KOLKATA: From online shows to projecting classics on a screen, from distributing bhog as lunch packets to gifting clothes to special children, block committees and gated complexes in Salt Lake and New Town are making the most of the festival with Covid restrictions.
With no cultural event or community lunch, many organisers in Salt Lake will stream the rituals on Facebook or YouTube. “The inaugural ceremony of our puja will also be shown live online,” said Basab Aich of BE Block (West).
Unable to organise the customary community lunch on the puja days, one of the main attractions for the community pujas, some blocks will arrange for take-away bhog. AE Block (Part II) puja committee will distribute lunch packs on Ashtami and Navami. “We are also increasing the number of loudspeakers so residents can listen to rituals at home,” said AE Block Samaj Kalyan Sangha secretary Tapas Sengupta.
In New Town, several blocks and gated communities will distribute clothes and essential items to the underpriviledged. The New Town Alakai Block association (comprising AL, AK and AI blocks) will be handing over sarees to 200 women and clothes to infants on Panchami. A voluntary residents’ organisation from Uniworld City will distribute new clothes to 100 special children at a home on Panchami.
Block committees in New Town will arrange live streaming of the rituals. “Arrangements are also being made for loudspeakers so the elderly can take part in anjali from home. We will also send Ashtami bhog to residents’ homes,” said Debmalya Shome, assistant secretary of New Town AE Block Cultural and Social Welfare Association.
New Town CC Block puja committee secretary Biman Samaddar said they have plans to put up a big screen to show world classics, allowing residents to sit maintaining social distance. outside the pandal.
The puja committee of Elita Garden Vista, in association with the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, organised a Chhau performance in their complex on Mahalaya. Rahul Dasgupta, who looks after the committee’s media and communications section, said they plan to invite members of an old-age home to have bhog with residents.
