From the Desk of the General Secretary, Rabindra Bharati Society
Dear Members,
Yesterday’s evening zoom meeting was a completely different sort. It was literally dedicated to personnel from our neighbouring country, Nepal with the theme “Study and Culture on Rabindra Nath Tagore in Nepal”. Bengalis from Nepal had got in touch with me and expressed their desire to join in our group and participate for Rabindra Bharati Society in some way or the other. Now with the new normal norms, we cannot congregate in any place, so the best available option is to perform digitally and that is what they did.
The programme started with a wonderful documentary on Nepal.
Shri Sitesh Dutta Choudhury, Member, Rabindra Bharati Society gave a short speech on Kabi Guru’s interaction with Nepal.
Smt. Nupur Bhattacharya, one of our senior members, has for a long time now been posted in Nepal. It was through her initiative that the Bengalis in Nepal got to know about our activities and cultural programmes. Though she wasn’t present physically in the meeting, she arranged the programme for us.
Dr. Subhendu Gupta from Katmandu gave his opening speech by saying how dearly Rabindra Nath Tagore is appreciated in Nepal, what they do on Rabindra Jayanti, how they celebrate Durga Puja and basically gave us an insight as to how the Bengalis in Nepal live holding on to their culture. A lot of work is done in translating Tagore’s works in Nepalese as people there are very enthusiastic about learning his songs and poems.
He handed us over to Smt. Chandana Sengupta who played the harmonium and rendered Rabindra Sangeet for us. Smt. Dona Mukherjee, also sang a Rabindra Sangeet for us very sweetly, unaccompanied with any instrument, with slightly accented pronunciations of Nepalese language which was so pleasant to our ears because of their intonation. She said she learnt the songs from a tutor.
Next we got to hear a Kabi Guru’s recitation from Smt. Aparna Gupta from Nepal.
Smt. Ruby Sengupta who joined from Estonia also recited Kobi Guru’s poem. She said she did not know Bengali script so learnt the poem written in the local script, thereby reciting in Bengali, also with a strong local accent.
In between, some of our very own members Shri Soumitra Banerjee, Smt. Sangita Ganguly from Kolkata and Smt. Sangita Sengupta from Asansol, sang a Rabindra Sangeet each for us.
Smt. Jharna Barui from Kolkata, recited a poem to keep us entertained.
Shri Deepak Chandra Sen joined from Nepal and informed us about the culture of Nepal and Durga Puja, Diwali, Bengali’s New Year’s Day (Poila Boishak) and Rabindra Jayanti Celebrations there. He too mentioned that the Bengali culture is very respected amongst the Nepalese.
Shri Anju Biswas Pal joined in from USA, though it was quite early for him, and apprised us of how Rabindra Nath Tagore is revered in their country, now they celebrate Rabindra Jayanti and 22nd (Baishe) Sraban there. He recited a poem for us which all appreciated.
Smt. Rohini Chakrabarty joined in from Purulia and Smt. Shiela Moitra and Smt. Sutapa Banerjee, from Kolkata spoke about their feelings.
Shri Kollol Sengupta, Officer of GST Directorate, Kolkata, also said a few words on Indo-Nepal harmony.
New Member, Smt. Mohua Mukherjee, was given a warm welcome to the Society and she appreciated the programme very much.
But the show stealer was Shri Kiran Lama, a Nepali by origin, Buddhist by faith and member of Mohabodhi Society, who is very interested in our Society. He sang a Rabindra Sangeet unaccompanied by any instruments, enthralling us all and spoke a lot about their culture.
Shri Sabyasachi Hazra, Member, Rabindra Bharati Society, said he was glad in joining in, else would have missed out on such a wonderful programme.
The programme ended on a very touching note with the famous Rabindra Sangeet “Jodi tor dak sune keu na ase tobe ekla cholo re” translated in Nepali language and sung by young Nepalese school children during Indian Independence Day Celebration there. The video was pre-recorded and streamed for us. Everybody appreciated it greatly and we resolved to have another programme with our fellow Bengali friends posted in Nepal.
Warm Regards and stay safe.
Siddhartha Mukhopadhyay
10th September, 2020
