Chaltabagan Dhak Mahotsav 2013

October 6, 2013: Today evening I was at the Chaltabagan Durga Puja for the inauguration of 2013 puja festivities with the flagging off of Limtex Dhak Mahotsav 2013 by the Governor of West Bengal, His Excellency, M K Narayanan. The Governor inaugurated the festivities in his unique style by playing the dhak (tradition drum of Bengal), he was accompanied by accomplished table maestro Bickram Ghosh and others.

For the past few years the Governor has been very kind to us and has begun his puja inaugurations with the Chaltabagan Puja. This time Bratya Basu, higher education minister, was also there as the chief guest with Sadhan Pande and Smita Bakshi. The foreign consuls of USA, Helen LaFave, Director of Alliance Fracaise du Bengalee, Mr Stephane Amalir and his wife, Consul General of Japan, General Manager of Hyatt Regency, Britta Leick-Milde, were among the foreign guests who were there. Some of them did try their hand on the dhaks.

We were very skeptical about the weather and feared that, according to metereological forecasts, the chance of upsetting our event was high. However, god is great and the rain did not play spoilsport. With dhunuchi dance and dhaks it was a nice setting to set the inaugural event rolling.

Almost all the celebrity guests who were invited were there in full attendance including Pt Tejendra Narayan, Rashid Khan, Pallavi, P K Banerjee, Monami, Gargi Roy Chowdhury, DJ Akash, Abhishek Dutta, Ekavalli, Chaiti Ghoshal, Tanusree and others. The Chaltabagan Puja has become a major attraction and it draws huge crowds each year for its innovative pandal decoration, image of Goddess Durga and lighting. The Chaltabagan Puja Committee also carries out charitable work during the pujas.

There was a major media turnout with some of the television channels went on air live with the event. This time the theme of the pandal at Chaltabagan is intricate network using aluminium and mosquito nets. ess bee