Samantaral hosted the 5th National Festival for Poetry and Recitation in a single evening that featured exactly six minutes of elocution! The invite had promised the participation of formidable names like Debdulal Bandyopadhyay, Pradip Ghosh, Partha Ghosh and Gouri Ghosh. As this reviewer reached Gyan Mancha on September 19, the sparse audience was eagerly waiting for the action to begin.

Soumitra Chattopadhyay was conferred the award Abritti Shiromani for his lifetime involvement with the art of elocution. Felicitation over, the audience was frustrated to see an Odissi recital by Sanchita Bhattacharya. Where was the recitation? Much to the disappointment of the audience, Chattopadhyay, too, was not prepared for a solo recital, although he was quick to oblige them with Rekho maa dasere mane, a Madhusudan Dutt poem that has, of late, become his signature. Mastering the technique of rendering the blank verse was never a problem for Chattopadhyay.

Bhaskar Deb, the organiser, had no clue whether the elocutionists will arrive at all. He rattled off a few lines of poetry, clarifying that the proposed festival had been put off. He saved his skin for sure, but helped Samantaral earn the dubious distinction of hosting a ‘national festival’ in six minutes!