SHUBHO BIJOYAR ANTORIK PREETI O SHUVECHHA – BORODER JANAI PRONAM AR CHHOTODER JONYO ANEK SNEHO O ASHIRBAD
The biggest event of our club – Durga Puja comes to an end – Very difficult and painful to believe it …..but it’s a fact – the feelings still continues – agamikal kotar somoy Pujo – kotar somoy Pushpanjali , kotay Sandhi Pujo – etc etc…..kothagulo kane bajche jeno ekhono.
Although the events at Vasavi Mahal – Puja venue started off on 14th Oct’18 – the preparation and planning started off three months before.
A sunny afternoon – 4 PM of 13th Oct’18 Saturday – the Gates of Vasavi Mahal was opened. The Decoration Team led by Alok Mondal arrives. The work begins and there was no stoppage till 7 PM in the evening without any break. Next day, 14th Oct’18 – Panchami – Sunday Morning 7 AM – The work of Decoration continues in full swing. Alok with his immense patience and focused approach towards the work tirelessly giving directions to the team to put up the wonderful creation for which he had worked over the last few months. Finally during the evening, it takes the final shape – we are able to see a famous DAKSHINESWAR TEMPLE of Kolkata. What a splendid workmanship capturing the minute details – Great Job Alok – we offer our best wishes from AIKATAN.
While the work of Decoration was going on one side, the Idol bringing team fully charged starts their journey for bringing the idol. The latest updates were beautifully shared with us who were camped at the venue through Whats app so that resources can be well organized to receive the idol. The team arrives around 6 PM. – Besh boro Thakur, besh Bhari …aro beshi lok lagbe ….. Our well knit team made it so easy and convenient to handle the situation and everything went off smoothly to place Ma Durga and her family at the dedicated place in the Pandal reserved for them. Kudos to the Team – Subrata Da, Asha Da, Bratin, Vivek, Prasenjit, Prabir Da, Kunal, Kali, Debasish, Somanko, Arup Banerjee for their fantastic and great work !!!!
The Dinner was well organized for the day by Gautam Da (Gautam Sarkar) and words fall short for me to speak about him on his dedication and efforts he shows on every field. Thanks a lot Gautam Da
The Pujo Committee was at their best to organize the entire Pujo very systematically during all the five days. The minute details were very closely monitored and taken care by the entire team. What an effort they have put up right from early morning till late evening – continuously working with smiling face, making arrangement for the Puja, distribution of Prasads,. Every arrangement which they made was possible for their nice planning and dedication. This year our Purohit being new – it was a challenge (as compared with earlier Purohit who was well aware of our systems and working style). More and more co-ordinations were required with them this time and the Pujo Committee did a wonderful work to make the things happen well within our Framework. Great Job – My sincere thanks and applause to the team – Nilima Gupta, Papiya Dutta, Madhumita Ghosh Dastidar, Savita Chakraborty, Anasuya Bose, Arati Naiya, Kakoli Chatterjee, Jaya Sinha, Rima Sarkar, Ruma Banerjee & Chandana Bhattacharya (providing the tips and advises to the team over phone and whats app as she is presently outside India) .
ANANDAMELA – Event conducted– during Sasthi evening – with 28 stalls –delicious food prepared by the members themselves – displayed in first floor. It was nice to see people all around enjoying the taste of delicious foods. Thanks a lot Anasuya Di for the hard work and planning.
The Cultural Committee organized colourful programmes during the morning and evening from Saptami to Dashami. The new Sound System and Lighting arrangement added more flavors to the events – the LCD Projector was introduced for the first time this year. Morning Entertainment were packed during all the four days – starting from Saptami till Navami – covering Recitation, Inpromptu-a new innovative event, Quiz programme, Antakshari, Dhunicuhi Nach and Shankho Dhwoni. People enjoyed all these events which were evident from their participation. Evening programme comprised of Udbodhoni Sangeet and Dandia on Sashthi, AKASH TO BORO – a musical soiree on Saptami was splendid taking us back to the golden era of Bangla Adhunik Gaan. Bharat Natyam – were staged by the students of Mudra School of Dance led by Ms. Mandasmita Bhatt. Rich tributes were paid to one of the great poet, lyricist, music director GULZAR depicting some of the great hit songs on Ashtami which was followed by dance drama -– UNIVERSAL SPLENDOUR performed by our child arists. On Navami-. our members displayed a Dance Drama – RUPANTOR based on one of the works of Tagore Balmiki Protibha The team of Payel Academy put up a beautiful show of dance. There were solo programmes of Song, Dance and Instrumental music performed by various members which entertained the audience. On behalf of AIKATAN, I thank all the participants and the organizers of the events for their efforts over the last few months to put up such a wonderful show. It was a tireless months for our Cultural Secretaries to accommodate all the interested members who requested them for their participation in various events. To plan and sequence them over different days and to provide time slots, require a lot of brain storming. These were handled very efficiently and effectively by them. Kudos to our Cultural Secretaries – Bhaskar da (Bhaskar Bose) and Sanjukta.(Sanjukta Nandi)
The Food for the entire five days were beautifully managed by Food Committee. During the Puja days , Luchi, Alur dom, Beguni, Alur Chop were made available at a very affordable rates. The Lunch were organized well within time. The elder members were all served food at the Ground Floor so that they can avoid the steps to reach third floor. Prasanta Da (Prasanta Das) played additional support by monitoring the lunch.- we thank u very much for your support. Organizing the food requires lot of foresightedness, estimation and thoughts – for which the entire credit and applause goes to Food and In House Arrangement team – Gautam Da (Sarkar), Prashanta Da, Prasenjit, Samar, Pallab, – Kudos to the team.
Whatever I have talked about so far, was possible when you have adequate finances at right moment. Tremendous efforts were put up by our Treasurer – Prabir Da (Prabir Dutta) and Asst. Treasurer – Vivek who ensured that we have the right funds at right time. All the Cheques which we received during last few months were deposited by Vivek in the Bank the very next day. Splendid job Vivek. The day to day accounting and keeping the key members alert on the current status on finance were all carried out by Prabir Da – be it at anytime of the day – we used to get the alerts with the latest updates. Kudos Prabir Da. Our trend like earlier years on receivables comes through Advertisements – this year it was Prasenjit who made an early start by collecting substantial ads from the beginning. Gupta ji (Yogesh Gupta) was no exceptional – with smiling face and his famous words he used to tell me – are gabrahiye nahi – hum hai na……provided the necessary support which is still continuing – I am sure that it will continue for another few months before we close our Accounts. Thanks a lot Gupta ji. The collection drive was further enhanced by Biren Da (Biren Banerjee) & Debajit Da (Debajit Sinha) who have worked very hard to push the members and non-members for giving their contributions and donations. Over phone before Puja and throughout the Puja days sitting at the Front Desk (sacrificing the morning entertainment program) greeting the visitors with smiling face, collecting the funds, distributing and selling the food coupons – all these requires lot of dedication. A great applause to the team – Biren Da, Debajit Da, Gupta ji, Prasanta Da, Manik Da, Subhas Da, Dhriti & Panchali.