Celebrate cultural link with ‘city of joy’

Lucknow: Visitors will get the taste of Kolkata in Lucknow at the 17th edition of the 5-day Sanatkada Lucknow Festival, from Jan 30 to Feb 3 at Safed Baradari, Raja Rampal Singh Park and Amiruddaula Library."The theme this year is ‘Raabta Lucknow Aur Calcutta Ka' (the Lucknow-Calcutta link), in which Bengali and Awadhi culture, cuisines, handicrafts, art forms, poetry and music will be seen," said festival director Tasveer Hasan on Wednesday.Visitors can shop from 120 stalls vending the famous Kolkata prints such as Pattachitra, Jamdani, and Taant in handicraft, along with Awadhi arts such as chikankari, aari, zardozi and chattapatti. Highlights include a Bengali ‘dhak' performance by Padma Shri Gokul Das and a musical dastangoi in Bengali, ‘Saat Maqam Ishq Ke'.Visitors will learn about similarities between Kolkata and Lucknow through sessions and ‘qissagoi'. Nimra Rizvi will outline similarities between the two cities in the session, ‘Taana Baana Lucknow Calcutta Ka'; a qissagoi, Bengali golpo (story), with Mukta Chatterjee; ‘Zaiqay Ka Safar' with Manzilat Fatima and a session on Awadhi art and history titled, ‘City as Impression: Art, Archives and Lucknow', by Dilnavaz Mehta.Bengali entrants in the Sunday Home Cooked Food Festival are mutton rizaala, Kolkata fish curry, khajur gud roshogulla, shakarkand ki kheer and Kolkata mutton nihari. Art lovers can enjoy exhibitions of paintings, photographs and archival images. One such show is titled ‘Malika E Ghazal: The Life and Legacy of Begum Akhtar', and ‘Shahrashob: Letters Between Calcutta and Lucknow' by artist Soumyadeep Roy.Craft demonstrations will include Awadhi dupatta making, zardozi, muqaish, lac bangles and chandi ki chappal. Visitors can enjoy Awadhi and Bengali cultural performances such as a Kathak solo by Shruti Ghosh, a film on ‘Raabta Lucknow aur Calcutta ka', folk fusion music by a Bengali band, ‘Borno Anonyo' and a performance of Hindustani classical music in a segment, ‘Sur Sarita'.The festival will also feature popular traditions of both the cities, such as kite flying and presenting ‘khas sharbat', which migrated from Lucknow to Kolkata with Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.