A fair named The Travel & Tourism Bazaar was held at Central Park fair grounds and brought under one roof tourism boards from across India. It had private travel agents and even representatives from Tourism Malaysia. 

“Last year, Malaysia recorded 7,00,000 arrivals from India and we are keen to increase the figure by promoting ourselves as a value-for-money family destination,” said Achinto Bose of Tourism Malaysia. “Beaches, trekking, seafood…we have everything that tourists from Bengal love. We also want to invite Tollywood filmmakers to shoot in Malaysia.”

There were lots of stalls from Indian states. “In my experience, 90 per cent of visitors in Kinnaur are from Bengal,” said Deepak Kanwar, assistant manager of Hotel Kinner Kailash that is under Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation. “Tourists from here love visiting the tribal belts of Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti, that border China and Jammu & Kashmir.”

Those like Abhijit Dhar of the Madhya Pradesh (MP) Tourism Development Corporation were helping visitors chalk out customised tours. “With sites like Ujjain, Khajurao and Kanha, MP is too big to cover in one trip and so we try to gauge visitors’ interests before planning out a package. It could be pilgrimage, wildlife or heritage of a chosen area of the state,” he said.

Sutapa and Anish Majumdar had come from BJ Block to gather information about Arunachal Pradesh. “We wanted to know more about Tawang as we will be going there soon but were disappointed not to find a stall from Arunachal Pradesh here. Still, we learnt about Kumaon in Uttarakhand and shall try to go there in summer,” said the couple. 

“We have been holding this fair for six years in different venues across the city but this is our first time in Salt Lake. Not only was footfall good but most of the visitors were from our target group. We shall try to hold the fair here from now on,” said Amit Biswas on behalf of The Travel & Tourism Bazaar management.

 

Time for poetry 

A poetry meet, held at New Town’s Nazrul Tirtha, brought together enthusiasts from around the township. 

The meet was organised by the cultural and social group Ahana, in association with Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco), and was opened by poets Pankaj Saha, Keshto  Chattopadhyay, Samir Bagchi and Prithiraj Sen. “Every Bengali is a poet, even if secretly. It brings colour and melody to their lives and is a hobby that must be encouraged,” said Saha, before reciting some of his poems. 

Urmila Sen, a resident of Salt Lake’s CE Block and wife of Hidco chairman cum managing director Debashis Sen, recited Joy Goswami’s Malatibala. “I do not write poetry but I love it,” she said at the onset. Anup Motilal, elocutionist and curator of Rabindra Tirtha, recited Amitava Dasgupta’s Kather Chair.

Some residents recited self-composed poems. Dipika Roy, of New Town’s AK Block, recited Pakhir Palok, that she had written, along with a Tagore poem. “A poetry meet is incomplete without a tribute to Tagore,” she said. 

Koushik Pattanayak, a resident of East Enclave Co-operative Housing Society, had written a poem on the Fifa World Cup 2014, warts and all. 

“It talks of Spain’s ouster from the tournament, Luis Suarez’s bite and underdog Germany’s victory. I always write for and recite at functions in our complex and I’m excited to be getting a bigger audience today,” he said. 

There were also group recitation programmes with a smattering of music. “Since this is our first show at Nazrul Tirtha we based our programme on the rebel poet’s work. 

Our item is called Nana Rupey Kobi Nazrul and six of us will be reciting Nazrul poems and songs of various moods,” said Bandana Saha of Eastern Grove. 

“I shall recite Subho Dasgupta’s Janmodin. My daughter will play a soundtrack for better effect and my husband will be filming my recitation,” smiled Susmita De of Utsa High. “I’m very happy with this event and hope there are may more like this from now on.”

Secretary of Ahana, Monika Roy, was happy with the response and said that she hoped to organise more such poetry meets around the year. 

 

 

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