Concern For Calcutta, an NGO, recently organized a grand evening of music, culture and culinary art at one of Kolkata's best-known locations – New Market. The entire area was sealed off, and the market was lit up beautifully.

Viji Iyengar, president of the CFC, said that people who criticised the city often forgot its vibrancy, and the event was intended to remind them of it.

Starting with the Calcutta Police Band playing Sare Jahan Se Achha, Dhane Dhanye Pushpe Bhara, Purano Sei Diner Katha and other patriotic songs, the soiree, with its art and craft stalls, food kiosks and educational stalls, was a huge success.

The food stalls offered traditional Bengali cuisine: phulkopir singara, karaishuntir kochuri with chholar dal,  natungurer rassogolla, patisapta and kashir goja. The handicraft stalls sold terra-cotta lamps, flower pots, candle stands and decorative tiles with Ganesha figures carved on them. There were also jute products like table mats, fashionable bags, letter holders, coasters and wrought iron images of Ganesha, Nataraj and Saraswati. Images made out of coconut shells, sandalwood soaps with Ganesh and Krishna carved delicately on them, scrolls with tribal drawings and shola (papier mache) work were on sale at reasonable prices.

On the cultural side, a street play by 'Janasanskriti', on the condition of women before marriage and after it, was staged. Another play, performed by the girls of Loreto College, promoted civic awareness.

The evening's programme also included a panel discussion on films. It was attended by the likes of Mrinal Sen, Victor Banerjee, Shamik Bandopadhyay, Partho Ghosh and Shanu Lahiri. Actor-singer Anjan Dutta belted out his popular numbers and Santhals from Santiniketan danced to the tunes of Bangla pop group Sparsha.