Rail Vihar

The cultural committee of Rail Vihar Phase III B planned a day-long celebration for Holi, starting with the true spirit of Basanta Utsav as celebrated in Santiniketan, a concept introduced by Rabindranath Tagore himself.

Preparations had begun in January with separate departments formed for prabhat pheri, dance, song and recitation. What followed were hectic rehearsals; even in examination season, the enthusiasm of the children participating was encouraging.

The day began with a traditional prabhat pheri, with residents looking resplendent in flaming hues of red, yellow and orange, accessorised in palash garlands. Their songs filled the air with the sweet scent of spring.

This was followed by the main show titled ‘Elo je Basanta’, a musical portrait of spring, scripted and directed by Santanu Basu, who is also the secretary and cultural convenor of the residents’ association. This turned out to be a melange of recitation, song, and dance, bringing out the many moods and emotions of spring. The solo rendition of Sakhi hum by Devanshi Basu deserves special mention here as also the well co-ordinated dance performances by the children under the direction of Jayita Lahiri and Sohini Datta.

“I am a half-Parsi and a half-Bengali Christian, married to an Aiyer Hindu and so I want my daughter to learn and participate in every Indian cultural event,” said Sonia Aiyer, mother of 11-year old Alisha, who danced to the song Basanta eshe gechhe with her friends. “Though she had her finals, I ensured that she took part and enjoyed this celebration of spring.”

Basu chose to share the credit of the event’s success with all. “The constant support and encouragement of our president Nikhilesh Biswas and other members like Rabindranath Lahiri and Subrata Sarkar has helped our society come together as a team to pull off an event of such a large scale,” he said.

The celebrations ended with the playing of Holi and rain dance, perhaps the most exciting part of the day. Residents also enjoyed their dalpuris for breakfast and biryani for lunch.

AE (Part 2)

The crowds are soaring by the year at the Holi and pre-Holi gatherings at AE (Part 2). On the eve of Holi, this year too, the block organised a nera pora in the early evening and then Holika dahan later in the night, as per the almanac, and residents flocked to them both.

“The Holika dahan begins with a puja and in fact people come from the morning and seek blessings by touching the pyre or applying abir on it,” said Tapas Sengupta, secretary of AE Block Samaj Kalyan Sangha, the residents’ association of AE (Part 2).

“We started nera pora some 15 years ago and then Holika dahan from the next year as before that there was only one other Holika in Salt Lake. We wanted to make it easier for our residents to take part in it,” he said.

On the day of Holi, residents played in front of the community hall with abir, thandai and fritters. Many passersby, who aren’t even from the block but had come to the market, dropped by for a bit too, and in the evening, seven residents aged over 75 were felicitated.

There was a dance performance by students of Malashree, the Odissi school run by dancer Arpita Venkatesh at the community hall. “Many people appreciated that we presented classical dance at a festival that is now all but hijacked by Bollywood and DJ music,” said Sengupta.

Power Towers

The residents of Power Towers in New Town began their Holi celebrations with a vibrant prabhat pheri. Clad in yellow kurtas and saris, they embarked on a kilometre-long walk outside their complex, spreading the message of the arrival of spring to every household, true to the spirit of Tagore’s Orey grihabasi khol dwar khol.

Thereafter, residents gathered for community breakfast and cultural programmes. Those like Rita Sarkar, Runa Mitra, and Papri Ghosal presented music and among dancers there was even a 70-year-old who performed with a lumbar support belt on!

“I was nearly 20 years older than my dance partners — Aparna Banejeee, Moumita Chakraborty, and Mousumi Ganguly — but I love dancing too much to have given up this chance,” said Susmita Bose, who also claims to dance uninhibitedly at New Year’s Eve parties.

The lady had sat up till 2am the night before Dol to weave floral ornaments for the dancers. “Our caretaker was asked to pluck a palash-like flowers from our complex but he was so busy with our nera pora that he only managed to do so at midnight,” smiled Bose. Her group danced to numbers like Basante phul gathlo and Rangiye diye jao.

“The enthusiasm of elderly members was remarkable,” said resident Swagata Dey. “They danced and sang alongside the younger generation and proved that age is merely a number.”

DL Block

DL Block Residents’ Association celebrated Holi in the evening with a mixed bag of offerings. There were recitations and dances by residents as well as music by Zee Sa Re Ga Ma Pa artiste Aditi Chakraborty. Another highlight was the performance by 30 students of Kalangan Nrityalaya, the block-based dance school run by resident Arpita Chatterjee.

Children as young as four years of age danced to Baje re madol, their mothers danced to Cholo cholo sahochori, and as a whole, the group performed to songs like Chand uthechhe oi and Faguner kal ailo re.

“For the last two years, we had been performing to Rabindrasangeet and so for a different flavour, this time, we explored folk music as an ode to spring,” said Chatterjee. “Like colours, love is in the air in this season and so we used themes of Radha-Krishna in the performances. Audiences of all ages connected with the dances, and participants enjoyed them, too.”

Children would come to rehearse juggling homework and examinations and since the theme was folk, the mothers volunteered to hand make accessories for the dancers to wear.