Krittibaser Adda, already a glorious spot in Bengali cultural history, renewed itself at the Rawdon Street address of Kolkata International Art and Literature Foundation on June 24. A curious blend of the formal and the informal, of music and poetry, the evening was made memorable two sessions of poetry readings. Reiterating her acumen in spinning fantasies, Bithi Chattopadhyay came down heavily on feminism as practiced by the Bengali authors. Her Bangla Bhasha Nashta Haye Jabe condemned the young generation of poets for upholding whatever their seniors did. Septuagenarian Sarat Kumar Mukhopadhyay presented the opposite vision in the newly composed Natun Patar Mato which mused on intimidations and tribulations in a world legislated by his juniors.
Anshuman Bhowmick
The exhibition at the mandarin hall, Taj Bengal, exhibited six black and white and 15 colour images of Guenter Wehrmann, the German Consul General in Calcutta. Considering the fact that a senior diplomat always has some restricted movements unlike other professionals, the exhibits are impressive. Homogeneous cloud treatment of the photographs made a good impact. The photographs captured winter in Germany beautifully. In fact the picture of a dejected traveller with his luggage was excellent as it had both the right colour composition and balanced mass distribution.
Sunil K. Dutt
Veteran sitar player Jaya Biswas, ably supported by Abhijit Banerjee on the tabla, brought out the romantic mood of Kafi Malhar with telling effect at Madhusudan Mancha on July 22. She concluded with a lilting dhun and a Tagore song Aji jharo-jharo mukharo badalo dine on popular demand. It was a pity that the event, jointly organised by The Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs (West Bengal), did not leave room for a full-fledged recital by Mitali Banerjee Bhowmick. Despite the indifferent time slot squeezed after a variety of beautiful compositions on rainy season in lighter vein presented with boisterous revelry by Monali Choral Group, the superb pliability of her voice, brilliantly carved bol-banav, and sharp rhythmic sense made her Khamaj thumri highly captivating.
Meena Banerjee
