Open umbrellas flying away, cars splashing water from puddles and gorging on tea and pakoras… The ladies wing of Salt Lake Lok Sanskriti held a Teej programme celebrating everything about the monsoon.
The event was held at Sapphire Banquets near Salt Lake stadium and was attended by more than 150 women, who had come in their Teej finery. “The show has been organised entirely by women. The dances, plays, songs, stalls etc. have all been supervised by us,” said Anita Kejriwal, one of the organisers and a resident of CF Block.
Sanjeevani Bhelande, the first winner of Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma in 1995, was the guest artiste in the evening
Kejriwal explained that the festival of Teej is usually celebrated in monsoon to mark the spiritual reunion of Shiva and Parvati after a long separation. Women offer prayers while fasting and visit their mother’s residence during this time. They are welcomed with gifts and celebrations in their homes at this time of the year. This story was narrated at the show. Several stalls were also put up such as housie, sawan tambola, selfie corner, sawan ka jhula etc. Guests participated with great enthusiasm.
The programme began with Ganesh vandana, followed by a welcome dance. This was followed by several group dances based on songs of the rains, such as Sawaan ka mahina, Aaj rapat jaayein, Bheegi bheegi raaton mein and Barso re megha megha.
“I was one of the dancers in Barso re megha megha,” said Niru Sindhania, a resident of DL Block. “We held a lot of rehearsals for the programme. All the songs and dances were related to the monsoons. It was great fun to do this together and many people had come even from other parts of the city to watch us perform.”
Apart from dances, there was a one-act play put together on monsoon scenes around us. The performances highlighted things that happen when we lose our umbrellas during the rains, the nostalgia around relishing tea and pakoda at this time, how to get wet clothes to dry, cars splashing water from puddles on the road, children jumping around in the water-logged streets on their way back from school etc.
“Our scenes in the play were inspired by real-life experiences of people around us. There is something romantic and nostalgic about the rains. If you look at it from the eyes of a creative soul you will know what nuances to find. Personally, I feel the best thing to do during the rains is to gorge on chai-pakoda while looking outside the window and listening to music,” said Indira Kejriwal, a resident of BD Block.
dies every year. This year our theme was Bollywood retro in monsoons,” said Molly Rozario, choreographer of the show. “Women from the community come together to put up various performances on the stage. I have been associated with this show for the last 10 years.”
“We hold a lot of programmes throughout the year to mark the festivals of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan but Teej is organised entirely by women. The idea is to bring the community together,” said secretary of Salt Lake Lok Sanskriti, Kamlesh Kejriwal. We also organised a meetand-greet followed by dinner for the trustees and board members of the organisation in the evening. This year we had Bollywood singer Sanjeevani Bhelande perform for us. It was a very successful show.”
