Lohri, the harvest festival of Punjab, is celebrated to welcome the warmth of summer days ahead and marks the end of winter. It is primarily celebrated to pay homage to the fire God by burning a bonfire to which people offer their prayers, and throw in sesame seeds and peanuts. Every year the Punjabi community of Calcutta celebrates the festival of Lohri, noteworthy among them is by Gunnu and Satnam Singh Ahluwalia, who curate and organise this festival on a grand scale. This year Lohri 2k23 was celebrated on January 13 at the lawns of Hyatt Regency Kolkata, hosted by the couple, who literally brought this joyous occasion to live with great pomp and show.
From the lawns of Hyatt, to every corner of the place was decorated and embellished with traditional Punjabi elements. Eminent people from all walks of life were present to celebrate and witness the Punjabi festivities. Snapshots from the do...
Punjabi sensation singer Meet Kour added more charm to the evening, as she sang Punjabi folk songs like Chitta kukkad, Kala doreya, Bolo ta ra ra and more while the highlight of the evening was the Malwai Bhangra Group who had come all the way from Punjab. They made the guests take to the dance floor with their bhangra beats.
Moubani Sorcar and Joysri Sorcar went balle balle!
The Lohri 2k23 sky lanterns were released up in the air, adding to the fun, (right) Sanjay Budhia
Sharad Khaitan, (right) Adrian Pratt, director of American Center, with Sudarshan Chakravorty
Jessica Gomes Surana, (right) Jyotee Khaitan
(right)State minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay
Nadimul Haque
Johanne Mantosh
Major general Sandeep Singh Kahlon, GOC, Bengal Sub Area, with wife Rupali Kahlon
Alokananda Roy, (right) Sumeet Suri, GM JW Marriott Kolkata, with Roma
(l-r) Lt Gen RP Kalita, GOC, Eastern Command, with wife Nisha
Pramode Bhandari, (right) Sanjay Agarwal
Arjun Kaggallu, GM, Novotel, Kolkata, (right) Akash Rohira
A Punjabi festival is incomplete without food! The Lohri festive feasts included a wide array of mouth-watering traditional Punjabi food curated by Satnam Singh Ahluwalia with chef Ishika Konar, chef Gaurav Verma and chef Sunil Rai of Hyatt Regency, using authentic and traditional produce sourced from Punjab along with winter crops like radish, groundnuts, mustard greens, sugarcane and more. The menu included Kulche Chole, Dhabe Wali Dal, traditional Makki Ki Roti with Sarson Ka Saag and more along with Punjabi sweets like Til Ka Laddu, Pinni, live sugarcane juice counter, Dhaba Tea, Malai Toast, and other traditional North Indian delicacies.
Nilanjana Chakraborty and Arjun, (right) Arindam Sil with Shukla
Imran Zaki flanked by daughter Mariam (right) and Farah Khan
Shahenshah and Fatima Mirza
Satnam Singh Ahluwalia and wife Gunnu with daughter Chahat and son-in-law Raghav
“This is our second year of co-hosting of this glorious evening. Lohri is the most awaited event and the whole team gets very excited for it. New menu is curated for the evening. Satnam and Gunnu are like family to us, and we organise it together, which is great fun,” said Kumar Shobhan, general manager, Hyatt Regency Kolkata, with wife Anumita Ghosh.
Satrajit Sen with wife Sudeshna and daughter Radhika
Priti Agarwal, (right) Richa Sharma looked stunning in a lehnga choli
Shaheb Bhattacherjee, (right) Sayantani Guhathakurta
(L-R) Mohua Chatterjee, Esha Dutta, Nilanjanaa Senguptaa
Dev and Rukmini Maitra made for a stunning pair. “It’s a lot of fun to be here. I think this is the best part of celebrating festivals in India and celebrating Lohri here today feels so warm and joyous. I think this is the first party we are attending in the new year. It’s a great chance to meet a lot of near and dear ones. We wish everyone a Happy Lohri!”
