London, United Kingdom Sep 13, 2021 (Issuewire.com) - Bengalis are a thriving community in the UK. Bengal Heritage Foundation (BHF) celebrated the heritage and culture of Bengal through 3 key events in August. The celebrations coincided with South Asian Heritage Month.
The month started with a commemoration at Kensal Green Cemetery in London where Prince Dwarakanath Tagore, an entrepreneur, a pioneer in Indo-British Trade and grandfather of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore lies at rest. BHF has worked with cemetery authorities to clean the tombstone and restore its resting place and has been holding commemoration ceremonies since 2018. The commemoration was joined by people from all around the UK who gathered around the monument to Dwarkanath Tagore, where wreaths were placed around his tomb by Rohit Vadhwana, the First Secretary, High Commission of India in the UK, the descendants of the Tagore family and members of BHF. This was followed by a service at the Dissenters’ Chapel through songs and eulogies celebrating the remarkable life of Dwarkanath Tagore. Simultaneous celebrations were held in India at Raniganj, where Dwarkanath Tagore set the foundations of his business empire.
A community football day for the Indian diaspora and the British citizens on 22nd August, kicked start the celebrations for the 75th year of Indian Independence. An annual event, which is organised by BHF, saw an expanded format of community teams from across the Indian diaspora challenging each other for the Indian Superfans League (ISL) the UK. The league was encouraged by Gaitri Issar Kumar, the High Commissioner of India in the UK, very keen on initiatives to bring Indian communities together. The one-day event was inspired by the premier Indian football league – the Indian Super League. The 6 fan clubs that participated in the tournament were SC East Bengal Super Fans, ATK Mohun Bagan Super Fans, Odisha FC Super Fans, Mumbai City FC Super Fans, FC Goa Super Fans and Kerala Blasters Super Fans. The fan clubs were planned and organised in discussion with the ISL team owners and with their active support. The team owners also shared their home jerseys for fan teams and shipped them from India. The tournament was sanctioned as community tournament by the Football Association (FA) in England and was officiated by FA licensed referees. Star players from ISL like ATK Mohun Bagan’s talisman striker David Williams, midfielder Bikash Jairu of SC East Bengal, winger Jerry Mawihmingthanga of Odisha FC, the fourth most capped ISL player Harmanjot Khabra of Kerala Blasters, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy of Mumbai City FC along with Spanish coach of FC Goa Juan Ferrando Fennoll have sent inspiring messages to excite the super fan teams. The President of Odisha FC, Raj Athwal, and Bobby Mudhar, Director, FA Bedfordshire travelled down to London to join the event. Odisha FC Superfans lifted the ISL UK trophy after beating Mumbai City Superfans on penalties, after an enthralling league. The final ceremony saw the six teams joined by the BHF kids in a wonderful performance.
BHF has also organised ‘London Sharad Mela’, a carnival for festive shopping and kids’ activities making it an exciting family day event. The carnival was a fantastic platform for budding community entrepreneurs to showcase their products. Seventeen entrepreneurs joined in the two home stalls to showcase handicrafts, apparel, accessories to utility home products. Mouth-watering Indian dishes had people queueing up for food. The strong attendance made the event a huge success. It was the first major Indian diaspora gatherings post the relaxation of lockdown norms in the UK and marked a great start to the festive season. BHF has already started preparations for Europe’s biggest Durga Puja celebrations – London Sharad Utsav to be held in Ealing town hall between 14 October - 17 October.
Media Contact
Joydeep Pal *****@gmail.com http://bengalheritagefoundation.org/
