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| Karate classes and (right) the charitable dispensary at Guha Park Netaji Sangha Club. Pictures by Anup Bhattacharya | |
Every year the Dashami of Durga puja or Dusshera is a grand occasion at Guha Park in Liluah. People come in droves to watch a huge effigy of Ravana being set on fire, celebrating the victory of good over evil. With every passing year, the crowd increases at this small park. Chamunda puja is another rare ritual that the club follows. The puja is held just before Sandhi puja on Ashtami. These rituals make Netaji Sangha’s Durga puja different from others. But Durga puja is not the sole event at this club that started its journey in 1964.
What had been initiated as a small playground for the local children, gradually turned into a full-fledged club in no time. “There were only five or six residential houses here at that time. The park was a dump yard at that time and pigs roamed around. We were children then and some of the elders would get us footballs or cricket balls to play with on the field. Gradually we built a small room out of dorma and started running a club,” said Achyut Kumar Ghosh, the vice president of the club. It took time to clear the ground. There were some encroachers, who had to be given a separate place to stay so that they could move out. It was not until 1980 that the club introduced full-fledged sports activities on the ground.
| Factfile |
| Guha Park Netaji Sangha Club |
| Estd: 1964 |
| 27A,Guha Park, Liluah |
| Activities: Women’s handicraft, karate, drawing, dance, charitable dispensary |
Netaji Sangha started with football and cricket developed over time. On Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s centenary year in 1987, the club organised a mega cultural event for 15 days where Suchitra Mitra had come to perform. With time, a lot has changed. Football and cricket are still played here but the ground is not fit for any kind of tournament. “We need to develop the ground because it is low-lying and gets waterlogged after a short spell of rain,” said Ghosh. However, funds are the biggest hurdle for the club authorities. “We need close to Rs 4 lakh for repairing the ground and we have not managed to gather the money,” said Ghosh. Apart from the club’s own sports activities, the ground is also used by the local schools for sports. Indoor games, however, have not developed at the club. “We want to start table tennis here. We have got a table tennis board but it is lying unused. We want a good coach to train members. We hope to see youngsters coming to play at the club like we used to do,” said Ghosh.
Other than sports, Netaji Sangha also runs a charitable dispensary where allopathy and homeopathy doctors visit through the week. “Liluah has a large population of labourers who cannot afford to go to big hospitals for treatment. We thought of starting this dispensary last year so that they can get free treatment,” said Abinash Kumar Dey, the secretary of the club. A dance class for children and a women’s handicraft centre also runs here. “The underprivileged women of the locality take learn embroidery and other craft here,” said Dey. Art and karate classes for children are also held here.
