Children at their weekly art class in BF Block community hall. Picture by Mayukh Sengupta

Mousumi Bhowmick practises yoga. Being a voracious reader, she also has membership at a library. Her husband, till recently, would work out in a gym. Their elder daughter would learn how to play table tennis and do yoga but has taken a break to concentrate on her studies. Their younger daughter still attends table tennis classes.

And this active family does all this under the same roof at HA Block community hall. “It would have been impossible to travel to far-off institutes for so many lessons. We only manage since they are all available at our community hall,” smiles Bhowmick, packing up after her yoga class in the first floor of the hall and heading to pick up her daughter from table tennis class on the second floor.

Boys practise at the cricket coaching centre in FD Park. Picture by Mayukh Sengupta

Community halls have come a long way from simply hosting weddings. With block committees offering a host of facilities there, residents are heading to the halls for their weekly dose of culture, sports and more.

Abuzz with action

“Most of the gyms in Salt Lake are so crowded that one has to wait in queue to use an equipment. So I joined the Purbachal gym instead. It’s got modern equipment, isn’t crowded and at Rs 250 a month, costs a fraction of what other gyms charge,” says Sourav Bala, a resident of Labony, in between pumping iron.

Members busy reading at the Purbachal Public Library. (Saradindu Chaudhury)

Being a student of Class VIII, Ishan Chaudhuri has the pressure of studies looming over him. “I would have wasted a lot of study time if I had to travel a long way for cricket. I’m lucky to have a coaching centre within walking distance from my house,” he says during practice in FD Park.

Bridge enthusiasts at play in BF Block community hall. (Saradindu Chaudhury)

The chief coach of FD Block Cricket Coaching Centre, Amitav Sen, says they get students from as far as Baguiati and Lake Town. “Residents of Salt Lake are lucky to have a hall and a field in every block. And when block committees are offering services residents must take full advantage of it,” he says.

The most common facility is the humble carrom board. “It takes up little space, is not very expensive and does not require any maintenance. It is easily the most-used equipment in our gym-cum-sports room,” says Ashok Chakraborty, a member of AA Block’s association.

Many a community hall that has a room to spare and some generous residents willing to donate books has started libraries. BF Block offers a library, drawing class, music class and has enthusiasts playing bridge once a week.

Women learn yoga asanas at HA Block community hall. (Mayukh Sengupta)

CA Block has a library, table tennis class, spiritual sessions on Kathaamrita, computer classes for housewives and programming, page-making and Adobe Photoshop classes for youngsters. They also lend the hall to the block’s ladies’ club once a month.

Tae kwon do expert Pradipta Kumar Roy teaches self-defence to senior citizens at IB Park and tae kwon do to younger residents. A literary meet Shani Bashar takes place every Saturday at AB hall.

Money matters

While some of these classes are held by outsiders, others are run by the block committee. Purbachal Public Library, for instance, is funded by Purbachal Central Committee.

“We have more than 500 members in our library but our annual fees are Rs 250. We could never have covered our costs on our own,” says Bela Banerjee, librarian at the Purbachal library. The committee gives them Rs 20,000 to 25,000 a year to buy books besides footing electricity, maintenance and miscellaneous charges.

Dance students at AK Block community hall. (Mayukh Sengupta)

While the fees of the services provided by outsiders vary, those provided by the blocks are usually priced lower than their market price. All the services at CA hall are free and their library has a nominal fee. The table tennis classes at HA Block cost Rs 175 a month for outsiders and Rs 150 for block residents. Sebayatan, the clinic at Purbachal, has doctors in departments like paediatrics, orthopaedics and gynaecology, and charges around Rs 100 for consultancy.

The idea is to provide service and not mint money. Prabir Ghosh of the AB Block committee is proud that his block is able to offer something for everyone: “We have karate classes by Premjit Sen, dance classes by Mamata Shankar’s group and literary meets. Ceremonies are certainly one of the main purposes of a hall and it is a huge source of income for a block. But we also want to encourage residents to learn something,” says Ghosh.

Table tennis coach Jayanta Pushilal (right) at CA Block. (Saradindu Chaudhury)

AK Block got its hall built just two years ago. Being a small block they do not get too many bookings for ceremonies and that is how they like it. “We have toiled hard for many years to get a hall and we now encourage cultural activities rather than rent it out for commercial purposes,” says secretary Umapada Chatterjee.

They have a western dance class, carrom and table tennis board, and are trying to start a library before the Pujas this year. “The games are free and we charge only maintenance fees from those who conduct the dance class,” says Chatterjee.

