As Bengali Association Singapore marks its 70th anniversary, Durga Puja celebrates the traditions, friendships and shared effort that have helped generations find a home in the Lion City.
For many Bengalis, Durga Puja begins long before the first prayer. It arrives in memories: the fragrance of shiuli flowers, the rhythm of the dhak, a favourite saree brought out for the occasion, and conversations about where everyone will gather.
In Singapore, those familiar rituals carry a particular warmth. Far from ancestral homes, the festival becomes a place to reconnect — with a language, a childhood, old friends and the reassuring feeling of being among one’s own. For seven decades, Bengali Association Singapore (BAS) has helped nurture that belonging, while opening its celebrations to the wider community.
This October, its annual Durga Puja takes on the added significance of BAS’s 70th anniversary. The celebrations will unfold from October 16 to 21 at the open ground between Owen Road, Burmah Road and Farrer Park Station Road, next to Farrer Park Hospital. Minister of State Dinesh Vasu Dash is scheduled to attend as Guest of Honour on October 16. Alongside the religious observances, Confluence 2026 will bring music, dance and cultural performances to the gathering.
Yet the association’s story extends well beyond the festive programme.
Founded in 1956, BAS has grown into a non-profit socio-cultural organisation with more than 1,000 member families. Its members live, study, work and contribute to Singapore, carrying their cultural inheritance into the everyday life of the city.
For newcomers, an association such as BAS can offer the first reassuring circle of friendships in an unfamiliar place. For families who have lived here for decades, it provides continuity. For children growing up in Singapore, it makes Bengali culture something they can experience through people, stories, music and celebration.
That connection is sustained throughout the year. Rabindra-Nazrul Jayanti, cultural productions, sports, picnics and social gatherings create opportunities to meet and participate. Someone who first comes for Puja may return for a performance, join an activity and, over time, become one of the volunteers helping the next newcomer feel welcome.
BAS president Debananda Ghosh’s published message reflects that experience. Recalling his own association with BAS after arriving in Singapore, he describes a community that helped sustain his Bengali identity. His priorities for 2026 include greater member participation, stronger outreach and meaningful contributions to society. The association’s guiding phrase, “tomar amar shobar” — yours, mine, everyone’s — expresses the spirit behind that work.
Durga Puja brings it into its most vivid form.
There is devotion, but also the pleasure of gathering: bhog shared in company, the easy flow of adda, the excitement of cultural performances and the reunion with familiar faces. Children learn by joining in. Parents revisit customs they grew up with. Older members see traditions carried forward by another generation.
Behind these moments is considerable community effort. Volunteers give their time to preparations, rehearsals, hospitality and the many practical tasks that allow a large celebration to feel welcoming. Their contribution is often most visible in the ease with which everyone else can enjoy the occasion.
For visitors encountering Bengali culture for the first time, the festival offers a warm introduction. Food, music and performance invite curiosity, while shared company makes conversation possible. Confluence broadens that invitation, reflecting BAS’s commitment to cultural, racial and religious understanding in Singapore.
The association’s community work gives substance to that intention. During Puja in 2020, BAS organised a Bengali lunch for 400 migrant workers. Its cultural programmes have included Bangladeshi migrant workers and participants from HOME, the organisation supporting migrant workers. In 2025, its Youth Wing organised a beach clean-up at East Coast Park.
These efforts belong in the anniversary story. They show how friendships formed around a shared culture can grow into care for others and responsibility towards the city that members call home.
BAS’s anniversary celebration at KC Arts Centre on August 29 revisited its journey through cultural production and Bengali comedy. The forthcoming Puja carries that celebration into a larger gathering, bringing together those who have shaped the association over the years and those who will take it forward.
Seventy years is a milestone measured in more than dates. It lives in friendships that have endured, children who have grown up attending the celebrations, and volunteers who return year after year. It lives, too, in the newcomer who arrives knowing few people and leaves with a reason to come back.
This October, visitors will find much to enjoy at Farrer Park. For the community that has built and sustained BAS, the occasion holds something deeper: the pleasure of welcoming Durga, and one another, home.
Visit the celebrations
Durga Puja and Confluence 2026: October 16–21Bijoya Sammiloni: October 24Venue: Open ground between Owen Road, Burmah Road and Farrer Park Station Road, next to Farrer Park Hospital.
Refer to the accompanying posters for programme timings and visitor information. For visitor entry information and updates, visit www.bas.sg or contact BAS at +65 9655 1463 / [email protected].
