Bhojohari Manna in London

Nov 16 last, Bhojohari Manna descended on the terrace of Star Theater - courtesy Arijit Dutta of Priya Entertainment - in what was the first Bengali full-course lunch during the Kolkata Film Festival. Those lucky ones like me who have partaken Bhojohari Manna’s fares in one of their restaurants would vouch for its all-too-Bengali tasty preparations.

Manna Dey’s famous rendition, Ami Sri Sri Bhojohari Manna, in which the chef-cum-gourmet is shown conjuring up salivating dishes, is the inspiration behind so naming the Bengali food joint. Already 4-restaurants old, Bhojohari Manna now plans one outlet soon in Dhaka, to be quickly followed by a 45-seater one in London. According to Siddharta Chatterjee, one of its promoters, there is little doubt that the London outlet will prove a resounding success.

Not to be left behind, Anjan Chatterjee’s Oh! Calcutta too plans foray into British capital. His 5000 sq ft outlet in Wimbledon – though planned sometime ago – is expected to open by Poila Baisakh.

May the Chatterjees’ achieve all success in their ventures!

Related reading: Bangla cuisine to woo the West

Sir Jagadish – who could win Nobel

Nearly 90 years after Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi co-shared the 1909 Nobel Physics Prize with Karl Ferdinand Braun for development of wireless telegraphy, the US-based IEEE (Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers) has in a special issue in January 1998 reported that it was Sir Jagadish, who first invented wireless communication, which was at least a year before Marconi did. [Image courtesy]

This means Sir Jagadish should have been the Nobel Prize winner in place of Marconi, had he decided to patent his invention, which he didn’t but Marconi did. Sir Jagadish didn’t believe in patenting his discoveries because he felt that by doing so it would deprive science of its progress. Instead he welcomed others to build upon his works, which is how Marconi eventually came to be recognized for consideration of Nobel Prize.

But Sir Jagadish was a person of many talents. To him go the honors of several other firsts, some of which are as under:

He was the first Indian to teach science in the prestigious Presidency College of Calcutta in 1885.

He became the first science fiction writer in Bengali, when his Niruddesher Kahini was published in 1896.

He was the first Indian to get a US Patent (No: 755840) in 1904. His colleagues did this for him in spite of his obvious reluctance.

He earned knighthood in 1916 in recognition of his talent.

He invented crescograph in 1927 to show that plants have life and respond to various stimuli.

And of course, he could have been the first Indian to win a Nobel Prize.

Today, on his 148th birth anniversary, our heads bow to this multifaceted persona. In today’s frenetic times, it may not be customary to remember the great sons of soil, but Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose shall remain the pioneer of pioneers in all time to come.

Related reading:

• Jagadish Chandra Bose – Beyond Contemporary Comprehension
• Another JC Bose birthday set to pass off silently

Accessing net

Apropos my Monday post, Net-savvy Kolkattans, here are the percentage figures of city-wise Internet usage pattern in the IAMAI/IMRB International Survey, I-Cube vide today's ET.

1. Delhi
   Home: 33 Office: 20 Cafe: 42 School/College: 3
   
   
2. Mumbai
   Home: 27 Office: 32 Cafe: 32 School/College: 8
   
   
3. Kolkata
   Home: 42 Office: 19 Cafe: 31 School/College: 4
   
   
4. Bangalore
   Home: 23 Office: 15 Cafe: 42 School/College: 17
   
   
5. Hyderabad
   Home: 46 Office: 14 Cafe: 37 School/College: 2
   
   
6. Pune
   Home: 22 Office: 24 Cafe: 49 School/College: 4

India’s male bloggers

Do you blog? If this was the question asked of over 1000 Indian MSN portal users, an overwhelming majority of 76% male must have replied ‘yes’. This is revealed in the recently released Blogging India: An MSN and Windows Live Report (..more).

The report says that just about 14% of online users are regular bloggers, though 39% of them say they know what blog is. I would know because when I asked 10 of my techie and not-so-techie friends to take a peek at my blog (I wanted to hear some words of praise), only 2 of them cared to do me favor.

In fact, a web designer friend of mine said, "Who would have time to look at blogs dear? Don’t you think it’s a waste of time?" When I said blogs can indeed make you decent sum of money, he looked incredulous. As if he never heard a bigger joke than this!

