City artistes usher in Durga Puja with music, adda and good food

Danseuse and designer Sharmila Basu Thakur opened up her art-deco home to usher in Durga Puja with the perfect combination of artistes and arts. Hosted by Amita Maitra and interdisciplinary artiste, Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee, the guests were privy to an intimate concert by vocalist Sromona Chakraborty and music-composer Shibasish Bandopadhyay. Songs like Tomar Noyono Bhulano Ele, Khodar Kasam Jaan and Meri Jaan, among others, filled the audience’s hearts. Sromona talked about her mother,

Ruma

Guhathakurta, and memories of being brought up amidst maestros like RD Burman and many others.

Spotted among the select audience were actress Tuhina Das, actress Anjana Basu,

Hispanic

scholar Malabika Bhattacharya, hotelier Shubha Pal, filmmaker Sreeparna Sen Roy, actor Saumya Sengupta and many others. Sujoy's readings mesmerised all with the highlight being a piece called “Types of Love”. The crescendo of the evening was Bistirno Dupare by Sromona, where the audience joined in and one could actually see many eyes well up. “Meeting all my friends is mandatory before Puja because I will be out on a short break and this evening was magical with the food, songs and my kind of people,” shared Sujoy.

Sromona, who was also part of the show, said, "Maa was a very simple person. She was quite a disciplinarian with an open mind. She once shared how

Geeta Dutt

put chandan on her face on the day of her marriage. She was the life line of the choir and when I was singing Bisteerno Dupare, I could feel her presence next to me", she said.