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Description
Interview with Mr Kanai Chatterjee [KC] and Mrs Anamika Chatterjee [AC] about their memories and involvement with the Wales Puja Committee.
[00:00:00] KC has been involved in Puja Committee for 30 years. He describes how and when he got involved in Puja Festival in 1975. He names the people involved at the time. AC shares her memories of preparing food.
[00:00:00] KC has been involved in Puja Committee for 30 years. He describes how and when he got involved in Puja Festival in 1975. He names the people involved at the time. AC shares her memories of preparing food.
[00:06:06] KC talks of challenges they faced in the early days.
[00:07:10] AC mentions the challenges and importance of Puja to all Indians and talks of the challenge of collecting donations and running Puja for 6 days. KC describes the spread of Puja throughout Wales, and the experience of collecting donations in early days and now.
[00:12:05] KC most memorable experiences are collecting Chada (donations) and preparing for Puja. KC talks of Puja as an annual opportunity to socialise, with 2500 to 3000 people coming over 6 days. AC describes the pleasure of meeting young people and sharing her experiences with them.
[00:17:30] KC talks of his work in steel industry, where he met young people from India, at Tata steel, who became involved in Puja and it grew by word of mouth.
[00:18:58] KC describes his experience of becoming the main priest in Puja over the past 15 years. AC relates how this affects her, and how she became his assistant, how they learned the religious rituals.
[00:29:19] KC describes the influence of technology on Puja, how Puja excerpts have been televised in Cardiff and Kolkata.
[00:30:21] AC explains how the NHS has grown the Bengali community, and how the Puja cultural and social activities have increased in scale. KC believes that the cement holding the group together is that is the Puja is the greatest festival in the Hindu calendar, and encourages people to join.
[00:35:57] KC relates how the Durga Puja exhibition in St Fagans National Museum of History in 2008 spread knowledge widely among different communities.
[00:39:58] KC acknowledges the help he has received as a priest, and that he is glad to contribute to society.
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