CBA Souvenir 2013

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 2 Page 2

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 3 Page 3

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Durga Puja 2013

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 4 Page 4

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 5 Page 5

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 6 Page 6

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 7 Page 7

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 8 Page 8

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 9 Page 9

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 10 Page 10

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 11 Page 11

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 12 Page 12

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 13 Page 13

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 14 Page 14

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 15 Page 15

THE EDITOR’S PAGE

Dear Members/Patrons,

Hope you had a great week at Durga Puja, Kali Puja and a Sparkling Deepawali!

Let me first congratulate you, on behalf of The Cyberabad Bangali Association (CBA) Office
bearers, for being part of the Best Durga Puja Award winning association (CBA Durga adjudged
the Best Durga Puja-recent Entrant Category in the inaugural Times of India, Hyderabad Durga
Puja Mandap Competition 2013). The CBA would not be where it is today but for your unstinted
support and belief over the last seven years.

Midway through the year we had the bifurcation announced for Andhra Pradesh into Telangana
and Seemandhra immediately triggering a wave of protests and dissatisfaction among the
people of Seemandhra. The events, as they unfolded, set us the organisers a little worrying,
hoping this will not impact the CBA Durga Puja festivities 2013. It also bought to fore how
politics can be divisive.

Thankfully, we do have antidote to such experiences and a strong shot of culture is one of them,
which strongly binds people together. It is the magic of Durga Puja which pulls in devotees and
faithfuls towards Maa Durga, whatever may be the political or social climate around. It is the
cultural extravaganza which the event promises which people plans for week ahead to attend, it
is the mouth-watering food which the gourmets would not leave but taste at any cost. It is the
“Fun, Food and festivities” which Durga Puja and the Culture veil around it that is provided to
our members, which brings them back every year to “The Cyberabad Bangali Association Durga
Puja”.

This was the seventh Durga Puja for us and as you might have noticed every year, we have
innovated or build up the scale to give something extra to our members. This year we have two
significant additions. The First was a Durga Puja Android app built to help our members refer to
all Durga Puja information on the move. Secondly, we invited a Chau Dance troop to perform on
Saptami. CBA has always been conscious of the need to promote Bengali culture and we
showcased the dying traditional martial art from the villages of Bengal. It was extremely well
received by the audience and we promise to look out for more avenues in future to promote
different aspects of Bengali Culture and traditions.

This is the Fifth edition of Sharad Sambhaar and my tenure as the editor and I hope you find this
edition as readable as the ones before.

Pls take good care of yourself and have a great year ahead.

Surojeet Sengupta

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 16 Page 16

FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT

Dear Friends,

Wish you all ‘Happy VijayaDashami’ and a “Prosperous Dipavali”

I am glad to note that The Cyberabad Bengali Association celebrated the 7th year of Sri
Sri Saradiya Durgapuja at J.P. Nagar community centre from 9th to 14th October 2013 in
Miyapur. I am very proud to say that this year our Durga puja was adjudged one of the
best Durga Puja by Times of India Hyderabad.

These judgments were made by an expert committee who critically surveyed all Puja
mandaps around Hyderabad for Idol, Pandal decoration, safety arrangements,
cleanliness, entertainment, food, sanitation, environmental safety and infrastructure.

I convey heartfelt thanks to all my colleagues of The Cyberabad Bangali Association Puja
Committee.
Namaskar

Sibendranath Guha

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 17 Page 17

GENERAL SECRETARY’S MESSAGE

Hello All,

SHUBHO BIJOYA!! HAPPY DIWALI!!

I am extremely glad to announce that your CBA Durga Puja which evolved out of a thought by a
dozen people way back, has been awarded the “BEST DURGA PUJA, in the Recent Entrant
Category” by The Times of India’s Durga Devi Namastute-2013 competition. Such an honour is a
direct appreciation to all the members of Cyberabad Bangali Association and this feat wouldn’t
have been possible without your love, support and affection.

Another feather on our cap is that we are the first Durga Puja to come up with a Mobile App on
Android platform. This is first of its kind in Hyderabad and has touched the right chord with the
next gen members and sponsors. They downloaded the app to get the details on our routes,
events, food stalls and sponsor lists which was amazing.

CBA also supported a dying art form of West Bengal “CHAU DANCE”. This was an instant hit
because of its sheer energy .The Mahishasur Mardini act by the Chau team has been applauded
by everyone. Great effort by our Cultural team for getting them performs on CBA platform.

