DURGA PUJAGlasgow 2019

39th Anniversary Year

www.durgapujaglasgow.com

SRI SRI DURGA PUJAPROGRAMME 2019

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Durga Puja Committee wishes to express their gratitude and thanks to the following for their kind support and contributions:

Dr S. R. Gupta & Dr Pushpa Gupta (Kilmacolm)

Dr N. Bagaria & Family (Edinburgh)

Mr Simon Sayeed

Mr & Mrs Josh Sarkar

Mrs Jayanti Kundu

Dr & Mrs Bibhas Ray

Bank of India, Glasgow Branch

Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council

People’s Palace, Glasgow Green

All the Staff at the Couper Institute & Clarkston Hall

The management and staff of Printing Glasgow for their co-operation and assistance in printing this souvenir

We are very grateful to the businesses and individuals who havehelped our event become a success through their sponsorship.

We also wish to thank the members of our community, too numerous to mention, who have given countless hours of service in helping to make our Puja a continued success.

EDITORIAL

Namo namo Durge sukh karaniNamo namo Ambe dukh harani

Chant the name of Goddess Durga, the bestower of happinessChant the name of Goddess Ambe, who ends all miseries.

We have once again come together to celebrate Durga Puja for the thirty-ninth year running, and its message of good over evil, peace and unity amongst mankind.These celebrations enrich all our lives, both young and old, and serve to maintain and further our Bengali religious and cultural heritage.Our appreciation and thanks go to the numerous public dignitaries who endorse our Puja through their messages of support.Our thanks also go to Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council for their continuous help and support. Our thanks go to Glasgow City Council for their help in providing a safe place to store our images.As always, the Puja would not be possible without the tireless efforts of the members of the community.This souvenir helps us to raise funds for celebrating the Durga Puja. We are therefore grateful to all our advertisers, sponsors and other patrons who have contributed financially.We hope you all enjoy this year’s celebrations.

Durga Puja Committee, Glasgow

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Bangiya Sanskritik Parishad (BSP), GlasgowScottish Charity Register No. SC047561

Estd. 1971Registered under Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005

www.bspglasgow.com

Let us all once again with the changing season to autumn bring out our fineries and get prepared to welcome Goddess Durga to be amongst us and bring along the joyous celebration full of fun and gaiety.

Durga Puja is one of the most important festivals of India that originated from Bengal but is now celebrated all over the country with much grandeur and ritual. We Bengalis abroad miss no opportunity to celebrate the festivities with equal zeal and fervour.

Marking the victory of good over evil it starts with Mahalaya which is the invocation of the goddess and the first day of the nine day ritual, the last five of which are celebrated as Durga Puja. Apart from being an important festival for the Hindus it is an occasion for the reunion and rejuvenation of friendships, relationships and camaraderie in a background of traditional customs.

Let us cross all barriers of faith and religion to love and respect each other on this special occasion in Glasgow and welcome Durga Puja once more.

My warm Puja greetings and best wishes to all for a wonderful celebration ahead in the best of health.

Sanjeet Bhattacharya PresidentBangiya Sanskritik Parishad

BANGIYA SANSKRITIK PARISHADEXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2019-2020

President .................................................................................Mr. Sanjeet BhattacharyaGeneral Secretary ............................................................................. Dr. Rajdeep RouthJoint Secretary ........................................................................................ Mr Sanjoy DasTreasurer .............................................................................................. Mrs. Sohini SettSocial Secretary ....................................................................... Mrs Rituporna Sengupta Puja Convenor ......................................................................................Mrs Anu SarkarCo-opted member ...................................... Dr Srirupa Bhattacharjee, Ms Payal DebroyAuditor ....................................................................................................Mrs Sarani Sil

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DURGA PUJA COMMITTEEBangiya Sanskritik Parishad

Glasgowwww.durgapujaglasgow.com

It is a great pleasure to welcome you all to our thirty-ninth year of Durga Puja celebrations in Glasgow. In fact, the Mahalaya programme had been held even earlier from 1971.

In 1981, a small group from our community had the vision to celebrate Durga Puja in Glasgow in order to keep our customs and traditions alive, particularly with the younger generation and also to share our beliefs with other communities in multi-cultural Scotland. The enthusiasm, emotion and pride that marked those very first celebrations continues to grow stronger with every year’s festivities. More and more people from all over Scotland join us to make these celebrations a success.

Durga Puja is celebrated with fanfare on all five days of the festival and recalls the power of the female Shakti symbolised by the Goddess Durga who slays Asura to re-establish peace and sanctity on earth again. These certainly are times that call for introspection.

