Dhanbad's oldest literary club is gearing up to mark its centenary celebrations this week, six years after it turned 100.
The two-day gala to celebrate Lindsay Club's 100th birth anniversary will begin on Saturday, April 9, on its auditorium. While the inaugural day will see renowned singer from Calcutta Rupankar Bagchi regaling the audience, the concluding day will be graced by Anwesshaa Dutta Gupta, who made her presence felt in the Indian music scene at the age of 13 through the reality show Amul Star Voice of India, Chhote Ustaad.
Dhanbad senior superintendent of police Surendra Kumar Jha will grace the occasion as the chief guest while invitations have been sent to Dhanbad MP P.N. Singh and MLA Raj Sinha to attend the event as guests of honour.
Notably, the club, established in 1910, had hit the magic triple-digit six years ago in 2010. Since then, the club had been organising several events and activities to celebrate its 100th year but this time it is going to be grand.
"The celebrations on April 9 and 10 are part of the 10-year celebrations that started from 2010 and will continue till 2020 (the year when the club's library will turn 100). Events like sit-and-draw were held on March 3 this year," club secretary Ashwini Nandi (85), also a retired officer of SAIL, told The Telegraph.
The 106-year-old club was built on around five bighas of land in Hirapur provided by erstwhile king of Jharia Raja Durga Prasad Singh to promote cultural and literary activities.
The library, situated in the club itself, with some 20,000 books came into existence in 1920. Top lawyers, executives and social workers throng the library to enrich the horizon of their knowledge.
The 40-member club opens daily from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. The library also imparts education to around 100 poor children through Netaji School that operates from the club from Nursery to Class V.
Various social initiatives like providing financial aid to poor families to perform their children's marriages are also undertaken by the club.
Under the banner of Bengali Welfare society, the club also began organising book fair from 1983 on its premises and later shifted the venue to Durga Mandir road in 2012.
"During the inaugural function of Dhanbad book fair on April 3, Dhanbad mayor Chandrashekhar Agarwal had announced his plan to renovate the main auditorium of the club and install air conditioners. We will discuss the issue in our executive committee meeting to further develop the club," said Nandi.
An old timer of the club said that it initially had a mud wall and was later concretised with the help of financial contribution by its members.
The members also set up the club auditorium and the library. The major development work of the library was carried out between 1960 and 1972 during the tenure of renowned lawyer Sukumar Dutta, who was the secretary of the club.
