Celebration Back to Pre-pandemic Level at LB
by Kaustav Ghosh (T-9/1405)
Lotus Boulevard Sanskritik Samity (LBSS), celebrated Durgotsav (Durga Puja 2022) for the sixth consecutive year, from 1st Oct to 5th Oct, 2022 at Banquet Hall in Lotus Boulevard.
After two years of muted celebration because of the COVID-19 pandemic, LBSS celebrated its sixth Durga Puja this year with the vim and fervour associated with the mother of all Bengali festivals.
This year also, LBSS members worked very hard as a team to make it memorable for all LB Residents and our neighbours. Durga Puja means more to us than just an annual religious festival; it is a celebration of life, our culture, our popular customs, and traditions. As you know in past few years our Durga Puja has gained much popularity among LB residents and this year as well we enjoyed these 5 days’ time for coming together, of reunion and rejuvenation, of the rebirth of our spiritual selves and last but not the least, to share and to care with multi-dimensional community-driven initiatives reinforced with various cultural events on all five days inside the Banquet Hall and also Bhandara around club area for LB residents on Navami.
While worshipping the goddess is at the centre of our celebration, we have carefully arranged a slew of events between October 1-5 to showcase the culture of Bengal. Like always, female members have taken the onus of the rituals on themselves. Recitation, drama, dance drama, live band, Quiz contest, Painting, Fashion show, and Dhunuchi dance (dancing with a clay bowl filled with coconut husks) are among the events organised during the puja.
The auspicious event was inaugurated by a group of underprivileged children, students of Delhi Ramakrishna Mission, along with monks and teachers from this esteemed institute.
If a celebration happens, can food be far behind? Bongs are famous foodies and festivity began with Anandamela, kind of a potluck wherein member-families cooked mostly traditional Bengali cuisines and sold at nominal rates. The idea was to make sure those recipes were passed on from one generation to another.
The hugely popular fashion show event, named “Bong Dhong” themed this year on Benarasi Sarees and rituals associated with Bengali marriage. As always LBSS members again presented melodious and soulful musical events like ‘Alvida Naa Kehna’-a tribute to departed legends of Bollywood; Live band performances by ‘Cocktail Melody‘ and ‘The Triangle’. The Indo-Arabic presentation of the popular dance drama ‘Abdulla o Marjina’ mesmerized the audience. The Bengali drama ‘Bharate Chai’ was loved and appreciated by all. The sheer talents of LBSS kids and their flawless performances in the Bengali recitation ‘Katha Nupur’, and kids drama ‘Ek Mojadar Robbar’ left the audience spellbound.
Each competitive event witnessed huge participation and popularity like Kids Quiz, Drawing, Fancy Dress, Blowing the Conch Shell, Dhunuchi Naach etc.
The cultural events concluded with the rocking performance of LBSS boys in ‘Lazy Dance Zara Hatke’, which was a megahit event and loved by all.
The event was celebrated very responsibly and in an eco-friendly manner. Like previous years, it was a completely ‘Plastic-Free’ event this year too. Paper plates were used for bhog distribution, biodegradable materials were used for all puja-related rituals. The idol was made of pure clay and organic colours and certified under Pollution Control Board norms with no use of chemicals.
To promote awareness to fellow residents, old newspapers were used for packaging of prizes and potted saplings were presented to prize winners. Idol was immersed in an artificially created pond in an eco-friendly manner.
The celebration ended with a traditional ‘Sindur Khela’, the vermillion game, where all the ladies dressed in traditional white sarees with red borders bid farewell to the goddess by ‘Boron’ and put sindoor to each other on Bijaya Dashami. All members bid farewell to the goddess with a folded hand and pray ‘Asche Bochor Abar Eso Maa’- Mother, next year come again.