The Durga Puja, symbolising the victory of good over evil, is an experience evoking a wide range of thoughts and emotions. It offers the chance for personal prayer, meditation and reflection and the offering of bhog and sindur to Ma Durga. Bengalis all over the world rejoice to their heart’s content with friends and relatives.

Our deep rooted belief is that religions can work together for a better world. Through our faith and celebrations, we endeavour to create a caring, compassionate community that engages and embraces people of all cultural, ethnic and spiritual backgrounds. It also builds social cohesion that promotes a affirmation and respect of diversity, and celebration of the rich heritage of humanity.

My thanks to those who have helped the priests with all the preparations required for undertaking the various puja rituals and ceremonies.

Thanks to the enthusiastic members of our community who have taken on the responsibility of preparing the bhog during each day of the Puja.

Thanks to the ladies who have cooked and prepared snacks for sale in order to raise funds for the Puja.

Thanks also go to Glasgow Life and particularly the staff of the Couper Institute for their continuous help and support over the years.

I am very grateful to all our advertisers and all other patrons who have generously contributed financially.

My sincere thanks and gratitude to Gautam Patra, Amit Deb, Subrato Chatterjee, the Durga Puja Organising Committee and Bangiya Sanskritik Parishad for volunteering their time and for their hard work and commitment for the Puja.

Lastly, thanks to each and every person who has helped in any way with the Puja celebrations.

I hope you enjoy this year’s Puja and thank you again for your support.

Sheela MukherjeeChairOctober 2019

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Message of support for the Festival of Durga Puja

Best wishes to all those taking part in the 39th Hindu Bengali festival of Durga

Puja this year.

As one of the longest running events of its type in Scotland the festival is an

opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the triumph of good over evil.

The Scottish Government deeply values the contribution that the Hindu

community continues to make to enriching Scotland, and I hope everyone enjoys

this year’s celebrations. NICOLA STURGEONFirst Minister of Scotland

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The Rt Hon The Lord Provost of GlasgowCouncillor Eva Bolander

Glasgow City Council, City Chambers, Glasgow G2 1DUTelephone: 0141 287 4001 / 4201 Facsimile: 0141 287 0127 / 4747

It’s my immense pleasure, to send the city’s best wishes to everyone celebrating Durga Puja in Glasgow.

This famous, and much-loved festival, honours the Goddess Durga’s victory over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. A universal message that resonates across continents and cultures.

I believe it’s also the biggest and oldest celebration of its kind, held here in Scotland.

It’s a privilege for the city to host an event like this and witness the energy, colour and excitement it generates.

Glasgow has a long and proud tradition of friendliness, multiculturalism, tolerance and diversity.

Your celebration of the Mother Goddess is a moral tale of good overcoming evil. It’s an important theme for all civilisations throughout history.

Durga Puja is also a deeply religious occasion that allows Hindus to contemplate their faith.

As Glasgow’s First Citizen, I’m delighted to take this opportunity to wish our Hindu community a joyous and uplifting festival.

Yours sincerely

The Rt Hon the Lord Provost of Glasgow

Councillor Eva Bolander

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DURGA PUJA COMMITTEE 2019

OFFICE BEARERS

CHAIRPERSON Mrs Sheela Mukherjee GENERAL SECRETARY Mr Gautam Patra JOINT SECRETARY Mr Subrato Chatterjee TREASURER Mr Amit Deb CONVENOR Mrs Anu Sarkar AUDITOR Mr Dhurba Kundu

PUROHITSMr Arunava Banerjee - Durga Puja / Lakshmi Puja

Dr Babulayeb Mukhopadhyay - Durga Puja / Saraswati PujaMr Arijit Mukherjee - Kali Puja

The Organising Committee would like to express their gratitude to The Ladies of Khai Khai Stall forall their financial help throughout our celebrations.

We also would like to thank Catherine and her team for

all their assistance.

We are most grateful to all the children for their participation. It is clear that our

festival will be in good hands in the future.

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SUB COMMITTEE

Puja: Asha Mallik & teamDonation Collection: Anjana Sen, Sraboni Bhattacharya & teamChildren’s Corner: Mohua Ray, Srirupa Bhattacharjee, Binita Das & teamHall Decoration: Sraboni Bhattacharya, Aparna Majumder & teamMahalaya: Aditi Palchaudhuri & Sudakshina Kundu

Mahalaya Cooking: Sudakshina Kundu, Sanjoy Das & teamSasthi Bhog Preparation: Sudakshina Kundu, Sanjoy Das & teamSaptami Bhog Preperation: Sunetra Deb & teamAshtami Bhog Preparation: Arijit Mukherjee, Sudipta Ray & teamNavami Bhog Preparation: Arijit Mukherjee, Sudipta Ray & teamDashami Cooking: Anindita Banerjee & teamLakshmi Puja Bhog Preparation: Sarajit Sen & teamKali Puja Bhog Preparation: Jaydeep Dey & team

Please visit www.durgapujaglasgow.com for a full list of participants

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Our apologies if we have missed out anyone’s name.

