A girl recites a poem on the stage during the Bengali speech and recitation competition organised by Rabindra Parishad on its premises as part of the ongoing 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore. The event saw people from all ages participating in the senior category. Sanjal Kumar Guha (59) fumbled as he started to recite but that did not stop him from completing the poem. “Although I have recited poems of Tagore in casual gatherings, I have never participated in a serious competition. When I got to know about this event, I could not stop myself from becoming a part of this celebration of Tagore,” Guha said. These competitions will be organised in other districts too in later phases, said Sandip Roy, the co-convener of the programme. Text by Shuchismita Chakraborty, picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh