KOLKATA: As music knows no barriers, a Durga Puja committee in north Kolkata has decided to get its theme song rendered by two Pakhtoons residing in the city, thousands of miles away from trouble-torn Afghanistan.
As the taking over of Kabul by Taliban hugged headlines, the Aswaninagar Bandhu Mahal Club got in touch with the two Pakhtoons, who sing in their spare time besides their main money lending business, puja committee spokesman Swarup Nag said on Wednesday.
"We wanted to convey the message of fraternity and solidarity to our friends in Afghanistan. We want to convey the message of peaceful co-existence which is the hallmark of our external policy," he said.
The theme song, in the 40th year of the popular puja in the Baguiati, Kestopur, Lake Town and Dumdum Park area, will have typical Afghan folk tunes and Pushtu language.
"We are planning to play Bengali translation of the lyrics in between," he added.
Music composer Samrat Bhattacharya said he heard some of the Pakhtoons (Called Kabuliwala in Bengal) breaking into songs at one of their bases in the city once and that was in his mind.
When approached by the club these accounts came to his mind and he had some difficulty in coaxing these singers from Afghanistan to lend voice to some of the lyrics in their language set to the tunes resonating in the mountainous rugged terrain.
"The end result I am sure will be for everyone to see. The tunes of music will tug heart strings of the visitors to the pandal and people in the neighborhood making them feel one with the battle-ravaged Afghanistan," he said.