I am thankful to Dr. R. HAMPAIAH (Chief Guest - AP Bio Diversity Chairman and Dr. R M Gonela
(Guest of Honour) who were kind enough to inaugurate the Durga puja celebration on Shashti.

Durga Puja 2013 is triumph of hard work, enthusiasm, patience and perseverance of our
Executive committee and advisory group. We have got tremendous support from our super
energetic volunteers and members who came in numbers and ensured the Puja is celebrated in
its full glory. We had an overwhelming footfall to the tune of 1500-2000 almost every day
especially on Ashtami and Nabami which clearly catapults our credibility as one of the most
popular Puja in Greater Hyderabad. Durga Puja will look dull without our beautiful children and
ladies wing. Big thanks to all the children and ladies for their overwhelming participation ranging
from cultural activities to puja arrangements. Their enthusiasm and energy is unparalleled. I am
thankful to Pandal, Puja, Light and Sound, Media, Sponsorship, Cultural, Bhog -Prasad and
Workforce management committee members for taking care of each and every little nuance in
the best possible manner. Great Job!!

Thanks to our key sponsors especially The Legend group for being our Title Sponsor for 2013. Let
us pray Goddess Durga to provide peace, prosperity and love to all the denizens.

Thanks and Regards

Kaushik Bhattacharya

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 18 Page 18

TREASURER’S REPORT

Dear Friends,

SUBHO VIJAYA!

First of all, I would like to thank our sponsors and members for their encouragement and
support to make Durga Puja 2013 a grand success. The CBA is one of the distinguished Bengali
associations in Hyderabad today where we are having twenty Executive committee members,
five among whom are new faces and four old Executive Members have been elevated to the
advisory board.

This year our Durga puja has been a grand success, Our Puja won the prestigious Best Puja
Award ( Recent Entrant) conducted by Times of India. We always perform the Puja strictly as per
Nirghanta. Our Pandal was awesome, Idol was the best in the twin city, our cultural team
organized a big event with a well-known band- ― RENESA and CHOU dance performed by artists
from rural West Bengal, our Bhog committee made tasty food arrangement for all five days,
lighting arrangement was excellent, and we managed all of these in a budget of Rs. 11.5 Lakhs.

Thanks to our sponsors and members who have extended their support and contributed for
Durga Puja. And special thanks to all the EC members who have put tremendous effort to bring
the sponsorship. We declare CBA as a financially disciplined organization with optimum
transparency. We have already got our 2012-13 accounts audited by renowned Chartered
Accountants in practice. The event wise consolidation of 2013-14 accounts is in process and will
be completed after the end of the current financial year.

We will continue to uphold the status of The Cyberabad Bangali Association brand. Currently the
association has around 500 members on record. We shall try our best to cross 600 members
limit by this financial year end. We encourage youngsters and new members to join their hands
to run the association and take the baton from veteran members. We are committed to build a
comfortable financial base of the association to combat with future uncertainties and
commitments. We will publish the audited yearend financial results during AGM and make it
available to all members.

On that note, I am sending out an open invitation especially to young generation to visit our
association anytime and volunteer their contribution, all in the good cause of inculcating the
association‘s mission to the community. I would like to thank all EC members and advisors who
have given me the opportunity to serve the association as Treasurer for second time.

Good Luck!!

Debabrata Bala

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 19 Page 19

CULTURAL SECRETARY’S NOTE

Dear Friends,

It’s been a few weeks that we celebrated Durga Puja 2013 while I write this
note from the Cultural Desk but every moment of those five days is still fresh in my memory.
The celebration and the fun we had seems to be increasing multifold with each year. Behind the
magnificent pandal, beautiful idol, delicious bhog, numerous stalls and superb lighting goes an
enormous effort for months by our executive committee members, advisory board, patrons, and
volunteers. The Times of India award for the Best Durga Puja (Recent entrant category) is a
testimony of the organized hard work by the team. Like previous years, we have managed to
engage the audience with a variety of events for all the five days starting with Ananda Mela. We
had spectacular performances from our in-house talents who presented melodious music, mind
blowing dances, and a Bengali Drama which can be compared with any other professional
performances from reputed Theatre production houses.

We also had classical music presentation by Pandit Anil Sarkar and his group who touched all
our hearts with their classical music which is hard to enjoy easily in today’s entertainment circle.
I thank all the performers for spending months in preparation for the events despite their busy
schedules. I salute the children for their energy levels and dedication in keeping the audience
dance and sing with them during their performances. Apart from the in-house talents, we had a
repeat performance of “Renesa” on popular demand for their performance last year. They
touched the right chords with the audience and made them dance to their songs for the entire
evening.

