Entertaining and Nostalgic: Bhubaneswar Sadhuthakur utsav at Bangalore

By Namrata Sinha, Bangalore

It’s sure ‘wow’ to the celebration that took place on the occasion of 142nd birthday of the “Holi Bhuwaneswar Sadhu Baba” at Bangalore. Huge round of applause to the organisers who have come to such an extent of delivering immense entertainment and nostalgia to each and every Bishnupriya Manipuries present there.

The third year of the utsav was a tremendous success; I would rather say a step ahead from the past two years and hope that it matures in the years to come.

Though there was no involvement and participation from my side in the celebration, I could manage myself to witness the grand utsav and I wish many more would have joined it .But nonetheless it was a stupendous achievement.

The programme started with the opening speech of Mrs Sheela Sinha who is a versatile personality, I must say, she made the dormant crowd lively and caught the attention of each one of us very effectively. Her command over the languages — be it English or imathar — was such that she ruled the stage. Her expertise limits not only till anchoring but she is more of a scholar, singer and an orator. Her composition kumei kumei  was awesome. We all should learn and sing it.

All right, it would be a never ending essay if I go on describing about her, as I also wish to pour my thoughts on other activities too. The utsav was a blend of culture and the adhunik world. It maintained the balance between the conventional ideas and the contemporary interests of people. That factor was amazing. The bhajans and kirtans in imathar were presented in such a polished manner that we laymen could also managed to understand. For the first time Hindi bhajans were included, that was great. The beautiful young lady in a red-netted inaphi who sang the Hindi krishna bhajan arrested the entire crowd.

I would mislead my readers if I don’t mention about the 'Sankshipt raasleela”. I named it sankshipt because it was a half an hour pure nostalgic entertainment. The “bongis” of radha and krishna were awe inspiring, wearing so much of grace and dignity retaining the holiness and the original essence. I could not stop myself to go for a “prem”.

The utsav had its own significance, it was not only a platform for dance and music, but we ladies got the best chance to flaunt our traditional attire and accessories. I could meet my cousins, old friends, and nevertheless Orkut- and Facebook-made friends whom I have met only over the net.

Also not left to be untouched was the bhog, simply ‘wow!’. I wish I had my dinner too as well. Post lunch was all the more a fun. The dignity of the stage was raised by the Hindi numbers, oh my god! I can't believe that we people has such talents, when I saw my people flourishing so aggressively.

Both the sessions were well-planned, it was such that, I wish everyone had been a part of it. I wish this kind of a social circle, what was made on that day could be maintained back home to our natives, inculcating team work, selfless efforts and no “dola doli”. I would apologize if I have made any offensive statement in this piece of my writing, as I wish to see my society as a whole soaring in to the heights of glory and prosperity.