Coming to MSN report, let me crunch a few stats. Young adults lead the pack of bloggers, with 54% of them between 25 and 34 years. No surprise there, for the concept itself is relatively new. What is also not surprising is that nearly 32% of blog readers prefer technology blogs.

More than half the respondents find blogs by business leaders and politicians to be the most enjoyable to read. I’m inclined to believe their blogs are mostly written by ghost writers instead of they themselves. This is not to cast doubt on their writing abilities. I rather believe – being a writer myself – that if you’re not an ardent writer, it’s pretty difficult to belt out interesting things everyday. It just does not happen – you may take it or leave it.

Lastly, I can’t help making a point. The survey is based on users of MSN portal, which is a conglomerate of virtually everything one does online, though its web-search is now powered by Windows Live. In my knowledge, MSN users in India are a lot fewer than those who prefer Google. Thus, this survey may not be as reflective as the one in which users of other portals are also included. To that extent, take this survey with a pinch of salt.

Blog first! [Picture source, © Dr. Trey Martindale]

Technorati Tags: msn, blog, windows, windows live, google, india

Have money, will tour

I don’t know if the definitions have changed, but in my time, in olden days, we were taught that as a person becomes rich, his needs start to trace an upward graph. Thus, if food, cloth and minimum shelter were once his primary needs in that order, with more money his next needs would encompass health, education for his kids, and a sweet home (+ car). In India though, it would perhaps be education for kids first before health.

If these are the basic needs of life for a decent living, what would a person look for if he has yet more money at his command? Here the priority changes from person to person, culture to culture and also depends on age profile. Among the most preferred choices are intelligent savings for more comfortable future, ensuring top-class education for sons/daughters, spending on entertainment, visiting places, and splurging on supposedly non-essentials.

Of these, my choice is to see more and more places (though admittedly I’m not as better-off to warrant more than one visit away per year). But guess what, I’m not alone to be possessed with that choice.

Going by a report in today’s ET (The Economic Times, Kolkata), Indians and Chinese increasingly dominate the intra-Asian tourism scenario. The January-September 2006 data culled in the report indicates a surge in their visits abroad. Here’s a snapshot of the figures so far Indians are concerned:

To Singapore: 4.87 lakhs, up 14%
To Malaysia (January-July 2006): 1.6 lakhs, up 19.5%
To Hong Kong: 2.2 lakhs, up 8.9%
To Australia: 62,700, up 28%

As per the report, Australia is keen to see that more Indians visit that country. Not without reason. At 28%, Indians are the fastest-growing community to set their feet down under.


Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria, Australia
[Picture source, Copyright © Klaus Schroiff]

Memorable nightlife at Boat Quay, Singapore [Picture source]

Technorati Tags: australia, singapore, tourism, indian, india,

Onrush of retailing

Close to where I stay, on the eastern side of EM Bypass near Mukundapur, a big construction is going on occupying several acres. The signpost – or signboard if you prefer – at the site declares that it is for the German retail giant, Metro Cash & Carry. The frenetic activity matches with almost ceaseless pounding by pile-drivers for erecting pillars to support the big structure.

At Rubi Hospital crossing, a big billboard proudly announces the coming of Metro in all its resplendence. Not far from where Metro is coming up is another large retail joint, Big Bazaar of the Pantaloons group, which has been operating since last couple of years.

If you take a peek inside Big Bazaar, you’re likely to be greeted with moderate to heavy crowd of buyers, busy selecting their choice from among thousands of items on display. During weekends, Big Bazaar resembles a chock-a-block fish market, with hardly a decent place to survey your buy.

Pictures at other retail hangouts are nearly similar, if not that crowded. This conveys that organized retails are the new flavors of the day, and will gain more strength as India’s economy takes off. Reason enough for the biggest of the biggies, Wal-Mart to set foot in the country. Wal-Mart, by virtue of its sheer scale of operation in as many as 13 countries (perhaps more), and its value-for-money approach to the last cent (or, is it paisa now), is both admired (by consumers) and feared (by competitors).

Wal-Mart’s coming to India is a signal not to be missed by India’s still-fledgling retail giants. Whatever the latter might say in public, it will no longer be the same ballgame.

