Eastern Grove, New Town

This complex has been celebrating Puja since 2012 but this was the first time they held a Vijaya Sammelani. So residents young and old came together to put up an elaborate show.

The show began with the Rabindrasangeet Gaye amar pulok lage sung in chorus by Moutuli Ghosh, Sukanya Sarkar and Saswati Debdhar. Later, Ghosh also sang a modern song while Vandana Saha recited works of Tagore and Sabyasachi Deb, a contemporary poet.

Soumyadeep Dhar of Class VII brought variety to the show by strumming his guitar and singing a rock number each from Green Day and Linkin Park. The versatile boy then put on his dancing shoes and performed to the song Manwa lage from the film Happy New Year, along with Aiswaryee Banik of Class VIII. 'During our puja function, we had danced to the song Indiawale from the same film and now we are aiming for a hat-trick by putting up the World Dance Medley from Happy New Year for our New Year's Eve show,' smiled Soumyadeep.

Ten-year-old Debasmita Chatterjee had recited Nabakrishna Bhattacharya's Kajer Lok at the puja function in the complex but had forgotten a few lines. 'I revised it many times over after that and shall give it another try today,' said the girl who got it right this time.

There were also a few guest artistes - elocutionist Moumita Khan from Sankalpa, the complex next door, Saikat Ali Molla from Utsa complex and singer Partha Pratim Panja from south Calcutta.

'Many of our flat owners have rented out their apartments and live elsewhere. They could not attend our puja either. At today's meet, we invited them too,' said chairman of the puja committee Sanat Kumar Dey. Puja committee secretary and the anchor of the show, Monika Roy, added that they couldn't organise this meet the last two years as there was a paucity of funds and performers. 'But over the last three years we have identified the talents in our complex. We wanted to give them a platform to perform today as well as encourage budding talents,' she said. The meet culminated with community dinner.

DA Block

DA Block bid adieu to the festive season by celebrating Vijaya Sammelani outside their community hall recently. But instead of performances by residents, the stage was offered to children of an NGO.

About 40 under-privileged children from an Ariadaha-based NGO Society for Children's Opportunity Protection and Enlightenment (Scope) performed for the block residents. The evening started with Ramakrishna kathamrita paath and Upanishad stotra and moved on to lighter events such as songs and audio dramas, all of which were performed by the students.

There was a gift distribution ceremony too in which the children were given dictionaries and cardigans. The DA Block branch of State Bank of India made a contribution and announced that they would want to help the needy again.

'We organise a Vijaya Sammelani every year but this was the first time we celebrated with these children. It has brought us great joy,' said Puloma Sen, a resident who was hosting the event.

The secretary of Scope, Prabir Bhattacharyya, thanked the residents of DA Block on behalf of the children. 'When we started off we had a dream which was difficult to realise. But people with large hearts have helped these children smile and look ahead,' said Bhattacharyya. The children of Scope then headed for dinner while guest artiste Madhuchhanda Sen performed folk songs.

'Before the Pujas, we had decided that if we can save a certain amount, we would use it to help the needy,' said Shraboni Maitra, puja secretary of the block. Assistant secretary of the puja committee Amit Sen added: 'We are overwhelmed to see the kids happy and would love for them to be a part of our future events.'

Aniket Sil

Theatre fest begins: Salt Lake Theatre is set to organise its 13th drama festival at Laban Hrad Mancha from December 7 to 14. This year, the festival features Kaushik Sen, Debshankar Halder, Gargi Raychowdhury, Surojit Banerjee and Rajatava Dutta among others. The hosts will stage an adaptation of Agatha Christie's ABC Murders, titled Kantaay Kantaay, on Tuesday.