BY KAVITA CHHIBBER

It is said you can take the Indian out of India, but you can’t take India out of the Indian.
For as long as he can remember, Ranjan Duttagupta was inspired by what he saw back home-living in the culture capital Calcutta, absorbing the sounds of Rabindra sangeet and his father’s creative efforts at bringing neighbors together for a cultural show during the festive Durga puja.

“Twenty four years ago when I came to the US, there really was nothing that I could be a part of culturally. Just the nostalgia remained and one went back home for the cultural fix,” Dattagupta recalls.

A few years ago a chance meeting with a karaoke singer Bhagirath Gore set Ranjan on track. With wife Indra’s able support, Ranjan began hosting karaoke nights at his home. The small gatherings became huge all night affairs that included the warm Dattagupta hospitality and music. Even son Ravi began asking when the next singing night would happen, so his friends could come over. Ravi has now begun shaking a leg at the Indian dos quite happily!

The major turning point came at the grand Durga puja hosted by the Dattaguptas for three consecutive years. Friends chipped in to make it an authentic affair while Ranjan went to India to get all the items needed for the Puja to do it the traditional way. Each night there would be a cultural show, put up by local talent. The puja ended but the hangover remained. Ranjan began to think about the Indian youth living here. How could one keep them interested in the rich culture they are so fortunate to have inherited? And CLUB-4-ALL was created.

The initial focus for Ranjan, Indra and other founding members Uma and R.D. Sharma, Ranjana and Mohit Dhir, Nisha and Sanjay Manan, Vicky and Sona Narang, Phalguni and Rakesh Pandey, and Parijat and Sandeep Chandra was to encourage the youth and show case their talent and the first show that was held did just that. There was only one item by adults. It was a ‘by invitation only” event. Joydeep Ghoshal who is a “laugh a minute man” and has really bypassed his true calling-as a stand up comic, came up with a script, and the rest is history. “ People chipped in with ideas, and additional lines and wise cracks. They performed like professionals-of course they knew that they would be performing before friends and family, so rotten eggs and tomatoes will be administered later at home! They were safe on stage!” says Ghoshal with a laugh.

The natural warmth, and the pride that every one took in being part of this cozy and fun affair showed in the confidence with which every one showcased their talent.

The second show which took place on the 29th, to celebrate local talent in Atlanta and also Diwali, took place at the Hilton on Peachtree industrial blvd. The number of participants went from 40 to 125 people, and audience size went from 300 plus in the first show to over 650 people. From the brochure with gold Ganesha on the cover, to girls welcoming each family with a rose, everything was done with elegance. So passionate is he about the cause that Ranjan Datta Gupta who had to rush to India for a family emergency, still made it back on d-day around late evening just in the nick of time and was there throughout welcoming people in spite of a 102 degree temperature.

As guests mingled and enjoyed the appetizers, the evening began with a session of singing by local talent that included Ritu Keni and KrishnaKali Bakshi accompanied by Manish Puri and Nadir from Atlanta and Amy Chawla who came all the way from California to perform. All three are trained singers and have won many awards and recognition.

They were followed by an equally accomplished male singer Dr Brij Singh who is a physician and performed some popular fun numbers both in Hindi and English with a live band. His band members consisted of David Williams an entrepreneur and drummer from Nashville Tennessee, Dr Emon Dutta, a Psychiatrist guitar player from Albany and Amudhan Venkatesh a scientist from Knoxville. Dr Singh himself is the winner of many musical awards and accolades in India.

Perhaps the one person who wowed every one with his sweet voice and poise on stage was 9 year old Arush Lal who sang a rather difficult number from the film Sur and then the title number form Kal Ho na Ho-it was cute to see his mother cuing him from the audience and he sang without taking his eyes off her. At one point she seemed upset because the substandard sound system made him lose his rhythm and her frustration was evident to every one around her and even more so to the child. Arush has amazing maturity, for he didn’t miss a beat or react to his mother’s disappointment visibly but completed the songs gracefully. Children are so charming and lovable that they appear adorable and Arush is all that and more.