Considering that organized retailing was nowhere in sight (except in big metros) even 3 years back, it really wonders as to how things have changed so rapidly. Do I hear the pounding at Metro’s site gathering pace? Must be, for time is just not there to loose. And timing? The earlier, the better. Any doubt?


A Metro Cash & Carry store [Picture courtesy],
and below, a Wal Mart store in Shenzen, China [Picture courtesy]


Technorati Tags: metro, metro cash and carry, wal mart, retail, india, kolkata

VIP temples

How do you judge which deities are most effective to listen to your prayers? My answer will be they are probably those where VIPs come often. Because, aren’t VIPs expected to have bigger problems than us, the common people? Since news-grabbing VIPs are mostly concentrated in Mumbai and Delhi, it follows that most effective deities are located in those 2 megapolis. But now we’ve other serious contenders in that coveted rank. How about Baba Vishwanath temple in Varanasi?

Yesterday’s small screen and today’s papers serve Bachchans’ family-visit to the Varanasi temple with great fervor. There were no less than 5 VIPs (if you do not count Ajitabh Bachchan and Shweta Nanda among them) to say prayers at the Baba’s temple in early hours yesterday. Speculation is rife as to the reason behind Aishwarya Rai too accompanying the group.

Baba Vishwanath’s temple apart, another famous non-metro temple frequented by VIPs is the Lord Venkateswara’s devasthanam at Tirupati. Congress president Sonia Gandhi is perhaps the latest VVIP to have offered prayers there on Nov 24 (..more).

Talking about temples in metros preferred by VIPs, the firsts that come to mind are Siddhi Vinayaka temple at Prabhadevi, Mumbai (Sanjay Dutt visits it yesterday to seek blessings on the eve of today’s 'judgment day'), Kalighat temple in Kolkata, and of course the Lord Venkateswara temple in Mylapore, Chennai. Unfortunately for Delhi, except for Kalka Mai’s temple at Kalkaji – not usually preferred by VIPs – none else makes the elite rank.

As for common people like us, we’re easily satisfied by blessings given by any deity, either in big temples or one at home corner. If some more is required, there is always the occasional pilgrimage to places like Ganga Sagar Mela, Kumbh Mela or suchlike, where the Gods descend on special days to listen to our prayers.


Belur Math – where knowledge begins! [Picture source]

Pleasure of defacing wall

If you want to have pleasure at others’ cost, yet enjoy full protection of law then Kolkata must be your destination. For, perhaps in no large city will you find hawkers being legally allotted space on pavements of busy roads to sell their wares. Neither perhaps you’ll see political parties enjoying full freedom to deface city walls with their slogans.

You may argue the pavements are properties of government, so it can do whatever it wants there. If so, it’ll overlook that in a republic, whatever government owns is actually public property, so in real sense it cannot do whatever it wants especially if that inconveniences common people. But let me keep it aside for the moment and take it that yes, the government can do anything it wishes so far pavement is concerned.

What about walls of private properties? If the new plan to legitimize writing on walls of private properties comes as a law, it’ll not only trespass on citizens’ rights, it’ll forever turn the city ugly.

If and when that happens, I’ll request the rulers to periodically conduct contest to decide winners among the most-defaced walls. For, you never know, this may well be another compelling reason for foreigners to visit the city, in addition to their seeing other hotspots like slums, squalor, ghettos, etc.

Want to know what people think? Here is a letter in today’s The Telegraph by Bagdogra’s Dipak Dutta Roy, which I reproduce verbatim:

The West Bengal government is about to endorse the dirtying the private citizens’ property by semi-literate political goons. It was the left, which popularized the practice, inspired by the Chinese wall posters. Even the erudite communist leader, Ashok Mitra, wrote paeans to the beauty and utility of wall graffiti before the last assembly elections. On a recent visit to Darjeeling, I found a few boys competing with one another on how high one could urinate against a wall. I was very impressed and took a photograph. If I knew Ashok Mitra’s address, I would have sent a copy to him. He and his fellow comrades are among the few who should be able to appreciate such things.