Residents work out at the gym in Purbachal. Picture by Saradindu Chaudhury

Hurdles to cross

The location may be convenient, but having a class in the community hall or park has its challenges. “Our students have to share the field with those playing soccer and other games,” says Sen of the FD Block cricket club. “We have tried to put up a boundary in the field to demarcate the areas. We also face space crunch when work starts on the puja pandal.”

The women’s yoga class at HA hall has more than 40 students who have to jostle for space. “I have to ask some students to perform standing poses while others do sitting or lying ones to make space,” says teacher Runu Sadhukhan.

Rajesh Rastogi of the AA Block association says their second floor gym would be much more popular if it was on the ground floor. “But the lower floors get booked for ceremonies and so the gym cannot be located there. As a result, senior citizens avoid the gym as they cannot climb stairs to use it.”

A doctor tends to a patient at Sebayatan, the clinic in Purbachal. (Saradindu Chaudhury)

The gym’s footfall has also taken a hit due to the heat. “In winter, we get around 30 people every day but hardly anyone is coming now. An AC would make the gym comfortable but we cannot afford one,” adds Chakraborty. He says their rusty-looking multi-gym would be oiled once users return.

Sometimes it is a problem of plenty. Salt Lake Club, an association whose members mainly play bridge, has been forced to shift from hall to hall since its inception in the 80s. They now meet on Thursdays at BF hall and are planning to move to BE next month. “While the BF Block committee is co-operative, they offer so many other activities that we can only be accommodated once a week. Else, our 50-60 regulars would have met up daily,” says vice- president and bridge convenor Mihir Biswas.

No takers

The biggest disappointment for block associations is when the facilities remain under-utilised. The libraries are the biggest casualties.

Table tennis practice at the coaching centre in the HA Block hall. (Mayukh Sengupta)

The authorities of the Purbachal, BF and CA block libraries all say that they are struggling to get new readers, particularly young ones. “In 2009, we got our library computerised and we add new books every year but the young generation is just not interested in reading,” says Utpal Mitra of CA Block Citizens’ Association. “Senior citizens read but they are unable to sit in the library for long stretches.”

The cultural secretary of the IB Block committee, Utpal Chakraborty, is a member of Purbachal Public Library but says it would be futile to start one in their own block. “Three years ago we had thought of starting a library in IB Block but a survey of libraries in neighbouring blocks revealed that they are all struggling to find readers. We dropped the plan,” he says.

Young karatekas at AB Block community hall. (Mayukh Sengupta)

The carrom and table tennis boards gather dust in many a hall too. CG Block’s Amal Basak would coach neighbours in table tennis at their hall a few years ago. “It started with 20 students but the number dwindled till we discontinued the lessons. This summer we wanted to organise a table tennis tournament but when only two or three players signed up we had to call it off. I would gladly coach students in chess and carrom too but where are the students?” he asks.

New innings

Then again some blocks are trying new measures to bring back the crowds. When HA Block realised their table tennis class was suffering every time the hall got booked for a ceremony, they built a second floor and dedicated it solely for the sport. “We got four new boards and got former state champion Sudipta Mondal as coach,” said Uday Jha, sports convenor of the block.

Since the second floor was built four years ago, the coaching class’s fortunes have changed. “We have 70 students and are being forced to refuse many as there is no space. We are only taking school students although there is a request to start classes for the 40-plus too,” says Mondal. “People lack the drive to come and play if a board is simply kept in the hall. It takes effort to inculcate a culture of table tennis into residents of a block.”

The Shani Bashar literary meet at AB Block community hall. (Mayukh Sengupta)

Mitra of CA Block says few would turn up when their table tennis boards were in a run-down state. “We then purchased a new board for Rs 21,000 and re-launched the facility last December by calling Jayanta Pushilal and Arup Basak, two former champions,” says Mitra.

The block started holding tournaments, Mitra himself started coaching students and they got membership at the East Calcutta District Table Tennis Association. “Now former players like Pushilal and Basak come and coach our students occasionally. We have many students now out of which 17 are excellent.”

Residents play carrom and work out at the AA Block hall. (Saradindu Chaudhury)

Residents too are not short of dreaming big for their blocks. CF Block’s Radha Beriwal takes her son for cricket coaching to FD Park but on her wish list is basketball and football coaching centres. “Basketball, particularly, is hardly taught or played in Calcutta. I would encourage my son to learn it if it is offered in our community hall,” she says.

Maitreyee Mitra, of Purbachal Cluster IV, is a regular at their neighbourhood gym but hopes for a swimming pool someday. “The committee is doing a good job of maintaining this gym so this is my request to them,” she smiles.