Deepanwita (Guest)
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Gandhi Mela'r ashor...
«on:
09/05/01 at 11:07:21 » |
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One more topic that deserves mention here is our dear dear Gandhi Mela....I wonder how this overpassed our attention till now..
Gandhi Mela is one thing that I miss a lot ..The grandeur of Gandhi Mela was indeed unparalleled...I have seen a many grand fierce wheels , but the "chorki" which Gandhi Mela offered can really outpass the joy that these things can give me...
Then there were those incredible shows like "Ganga Jamuna", "Shobji Rakshas","Maut ka kua","Laughing house"and the like..
I remember my childhood days when going to Gandhi Mela used to give me so much thrill that I doubt anything else has ever given me...I can't ever forget those joy rides ,those "bonduk mara",those "chat houses",those "burir pakachul"- thats what we used to call the pink candies, though I wonder how those pink candies derived the name "Pakachul" from !!..
In addition to that were the circus parties (mostly Amar Circus)that used to come in alternate years, and I would never miss going to see at least one show , sitting on the gallery !!(not the chairs...)..
Also there was a shopping part of Gandhi Mela..And the add campaigns of "Bapi chanachur!"..
Gandhi Mela is one place were you can get all variety of shopping items , right from furniture , to "thakurer bashon"(my mother was and is one of the frantic shoppers of this category) , to ready made dresses, to even electrical gadgets, and what not !!
I really miss the grandeur of Gandhi Mela..The jingle of Bapi chanachur still rings in my ears...
"Chanachur chanachur Bapi Chanachur..Khete bhari mojadar swad e shumodhur !!" |
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Shantanu (Guest)
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Re: Gandhi Mela'r ashor...
«on:
09/07/01 at 23:54:19 » |
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Deepanwita, Gandhi mela'r ashor is lack-luster without
the mention of mouth-watering 'jilaapi's.. which were the perfect appetiser for the subsequent 'spicy' chaat
courses.
In fact i believe they (jilaapi and chaat) were sort of
complimentary to each other.
'Silchar chaat house' would not have done as good as they
did without the tons of 'Jodhu-Gopaaler-jilaapis' galloped
by thousands. I personally used to consume atleast half a
kilo per session of mine at Gandhi mela and then of course
a plate ful of sumptuous chaat before calling it a day.
Also the 'khelna r dukan' s.. whose vivid variety of toys on
the show used to amaze me like anything..on many occassions
i was found looking at them with eyes wide open in
excitement and mind full of frantic comparisons between
toys..which ones do i take home?
Among the toys i can never forget those tiny master pieces-
the steamer boats -'launch' which could cruise along a
'gaamla' in circular fashion with profuse mechanical
noise. I used to wonder how could someone build such small
yet compelling stuff and compare them with the
real-life ones anchored (once in a blue moon :-)used to come
alive making us aware of their mobile nature!!) @ the
Sadhar-Ghaat.
The 'launch' used to be my first buy on the first afternoon
of every Gaandhi mela. Till recently also i could boast
of a collection of 5 such vintage ones collected over a
period of 5 years( class iv -class vii). In five years the price of laucnhes increased steadily from Rs. 8 to Rs 18 per
piece(without any significant value add of course) probably
in keeping with the monstrous-silchar-inflation which i am
sure every Silcharite is so much familiar with..'MulyoBridyi
Cholbe Naa Cholbe naaa!!!:-):-).
-Shantanu
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Ojana
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Re: Gandhi Mela'r ashor...
«on:
09/12/01 at 04:40:43 » |
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When I miss Silchar,I also miss Gandhi mela along with many other things.like durga puja and kali puja -ananda porishad,janigang e light er mela,Gandhimela has also become a festival. Call it a meeting place for the couples (who other wise find no place no to roam around),accuse it for spreading pollution(the smell which comes out after the mela is over,I can still smell it), but can't stop loving it. I still remember the jatras,putul nanch,the shops filled with 'kaner dul,churi,mala,' and what not.The shop keepers used to display them in a very attractive manner. :D |
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Jimut (Guest)
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Re: Gandhi Mela'r ashor...
«on:
09/13/01 at 11:03:32 » |
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Mone raakhben...Shilpi Cabinet, Hospital Road, Silchor...aar Shilpi Cabinet, Gandhi Mela, Silchor !!
Sorry for joining the party, rather Mela,a bit late...full credit to Deepanwita for bringing this up...
Well, I too was as obsessed with the Gandhi Mela as everyone else but surpringly, I missed the Mela in 2000 although I was at Silchar during that time...maybe the absence of friends and the hectic mashir bari-pishir bari schedule was a bit too much to handle.
I first got on the "chorki" in 1979 and that remains my only attempt till date...I discovered my dreaded fear of heights that day and it has since then been enough to discourage me from any joy-rides in any amusement park, mela, etc. that I've been to. When we reached class VIII, we started this tradition of going out in a large group along with the girls of our batch and while every boy and girl had a great time forming couples on the "chorki", me and Archit Bose could only wave at them from terra firma. I guess even the prospect of having a girl by your side on a nagordola was not enough encouragement for the two of us !!
I was never exactly the toy-loving type but I did spend a lot of time with the bondook-maara and the book-stalls.Till I was old enough to go on my own, I was usually allowed only one visit per year and I tried my best to make each second count.Probably my happiest memories of Gandhi Mela would be the unique privilege that I used to be granted once a year...a huge "mishti-paan" at the end of the day, full of a generous helping of each of the multi-coloured items stacked in bowls and finally wrapped in lots of silver "warq" ( to which I foolishly used to attribute all the taste !!) I have never since then liked the idea of chewing paan but that one paan per year was simply priceless.
I also remember the circus shows but I used to go there only if the troupe had a hippopotamus in their stables !! And I can think of several times when I had gone with my father in the afternoon , when no shows would be running, just to stare at the elephants, gulping huge amount of grass and gently swaying from side to side, as if intoxicated...it was just magic, seeing those huge animals going about their day's business...I guess, the first seeds of my passiona for wild-life were sown there.
Then there were the "bidyut konyas" and the magic shows...I saw P.C.Sorcar very late in life so these shows were the best I could get till then. I remember once when the magician couldn't find any volunteers from amongst the crowd despite repeated requests, I walked up to the stage amidst huge cheers. I must've been about 10 years old then. Things went on fine (he vanished my shirt ) till he came to the trick where a glass of milk never gets empty...he gave me a glass of milk and told me to drink it...but both the glass and the milk looked so greasy and dirty, it almost got my guts out !!I refused point blank and then he had to try the trick on himself. As people gaped in amazement each time he drank and magically refilled the glass, I tried my best to keep myself from throwing up.Once I came back to my seat, it was straight down to the pan-shop for my annual mishti-paan !!
Hope lot's of people contribute a lot more...will add some more when I remember...this has already amde me go back several years and helped remember things I had almost forgotten... |
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