Chat with Mr Indra Deb and Sudeshna Sen

Transcribed by : Divya Mendiratta

Gauri :  Hello everybody, Welcome to The Foundations TV. Our guest tonight is Mr. Indra Deb from ‘Prabasi organization’, which is a Bengali organization. Welcome to Foundations TV Mr. Indra Deb.

Indrabrata  : Thank you for having me.

Gauri :  It’s a pleasure, it’s absolutely a pleasure. So why don’t we just dive right into the organization. Can you share something about it, what is it, when it was stated and what is the mission of it?

Indrabrata :  Definitely. Actually the ‘Prabasi organization’ started even before I came in Boston in 1981. What I heard that Prabasi started Saraswati Pooja in 1973. And after that it has grown so much, that we have done Sarswati Pooja, Durga pooja , Kobi Jayanti and few other events. When ‘Prabasi organization’ started there were few members, but now we have about 500-600 members. What we do, is what I was saying, we do Saraswati Pooja, we do Durga Pooja and Kobi Jayanti. Kobi Jayanti is to celebrate all the poets in India. Other thing we do is of course the picnic. And besides that, we have done few other events. Anything else you want to know.

Gauri :  So basically what I’m hearing is it’s all about keeping the heritage, keeping the traditions, keeping the cultural aspects going. Giving it to the next generation as well. Is that the mission?

Indrabrata :  That’s right. Definitely. The cultural and the religious. The Bengali heritage, with some religious things just to keep up. And that satisfy ourselves also.

Gauri :  Absolutely. Mr Indra deb is the chairman of the board of trustees of the organization. That does gives us a lot of good information, and leads us into our next section of this interview. So thank you so much for being with us today.

Indrabrata : Thank you.

Gauri :  Our next guest tonight is my very dear friend Sudeshna Sen. Welcome to Foundations TV Sudeshna. I’m so happy to have you here. And there is a very nice and exciting show coming up, so that’s what we are going to be talking about tonight. I want you to tell our audiences about that show.

Sudeshna :  Sure. We are very excited to host the Babul Supriyo concert on Saturday, Oct 5^th. Babul Supriyo is a Bengali who made it in Bollywood, so we are very proud of him. He is a kind of a contemporary of Shaan, and people know who Shaan is, and they are friends. Babul Supriyo came to America in late 80s with Kalyan ji Anand Ji. Did a tour, got his break that way and then by mid 90s he was doing a lot of songs in Bollywood. And some of the songs and movies that he is famous for have been featured in movies like Fanna, Hum tum, Agneepariksha, Hello brother and Kaho Na Pyaar hai. So he has done playback for lot of famous stars like Saif Ali Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Amir Khan.

Gauri :  Yaa, and when I found out about Babul Supriyo coming here, to Boston, I actually went of You tube and I started to look at what he has done. And he has done some brilliant live performances with Asha Bhosle and other renowned singers as well. So I really enjoyed. So he not only sings his own songs but he sings very melodiously some other songs as well, right?

Sudeshna :  Right.

Gauri :  So Sudeshna our next question is, from what I understand this is a combination of the Durga Pooja as well as the Bollywood aspect, where Babul Supriyo will be singing. Is that right?

Sudeshna :  Absolutely Gauri. Durga Pooja is the biggest function of Bengali’s for the year. And we like to host good cultural event. So we decided this year we would invite Babul Supriyo               . Who is not only Bengali but has National appeal, and I think has universal Appeal. People who like music will enjoy him. So we are very excited. And we really hope to see a full audience. So we are really hoping we’re going to completely sell out, which we are on our way to doing. And have a wonderful time.

Gauri :  So people are going to be able to Dance along?

Sudeshna :  Absolutely, it’s going to have full Bollywood flavor, dhamaka and masala, and dancing and everything.

Gauri :  I’m so going to this one. This is going to be so much fun. A little birdy actually came and told me something really - really exciting, specifically for our female audiences. Now can you elaborate on that little bit?

Sudeshna :  Yes. So Babul Supriyo is looking to find a female vocalist to sing with.

Gauri :  Ahhh.. Oh my god. That is awesome.

Sudeshna :  Yes it is really awesome. It is a wonderful idea. And actually it is very generous of him to have someone of his caliber to be willing to sing with somebody he doesn’t know and hasn’t practice with. The way to do it, if you are interested, female audiences, is you send an audio and visual to a place and a site which Gauri will inform you. And you will be screened, that’s your audition, there are judges to pick, and you will be informed. On that evening it will be announced, so you’ll have to come to the show. And you will be picked from the audience to sing with him. Of course we will give you little prep time, so it’s not completely cold, you’ll be comfortable. And it’s going to be a fantastic experience. We are so excited about that.

Gauri :  Boston is full of talented , singing females. I’m sure they’re going to be flooding over. We are going to post this information on The Foundations TV tomorrow morning.

Sudeshan :  Thank you.

Gauri :  Absolutely. It’s such a pleasure to work with ‘Prabasi Organisation’. It has been a very nice experience from the beginning till now and going forward as well.

Sudeshan :  For us too.

Gauri :  That’s speaks so highly of the organization. So we’ll have all that information on the site, and we’ll also be posting information about tickets. Did you want to talk about it right now?

Sudeshan :  Yes. The tickets are $40, $70 and $100, they are pretty reasonable. We have all my ticketing agents, and again Gauri will post it. You can go online and buy. Tickets are also going to be available may be on that evening. But that is little risky, because we are hoping to sell out and have full house. So it’s much better to go online. And thank you Gauri for posting that information.

Gauri :  Yes , I would highly recommended that people go ahead of time and reserve their tickets. Because you never know if it’s sold out ahead of time then they will be disappointed.

Sudeshan :  They will miss a nice evening.

Gauri :  So that’s super exciting.

Sudeshan :   We are very excited, we can’t wait.

Gauri :  I know.

Sudeshan :  Counting the days.

Gauri :  Yaa, that’s great. Thank you so much first of all for choosing Foundations TV as your media partner for this program. We are super excited. And you being such a wonderful friend mine too it’s even more special.

Sudeshan :  Thank you Gauri. It’s been a pleasure.

Gauri :  Yes it’s been a great time with you. Thank you for coming.