Click Here for more pictures

"Pujari Atlanta organized 'Saraswati Puja' at their traditional venue, the auditorium of India Cultural and Religious Center (ICRC), on February 12, 2005. The stage and the idol of the goddess of learning were decorated admirably by the Pujari decoration team. The worship was performed in accordance to traditional Bengali rituals, and devotees offered 'Anjali' to the goddess.

Following the completion of puja at around 1:00 pm, all members enjoyed the Prasad catered by the ISCON temple.

The afternoon began with an interesting quiz competition for children. Young children also participated earlier in a painting competition. After the quiz, Pujari president Dr. Gauranga Banik welcomed the gathering and introduced the new Pujari executive committee members. That was followed by a great cultural program. Veteran Atlanta personality and Executive Director of Gandhi Foundation, Dr. Giriraj Rao, addressed the gathering and paid homage to late Dr. Jayanti Lahiri in an elegant speech.

The first half of the cultural program was mainly great performances of young children in the form of songs, dances, recitation, and instrumental music. Following that, there were great vocal performances in bhajans, modern songs, semi-classical, Tagore, and folk songs.

Artists included some of the best local talents such as Mahua Mukherjee, Rakhi Banerjee, Susmita Datta, Tirthankar Dasgupta, and Prasanto Chakraborty. Recitation of modern Bengali poetry by Richa Sarkar was very entertaining. Pranab Lahiri and Suzanne Sen rendered an excellent 'Shruti Natak' in English: "The Leaves Fall" by Buddhadeva Bose. Atlanta's Sangeetkar group, led by Amitava Sen, mesmerized the audience by their classical instrumental group performance. At the end, a group called 'Shrotar Asar' presented a nice range of patriotic group songs and recitations.