Chhayanat Kolkata completed ten years of its journey. The Kolkata Mail’s correspondent Priyanka Dutta caught up with Somerita Mallik who shared details about the journey. Read on to know more…

Ten years is a long time. Tell us about it..

Somerita Mallik- Well, it is a great thing to finally complete ten years of the journey of Chhayanat. We started with about ten to twelve people who loved Kazi Nazrul Islam. Now we have 350 members in Bengal alone which is a huge achievement for all of us. Starting something revolving around Nazrul Islam was initially my sister’s idea and I am glad that the fruits of labour have paid off.

What are the works that you have been doing to celebrate this ten years long journey?

Somerita Mallik- Iti Nazrul, an album consisting of letters of Nazrul Islam has been released both in India and in Bangladesh simultaneously. Jhinge Phool is another work done exclusively for the children. It consisted of poems especially for the kids. Many known and unknown poems by the poet were part of this endeavour.

The third work is Jana Ajana Nazrul which is an audio album consisting of many known and unknown facts about the poet. The album is an extensive guide for those people who want to know more about the poet and how his life affected his work. This is kind of an audio autobiography. This is a huge collector’s item.

In recent times, many websites are made dedicated to eminent personalities. Do you have any such plans to make a website on Kazi Nazrul Islam?

Somerita Mallik- We are not actually doing it but we are helping Questz World in their effort. They will be starting an online radio channel where details and facts about Nazrul will be highlighted throughout the day. This will be a great platform to know about the poet. We are aiding them and providing them with content so that they can run the twenty four hour long digital channel easily.

So what is happening on the work front with you?

Somerita Mallik- Since I am the President of Chhayanat, my works are intertwined with the works of Chhayanat. I actually enjoy it thoroughly. I mainly sing Nazrul Geeti. So in our effort to spread information about Kazi Nazrul Islam to other places, we will be going to different places in the coming times. Hyderabad is one place where we will be going. Not only members of Chhayanat but local musicians will also be performing with us. This will help in spreading information about the poet to more people in the long run.

We hope that Somerita is successful in her efforts and takes Chhayanat to new heights!!