Singer Carlyta Mohini Maria performs for Alipore women inmates

Kolkata: The Bengali New Year's celebrations for the inmates of Alipore Women Correctional Home came a day later. However, they had no reasons to regret as their second day of the Bengali New Year (Doosra Baisakh) began in a grand manner with Carlyta Mohini Maria entertaining them for more than an hour churning out her popular numbers one after the other.

"We decided to give our inmates an experience that they will cherish through out their lives. They are within the four walls of the prison but on this auspicious occasion when the entire state celebrated on their own way, the 300 odd inmates were also entertained to their hilt as they joined in chorus and clapped for

Maria's solo cultural programme," said Arun Kumar Gupta, Director General of state Correctional Services.

Maria, an Indo-Brazilian singer and songwriter, is known for her popular number 'Senorita' from the film 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' in 2011. She had preformed for the inmates in a number of prisons across the country that includes the Tihar jail in Delhi, Arthur Road jail and Byculla Jail in Mumbai, Yerawada Central Jail in Pune, and Jodhpur Central Jail.

"The participation from the inmates was very encouraging. The excitement among them was palpable with their sparkling eyes and smiling faces as they joined in chorus," Maria said.

"The most interesting part of the programme was Maria's ability to make the inmates involved in her performances. Apart from her

popular foot tapping Bollywood numbers, she sang Baul songs and made the inmates sing with her," Das said.

According to sources in the Correctional Administration department, Maria who came to the city a few days back was roped in by Social Entrepreneur Chaitali Das of Rakshak Foundation who has been providing skill development training to the inmates of the Home on manufacturing jute products for the last few years.

It may be mentioned that Maria who is a Brazilian with Portuguese as her mother tongue is widely popular in Bollywood with popular songs like 'Delhi ki Sardi,' 'Le Le Maza Le', etc to her credit.

The Presidency Central Correctional Home situated only a few kilometers away from the Women home had Dev and Rukmini Mitra amongst them on Sunday evening (Poila Baisakh) as they watched a compilation of the best scenes from the film 'Kabir'.