Guarding our walls the democratic way [Picture source]
More reading: Today’s article in The Telegraph

Net-savvy Kolkattans

Guess which city has one of the fastest growing broadband markets in India? Or, which India metropolis ranks among top 3 in terms of number of Internet users in the country? The answer to both is Kolkata. And Kolkata it is, which has among the highest Internet connectivity in home segment in India.

These and more conclusions result from an Internet-in-India (I-Cube) study across the country done by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) and IMRB (Indian Market Research Bureau) International. See this story.

While Kolkata has 1.34 million Net users, ahead of Bangalore’s 1.31 and Hyderabad’s 1.29, the I-Cube study reveals that the city’s Net users prefer mixing work with pleasure. Thus, 36% logs in to check emails, 30% to remain abreast about latest in education, and 26% checks out jobs, bargain offers and – what else but – life partners.

As the survey results start sinking in, the Net marketers may perhaps need to revise their online strategies to attract maximum eyeballs.

Technorati Tags: internet, net usage, broadband, calcutta, india, kolkata

Twins’ story

My 200th post this and see how lucky I’m to bring you a grand story. It’s about twin sisters, each giving birth to twins when their turn comes.

Heidi McKenna has twin daughters, who are 4 years old. Now, 6 days back, Heidi’s twin sister, Heather has her twins, a son and a daughter. With 3 sets of twins among them, is it any wonder that their family would have had one of the most fabulous and memorable Thanksgiving celebrations ever! Enjoy the whole Star-Tribune story here.


Twin sisters with their twins
[Picture courtesy, © 1995–2006 Lee Enterprises, a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises Incorporated]

Use mother tongue when you die

Sometimes we come across judgments by honorable courts that spring surprise on us. At first glance they appear incongruous, as if the rulings lack common sense. Take a closer look, and you begin to see that there is logic behind that such judgment. One such case at Kolkata High Court on Nov 24 hogs media limelight.

It’s about a woman who dies out of burn. She gives dying statement in Bengali, which is however recorded in English. When the case comes up for trial, it’s found there is no other evidence save the dying statement. Based on this, the lower court holds her husband guilty for the crime.

When he appeals to HC, the latter in its ruling makes the now-famous observation that since no other evidence is available, it cannot hold the husband guilty on the strength of a dying statement which ought to have been recorded in Bengali, but instead recorded in English. Apparently, the HC judges feel that there can always be a difference between an original statement and its translation, and so in absence of any other evidence, the dying statement alone cannot possibly be taken as clinching evidence against the husband.

If you’re with me, you may perhaps feel the judgment is right. However, there perhaps is an error in what the judges also say in the case (excerpted below from The Telegraph).

"A dying declaration should be taken in mother tongue as the expression of a dying person can be changed while translating the declaration into any other language," a division bench of Justice P.N. Sinha and Justice P.S. Dutta said. Link

The Times of India reports almost in similar line (excerpted below):

The HC not only detected incongruity in the separate 'dying declarations' submitted by the doctors but also noted that the people do not speak in any other language but their mother tongue in their dying moments. Link

It can be argued that the judges have meant that dying statements in anything but mother tongue cannot be taken as evidence to prove guilt. In his blog-post, Anant Rangaswami has this to say (excerpts):

As I’m dying, I have to remember a language that I hardly speak?
And providentially at hand should be someone who can both understand AND write Tamil?
And If these two conditions are not met my murderer gets away scotfree?

And the law is not an ass? Link

Well, Anant has a point, no doubt there. Any thought?

Kolkata’s illegalities

Friday last, a PIL (public interest litigation) has been file in the city’s High Court to seek directive to demolish illegal buildings in Kolkata. The PIL is presumably as a result of ghastly fire in an unauthorized building in the congested Topsia area, that apparently housed a leather factory.

Going by newspaper reports, several rules are found disobeyed at the Topsia factory. One, the building is an illegal construction. Two, a leather factory has been running there in gross violation of Supreme Court directive, which has banned all leather-manufacturing there because it causes pollution.

The third violation of country’s law is even more serious. The factory employed child labor, and what’s more, they used to be locked in rooms at night while sleeping for the fear that they might flee. This is the main reason why so many child workers died on the fateful night when their room caught fire.

