Despite their partner of nine years deserting them at the eleventh hour, HA Block Residents’ Forum could still single-handedly pull off a Rabindra Jayanti without any significant dip in the celebrity singer count.
All these years the block committee would hold the event at the community hall jointly with Sreenandana, a cultural group based in FE Block. But this year Bidhannagar Municipality asked Sreenandana to join them at the last minute and together they hosted the celebration at Central Park.
Despite being left in the lurch the HA Block forum garnered resources and pulled off the event. Well-known singers like Rajeshwar Bhattacharya, Ashis Bhattacharya, Chitralekha Chowdhury, Prabuddha Raha, Suman Panthi and Pilu Bhattacharya came to perform.
“We spent Rs 25,000 for this event,” says secretary of the block committee Subhas Mitra. “The money came from our cultural fund. This amount was a hike of about 80 per cent over the event’s budget till last year.” All these years, Sreenandana used to take care of the artistes.
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| Guest artistes Suman Panthi and (below) Rajeshwar Bhattacharya perform at the Rabindra Jayanti programme organised by HA Block Residents’ Forum. Pictures by Saradindu Chaudhury |
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The association maintains that they had the required money and did not go door-to-door seeking subscription for this new event. Even if they did, the Tagore-loving residents of the block say they would not have minded contributing.
“Our block has been celebrating Rabindra Jayanti for so many years now that it has become a sort of tradition. We must continue it,” says resident Soma Banerjee. “I’m sure other neighbours would gladly contribute to a separate fund for celebrating the occasion in future years.”
Residents were in fact crestfallen earlier on to learn that Sreenandana would not be organising the show this year. “I was very sad. I thought there wouldn’t be a programme in the block at all,” says Karabi Ganguly, who attended the performances of the artistes.
Alongside guest artistes, residents performed as well. Women sang Anandalokey mangalalokey as the inaugural song and two children danced to Tagore tunes. Residents Malobika Banerjee and Samir Bhattacharya sang too.
All these years, Sreenandana would undertake the responsibility of contacting guest performers and inviting them. This year the block committee had to start from scratch. “Subhas Pal, secretary of Bidhannagar Sanskriti Angan, helped us with contact details of the artists,” says Mitra. “This is the first time we had to interact directly with artistes and that too at the eleventh hour. Next year we shall be better organised,” said Ganguly.
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