The actual program began with a colorful Invocation to seek the blessings of Ganesha and other deities. Young children dressed in beautiful outfits stitched locally with jewelry to match came on stage with lights wrapped around their wrists, holding lit candles in their hands to offer homage to the Gods with dance and chanting of shlokas. There were two large screens on each side to support the performances on stage with visuals and at the end firecrackers exploded on the screen to usher in Diwali celebrations.
After the invocation, a charming group of children dressed as various legendary kings and queens from Indian history took a catwalk on stage each speaking an introduction about themselves. This was followed by a skit about life in the US compared to life in India. The skit depicted a little girl’s journey to Calcutta with her mother and her surprise and fascination with how colorful, rich and unpredictable life is in India, as compared to the routine plastic existence she lives in the States. Participating in and attending various activities on her visit bring up comparisons, and the little girl finally accepts the diversity that life offers people living across two continents.

The skit was followed by a fusion dance performed by kids ages 7 to 12. They brought the house down performing to a medley of hit Bollywood songs. Following them was a humorous look at life seen by young kids in America in a skit called the “Passion of the Bored”. Most parents will identify with the famous words” I’m bored”, fed to them regularly by their kids. The skit took a comic look at what two bored boys can do if they have too much time on their hands. The bored kids get (mis)adventurous, and manage to escape a pizza delivery serial killer, and being mugged while they get in and out of the escapades. They also spoof their Indian heritage-remember all those” You are Indian if..” jokes! Some of them were incorporated in the skit. 

One of the outstanding segments in the show included a wonderful medley of dances by moms of some of the kids, depicting some of the states of India. It was a very sporting effort and some of these women can shake quite a leg!

The second was a segment taken from the hilarious film Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron-where villains gatecrash during the staging of the famous scene depicting the Pandavas’ defeat in a game of dice and Draupadi’s supposed disrobing-and the mayhem that followed. The program ended with an elegant fusion dandiya by a group of teenagers.

One big sore point in the show was the atrocious sound system provided by Atlanta Sound and Light. It was obvious how much hard work went in to preparing each event, from the tiny tots who were trained to come up and speak few lines, to the two skits as well as the Mahabharata segment. The sound system was so bad that none of the dialogues were audible. The singers did a little better with the cordless microphone, but it was because we recognized most of the Bollywood songs.

The second sore point was the fact that Indians will never change in an Indian get together. The audience talked incessantly, littered incessantly, bringing food and drinks into the auditorium, leaving their kids loose all over the place. Some kids found their way on top of the stage with food plates. There was food littered all over the green room. If anyone had behaved this way in a western gathering, they would have been kicked out and asked to pay a heavy penalty.

It is also extremely disrespectful to the participants, who have worked hard, long arduous hours to get it all right. I think the organizers need to take a second look at who is coming in and whether they need to switch to a format where food and liquor should not be served. If all people want to do is mingle, they can do it elsewhere.

Ranjan Dattagupta, one of the founding members of Club4 All, said that while he was very happy to see that his goal for getting people out of their homes to showcase their talent, as well as that of their children and developing close knit friendships and camaraderie has been achieved many times over, it is still a struggle and a learning experience about how to do things correctly.
Ranjan’s wife Indra mentioned how tough it had been to turn away last minute gate crashers and that she is really appreciative of how participants and their parents worked so hard, chipped in at the last minutes to save the day in many events, in spite of the limited time every one had. “ Some of them were here till 3 a.m. the night before the show and had to get up again and go to work early.” Ranjan is still struggling with requests to make it an open event, but says he realizes even more now that it’s important to control both quality and quantity to maintain exclusivity and high standards.

The stage was decorated beautifully by Ragini Patel. Emcee Parijat Chandra looking lovely in a blue sari, set the tone for the evening with elegance. Her presentation was flawless, as she went through the evening presenting each item with just the right amount of information and warmth. A nice touch was to invite producers of each segment to come and talk on stage, but some of them talked too long according to the audience members and didn’t give information that was interesting.

The arrangements were flawless and each family was given a box of sweets as they left. Whether it was the people themselves who performed or the ones who made some very elaborate costumes, to the creativity that went into each item it is obvious there is tremendous talent in our midst and an amateur event that was extremely well done.