BENGALI NEW YEAR TAKES A NEW LEAP IN MUMBAI..

India is a meltingpot of diversities of differenti castes, religion, languages and so on.. To keep the spirit of unity high and foster regional cultural traditions and indentity, Mumbai-based Bengali organisation Aikatan Cultural Association organised a classy function to commemorate the Bengali New Year (Barsha Boron 1430) at the lush green lawn of Mumbai's Country Club.

"On this auspicious occasion of Poila Boishakh, let's forget all our sorrows and welcome the new year with open arms! On behalf of Aikatan Cultural Association Mumbai, we wish the probashi Bengali community of Mumbai loads of happiness, peace and success! Shubho Naboborsho!," said Saswati and Somdeep Deb spearheading the activities of the organisation

The Chief Guest of the evening the very dynamic MLA Dr Bharti Lavekar praised the organisation for its good works.

There was live music where prodigious music director Rahul Seth (of Yamla Pagla Deewana fame) also performed even as the musical band of Suraj Biswas kept the audience in good musical spirit.

Popular tv artistes Nyra Banerji and Nishant Malkani came early and were all smiles. Popular music director Pritam's mother Anuradha Chakraborty, eminent lawyer Beni Chatterjee and producer Mustaque Nadiadwala came, too, to be a part of this happy occasion.

Aikatan Cultural Association Mumbai has an avowed objective to unite themselves for the purpose of celebrating common traditional festive occasions like Durga puja, to foster friendship, goodwill, and cooperation between themselves and other members of the community at large.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN:
Poila Baisakh commemorates the Bengali New Year. In Bengali, the word Pohela means first and Baisakh signifies the new month. While Bengalis across the globe celebrate this day by cleaning and decorating the houses with beautiful rangolis or alpona outside homes on the occasion of Poila Boishakh; Aikatan Cultural Association Mumbai hosted a this mesmerising evening at the Country Club in great elan. The biggest attraction of the event was the “Barsho Boron – The Musical rendezvous” which included blockbuster songs by Suraj Biswas’s band and complimented by the in-house team of singers, orators and musicians from Aikatan family. While signature Bengali songs were presented by veteran artists like Sangeeta Bhadury and Ragesree Deb, the youngsters of the association like Aitika & Aohonaa were also not far behind. A popular Sruti Natok – Kreme Kreme Prostan performed by the ladies of the club led by Anuradha Chakraborty and Piyali Dev and ably supported by Somali Sarkar, Payal Deb and Deboleena Chatterjee was applauded by the encouraging audience. The evening was also graced by the presence of numerous well-known celebrities, artists, senior advocates, public representors and social workers.

Aikatan team not only spent the evening with Bengali theme based delicacies like fuchka, fish fry, cha, aloo chop, mutton masha, kamalabhog & mishti doi but also put in tremendous efforts towards contributing to the social cause. Earlier, few select members led by their president Anjan Deb and senior member Sanjib Deb spent some quality time with the children of an orphanage and helped them with their daily grocery needs like rice, daal, atta, sugar, biscuits, chhas et al. The entire programme was conceptualised and executed by the core committee members of Aikatan Cultural Association Mumbai represented by Anjan Deb, Suvendu Mukherjee, Saswati Deb, Tapas Bhadury, Partha Chatterjee, Lopa Khare, Somdeep Deb, Tilak Sarkar and Anup Dev.

A dazzling evening to cherish for..!!

-Ramakant Munde