Village festival for folk lyrics in Bhola

A festival for poetic lyrics will end today in Bhola. The festival starting yesterday will end today in the village of Bapta at a local's residence. The tradition of holding such festival dates as far as 250 years back. Villagers in Bhola are still trying to preserve this tradition against the onslaught of modern media. Monoronjon Dey, president of the organising committee hoped that the dying folk culture of the country might be revived with such efforts. He added that hundreds of villagers come from afar to take part in the festival. The festival is arranged every year after the Lakshmi Puja. Songs, debates by two contesting folk poets are the chief attractions of such festivals. Along with these a village fair, musical evenings are also held in the annual festival in Bhola.
Sharat Sarkar from Gopalganj's Kotalipara and Gautam Sarkar from Tungipara are taking part against one another in this year's festival. Sharat Sarkar said that he has been performing in such festivals for nearly forty years in different parts of the country.