CJ BLOCK

CJ Block celebrated its Rabindra-Nazrul jayanti on June 4 and taking part were kindergarten kids as well as criminal lawyers. 
Four-year-old Srijoni Saha won huge applause for reciting Brishti pore tapur tupur as did Koushiki Dey for reciting Damodar Sheth. Ten-year-old Aarshi Chatterjee and her friends danced to songs like Dur dwipobashini and Shob kaje haat lagai mora. 

Next was the high point of the evening — a song and dance extravaganza on the theme of women through the eyes of Tagore and Nazrul. The script was written by Sangeeta Saha and music was by Sanjukta Das, who sang numbers like Aye tobe sohochori and Dur dwipobashini. Dancing along was Srijani Bhattacharya, who is a professional dancer as well as lawyer. 

“I’m a criminal lawyer at high court and dance is my passion. It’s a stress-buster for me,” said Bhattacharya. “I just got to know about this show yesterday so I didn’t get any time to rehearse. It was on-spot choreography on stage.”

Children enacted a play and Rohini Biswas performed to Khelaghar bandhte legechhi. “I study in Class VIII and I love music. In fact, I also play the synthesizer,” she said.

The last event was Tagore’s Arup Ratan in audio drama format. “Tagore is one we turn to in times good and bad. Reading his work feels like it was written specifically for us,” said the director Sujit Chakraborty. 

Block president Supriya Banerjee said they had been organising such events for about 25 years and another organiser Sangeeta Saha, said they tried to present Tagore’s and Nazrul’s works in innovative ways so as to appeal to the youth.   

Arundhati Biswas

BF BLOCK

BF Block Residents’ Forum presented a cultural evening commemorating the birth anniversaries of three poets — Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Sukanto Bhattacharjee.

“While Tagore is connected with every phase of our life, Nazrul was famous for his revolutionary bent of mind and Sukanto too became popular through his works dealt with patriotism and humanitarian aspects,” said secretary Pannalal Guho Niyogi before the events began. 

Two girls, Tiasha Chatterjee and Anwesha Choudhuri, sang Tagore’s Dnariye achho tumi and Akash bhora surjo tara and Sharmila Chatterjee, a student of Srikumar Chattopadhyay, sang Amar praner manush achhey praney. Sipra Das, a student of Partho Ghosh, recited Tagore’s Sabala, Nazrul’s Nari and Sukanto’s Chharpatro.
Singer Srikumar Chattopadhyay was felicitated by president of the forum T.K. Roychowdhury. Chattopadhyay went on to perform songs like Ogo dukho jagania and Joubano sarasinirey. 

Sukanya Nath, who had trained at Santiniketan under the late singer Kanika Bandyopadhyay, presented songs like Kachhey jobe chhilo. Debarati Som sang Rabindrsangeet and Swarup Paul and Swati Paul performed a duet of both Rabindrasangeet and Nazrulgeeti. Sanchayita Mondol, a student of Odissi dancer Dona Ganguly, danced to Proloy nachan nachle jakhon and Gahono kusumo kunjo majhey from Bhanu Singher Padabali and received applause for her grace and expressions. The programme came to an end with the recitation of Sukanto’s Priyotamasu by Shubhashis Mondol, who had also coordinated and compered the event.

Bharati Kanjilal

FD BLOCK

The celebrations at FD Block started off with little artists Sreeshadri Majhi and Swarnasish Mukherjee’s recitation of Bir Purush and Bichitra Sadh and then Soma Banerjee played songs like Esho shyamal sundar on the violin. “I have been associated with music even since I was five. I play multiple instruments and music is my passion,” she said. 

Next up were senior citizens singing songs like Elem notun deshe and Bandh bhenge dao in chorus. “When I was younger I had no relation with music but now it is my lifeline,” said 64-year-old Partha Chatterjee, one of the group. 

Jayashree Thakurta performed Sandhya Maloti Jobe. The audio drama Notun bouthan was much appreciated. “I am fascinated by the relationship between Tagore and his sister-in-law Kadambari Devi and had written a script on this,” said Monika Mukherjee, who played Kadambari.

The last item was a group dance choreographed by Shohini Das. “'My group had dancers from the age of three to 45,” smiled Das. The senior-most dancer Mita Majumdar recalled how they put up the show with just five or six rehearsals. 
One of the organisers, 76-year-old Shukla Mukherjee, said she had been arranging programmes for the past 19 years. Councillor Neelanjana Manna said it was part of her duty to make time for cultural events. 

Arundhati Biswas