The International Kolkata Book Fair is long over and book loving Bengalis who couldn’t attend the 12-day literary extravaganza will definitely be a little upset at having missed out.
But Bengalis in namma Chennai are not ones to sit and lament. So what if they missed the fair in January? The love for literature never dies and keeping this in mind, the Chennai Chapter of the Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan (NBSS) is hosting a two-day literary fest called Banga Sahitya and Sanskriti Utsav 2013.
The fest, to be held at the Triple Helix Auditorium in the Central Leather Research Institute, Adyar on March 30 and Bengali Association Hall in T Nagar on March 31, aims to spread the love of literature among young Bengalis living outside their homeland.
The NBSS is a pan-Indian organisation which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. The first annual conference was held in Banaras in 1922 and was presided over by Rabindranath Tagore. “The headquarters of the organisation is in New Delhi and President of India Pranab Mukherjee is the current All India Secretary,” said Madumita Chattopadhyay, the secretary of the Chennai chapter.
The two-day fest is an attempt to introduce the rich treasure trove of Bengali literature to youngsters who do not read and write Bengali on a regular basis, she said. “Children who have lived in Chennai since birth and have completed their schooling in the city obviously studied in English medium. The only Bengali they know is the colloquial kind spoken at home, as their interaction with peers is mostly in English and Tamil. They need to learn to appreciate our culture,” she added. She said that many members and even non-member Bengalis had requested them to bring certain titles and they had forwarded the list to the Publishers and Book Sellers Guild, Kolkata who will be supplying books to the fair.
The two-day fest has a series of cultural programmes lined up. From dramas, recitations and songs by the members to performances by professional drama groups from Kolkata and panel discussions by litterateurs, the fest has it all. “Each child who participates gets a prize and we make sure we present them with works of writers like Leela Majumdar and Satyajit Ray who wrote extensively in Bengali for children,” said Chattopadhyay.
Any Bengali get-together is incomplete without authentic Bengali food. “We will have a few food stalls which will sell good Bengali food at a reasonable price,” said Aloke Dasgupta who has been involved with the organisation of the meet.
The occasion will also see the release of the annual Chennai-based Bengali magazine Sagari, which is a collection of works by the residents of Chennai and according to Dasgupta an effort to encourage local talent.
The two days promise to add a lot of Bengali fervour to the city and as Pundarik Mahato, who runs a group, Chennai-Bengalis on Facebook says, the effort is appreciable and the only way to get hold of some good Bengali books.
