Dear Amitava-da,

I failed to comprehend the point of your article. Pardon my naivete', but I did not understand what it is that you really like as entertainment. It seems you  neither like classical music, nor pop/modern music (like the type presented by Raghab). You surely do not like local artistes, neither you are sure that you like the Kolkata artistes (like Raghab or Jojo). You kind of indicated that the people who paid most did not get what they wanted, implying that the "relatively young" crowd who danced to the  beats of Raghab (although I did see few not-too-young folks stomping their feet and swaying their ...) did not pay enough and hence do not deserve to be entertained.  I don't know if Kallol collects any statistics regarding age and contribution amount, but don't you think that you are a bit  presumptuous on this issue? 

You mentioned that the younger generation has taken over the control of the backstage. But isn't this what the "elders" of Kallol has been asking for. all along? If you want the younger population to participate actively, you need to give them the some authority and independence too. They should have some say in what needs to be done. They should be allowed to express their cultural views too. You ofcourse have your rights to express your opinion, but so does the younger crowd.

I agree that we need to express to the organizers what we want. But first of all we need to decide what character should our Kallol Pujo be? Should  we mold our Pujo as a homely "Gharoa" kind, or make it a money making commercial venture. If we'd like it to be the "Gharoa" kind, I think we need to be more tolerant and encouaging to our local artistes. Yes, their presentations may not be of professional quality, but they may be our memories for life.  Those videos that we record of our kids reciting Sukumar Roy in English or one of our friends singing Hindi Rabindrasangeet  in off tune may help us spend few lonely evenings in our later days with few laughs.  

But if we like the Pujo to be a commercial venture,  so be it. Bring on Bollywood and Tollywood. Let's dance to the tunes of Miss Jojo or Alka Yagnik. Make it a gala extravaganza. Find a bigger place, charge big bucks, make it a great show. 

But then I do have a choice as to whether I want to buy the product or not.  I, for sure, will try to seek out a more warm and homely Pujo, where I can share my heart with my friends and with Maa Durga.

With best wishes of Subho Bijoya,

Sudipta