River Festival Season 5
with B-CAF and Anindya Hajra
11 January 2025
Nather Bagan Ghat
BK Pal Park
Natherbagan Ghat
12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
BANANA STEM BOAT MAKING WORKSHOP
Antara Bera (Rabindra Bharati University student), Mamata Sikari & Mayna Das (homemakers, farmers & craftspeople from Sundarbans).
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
THE BOATMEN OF BENGAL
Setting up a fleet of scale model boats by Swarup Bhattacharrya + lecture demonstration by the artist
3.30 pm – 3.45 pm
Performance by children of Calcutta Rescue facilitated by Vartika Poddar of Swabhab Naatok Dol
3:45 – 4.30 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION
Urban Calcutta & the Wetlands & waterbodies (Chandrima Bhattacharya, Senior Journalist, The Telegraph)
Memories of the River (Bhanu Naskar, Transgender Rights Advocate & resident of the area)
Stories of the ‘Lost’ Rivers: Betod & Saraswati (Sanat Mitra, historian)
The River & Us, views from the ghetttos (Bisak Laskar, Durbar Manila Samanwaya Committee, sex workers’ collective)
4.30 pm – 5.15 pm
Excerpt from SITALA PAALA GAAN
by Sitala Opera
5.15 pm – 5.45 pm
WESTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC PERFORMANCE
Effem Ensembe
5.45 pm – 6 pm
Immersion of Banana Stem Boats & Taziya in the river
BK Pal Park
3:00 pm – 8:00 pm
RIVERSCAPES OF MEMORY
Photography Exhibition
Curator: Atanu Paul
THE RIVERS TRAILS
Public Engagement Programme
Curator: Archie Roy
MESSAGES TO THE RIVER
Public Engagement Programme
Curator: Reena Dewan
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION
Riverscapes of Memory
Speakers: Haripada Bowmik, Tanmoy Bhattacharjee
Moderator: Saroj Darbar
5:15 pm – 5:40 pm
FLOW FLEE FREE
Contemporary Dance Performance
Choreographer: Sudarshan Chakravorty
Dancers: Promita Karfa, Abrar Saqeeb, Rathin Das, Raju Sarkar
5:40 pm – 6:00 pm
Felicitation & Winner Announcement
6:00 pm – 6:40 pm
RHYTHM OF POETRY
Poetry Reading by Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee
6:40 pm – 7:00 pm
SUNDARBANS: LIVES, LIVELIHOODS & LANDSCAPES
Film Screening
Director: Pranjal Joshi
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
DOWN MEMORY LANES: BENGALI SONGS
Musical Soiree
Debashish Dutta & group
