Durga Puja - Austin - Central Texas Bengali Association
www.ctbaaustin.org
Central Texas Bengali Association
The memories of the grand Durga Puja held in the beautiful new Asian American Resource Center of 2013 is still fresh in our minds. Crowds of hundreds gathered together for two days of devotional celebration, great cultural programs and delicious food. We all left feeling happy and joyful and looking forward to other programs that CTBA will prepare for its members throughout the coming year.
Now rewind to the year 1982. That year, approximately eighty five Bengali residents of Austin got together to celebrate, Saraswati Puja and Bijoya Sammelan in the UT Student Community Center, paying a rental charge of $10.00. A far cry from the scene of 2013, but the importance is notable, as this was the birth of the cultural organization, we now know as the Central Texas Bengali Association of Austin.
Under the guidance of Prasanta and Binita Bose, Samar and Mita Mukherjee and Amit and Jharna Sarkar and a group of enthusiastic young UT students and their families this group began to thrive and gathered new families that moved to Austin as members. In 1991, the first Durga Puja was celebrated in the Leander Public Library. The “Protima” was created by an UT student of non Indian origin with the help of an Indian student. A crowd of approximately 300 strong attended this celebration, coming from Houston, College Station and San Antonio. In 1997 the members got the first Durga Protima from India.
In April 2000 Central Texas Bengali Association of Austin was established as a non-profit organization and was run by elected officials. In 2007, after a successful fund raising effort and a generous member response, the executive committee was able to purchase a new Durga Protima from Kumortuli and the Puja was celebrated with great enthusiasm.
Over the years, CTBA, as any other cultural organization has gone through ups and downs but sustained a steady pace of escalation since its modest initiation. The dreams of a few and the whole hearted efforts of many created this wonderful organization which we, the Austin Bengali’s, are very proud to call our own.
Central Texas Bengali Association has been there for our spiritual, cultural and social needs and gratification and we would not be astonished to see it surpass its past achievements in future. We will watch with eager anticipation the future path and growth of CTBA under the proficient leadership of Dr. Niloy Deb and the competent executive committee members and support from the present and the new community members who will be joining us in the coming years.
CTBA’s newly launched website will keep the community and interested others informed of the future plans and activity as well as serve as a resource to the new arrivals in Austin and the neighboring areas.
