Hunt for treasure 
A treasure hunt around BL Block proved to be great fun for young contestants. 
The teams were read out the first clue at the park and the next four clues would be written on a piece of paper at the place that was the answer to the previous hint. 

The winning team was “Tusk”, a word that was formed using the starting alphabet of all its members- Tushnee Chakraborty, a Class VIII student at DPS Newtown, Uditi Das, Srishti Ghosh, and Kuhu Mukherjee, all Class XI students of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education. 

Here’s what Team Tusk had to say about charting their winning course. 

Clue no 1: Canvas hok ba hok dewal/ Eke chhara tomar rongeen hobe na kheyal.

We thought the clue meant the paint shop in our block and ran to it but found it shut. We were confused and spent a long time trying to interpret the clue in different ways. 

We asked ourselves what one needs to paint, and we arrived at “brush”, which in Bengali is “tuli”. Tuli is the name of our team-mate Tushnee’s mom. We wondered if Tuli aunty was the answer and ran to her house. 
And there, behind the front gate was stuck the next clue. 

We were the first team to crack this clue and could see others running about aimlessly. In fact, they all started asking us what we were doing in Tushnee’s house and we told them we had come to drink water! 

Clue no 2: Guru bhoj/ Bhojey guru/ Joy guru! / Enjoy guru!

This one was a piece of cake. It was an eatery called Guru’s and was just three houses away from Tuli aunty’s house. We made a dash for it. 

Clue no 3: Kobi gurur srishti poro/ @ 100mbps speed/ prothome chhilo analogue/ jodi korte poro read.

If we hang around the places that are the solutions, other teams get hints. Our idea was to click a picture of the next clue, scoot and crack it elsewhere. Tushnee had been clicking pictures of the clues all this while but her phone chose this opportune moment to declare that it had no more space. We finally read out the puzzle and made an audio recording of the same.  

Mention of Tagore got us thinking about his book “Gitanjali” and then the pieces of the puzzle fitted in. The answer was Gitanjali Cable, that provides the neighbourhood cable connection. It was once analogue and has now gone digital. 

Clue no 4: 419-er pashey thaki/ Bhoy shontrashey

This one was too easy. Next to BL 419 was the notorious number 420 but we couldn’t head to the next venue just yet. 

The rules required us to write down each clue on a paper when we found them and once again, we were let down by technology. The pen Kuhu had been using decided to dry up! We were losing precious minutes and she shook the pen vigorously till it started writing again. Thereafter, we made a run. 

Clue no 5: Bharater bhumitey bideshi bahon/ German ra badey chalay amaderi moddhe ekjon/ Kachhe ba durey jekhanei lok/ But don’t you see khelay toh achhe haar, aar achhe ki? 

Jeet kaku, a resident of the block and one of the organisers of the treasure hunt, drove a Volkswagen, a German car, but we didn’t run to his house. 
From our past experience in this hunt, we know that the last clue always brings us back to the park so we figured his car must have been parked around the stage. We ran there and spotted the car. But before we could go and open it, we saw members of Meow group opening the car and pulling out the treasure — a big blue toffee-shaped package. 

We were heartbroken as this would be the third year our team lost the game one step away from the treasure. Then the tide turned. Members of Meow confessed that they hadn’t solved some of the other clues and hence wouldn’t be eligible for the prize. 

We were ecstatic! The four of us jumped and hugged one another. This game is real fun and we have waited many years for this victory. Also, ours was the only all-girl team and we think this is a victory for girl power. Everyone had said we would never beat the boys as they would outrun us, but we showed them. Then again, we might share our treasure (of chocolates) with them as they are all our friends from the block.  

Game on

In its fourth edition, the video game competition at BL Block, under the banner of Spectrum 2015, was a runaway hit on Kali puja. 

Like the previous year, the two games being played were Fifa 2013 and NFS 4 and young players trooped in from not just Salt Lake but even neighbourhoods like Baguiati. 

“This is my happiest day during the Pujas as we get to play the whole day,” smiled Aryanak Mojumder, a Class VIII student. 

Around 40 contestants turned up for each game, though many youths played both. Some were seasoned players and others novices. “I play soccer in real life but don’t get to play Fifa on my computer as it hangs too often. But I loved playing the game here today,” said Bijoy Choudhury of Class V.

Arya Kapoor of Class VIII had broken his hand earlier this year and says that cost him practice hours but he played away to glory anyway. 

Such was the rush that the tournament that started at around 11am went on till 5pm. Participants were went home for lunch breaks and returned. “My son played Fifa in the morning but didn’t win. He wants to play NFS now,” said Mahua Ghosh, who had come to drop son Priyansh, of Class IV, at the venue after lunch. “I let him play at home as long as he does his homework too.”

The NFS game was finally won by Kaustav Roy, a Class X student of Birla High School, who had actually been eyeing the Fifa trophy. “I hadn’t even thought of joining NFS. I had my mind set on Fifa, but Anuraag Sinha beat me in the first round,” said Kaustav. Anuraag went on to win the Fifa tournament. “Dejected, I gave NFS a shot and I ended up winning.” 

Shameek Dey Sannamath, who was in charge of the games, said he was eager to introduce new games to the contest but was unsure how to handle the additional crowd that would show up. “But next year is Spectrum’s 25th year and we want to spread the gaming contest over a few days. Then we shall include Counter Strike and Defence of the Ancients (DotA),” he said. 

Shoot at sight

A shooting competition was held at BL Block too which drew more than 40 participants. 

The gun used had been borrowed from a resident and the shooters had to aim at a wooden board that had a target stuck on it. A neat shot at the bullseye was worth 15 points but the other circles in the target carried points too. Shooters were given six chances and the best five would make the score. 

Many of the children and young girls were unable to shoot within the target but Sanjay Bhowmick, a 50-year-old resident of the block, hit the bullseye in one of his six attempts. “I had practised with .303 rifle in my college days when I was part of the National Cadet Corps. I still love the sport and practise at the shooting stalls of Bidhannagar Mela every year,” said Bhowmick. 

“We always try to introduce innovative games during Kali puja. We’ve even had an arm-wrestling competition in the past. Such events keep the youth involved,” said Dey Sannamath.

Brinda Sarkar and Aniket Sil

 

COLOURS OF SOLIDARITY

To show solidarity with France after the terrorist attacks in Paris, the community building at Swapna Bhor, New Town’s seniors citizens’ park, has been illuminated with colours of the French national flag. 
The park, that is on the Major Arterial Road, has been glowing with blue, white and red LED lights since Monday. A bamboo installation art at the seventh rotary, near City Centre 2, also is bathed in lights of the same colours. New Town Kolkata Development Authority has arranged for the lights. 

Picture by Amitava Paul