Samakaal dangled three carrots for the unsuspecting audience while organising Ogo Saontaali Chheley at the Sisir Mancha on July 11 ? Rajasree Bhattacharya (in picture), Srabani Sen and Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta. The programme misled the audience by beginning with Bhattacharya’s tunefulness and musicality in Chitta aamar haralo and Nila anjan ghana. At one point, there was almost a public unrest brewing amidst the musical void, where hardly any respite was provided by breaks in the form of elocution and poetry reading.

Relief did come with Srabani Sen’s sweetly fragrant Badal diner pratham kadam phool and Oi malatilata. The accompaniment ? trying to make up in earnest for the lack of music all this while ? could have toned itself down with Sen’s music. Dasgupta signed off the programme with flawless diction, excellent tappakari and passionate singing in Jhara jhara barishey.

It was bewildering to listen to a string of untrained, uninitiated, off-tune and off-beat voices along with wrong lyrics and erratic notes for more than two hours. That’s the worst way one can welcome monsoon. However, Sukanya Nath and Shikha Chattopadhyay were a shade more emotive than the rest in Aji jhorer raate and Pub haote dei dola respectively.