Bharat Sevashram Sangha presents the following events on July 24th as part of their Fund Raising Event:

Hindustani Classical Vocal by Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik with Pandit Sameer Chatterjee on Tabla and Kedar Naphade on Harmonium

ablaphilia: A Presentation of the four stages of life through vocal and instrumental music, composed and conducted by Pandit Sameer Chatterjee

and

“Ekti Gnaye Thaki” a play in Bengali (with English supertitles) written and directed by Sudipta Bhawmik, and produced by ECTA

What makes a family? Who are our family members?
Who is our brother and who is our sister?
What expectations do we have for our family? What are our demands?
Do we all live in a village of strangers?

…Villagers: Sankar, Lili, Subhodev, Aparajita, Dwaipayan, Sudipta, Abhijit
Music: Samya Goswami

“Ekti Gnaye Thaki” is the story of Ranjana and her brother, Rajat, reuniting after fourteen years. Rajat immigrates to the US with his family after Ranjana sponsors their green cards. The reunion is marked by its usual excitement followed by nostal-gia for their hometown Gobindapur they both left behind. Rajat becomes a critical link for Ranjana to relive her past, while Ranjana helps him come to terms with his decision to abandon his familiar world in Gobindapur. Ranjana is also ill and Rajat’s presence offers a long awaited emollient. As the brother and the sister often slip into the past, the rest of the characters are excited at the prospects of their future in the US, especially Rajat’s son, Rajib. Life gradually settles down and a quotidian harmony evolves. Yet from the beginning, the play occasionally and quite subliminally alludes to an underlying subplot that threatens the apparent calm between the two families. Eventually, through a set of related incidents, the undisclosed piece – a rather disconcerting one – is revealed. The disclosure tears apart the growing assurance of the families’ suburban life, and more importantly, sets in motion a drift into the past that interrogates those relationships that were deemed normal. Though this interrogation fractures a happy picture, however, it is through this fracture, we are invited to revisit something more important – the attachment between human be-ings. The play above all, irrespective of its specificities of time and place, is a commentary on what it means to be a human being in relation to those we hold dear in our lives.

Tickets are $75.00, $40, $25, student with ID $15.00 Dinner is included. For more information, please call Ashram at 732-422-8880, email: bssnj@hotmail.com