Thames Durga Puja Parade

After the huge success of the inaugural Thames Durga Parade last year, UK based not for profit Organisation Heritage Bengal Global is all set to be bring bigger and better version this year as the 2nd edition.

Aimed at promoting Kolkata Durga Puja as a global tourism destination, the Thames Durga Parade has been quite a game changer in the UK Durga Puja scenario. Starting with just one boat and the idol of Camden last year, this year will see two large boats sailing on the Thames on the Saturday the 28th afternoon- one of HBG with the idol of Medway Oikataan Cultural Association, doing its puja for the first time and the other of Camden.

The HBG boat is going to be a melting pot of of India in the literal sense, with various state associations from Assam to Haryana sending in their representatives- besides, UK Hindu Cultural Association will be there in full force with 5 drums, dhaak as we know them popularly.

A unique feature of the Parade this year will be bhaatyali song on Thames by the acclaimed folk singer from Bengal Sourav Moni, who is flying down for the event.

A major feature of the Parade which is focussed on Bengal, is the support extended by business houses in Bengal to make it happen- inspired by the vision, Mr Partha Nandi of Lalbaba Rice has extended his brand association to the Parade for its whole lifetime and the parade is being called Lalbaba Rice Thames Durga Parade.

Another successful Kolkata Business House, Techno India, represented by Satyam Roychoudhury has come up in support for the second consecutive year, so has Surajit Nandi of Floral.

HBG in house entrepreneurs, Tushar Das Ghose, running at IT company ETOS in UK,  Shubhankar Mukherjee with his brand Earthwise, dealing with environment friendly products and Aparup Bose another UK based entrepreneur have also come up in support of this event.

Pointers Business Forum, a platform of entrepreneurs of the ex students of Kolkata’s South Point School has always been a solid partner of HBG in all its event and this time is no exception.

Global Education Holdings (GEDU), a UK based educational group offers a range of educational opportunities including the full range of higher education qualifications, apprenticeships, and language schools. It has   operations in 12 countries, including the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Malta, UAE, India, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. Its portfolio covers a wide range of subject areas and is characterised by a keen focus on both employability and student experience to maximise return on investment for students.” GEDU has been supporting HBG in their community initiatives through sporting and cultural events and is the Education Partner of this Parade.

HBG members Priyanka Burman, Yashmita Choudhury, Arati Das are planning closely with the Vice President Mahua Bej on the decoration of the boat- ‘last year was a good learning and this we are taking them into consideration and make the boat look pretty and ethnic with the artefacts we are creating’, says Mahua. The professional agency Here and Now 365 is working with the team for a clean delivery on the day. Kolkata’s Bhawanipur 75 Palli is also a Delivery Partner of the event, especially managing the activities and relationships at the Kolkata end.

Working on the Kolkata London bonding, this year’s Parade will see the launch of the centenary celebrations of the Calcutta Rowing Club (CRC) event to be held in Kolkata, in November, supported by London Rowing Club (LRC) on the HBG boat- members of CRC and LRC with symbolically flag off the Kolkata event on the Thames, making it a unique Indo British experience. CRC honorary Secretary Chandan Roy Choudhury expressed his happiness and excitement at this launch of Thames for an event of the Dhakuria Lake.

Besides the dignitaries few British MPs, Mayors and Councillors and the Indian High Commission, the HBG boat is expected to sail with several British Army and Royal Air Force officers on their deck as support from the Army RAF.

LOK Arts Collective ( Part of Global Changemakers Network) who just started it's London wing has also extended their support to the event.  Founder-Director of LOK noted film actor turned filmmaker Soumyajit Majumdar will be present too. 

HBG President Anirban Mukhopadhyay, whose dream was it to start a Parade like this last year says, ‘last year we had one boat. This year, the number has doubled- I think we are not far away from a time when we will have 5 to 6 such boats sailing through the Thames on a particular day and time and then, we will achieve our goal of drawing the attention of the general people on the river banks and bridges, thereby creating a massive Durga Puja Tourism opportunity for Bengal- interestingly enough, the Thames Durga Parade has already created interest in Bengal for inward tourism into London. Another big global initiative we have taken is to bring Pujo Organisers across the globe into one platform and to that effect we have now connected up with Pujos in 41 counties from Japan to Brazil, and from Norway New Zealand, exchanging thoughts ideas, events  Brochures throughout the day in a whatsapp group.’