Sanskriti – Our Journey
Sanskriti Reading came into existence in December 2007. It was founded by a group of families in Reading who are close friends and shared a passion and a vision to promote the rich heritage of India through various socio-cultural events.
The journey that began with a Saraswati Puja in 2008 gradually grew much bigger and many other likeminded people joined the organisation in its journey over the years and our members are now spread across the UK in Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, London, Birmingham and even in Manchester.
Sanskriti Reading was formed with an aim to fulfil certain objectives such as to provide a platform to integrate likeminded individuals, provide a place of instant inclusion of families newly migrated from the sub-continent; share and propagate the rich cultural heritage of India, in various ways, so that the young people of Indian origin growing up in the UK have a deep sense of their roots; lastly and most importantly host charity events donating the proceeds to causes, linked to India and to our present country, the UK.
Here we are now with a lot to be proud of and with many feathers in our cap.
Over the years our Kali Puja has been rated as one of the best in the UK and the number of guests we host has grown year on year.
Every year we host guests who travel from afar to attend our Kali Puja which is well known for its exclusive venues, beautiful puja ceremony with aarti and devotional songs, fireworks, amazing stalls and the post puja dinner is second to none. It’s a vibrant event and new elements are introduced every year to add excitement to the festivities.
Our objectives include community cohesion and showcasing the rich cultural heritage of India and to this end, we have successfully organised musical events, to full houses.
Sanskriti is extremely proud to have hosted renowned artists from India like Kabir Suman, Lopamudra Mitra, Sourendra Soumyajit, the RDB show with Aniruddha and Balaji, Iman Chatterjee, the Dohar group, Sounak Chattopadhyay and many others on the Sanskriti platform.
Our Kali Puja and Saraswati puja are the staple platforms for artists based in the UK and add to the popularity of our events.
Our charity efforts have been ongoing from our very inception, and we were very fortunate to be in a position to extend support in our small way, to organisations at grass root level, who helped people in India during the Amphan crisis and during Covid times.
Though we have come this far, the ethos and sentiment has remained the same – Sanskriti members are like one big family - and that has always been our core strength. We have pulled through the difficult Covid years with each other’s support and kindness. We have been there to alleviate each other’s anxiety about family back home and been comforted by Sanskriti friends when the virus struck.
Post Covid, we have emerged stronger as individuals and as an organisation and our Kali Puja in 2022 is a glowing testimonial to where we stand within the community as a popular organisation. We had a footfall of over 1000 guests, who beat bad weather to attend our event.
We are pleased to say that we became a registered charity in 2021, so our resolve to give back to the community is stronger than ever. Sanskriti has charity objectives and we are trying to make a difference in our own small way. More details of our charitable endeavours can be found in the Charity page.
Executive Committee 2024
- President : Probal Majumder
- Secretary : Suchi Basu
- Treasures : Soumitra Roy & Dibyendu Bhattacharya
- Other Committee Members : Somnath, Sushmita, Ratna, Sanjoy, Rini, Aditi, Sharmistha, Shaoli, Urbbi, Mallika, Pronoy, Sujata, Madhu, Krishna, Tushar, Bedanuj, Kuheli, Nupur
