Sabitri Roy: There were no guests or spectators at the Bengali New Year celebration in New York’s Time Square, except for the artists and co-artist who attended the rehearsal. Although they wanted to enjoy the event, the angry expatriates did not attend because of the sanctity of Ramadan. No invited guests attended the opening ceremony. The first day of the two-day event titled ‘Shatakanthe 1430 Bangla Barshoboron’ organized by the organization called NRB World Wide on Friday (April 14) morning, there were no visitors except artists and co-artist. From Times Square (46 Street and Broadway), NRB World Wide authorities live on Facebook live to see the empty gallery.
No one has given an exact answer as to why the invited guests did not come to the event, but it is believed that the event to be held in Jackson Heights today (Saturday) will include New York City Mayor Eric Adams and US Congresswoman Grace Meng, among other guests.
Rabindra music artist Rezwana Chowdhury Banya and dancer Laila Hasan from Bangladesh were present at the Times Square event.
At the Times Square event, under the direction of Mahitosh Talukder Tapas, the co-artists were present there performed Pahela Boishakh and country songs. The women present wore the same color sarees and the men wore the same type of Punjabi to participate in the event. Dancer Laila Hasan danced to the rhythm of the song apart from this. Rathindranath Roy the artist of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, who won the Ekushe Padak participated in the event. The participants performed the so-called Mars Procession in a short space by beating the drums and holding the images of different types of masks. However, new questions have arisen among expatriates about the placement of portrait masks of one man and one woman (used for whom, why, in what sense) at the venue and in the procession. On the other hand, the local and foreign tourists of Times Square could not enjoy the event as the participants were surrounded by a certain place and took part.
BP/SM
