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
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