Cincinnati Cultural Initiative

Hello Everyone

You may know that the local Durga Puja of Cincinnati, hosted every year by the Cincinnati Cultural Initiative (CCI), our association, will be held between October 8th -10th in Archbishop McNicholas High School (address: 6536 Beechmont Avenue,Cincinnati, OH 45230-2098) in Anderson township. During the evening, the focus of the event shifts towards cultural activities and showcasing the talents of our children and members. Many of our members work hard to stage some of their creative work in music, drama and dance drama. This year is no exception.

As a part of that celebration we are pleased to present Alokparna Guha, the renowned Kathak Dancer from India. Many of you may have heard about her but in case you have not, here is her website. A performer of her caliber do not pass by Cincinnati very often. Those of us who have seen her lately would not let go of this opportunity to her performance. Her performance will be on Friday October 8th, after dinner.

We have three programs on Saturday evening. First one is Lakkhaner Shaktishel, a comedy staged by our younger members. Our youngsters are working very hard under the guidance from none other than Prabir Das and Sarbari Gupta and their performance may surprize many of you. Then we have Shikhandee, an original play written by our own Prabir Das. This drama received much critical acclaim during the last Banga Sammelan at Atlantic City, New Jersey. If you did not get a chance to catch it at the Banga Sammelan, perhaps you would like to take this opportunity to enjoy the drama that takes on its essence from the epic, yet, presents many original surprizes. Finally we also have a dance drama, Rabindranath's Shyama, presented by our own members with original dance choreography and adaptation.

The highlights of the Sunday afternoon program is a musical soiree led by Angshuman Das. If you recall last year's program, the melodious, sweet and often haunting voices that treated us with the extensive musical evening will all be back, with renewed vigor and with renewed practice and determination. You do not want to miss this event. We will start Sunday afternoon with a short dance program by our little kids. Then we'll have our invited artist from Louisville, KY - Dr. Susmita Datta. Susmita is known for her renderings of semi-classical Hindi bhajans, ghazals and Bengali songs (ragpradhan and Nazrul-geeti). She is also popular for her repertoire of Bengali folk songs.

This is a member sponsored event, and our members will celebrate the Durga Puja during the entire weekend. At $75 per head per adult, and $30 per head per child, please consider whether you want to spend the entire weekend with us and take part in the entire celebration or opt for a part registration (for Friday or Saturday). Our website has the details.

Thank you very much

Sincerely,

Pradyot K. Sen
Sugata Chakravarti