahaj Ma, Kartik Das Baul and Swapan Basu respectively will perform. Srijato and Rudranil take the stage on December 27. Soumitra Chatterjee is the artiste featured on December 29 while Amita Dutt will bring the curtains down on the festival the next evening with Kathak performed to Tagore songs. There will be a fireworks display too.

Entry to all the programmes is free.

Just desserts

The Great India Dessert Festival will be on from today in front of the Mishti Hub. “It is a three-day festival where cakes and other baked goodies will be on offer. While the Mishti Hub is there for traditional Indian sweets, with Christmas coming this will be an opportunity to sample Western sweets as well,” said Sen.