The women of CJ Block have been gifted a meditation centre that is as swanky inside as it is serene outside. Named Gautam Buddha Meditation Centre, the single-storied structure was inaugurated in their park, opposite the community hall, on July 4.

“Women of CJ Block had been requesting me for this hall for years and I’m happy to finally hand it over to them,” said Krishna Chakraborty, chairperson, board of administrators of the corporation, who funded the project from her councillor’s fund while in office.

Chakraborty named the centre after the Buddha since he is synonymous with meditation and drew attention to the fact that it was being inaugurated on the death anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. “The monk had died in his meditation,” she said.

Also present was Aditi Munshi, the singer who earlier this year won the Rajarhat Gopalpur assembly constituency seat. “Elderly men are still going out to markets during the pandemic but most elderly women are stuck indoors. This is affecting their well-being. By coming to this centre for yoga and meditation, they can look after their physical and mental health,” said Munshi, before singing a couple of devotional songs.

Aesthetic and functional

The meditation centre is a sight to behold. The facade bears a painting of the Buddha, deep in meditation, seated on a floating lotus with a Himalayan backdrop of coniferous trees and snow. A fibre statue of the enlightened one has also been placed next to the entrance.

Another wall of the building bears a painting of the Buddha seated in a waterfall but his look, is unusual. He is shown with long hair and an end of his ochre robe is blowing gracefully in the wind.

“The centre has come up on what used to be a pile of garbage. We cleared it out and built the hall as well as a kids’ corner with play

equipment next to it,” said Ankit Prahladka of the BB Block-based Manturam Infrastructure that did the construction and finishing.

Work on the 2,000sq ft centre had begun last year before the pandemic. Besides a large hall, the centre has a toilet and changing room. “The walls are made of bricks but the top is of fibre tin, to keep costs at a minimum,” said Prahladka. To prevent over-heating during summer they have made a false ceiling too. Besides, the hall is air conditioned.

When a banyan tree was coming in the way of the construction, the builders worked around it without felling it. “The building isn’t a perfect square because of this, but it was important to save the tree,” Prahladka said.

Planning ahead

The happiest are the women of the block who will now get to use the facility. “It’s way more beautiful than we had imagined,” smiled Swapna Saha, a member of CJ Block’s ladies club. Her neighbours Amita Dave and Shanti Agarwal were trying to plan the activities they could now hold here.

“The first floor of our community centre would hold yoga classes till before the pandemic but I stopped years ago due to pain in my legs,” said Mohua Majumdar, a senior citizen. “I’m excited to rejoin the classes once they are held on the ground floor here.”

Secretary of CJ Block Welfare Association, Rajkumar Ghosh, was happy for the ladies. “While we have a community centre, ventilation is a major problem on the ground floor, he explained. “For adequate air circulation, we have to roll up the shutters of the front gate. How can privacy be maintained thereafter? As for the first floor, the steps are nine inches high and elderly women cannot trek upstairs for yoga class,” he said.

The centre would be for the exclusive use of women, although the block ladies said they would consider it if women from other blocks wanted to join them. They were, however, particular about allowing entry only to those who have had both doses of their Covid vaccines.

Ghosh said the hall would not be used commercially, the way their ground is rented out for wedding receptions and the like.

Write to saltlake@abp.in