Kala Manishi honored in 74th Guru Purnima Mahotsav

The 74th Guru Purnima Mahotsav and Gurujan Samman Ceremony was organized on 28th July 2024 in the main auditorium of Grand Hotel Agra under the joint aegis of Pandit Raghunath Talegaonkar Foundation Trust and Sangeet Kala Kendra, Agra.

The program started with the lighting of the lamp in front of revered Shri Ganpati and Maa Saraswati and pictures of Pt. Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, Pt. Raghunath Talegaonkar, Mrs. Sulabha Ji, Rani Saroj Gaurihar, Ustad Lallu Singh and Sangeet Nakshatra Pt. Keshav Ji.

But special guest Dr. R. S. Pareek (awarded Padmashree) and members of the organization were garlanded. As the first presentation of the program, little students of Sangeet Kala Kendra, Nihi Singh and Shanaira Lal, sang a beautiful song of Saraswati Vandana – Jai Jai Mata Sharde. In the next presentation, Guru Vandana – Guru Teri Mahima Aparampar’s beautiful composition was presented by Raghav Garg, Shagun Sharma, Gauransh Sharma, Rhythm Chaturvedi and Ayaina Dua.

Thereafter, the members of the organization welcomed Dr. Pareek by offering him garlands and clothes and Dr. Pareek enlightened the audience present in the auditorium by sharing his experiences related to music.

After this, under the direction of Pt. Ravindra Talegaonkar, a beautiful rendition of Raga Kalyan was played on Samvadini by Paurush Awasthi. Thereafter, Yuvraj Dixit enthralled the audience by singing Guru Bin Gyan Kahan Se Paun in Raga Alhaiya Bilawal. After this, on the western instrument keyboard, Hardik Rajvansh presented the sequential playing of Masitkhani in Raga Vrindavani Sarang and Aalap-Jod-Jhala in Razakhani Gat with preparation.

After this, according to the season, Archie and Aarushi Rai composed Saavan Ayo Ghir Ghir in Raag Desh and Divyanshi, Abhilasha Shukla, Mehak Jadaun, Arya Bhati and Isha Seth presented the bhajan Guru Bin Gyan Nahi.

This presentation was done under the direction of Guru Maa Smt. Pratibha ji. Tabla accompaniment by Dr. Lokendra Talegaonkar and Samvadini was accompanied by the center’s young seeker Mr. Pratyush Vivek Pandey.

After these melodious presentations, certificates and medals were given to the students by organization members Mrs. Vatsala Prabhakar and Dr. Abha Chaturvedi. The next presentation of the program was the tabla playing of Mr. Soham Mishra, son of Dr. Bharat Mishra and son of Dr. Bharat Mishra, the representative artist of Banaras Gharana who came from Lucknow. You enthralled the audience by presenting Banaras Gharana traditional compositions in Jhaptal in a systematic manner with special preparation. Pt. Ravindra Talegaonkar did the fellowship on Samvadini skillfully.

After that, distinguished personalities of the city were honored for doing special work in their area. Senior doctor of the city, Dr. M.C. Gupta was given the title of “Medical Artist”, Pt Sheetal Prasad Mishra was awarded the title of “Music Artist”, Shri Ramendra Mohan Tripathi was awarded the title of “Literary Artist” by Prof. Jyotsna Raghuvanshi as “Natya Shilpi”, Shri Sanjay Tiwari as “Mass Communication Shilpi”, Smt. Jyoti Khandelwal as President of the organization Mr. Vijay Pal Singh Chauhan, Vice President Mr. Anil Verma, Mr. Arun Dang, Mr. Ambrish Patel, Dr. Mangala Mathkar, Dr. Manisha, Mr. Neeraj Jain, with the honorary honor of “Adarsh ​​Guru” and Mr. Ramesh Chandra as “Vadya Shilpi”. Dr. Mahesh Chandra Dhakad and Mrs. Pratibha Talegaonkar honored him by presenting him with garland, clothes and certificate of honor.

As the final presentation of the program, the students of Nritya Jyoti Kathak Kendra, Agra collectively presented the traditional dance Rupak Taal under the able guidance of their Guru Vidushi Jyoti Khandelwal ji. You concluded the presentation with Sawan Ki Thumri in which Swarnima Singh, Riddhi Gupta, Anvi Pandey and Agrima Singh mesmerized the audience by beautifully performing the Ashtanayika form through acting and dance.

Tabla accompaniment was done by Dr. Bhanu Pratap Singh and singing accompaniment by Shri Mahendra Pratap Singh efficiently. The program was conducted by Shri Shri Krishna Ji, Program Executive, Akashvani Agra, through the history of the organization, importance of Guru Shishya tradition and beautiful combination of words. Institution President Shri Vijaypal Singh Chauhan expressed his gratitude to all the colleagues, ladies and students.

The city’s eminent personalities were present in the program, including – Shri Yogesh Sharma, Dr. Arun Chaturvedi, Sudhir Narayan, Abhay Potade, Dr. Pradeep Srivastava, Sandeep Arora, Deepak Prahlad, Jyoti Prasad, Dhanwantari Parashar, Mohit Kumar, Partho Sen, Sushil Sarit, Dr. Aanshwana, Dr. Kamal Arora, Payal Singh, Aanchal Jain etc.