Revival of Santiniketan’s Poush Mela hangs between hope and uncertainty

Uncertainty hangs over revival of Poush Mela, Santiniketan's 1895 winter fair, due to lack of time, software, boundary walls and ponds full of weeds. VBUFA is keen to cooperate to make 2023 edition a success, to benefit local villagers and economy

Uncertainty hangs over the possible revival this year of Poush Mela — Santiniketan’s winter fair that dates back to 1895 and which was last held in 2019 — even though hopes are high with a new, albeit officiating, Vice-Chancellor taking over Visva-Bharati, which conducts the event.

A meeting was held between the Santiniketan Trust (which is responsible for the event ever since its inception) and Visva-Bharati (which organises it) on Tuesday and while participants seemed hopeful, it may not be easy to restore the tradition at such short notice.

To begin with, a much-needed software developed by IIT-Kharagpur for allocation of stalls and collection of rent has long expired and time is short. Also, the venue is now covered by a boundary wall — many walls were constructed around Visva-Bharati properties during the tenure of Bidyut Chakrabarty, whose term ended November 4 — and whether it would be safe to have a large number of people in an enclosed area is yet to be ascertained. Also, the three ponds that supply water to the venue are full of weeds and need cleaning.

The holding of the Poush Mela, which begins on the seventh day of the Bengali month of Poush (usually late December), was part of the deed when Rabindranath Tagore’s father Debendranath formed the Santiniketan Trust in 1888. At the time, and also during the time of the Nobel laureate, it was meant to be held for the benefit of local villagers and included theatre and musical performances. Over the years, it transformed into a rural event organised for the benefit of urban visitors and became a primary contributor to Santiniketan’s economy.

As its size grew, so did the problems, such as failure to follow environmental norms, as a result of which the fair earned the ire of the authorities in 2019, when they slapped the university with a fine of ₹10 lakh. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and after that Prof. Chakrabarty, who was rarely on cordial terms with the local people, never quite made an attempt to revive the Poush Mela, which had seen only two interruptions in its long history, both in the 1940s, once due to the famine and again due to the Second World War.

“The halt of Poush Mela for the past four years has had a detrimental impact on the livelihoods of the local community and individuals involved in crafts, which adversely affected the overall rural economy. In light of this, VBUFA and its members are ready to cooperate with you. We are keenly interested in participating in various committees and sub-committees to make Poush Mela 2023 a resounding success,” Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association or VBUFA, a strong critic of the previous Vice-Chancellor, wrote to the officiating V-C, Prof. Sanjoy Mallik.