Our thanks to all our members and supporters, those who have donated time, resources and financial assistance.

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MAHISASURAMARDINI

Cultural Co-ordinators:Aditi Palchaudhuri - MusicSudakshina Kundu - Dance

Singers:Aditi PalchaudhuriDebjani Patra Suchandra KarMousumi RouthKamala RoyPratima SenguptaMridula ChakrabortyAnu SarkarShikha MajumderSraboni BhattacharyaBani BhattacharyaAtasi DharSuparna PodderSudipta RoySanjeet BhattacharyaArunava Ghosh-RayIndradwip Dhar

Narration:Babulayeb Mukhopadhyay

Sudipta Roy

Tabla: Harmonium: Arunava Ghosh-Ray Debjani Patra, Aditi Palchauchuri Keyboard & Violin: Rick Mukhopadhyay

Sound Engineer:Pro Sound Services

Raina MukherjeeAyanna RouthRisha ChatterjeePriya DattaRajlakshmi MaitraTanisha DasSnigdha BiswasSamriti HazraSharonya MajumderAdvika KarDishti RoyBatu Kirshna MaitraAaditya Bhattacharjee

Dancers:Sudakshina KunduParanjayee Mandal

Sreyosi KarSukanya SarkarSneha Sanyal

Saroni SilShalini DuttaSatabdi Audya

In a major fundraising effort, this year the Durga Puja Committee have undertaken a sponsorship drive . Fifty-one individuals from

the community have come forward to sponsor different items for the

celebrations. The Committee wants to take this opportunity to thank

everyone for their kind and generous contributions. All the

sponsors’ names are listed below.

PUJA SPONSORS

Mahalaya Dinner

Gautam Chakraborty

Ruma Saraswati

Mahalaya Sweets

Sanjoy & Binita Das

Flowers

Sohini Mukherji Binita Das Payal Debroy Shikha Majumder Dolan Roy Supriya Biswas Barnali Das-Bhowmik Sindhuja Sinha

Fruits

Mihir Mukherjee Anu Sarker Sandeep Dhar Rachana Gupta Dilip Ganguly Mrinal Guha Gobinda Chowdhury Gaur Sarkar

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Saptami Dinner

Santanu & Saroni Acharya Rajdeep & Mousumi Routh

Amit & Sunetra Deb Subrato & Rituporna Chatterjee

Saptami Sweets

Santanu & Srirupa Bhattacharjee

Shashti Sweets

Surajeet & Sohini Sett Somsuvra & Sukanya Sarkar Souvik & Sneha Sanyal

Shashti Dinner

Ajit & Suchandra Kar Gautmananda & Mohua Ray Bimal & Sangeeta Kumar

Ashtami Dinner Suroma Ghosh

Ashtami Sweets Dev & Rono Mukherjee

Nabami Dinner

Arijit & Indrani Mukherjee Sanjeet & Sraboni Bhattacharya Sudipta & Madhumita Roy Gautam & Debjani Patra

Nabami Sweets

Amit & Shalini Datta

Dashami Dinner Zubin and Aarin Dey

Dashami Sweets Mihir and Kalpana Mukherjee

Lakshmi Puja Dinner Sarajit & Anjana Sen

Lakshmi Puja Sweets Partha & Meghomala Ghosh-Biswas

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Saraswati Puja Dinner

Dhruba & Sudakshina Kundu Suhas & Rituparna Mitra Aryan Banerjee

Dipankar & Brownen Dutta

Saraswati Puja Sweets

Babulayeb & Arunima Mukhopadhyay

Kali Puja Sweets

Arup Mallik and Aruna Sinha

Kali Puja Dinner

Ashish & Asha Mallik Mihir & Aditi PalChaudhuri Bishnu & Rashmi Routray

Ashtami Flowers Sheela Mukherjee

Lakshmi Puja Flowers

Saroni Sil

Kali Puja Flowers Haradhan & Shakuntala Dutta

Saraswati Puja Flowers Babulayeb & Arunima Mukhopadhyay

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Bangiya Sanskritik Parishad (BSP), GlasgowScottish Charity Register No. SC047561

Estd. 1971 Registered under Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005www.bspglasgow.com

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