AIKOTAAN’S BAISAKHI CELEBRATIONS

Ashish Mukherjee
Aikotaan Kalibari O Sewa Samiti celebrated Baisakhi recently at CCRT auditorium. Mr Bijon Ghosh, President of the Samiti in his keynote address explained the activities of Aikotaan, including the recent Free Medical and Blood Donation Camp. He requested everybody to become members of the Samiti and participate in its activities. A quarterly newsletter covering news, events and happenings of Dwarka, stories, guest columns etc. by our own contributors will be released soon, he said.
Being the starting of the Bengali New Year Baisakh and also the month when Rabindranath Tagore was born, it is a month of celebration for all Bengalis. The colorful cultural extravaganza included programs of song, dance and dance drama performed by 112 artistes of Aikotaan – young and old and was witnessed by a full hall audience. There were two song programs directed by Rakhi Majumder Chaki and Munmun Das. Madhurima Gangopadhyay presented a potpourri of dance in ‘Parasmani’ with a troupe of more than 30 kids, including toddlers. Manjari directed her maiden venture ‘When Harry met Sally @ Bongmusicrally.com’ – a kaleidoscope of traditional and modern Bengali songs and dance fusion. The dance drama ‘Dalia’, based on a story by Rabindranath Tagore was directed by Poulomi and Nivedita Mukherjee. Nandita Nath presented a dance program on seasons called ‘Ritu Ranga’.
The Guests of Honour for the occasion were the sitar maestro Padma Bhushan Pandit Debu Chaudhuri and tabla wizard Sandip Das. ‘Debuda’, as Panditji is popularly called, said that he is amazed to see the small children perform so well. He specially called Ms Madhurima on stage, congratulated her for bringing together so many kids and training them with patience. He expressed extreme happiness at Aikotaan’s efforts in promoting culture and promised to extend all possible help in their future endeavours. Mr Sandip Das, a resident of Dwarka and a Grammy Nominee in the World Music category in 2005 also welcomed Aikotaan’s sustained endeavours to uphold Bengali culture and said on the sidelines that he will continue to extend his help to the Samiti and it’s next program can be a totally classical experience by famous artistes for which he offered to assist. The function also saw two books being released – ‘Mayukh’ and ‘Three Bouquets of Haiku’ written by Mr Debasis Bagchi, a noted scholar and retired senior police officer who also belongs to the Aikotaan family and stays in Dwarka.
Finally, Mr Ashish Ghosh proposed a vote of thanks. In keeping with the tradition, food packets were distributed to all guests along with a complementary bangla calendar.