Sojourn to Santiniketan called off as Poush Mela cancelled due to COVID-19

‘Poush Mela’, the annual handicraft, art and cultural festival that
attracts lakhs of travellers to the renowned cultural centre Santiniketan in
West Bengal, will not be held this year due to COVID-19 restraints, an official
said.

The 125-year-old art-and-music festival is usually held in December.

“We are not sure about getting the nod from the local
administration in view of the COVID-19 situation. Keeping all these factors in
mind, we had to take this unpleasant decision for public health safety”, a
member of Visva-Bharati’s executive council said.

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The decision was taken at a high-level meeting of the executive council.

The ‘Poush Mela’ was the brainchild of Maharish Debendranath Tagore,
Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s father, who first organised the fair in
1894. From 1951, Visva-Bharati, the university founded by the bard, took the
onus on themselves to organise the festival.

The festival’s namesake ‘Poush Utsav’ will however take place on December
23, and will encompass prayers and devotional songs in the varsity campus, he
said.

The ‘Poush Mela’ was under speculation in the last few months. In July,
Visva-Bharati authorities had decided to scrap the event due to a tiff with
traders to comply with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) guidelines during the
winter carnival, an official of the council claimed.

In late August, the varsity expressed their inclination to organise the
mela, provided they get financial help from the government.

The Visva-Bharati will observe its foundation day on December 24, which
will be attended by the Union education minister and the West Bengal governor.