Girish Ghosh (1844-1912)

Every chair in CA Block community hall was occupied when residents put up an audio drama to pay tribute to playwright Girish Chandra Ghosh in the centenary year of his death anniversary.

The play, titled Chaitanya Hok, was written by resident Utpal Mitra and the role of Ghosh was essayed by Rahul Dutta. Mitra himself played the role of Ramakrishna, who had deeply influenced Ghosh.

The audio drama began at a stage in Ghosh’s life when he was an established playwright but an atheist. He is shown to be suspicious of Ramakrishna’s devotion but through their interaction becomes his devotee. Also depicted are instances like when Ramakrishna came to watch Noti Binodini’s play under Ghosh’s direction at Star Theatre.

The play was the result of a week’s writing and a fortnight of rehearsals. “Response has been good and I now plan to turn this into a full fledged play,” said Mitra.

While the audience was full of senior citizens from the block, there were also those like Prabir Ranjan Goswami who had come all the way from Hiland Park. “Having lived outside Calcutta for most of my life, I have a sketchy knowledge of Ghosh. I enjoyed learning about him today,” he said.

“Ghosh was one of the greatest Bengali literary figures. Yet, no other organisation in Salt Lake or New Town is observing his death centenary. Youngsters need to know about him,” said Debabrata Mukherjee, secretary of the block association.

nThe 14th Anandamela of GC Block Ladies’ Club was held on March 17 at the block’s community hall. More than 20 stalls sold saris, salwar kameezs, jewellery, bed sheets and covers. There were also home-cooked food items like cakes, pudding, momo, ghugni and patishapta.

“This year stalls were booked by shops from as far as Behala and Jadavpur. If this continues it would be difficult for us to accommodate everyone,” said Dipti Sen, one of the members of the club.

The hall may have been full of stalls but footfall was thin.