Click Picnic 2009 above for more pictures.
After a prolonged and lingering winter the Bengali community of the Greater Washington area had a jumpstart on June 6 when the Annual picnic was hosted by members of the Sanskriti family.
People from near and far off locations ignored the cloud laden chili morning to gather in Shelter C of Blackhill Regional Park to kick off the event by lighting the grills that was to feed the cheerful crowd during the sunny day ahead. It was a perfect blend of the old and new, kids and the grown ups totaling a record number over 200. It was an exhibit of friendship and co-operation with people taking turns to cook the food under the scorching sun and join the fun that comes with the spirit of togetherness. Highlights of the event were (i) a continuous supply of irresistible food with a dash of “phuchka” towards the end of the day and (ii) a plethora of entertaining games. None of these would, however, have been possible without the voluntary efforts and participation of the community members.

The morning started with a traditional Bengali “jol-khabar” of muri, singara and amriti swiping everyone down the memory lanes of days past. It triggered formation of small “adda” groups under the shelter and in the shades of the near-by trees. Kids frolicked around unleashing their spirit of freedom, groups formed to play soccer, football, cricket and badminton alongside our omnipresent and omniscient “taash” groups. The nice, warm morning air soon filled with giggles and laughter of our friends and humming of traditional Indian songs and the chatters of the cooks around the BBQ grills. If there was one instance of many cooks not spoiling a broth it was the BBQ preps of the day. There was no dearth of volunteer cooks and yet they were never in excess. Over 600 pieces of chicken and packs after packs of burger and hot dogs had kept our culinary experts busy till dusk.

The morning rolled into the afternoon seamlessly and brought with it a flurry of activities in addition to the copious lunch. Board personals and community members joined hands in organizing a series of games. The first one was “tossing the balloon” that involved pairs made up of one kid and one grown up. It was a game of co-ordination and precision. The proud winners were 10 year old Sounak Chakraborty and his able partner Suman Mukhopadhyay. The second game in the series was musical chair which had a huge number of participants and went for almost an hour. The first two prizes were smartly bagged by Rupa Gupta and Richik Chatterjee. Then there was “passing the parcel” which did not have any specific winner. Finally there was “Bingo” and the winners were Ankana Sarkar, Ramen De, Biswajit De, Sikhin Mitra, Jayati Bera and Sunil Kundu. It is worth mentioning that Sikhin-da had won two prizes and volunteered to forgo one to add another member from the community in the list of winners and keep the game going. Following the game, the participants gathered for a serious discussion on Banga Sammelan 2011 and came up with a list of constructive suggestions. This was followed by the tongue tingling Phuchka party that can boast of people waiting in long lines for their turns. On the heels of the puchka party was the “khichuri” dinner.

Picnic is never long enough and ours certainly was no exception. As the sun went down the horizon the event had to be wrapped up. Community members reluctantly bid good-bye to each other and carried with them a new memory to cherish for years to come and take pride in forming it.