Bengali New Year to begin on a musical note in Lucknow
Bengali Club in Lucknow to celebrate Bengali New Year with folk songs by Soumi Ghosh. Event to include traditional Bengali cuisine and cultural activities.
The 1431st Bengali New Year will begin on a musical note with the premises of 130-year-old Bengali Club here reverberating with Bangla folk songs by renowned singer from Kolkata Soumi Ghosh and her band on Sunday (April 14).
In the past, when majority of Bengalis used to live in Sunderbagh, Model House, Shivaji Marg, Nazar Bagh, Maqboolganj, Pathak Road, Risaldar Park and other nearby areas, there used to be Prabhat Pheri where people would sing famous songs of Atul Prasad Sen like ‘Nutan Barash Nutan Barash Anchale O Ki Dhaka’,” said Arun Kumar Banerjee, president, Bengali Club.
Now Bengalis are scattered in different corners of Lucknow, yet the club has been trying to maintain a bonding among the community across the city by organising a musical event every year to mark the Bengali New Year. On this occasion, Bengalis prefer traditional Bengali cuisine comprising dishes like rice, five types of ‘bhaja’, ‘shukto’ and the dessert would include ‘payesh’ (kheer), ‘mishti doi’ and ‘rasogolla’ etc, he said.
“People wear new dresses and offer puja in Kali Bari Mandir. Bengali businessmen open new account book (halkhata) in their business establishments,” said club’s general secretary Shankar Bhowmick. Bengali Club & Youngmen’s Association, Lucknow, will be celebrating Poila Boishak (Bengali New Year) on club premises. The event will start from 8 pm on Sunday.
Bengali Club has always strived towards rendering great services in the field of culture, brotherhood and unity. Famous Bengali sweet Darbesh will be distributed after the programme, said Banerjee.