Since these incidents do not remain in the focus of mainstream media for long, therefore cocking a snook at rules with impunity is so easy. This makes one wonder what the rules are meant for?

Meanwhile, in Delhi as the sealing drive continues in earnest at the instance of Supreme Court’s stern directive, an interesting development unfolds there. Traders from so-called illegal shops are reportedly making beelines to large malls to buy space for shifting their businesses. The demand is so heavy that mall-space in Delhi has doubled in cost in just about 4 months. See this story.

Will something of that sort ever happen in Kolkata? Chance is very slim indeed, going by examples of leather factories still running in the city despite Supreme Court’s ruling to the contrary.


Delhi traders protest - Kolkata door ast! [Picture courtesy]
Related reading: Hawker hawker, have no fear

Love thy fish

If it is fish, that too in Bengal, I can’t help turning fishy. It’s one thing to love fish, quite another to know how to cook them. In my experience, people in the entire Indian coastal-belt and northeast love their fish and have it almost everyday. But their cooking is awful except in Bengal.

Perhaps I’m sounding parochial. But if you consider that it’s only in Bengal that you’ll find large-scale organized cultivation of fish in both sweet-water and brackish water apart from fetching catch from sea, you’ll probably accede that there’s more to fish in Bengal than anywhere else.

Visit any fish market in Kolkata early morning, you’ll be greeted with fresh catch waiting to be taken home. Other than the staple big and small sized carps, you’ll also find other smaller varieties like tangra, parshe, pabda, tilapia, bhekti, and if luck permits, boaal, topese, puti, morola, etc. Name any fish market in any big city to have such varied fresh catch every morning, I’ll run there.

It goes to Bengali’s culinary skill that she won’t prefer same preparation for all fish. She knows each type has its own smell and taste. So a carp and bhekti will be cooked differently, as will be pabda and tilapia. There is another dimension to Bengali’s cooking, which is to make clever use of ingredients – both vegetables and spices – to match the taste as necessary.

For example, try parshe smoked in mustard sauce, or tangra with brinjal and onion, or katla with cauliflower. There can be any number of permutation and combination, the underlying theory being ‘never stop experimenting’.

As if to prove my point, I turn to today’s Nigel Slater’s (of The Observer Magazine, UK) description of fish preparations in Kolkata. Here is an excerpt (read the story here):

But it is the Bengalis that are the legendary fish cooks of India. Their mantra is 'rice and fish, fish and rice'. I have always wanted to go to Kolkata, partly to taste the fish from the surrounding wetlands, including the revered hilsa, a member of the shad family… It was no surprise, then, that I pounced on Simon Parkes's and Udit Sarkhel's new book The Calcutta Kitchen (£20, Mitchell Beazley) when it fell on my doormat.

Permit me now to take a dig at the strongly vocal lobby of Indian veggies. I had a hearty laugh some time back when CNN-IBN and The Hindu in an exclusive survey discovered that as much as 60% Indians are non-vegetarian, a fact that didn't please the non-veg haters. True to their form, the ubiquitous veggies, finding their sail punctured, quickly swarmed out of woodworks to take umbrage at what they termed a ‘faulty’ survey.

The fight between veggies’ self-belief and non-veggies’ fact of life still rages on. Sample this fantastic comment from one N. Jain, collected from Rediff’s message board.

Subject: It's all because of eating non - veg

I think the reason for diabetes being more common in south india is that generally south indians eat more meat compared to north indians. Among the north Indians, there are so many people who are strictly vegetarians like the jains, etc.

N. Jain

Posted by N. Jain on 14-NOV-06

Technorati Tags: fish, veg, non veg, vegetarian, bengal, calcutta, india, kolkata

Dare you drive there?

Seeing the pictures, even the most seasoned driver would think twice before mustering courage to ride in Bolivian hills off La Paz. The danger is obvious since there is simply not enough space for 2 vehicles to maneuver side by side. Little wonder, the road from La Paz to Coroico is said to be world’s most dangerous.

I’ve with me some pictures and a narration that gives an account of what one is up against while driving there. These are sent by mail to me by my nephew (I’m not sure about the source of the photographs, so whoever owns them may pardon me for not acknowledging them properly).

Rated As The World's Most Dangerous Road

In the South American country of Bolivia.