The surprise event this year was the Chau Dance by BanglaNatak.com. We booked them for
Saptami not for the entertainment quotient but to promote a dying form of art from West
Bengal. However their performance surpassed all our expectations. It will remain as one of the
most memorable show that I witnessed in my lifetime and I am sure there would be few others
who would agree with me. Hats off to the performers from a tiny village of West Bengal on a
beautiful evening.

Lastly I would like to mention about the competitive events that were held for the children. We
had a whopping 95 unique participants competing in different events over the 4 days of Durga
Puja. The children kept us engaged during the day-time with their competitive spirits till the
Bhog was served. For us, each participant is a winner and we had certificates and prizes for
everyone. On the last day of the puja, it is a fulfilling achievement to see the smile on each
child’s face when they come on the stage to collect their prizes on Dashami morning. A BIG
thanks to all volunteers and members of the Cultural team for a job well done.

Thanks and Regards
Subhro Mukherjee

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 20 Page 20

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 21 Page 21

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 22 Page 22

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 23 Page 23

Dark tan diary
Indrajit

The sky was ablaze with crimson fire, as the sun was about to set. With trembling hands,
Shataneek slowly lifted his battered body to rest against the nearest boulder. A labored
glance at his wrist watch told him it was indeed the dusk he is watching. But he has
already lost count of days. Is it the ninety third day? Or was it eighty two? Flicking his
tongue on the parched lips, he drew his coat over his neck; the fever is rising again. Will
it be his last day in the treacherous Australian Outback? He looked around to find his
empty bottle lying a few feet away. He remembered Wanamutta, his native guide telling
him what are eatable and what to avoid. This was before Wanamutta perished in front
of him, trying to save him from a pack of Dingo’s. “Bahba, if you see a pack of Dingo at
night, you don’t look back, you don’t run, simply look for the nearest tree and climb”
And to help Shataneek climb the tree, he slipped, and all that he could say was –
“Kungadgee Bahba”.

Wanamutta asked again and again if he is
sure. It’s not easy to take on the desert of
Australian outback, relying on just the
direction given in the diary of a dead
adventurer. He found the diary in an old book
shop, a dark tan leather‐bound cover with
golden embossing. He was surprised when he flipped through the pages. He saw three
different set of hand writing. It was a single note book having entries by three different
people. He just had to buy it. Few cups of caffeine and several hours deep into the night,
Shataneek was finally gone through the pages. The diary started with account of Capt.
Standish when he embarked in his journey in August of 1876, with his troop to scout for
the missing idol of Tlaloc. The idol of goggle eyed deity of Aztec god of rain and thunder

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 24 Page 24

was stolen by the Spanish conquistadors. It was not only for the two pigeon‐egg sized
diamonds, set as his eyes, but also for the supposed power it gave to its owner, ‐ the
power of thunder!

The diary details the account of Capt. Standish and his team of troopers as they set on
their journey, following the account of an old sailor at the port of Darwin. The spiraling
handwriting gave a vague direction to the point where the idol might be found. He gives
account of losing his troop to the summer of Australian Outback by the time he reached
near his goal. But his account stops with a call to fellow adventurers to the base of a hill
and rescue Tlaloc. And he got a follower. Kevin Hartman starts his part of the account
from October 1948. He was an expert prospector, wanting to get his hands on the
diamonds of Tlaloc and its power to raise his own army! Kevin knew the perils of
Outback. And he knew how to track the animals around. He survived the pack of Dingos,
and he survived the heat of Outback. He nearly got killed by the Taipan, and survived on
lizards.

Kevin’s crispy straight handwriting suggested that he has seen the idol. Or was it his
dream? Hallucinating before the end? Interestingly, though Kevin Hartman’s account
doesn’t mention if he got his hands on the diamonds, but the account of the next
owner, Chandrashekhar Apte clearly mentions that he found the remains of Kevin near a
hillock of Outback. No idea how the Indian got his hands on the diary, or what was he
doing in the outback. But it was clear that he knew that the idol was not to be disturbed.
Or was it his Hindu mindset that made him run? He was very afraid, and running away
to safety. Yet through the summer months of 1957 he went in circles and reached the
very foothill Capt. Standish mentioned. When Shataneek finished reading, he somehow
couldn’t believe his fortunes. He studied geology not to fatten his butt on a chair as a
clerk in a Mining company. He was after adventure; especially after his university study
trip to wastelands of Rwanda. He was itching to find a reason, and this time somehow
the dark tan diary in his hand was pulling him out there; in the perilous journey to find

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 25 Page 25

the Aztec Rain god. He knew his Anglo‐Indian college mate Jacob went to Australia as a
missionary, and reminding him of all the smokes they shared and the help he got from
Shataneek on the exam halls was enough to secure him an invitation. No one could stop
him after that. Leaving the sleepy bye lane of Kolkata, he was in the port of Darwin in
August of 1968.

