The City Square ground of Newtown witnessed today an unusually grand inauguration ceremony of the Durga Puja, organized by the Newtown Sarbojanin Durgotsav Samity, popularly known as the NTS. The NTS keeps itself busy round the year by its innumerable philanthropic activities initiated by the president, Dr Lakshmikanta Kar and advisor Smt. Rinku Ghosh.
This year the pandal, a cynosure of all eyes for its structure and beauty, however, was inaugurated by the Minister of Panchayet and Rural Development, Shri Dilip Ghosh.
The theme of the Newtown Sarbojanin this year is Padmabhushan, a grand celebration of the lotus (Padma) as reflected in the very decor of the pandal and its vicinity.
In the colossal 80-feet-high pandal, resplendent with matching colours and magnificent lighting, the image of the goddess Durga is placed upon an equally colossal lotus, made of GI-tagged wooden boats from Balagarh, West Bengal. The flower is, according to the organizers, a timely reminder of an unfathomable significance of the lotus in Indian civilization and culture.
The artist Rintu Das and his team succeeded in creating a milieu of pomp and piety inside the pandal with the vast sky and hundreds of flying bees, and a handful of drifting clouds underneath.
Today’s inauguration ceremony of the pandal, however, turned out to be a huge success as stage programmes like sitar recital, Kathak presentations and chorus presentation of ‘Vande Mataram’ matched the milieu of devotion and piety, hovering inside the pandal.
To reiterate the significance of the theme and social responsibility of the NTS, Dr Kar pointed out the introduction of GI-tagged wooden boats in the making of the pandal and organization of Ananda Haat that spreads thousands of new colourful clothes before children, inviting them to pick and take a set of attire of their own choice.
“This year we organized Ananda Haat on 2nd of October and 1500 children came to choose and grab their Puja gifts from the NTS”, said Dr Kar.
In today’s inaugural programme, however, the invitees were felicitated.
To confer the “NTS Dasabhuja honour”, a brainchild of the chief advisor Sri Dilip Ghosh and NTS Governing body, four women Padmasri award winners Smt. Jyotirmoyi Sikdar, Smt. Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, Smt. Pritikana Goswami, Smt. Gita Roy Burman and two women recipients of Rashtrapati Award, Smt. Dola Kundu and Smt. Mahamaya Sikdar were felicitated.
In the cultural programme Kathak performance by Shreya Saha Bhattacharya introduced grandeur to the existing grand pandal of the NTS. The traditional folk music, Bhawaiya, by Gita Roy Barman, aimed to explore the fields of Indian traditional culture that the pandal famously stands for.
The lighting of Pradeep by the dignitaries like Dilip Ghosh, Minister of Panchayat and Rural Development of West Bengal, Sharadwat Mukherjee, Minister and Sukanta Majumdar, MP, marked the ceremonial inauguration of the idol. The vocal performance by Tapas Adhikary ended the inauguration programme with a promise of an unprecedented popularity as well as innumerable footfalls on the ensuing days of the Puja.
Newtown Sarbojanin Durgotsab Samiti
