CA Block ladies club 

The ladies club of CA Block celebrated a Rabindra-Nazrul evening at their community hall. 

The show began with Soda thako anonde, sung by Bani Kundu, and was followed by the likes of Kaberi Choudhury, who had planned to sing one song — Tai tomar anondo amar — but on public demand sang another — Sudhu tomar bani noy. Resident Sumanta Chatterjee provided tabla accompaniment. 

“Every year we present a group performance but this year we have solo songs and some dance items by residents and a BA Block-based group at the end,” said Ratna Dutta, club secretary and compere for the evening.

“Tagore and Nazrul are stalwarts but Tagore is closer to our hearts,” said Sarbani Ghosh, who sang Nazrul’s Tomar mahabishwe kichhu. 

Block resident Utpal Mitra spoke on Bigyan Chetonay Rabindranath. “Tagore is best known for his music and poetry but there were other sides to him. Many are unaware that Tagore was referred to as a science-conscious poet-philosopher,” he said. 

The youngest performer was 10-year-old Rohit Kishore Goswami, who recited Tagore’s Shomobyathi. “I perform every year,” smiled the boy who had been trained by his mother Riya Goswami.  

Dance group Kalapi brought the curtains down with a dance drama inspired by Pujarini. 

Shatadipa Bhattacharya

Laughing club 

Rabindra-Nazrul jayanti was an occasion for members of a laughing club to skip laughing for a day and sing and recite instead. Salt Lake Laughing Centre, FE Block, celebrated the occasion at FE Park. 

Jyoti Das and Indira Bandyopadhyay, both residents of Karunamoyee, recited Tagore’s Ami and Proshno respectively and four-year-old Archisha Niyogi sang Tomar abhishar while her grandma Uttara Niyogi sang the Nazrulgeeti  Tumi amar sokal belar sur. “Archisha was very excited about performing but was in no mood to wake up this morning,” laughed the grandmother, a resident of EE Block.

Others performed a geeti alekhyo. Kona Chatterjee, who had written the script, said such performances build their confidence. “Participants only practised for two or three days but it has come out well,” said Swapan Chatterjee, who played the harmonium and led the chorus. 

Debraj Sengupta, of FE Block, sang Maharaj eki saje. “Both the poets had unique ways of portraying love through their work. Some of Tagore’s love songs fall under the theme of Puja,” he said. 

Purbasha Mukherjee, who lives in Surat but was in town on vacation, sang Nazrul’s Antarey tumi achho chirodin and Uchaton mon ghore. “In Surat too I organise Rabindrajayanti and when I’m visiting Calcutta I perform for this group,” said Mukherjee. 

Club secretary Poreshnath Mukherjee said their group was 21 years old and had 50 members. “Most of us are 80-plus but we try to keep fit through laughter, exercise and celebration of such occasions.”

Shatadipa Bhattacharya

Bairag

At Bairag, the IB Block-based senior citizen’s home, the celebrations were three-fold. “This year Rabindrajayanti is on the birth anniversary of our late founder president Pushpa Dutt. And it is also the beginning of our silver jubilee year,” said Kuntala Patnaik, president of Saptadweepa, the all-woman group that runs Bairag. 

Boarders and volunteers took stage. Ila Mukherjee, a boarder, played Jagorone jay bibhabhori and Akash bhora on the keyboard. “Playing the keyboard is my evening recreation and I picked it up after I moving to Bairag,” she smiled.

Madhu Bose recited Tagore’s Bojhapora and her husband joined her to perform their self-composed work Borsho Ujjapon and Topen Babu o shei idur-ta. “Our performance would have been incomplete without reciting Tagore at the start. He is our inspiration,” smiled Bose.

The audience was moved to tears when Archita Poddar and her brother Kausik Roy recited a verse from Joydeep Chatterjee’s work dedicated to Tagore titled Tar nam ki Ronjona. “We wanted to dedicate today’s performance to Tagore and this poem connects with him in many ways,” said Poddar. 

“I'm very happy we could organise this show on our own and without any famous faces,” said Krishna Roy Chowdhury, former secretary of the NGO and daughter of the group’s founder Pushpa Dutt. She also recited two poems from her mother’s book. 

Shatadipa Bhattacharya

Dithi

Even the rain couldn’t mar the celebrations of Dithi, a cultural forum, at AK 3. “The plan was to hold our meet on the terrace but due to rains we moved downstairs. But our excitement is intact,” said secretary Nitai Mukhopadhyay. 

AK Block resident Sangeeta Sen started the evening with Amar milon lagi tumi followed by Abhishek Ray’s recitation. 

Supti Ray sang Kokhon boshonto gelo, Anushree Banerjee Gupta’s recited Baul from Shishu Bholanath and Dilip Karmakar recited Juddher Damaru and Africa. Kuntal Mukherjee, formerly of Rabindra Bharati University, discussed the importance of commoners in Tagore’s plays. “Being an actor myself, this topic is very close to me,” he said. 

Shyamal Sen, co-secretary of Dithi, said they had started the group in 2004 and have 30 members.

Shatadipa Bhattacharya

New York school 

The students and teachers of New York Public School, in GE Block, celebrated Rabindrajayanti through song and dance. Students of classes VI and VII performed the opening song Tumi kemon korey gan koro and then Rishika Mitra of KG recited Talgachh, Anwesha Pal of Class I recited Birpurush, tots of nursery danced to Aye tobey sahachori and KG students danced to Phuley phuley. A part of the play Daakghar was enacted by Class III students while middle school students danced to Ha re re re and Amra shobai raja. Dipanwita Bakshi, a teacher of Class II, danced to Momo chitte. The event concluded with the teachers singing Pran bhoriye in chorus.

DL BLock

Saheli, the ladies club of DL Block, celebrated its annual day by paying tribute to Tagore and Nazrul.

The Tagore section began a chorus of Ei labhinu sango tabo and was followed by the debut stage performance of 10-year-old Raktim Roy who sang Hey sakha mamo hridayey. 

Sutapa Chattopadhyay played Tagore tunes on the guitar and Mukti Biswas and Sadhan Biswas recited Karna-Kunti Sambad. 

The segment titled Taley, Chhandey, Gaaney was a bouquet of six songs on six different taals by Tagore.

The Nazrul section had Monotosh Bhuti singing Saono ratey jodi and  Nivedita Bhanja Choudhuri reciting Bar prarthona. Two Nazrulgeetis were sung solo by Bhaswati Mitra and Mukti Biswas while Anjali laho mor sangeetey was presented in chorus. The last song was a Jhumur number Churir taaley nurir mela accompanied by little Namasree Mazumder’s dance.

Bharati Kanjilal