66 Pally celebrates community spirit with art, games and music

Kolkata: Marking the spirit of togetherness, 66 Pally Club, known for its famous Durga Puja at Nepal Bhattacharya Street in Kalighat, organised a carnival named ‘Paray Parbon' from Feb 22 to 27. The event was held in association with The Times of India.Over 500 people from different places across the city and beyond, including Howrah and Bally, participated in the carnival that saw various competitions like sit and draw, ludo for women, carrom for men and break the pot, among others. The winners of the competitions were awarded on Feb 28, and the evening ended with a musical performance by singer Pousali Banerjee.Pradyumna Mukherjee, head of the club's committee, said: "Our Durga Puja celebrations will step in its 76th year in 2026, so we organised the carnival to celebrate togetherness like what we do during the festival."The opening event was the ‘Sit and draw' contest in which 40 children with disabilities participated. "They were allow to draw as per their choices. We organised the event in such a way that these children won't ever feel alienated from the mainstream," said Mukherjee. The judges encouraged these participants, handing over mementoes to them.The organisers recounted that they witnessed a high demand for a ludo competition, which was arranged for women. About 32 women took part in it. Half of them made it to the ‘Round of 16" followed by quarter-final, semi-final and final. The carrom tournament also took place simultaneously.While the club organised the carnival for ther first time, it has been hosting a cricket tournament around this time of the year since 2023. Curtains will come down on the carnival with the cricket tournament that will be held between March 20 and 22.The players for the tournament were chosen through auction as per the club's tradition. "In this auction, there are eight teams owned by eight individuals just like IPL in a miniature form. All the players who are playing this tournament for the last three years participated this year too and they are all street cricket professionals. When the players register their names, they are tagged as platinum, gold and silver players," said Mukherjee.