Quotable Quotes
Our club celebrates all events & festivals of various backgrounds with the same excitement and gung ho. Allowing children to such events justifies the tag that The DI is a family club - Karan Malhotra.
Being a member of The DI, me and my family get the feeling of being a part of a top notch family club in Kolkata, celebrating such speciality events very vibrantly - Suvaraj Bhattacharya.
With such positive feedback from our members, one thing was sure - The DI had added another successful and eventful evening to its cap. Read on and experience the last evening's celebrations :
Facts, figures and traditions
The Chinese New Year Celebrations took place on Saturday, 1st February. The venue for the event being Indoors@DI & Lawns@DI.
Chinese New Year is the Chinese festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar. The new year, also known in China as the Spring Festival, is marked by the lunisolar Chinese calendar; this means the date changes from year to year.
The first day of Chinese New Year begins on the new moon that appears between 21 January and 20 February. This year, the first day of the Chinese New Year was on Saturday, 25 January, which initiated the Year of the Rat. Rats symbolise wealth, intelligence, success and wisdom to the Chinese.
In preparation for the new year, the Chinese clean their homes and put up red decorations and lanterns. The celebrations then officially kick off with a New Year’s Eve family dinner, with fish and dumplings being served to encourage prosperity.
Back at the DI
A well lit and decorated Indoors@DI was a welcome venue for the evening.
Beautiful looking red chinese lanterns adorned the ceilings. The club was tastefully decorated with authentic chinese decoratives, suiting the theme of the event perfectly.
The MCs for the evening were Shaheen Faiyaz & Lorraine White. They began the evening by introducing the Chinese New Year to us all. Fine details of the event, shared by them, had the kids and the adults equally engrossed. Following their introduction were a set of highly synchronized and acrobatic dance performances, which had to be seen to be believed.
Hok-san Drumming - Drumming plays an important part in the art of Lion & Dragon Dances. Loud playing of a tanggu (a drum like instrument) a gong & cymbals were played in synchronized beats to wake up the souls of the lion & the dragon.
Northern Lion Dance - The dance is performed by a pair of male & female lions. Northern Lions are very playful and are eager to play with a ball that is controlled by their master. This act involved acrobats, high level of athleticism and physical prowess in order to be performed. Northern lions sometimes appear as a family, with two large adult lions and a pair of small young lions.
Double Lion Dance - The double lion dance is a symbolic dance with fruit having different meanings, that of luck, gold and wealth. The lions distribute the ornages to the crowd to wish wealth and prosperity to everyone. Lastly the lions present the fruits to a senior guest as a sign of gratitude and honour.
Another story of how the lion has to overcome obstacles to get its treasure - its food - is by showcasing The Bench Routine.
The benches are imaginary mountains, reflecting the tough terrain of ancient China. The hungry lion climbs these mountains in order to retrieve and find the food. It later chews the food and tosses it up the air to symbolize blessing and prosperity.
An interesting act was that of the Drunken Lion Dance. It was a story of a naughty and inquisitive lion jumping on tables, stumbling upon a big bottle of wine and eventually getting drunk on it.
Tai Chi & its benefits
Kartikey & Sylvia have co-founded Shine with Health in 2017, the only Tai Chi for Health school, upon successfully completing Instructor certificates from Tai Chi for Health Institute based in Sydney, Australia.
Tai Chi is a non-competitive martial art known for both its defense techniques and its health benefits. Some of the many health benefits include improved fitness & flexibility, balance control, reducing depression and also reducing pain.
Of Soup, Dumplings & Noodles
If the atmosphere inside was getting warmer with all the action, so was the food which was tastefully laid out at Lawns@DI. Three specialized caterers, keeping the chinese flavour in mind had laid out food counters, with options galore.
Meat Ball Soup, Red Meat Bao, Pork Steam Pao along with Noodles & Fried Rice (the latter two with vegetarian options included) were some of the delicacies for the evening.
To conclude my experience of the event, i would like to add that The DI had turned into a Mini Chinatown with all its fun and specialised dance performances, albeit for an evening.
A special mention for Tanya Robinson and her Entertainment Team for putting up yet another fun filled evening at our club. Something we all eagerly look forward to every month.
[Picture Credits : Shubham Poddar & Samarjit Choudhury
