CG Block-based NGO Prayasam celebrated International Women’s Day with fashion show, star walk, quiz, debate, and a life skill game.
The quiz was on movies while the topic for the debate was “Meyera khelte chaayna tai khelte paay na”.
For the game, participating residents of various blocks were divided into two teams with six members each. In the first round, one member of each team was asked to guess who among the rest had been chosen as captain by others in the team. Both teams aced it.
Leader Gayatri Biswas guides the step of a blindfolded team member as part of a lifeskill game at Prayasam in CG Block on Women's Day at
Pictures: The TelegraphIn the second game, captains were asked to guide members, stepping only on paper mats, from a start to an end point. The catch was that the members were blind-folded and had to stay mum. Only the captain could talk and see. Team B, here, surprised everyone by finishing the task in half the allotted time.
“These leadership tasks are quite helpful,” said Anirban Mukherjee, who was moderating the skill games. “The first game was about strategising and mingling with teammates. A good leader must be able to guide others. The game taught us communication and understanding one other’s weak and strong points.”
In the second game, Mukherjee noted that the winning captain Gayatri Biswas of Labony Estate did not hesitate to touch the feet of her teammates to guide his or her next step. “Also, with each member, she changed her strategy. These are common practices in the corporate world which we taught using fun activities,” he said.
The ramp walk promoted sustainable fashion and participants had to dress their models within an hour with the provided items. Jayeeta Mondol dressed Mitali Sardar in a white sari and black top and used necklaces made out of discarded clothes, hair scrunchies as bracelets, and long neck pieces as belt and hair accessory.
“This was a fun and unique experience. I tried to make the best of the items to make my model look different and beautiful,” said Jayeeta, who is a member of Prayasam’s dance group. Brishti Mal had a fun time wearing the sari and cat-walking before the audience. “I was just enjoying myself. I like dressing up and tried walking the way real models do on TV,” smiled the 10-year-old BL Block resident.
The star round had women appearing as their favourite film stars. AJ Block girl Arisha Roy dressed as Vidya Balan from the film on human calculator Shakuntala Devi while othes dressed as Deepika Padukone playing acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal and even Shashi Kapoor in the role of Javed Khan from the 1978 film Junoon.
“Since we are celebrating Women’s Day, I chose to portray Alia Bhatt in Gangubai Kathiawadi. Gangubai was a strong woman and I especially liked her comment in the film asking why the mother’s name was not enough while admitting kids to school,” said Sonali Basak, who also delivered the dialogue for the audience. Basak incidentally has acted in three films for Prayasam .
“We want everyone to participate in our activities. Even today we planned events in such a way that everyone from every age group can participate,” said Prasanta Roy, director, Prayasam, pointing out that the campaign theme for international women’s day this year was “Inspire inclusion”.
Shatadipa Bhattacharya
Walk the talk on wallet & waste
Ladies embark on a walkathon from the New Town Business Club
Pictures: The TelegraphWomen’s Day celebration at New Town Business Club started early in the morning with a 2km walkathon and a 5km cyclothon. And in the evening there were discussions on various topics.
The first session was about bio enzymes presented by Kavita Bhanuka, a member of the club and owner of a plant boutique named Gift a Garden. “Bio enzymes are natural, eco-friendly solutions made by fermenting kitchen waste. They serve as versatile cleaners and can be easily made at home,” she said. Bhanuka shared some samples that she had made of the solution and encouraged everyone to try it out themselves.
Next was a session on financial wellness for women by Kaushik Sen, an MBA in finance and author. “What do you do if you have surplus money left after covering expenses?” he ventured. Unfortunately the ladies were not very interested in the discussion.
He later shared with The Telegraph Salt Lake how women should gather knowledge of financial markets. “Equality and women’s empowerment are incomplete without a financial standing,” he said. “Everyone should save for emergencies. Conventionally, savings is the surplus of income over expenses but in today’s expensive world, one should first save a portion of income and plan expenses out of the remainder. Go for life insurance, health insurance, and save the rest in fixed deposits, mutual funds, shares, etc.”
“I manage my finances and make my own investments and feel that every woman should be able to do the same. Working woman shouldn’t talk of empowerment if they don’t even know how to file taxes,” said Rachita Pati, a social media manager.
“Money has traditionally been related to patriarchy and handled only by male members of the family. Hence, we thought of organising a session to address this issue,” said Swagata Dey, a member of the advisory committee for ladies at the club, who was hosting the evening.
Shubhanjali Rai
A kick out of karate
Girls fight it out in the karate tournament at the business club
Pictures: The TelegraphAn international-level karate championship at New Town Business Club recently saw nearly 40 per cent participation from girls and women.
The India International Karate Tournament 2024 and 4th SAARC Nations Tournament was held by the International Karate Organisation (IKO ) Kyokushinkaikan India.
“For women, karate is a great form of self-defence. But nowadays more and more people are taking it up for the love of the sport. Sport is slowly becoming an alternative career option for a lot of young girls,” said Bristisnata Dutta, a college student of BA Block who was a state champion in 2023 and a national champion in 2022 class.
Nupur Sarkar has been practising karate for many years too. “My parents wanted me to take up this martial art. I enjoy it and it’s great that so many people have come to watch us,” said the graduate from Purulia.
Another participant, Jasmine Gayen said they had been working hard for this tournament. “There are a lot of women participants and the competition has been tough. Last time, this tournament was held in Dhaka so we’re glad it has come to India now. ”
“This event has attracted participants from India, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal competing in junior and senior categories. It commemorates the 60th anniversary of IKO, Japan, and the centenary of the great master Sosai Masutatsu Oyama, who is considered an all-time great karate master,” said Prasenjit Saha (4th Dan), who is the chief of the Bengal branch which trains at the BA-CA playground.
For the event, Sihan Katsuhito Gorai, 7th Dan and director IKO, had come down for the tournament from New York. “It’s a great honour to be here. This is a historic year and it is great to see so many young people from our neighbouring countries taking so much interest in the sport. Men and women have shown equal participation.”
Academician Supriya Chaudhuri, who is also a second Dan black belt and senior member and judge at the Salt Lake Dojo, said: “Indian participants such as Kishalaya Majumder and Shankar Singh have performed really well this time. I also liked the way Md Anish from Bangladesh put up a great fight. I started karate when I was a student in London and have been associated with the sport for years. It is always a pleasure to see youngsters do so well on a platform like this.”
Former Hidco chief Debashis Sen was also present. He was felicitated by Chaudhuri along with other judges on arrival. “I am glad we could organise an event like this at New Town. The competition was healthy and the participants were enthusiastic. We hope the trend continues,” Sen said.
Showli Chakraborty
What other sport should have
training facilities in New Town or Salt Lake? Write to saltlake@abp.in
