23 April 2020

23rd April 2017

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On 23rd April 2017, a group of friends got together to organize a procession from Jadavpur 8B to Kabir Suman's house at Baishnabghata to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his first music album 'TOMAKE CHAI'. This music album was released by HMV on 23rd April 1992. Calcutta has seen a lot of processions since her birth. But for the first time she saw a procession in the honour of a music album for completing its silver jubilee. This can happen only in Calcutta and nowhere else in this world. I was fortunate to be a part of this procession. Kabir Suman's fans were not carrying any weapons. The songs in their lips and the guitar in their hands were the only arms and ammunition. The procession started around 4:30 p.m. from Jadavpur 8B crossing and it reached Kabir Suman's house after more than an hour. We all carried banners and posters with the lyrics from the music album written on them. A 407-tempo was hired which had a music system and loudspeakers. The album 'TOMAKE CHAI' was continuously being played there. The tempo moved in front of the procession. Once we reached 19G Baishnabghata Bye-Lane, we all started to sing the song 'Tomake Chai' together. After some time the legend Kabir Suman came out of his house with a smiling face and met us all. A chair and a stool was arranged. Kabir Suman sat on that chair. We all presented him with a chocolate cake. After the cake ceremony he interacted with his fans and spoke for another hour. Some media-persons were there. They recorded everything in their cameras. Finally after more than an hour he went back into his house. The crowd started dispersing slowly. A few of us were left. At last we few sang a few more songs together and then everybody went back to their respective homes. Here are some pics from that historic day :












































































































































































































































































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