He knew nothing of the country. And it took him three months to earn enough and
secure the guidance of Wanamutta. He can’t say the Wanamutta didn’t try to stop him
from his journey. But somehow the native Australian started loving him like his little
brother. He kept saying, “Bahba, the outback is not for your soft heart; go back when
time is in your side.” But Wanamutta’s ‘Bahba’ – his little brother Shataneek was sure he
wanted to do this. He shook his head, is he becoming delirious again? He needs to be
awake. Last night he hardly slept, he had to keep staring at the flicking tongue and blue
eyes of the Death Adder. Wanamutta’s word saved him. It was one of the most
stubborn of all outback snakes. How long was it? Two hours? Or was it six?

He just remembers that he heard the slithering noise and pointed the frail beam of his
torch catching the Adder in striking position. “It can strike and go back before you blink
your eyes!” was Wanamutta’s warning about adders, “If you see one about to strike,
don’t take your eyes off them. They are stubborn, so be patient like a Heron”. And
patient he was, not taking his eyes of the death dealer. Shataneek lost count of time. Till
he suddenly realized it was no longer there, and he slumped into sleep.

In the dying day light, Shataneek took out his fountain pen with last droplet of ink and
opens the dark tan diary. He needs to write down how he failed. Even after losing all
hopes and his tracker friend, the gentle Bengali roamed through the Australian outback,
created the map with every single hill and hillock. Yet neither did he find the place
mentioned by the old sailor to Capt. Standish, or by any of the writers. Does Australian
Outback keep changing itself like the dunes of Sahara? He needs to warn future readers

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 26 Page 26

of this Diary not lose their life in pursuit of Tlaloc’s goggle eyed idol before the pen dries
out.
Shataneek tried to be precise, and then lifted the back cover to close his diary one final
time. He knows the Adder will be back tonight, and he doesn’t have any energy left to
out wink it this time. But, as he was about to close, he felt the leather jacket of the back
cover giving away. He picked up the diary closer to his eyes in the rapidly growing
shadow. Yes indeed, the back cover was loose. In his excitement of what was in its
pages, he never paid attention to the back cover. Feeling curious, he slowly peeled of
the leather cover, revealing the dark brown hard board inside the cover.

And it had golden lettering embossed in it too.
Letters that formed words covered by the dark
tan jacket. The words were puzzling. He read it
again and again; and then flipped through the
pages. Can it be true? His head started to spin!
The air around him felt heavy ‐ difficult to breathe. Is this the end? He was not sure – he
can’t die like this. He slowly started flipping through the pages again. It can’t be the
same diary that he read till a few minutes back. How can it be? It says Capt. Standish
died in Mexico, Kevin Hartman mentions Kilimanjaro, and poor Chadrashekar Apte had
his last breath in forests of Java.

Shataneek scrambled to open his pen and write down the warning. Very little ink left, he
kept shaking it, till he wrote the warning. They were the same six words that all the
others before him wrote last; the words that were not visible to Shataneek till now.
They were the same words embossed on the back – under the cover. As Shataneek
slowly took his last breath, his written warning started to fade. The diary has started to
change the notes written in it, this time Tlaloc got buried in wasteland’s of Rwanda. It
lay beside the corpse, with its bright dark tan leather cover hiding its name embossed at
the back – “This is a book that lies!”

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 27 Page 27

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 28 Page 28

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 29 Page 29

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 30 Page 30

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 31 Page 31

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 32 Page 32

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 33 Page 33

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 34 Page 34

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 35 Page 35

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 36 Page 36

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 37 Page 37

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 38 Page 38

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 39 Page 39

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 40 Page 40

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 41 Page 41

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 42 Page 42

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 43 Page 43

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 44 Page 44

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 45 Page 45

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 46 Page 46

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 47 Page 47

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 48 Page 48

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 49 Page 49

The Cyberabad Bangali Association Sharad Sambhaar 2013 50 Page 50