It consists of 70 km of dirt and rock heading north from La Paz, the world's highest capitol (altitude 3,660 metres), to Coroico, a beautiful cloud forest town at the rim of the Amazon basin. Its catchy nickname is due to the 26 vehicles that fall off the road per year. About 200 people annually lose their lives here.

A fatal accident every fortnight is not uncommon on the Coroico road (the July disaster brought the death toll during the previous eight months to 55) and in 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank declared this, the world's most dangerous road.

The only road that exists to get to the Amazon from La Paz, it is carved into the sides of a canyon. It can have vertical drops for 500 meters and has no guardrails.

Consequently, most Bolivians take the time to pray before their descent. After all, it could be their last.

Can Kolkata regain glory?

On occasions such as illumination of Howrah bridge do we recall Kolkata’s glorious past. Ministers and important people who grace such events usually read from written speeches prepared by their subordinates. They take the opportunity to announce plans, which then make screaming headlines in newspapers.

It’s like throwing a small stone in an otherwise calm pond only to create some ripples that vanish shortly. In case of Kolkata, the thin veneer of calmness at the surface cannot hide the ungodly chaotic city that it is, unable to cope with its limited ability, yet unwilling to admire and restore its treasures.

If you ask me I’ll say it’s because of sheer lack of willingness and planning. A city of the size of Kolkata, like similar others, looks good and inviting when 3 factors amalgamate – awareness about its strengths, a perfect understanding of how to put them to good use, and third, availing necessary skills to bring all efforts to fruition. Anything less is just not enough. After all, planning a city with a rich historical past isn’t something to play around.

That calls for expertise to appreciate the issues that matter most and single-mindedness in pursuing them. Unfortunately, the city’s keepers lack that sense, which on the ground translates to piecemeal actions that are completely devoid of cohesive efforts.

Talking about Howrah bridge illumination, I’ve pointed out in an earlier post that there is just no ambience to enjoy the beauty. Efforts like this, however laudable, do not change the reality that Kolkata is. No guessing why Germany’s Nobel-winning author, Günter Grass once famously said, "Why not a poem about a pile of shit that God dropped and named Calcutta.."

To our sensitive souls, Grass' comments may seem harsh. But can we deny it? More poignantly, can we ignore it? The fact is we’ve ignored it for so long that talks about reinvigorating the BBD Bag, the riverside, Kalighat temple and so on are laughed at by common people.

They cannot be blamed, for indeed those who have made Kolkata their home since about 3 decades or so, have learnt to see the city steadily decaying to what it is today. A reflection of abject failure on part of city’s rulers is evident when many of its citizens just do not know or care to know what a great city Calcutta used to be in grand old days.

It’s a shame on us, the Kolkattans.


City's roads - an everyday scene [Picture source]

Opinion and hope

Here is a collection of an opinion and a hope. First, the opinion. This is from silicon.com’s Andy McCue, who has this to say about HSBC’s plan to set up a second center in the city.

Kolkata is trying to shake off the image of poverty associated with the city with a modern infrastructure, and is aiming to undercut other Indian offshore outsourcing destinations including Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Link

Now, the hope. This comes on the occasion of inauguration of 150th year celebrations of the Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur.

BESU has also signed up a MOU with the University of Windsor, Canada, to collaborate in the field of automobile engineering.

Prof Graham Reader, Dean of engineering department from the University of Windsor, Canada, made this announcement. He also said, "Apart from all these new programmes professors from this university will be going to participate in the World Congress."

Alongwith the collaborative efforts of University of Windsor, BESU will be working extensively in the field of automobile engineering because according to the chief minister the state needs to have more automobile units. Link

One can’t miss an irony here. Silicon.com's Andy may not know, but not very long back, Kolkata used to be the numero uno place for industry – any industry for that matter. This was so because there was the ambience for business and more importantly, there was sufficient availability of skill.

HSBC and UW's plans to choose Kolkata indicate more than anything else that talent and skill haven’t deserted it yet, even though the city’s appearance as a whole continues to be in firm grip of everything that goes with mediocrity and to a certain extent, anarchy as well.

Using Sun after darkness

Shantipada Gan Chowdhury is an untiring person. He heads the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA), established in Kolkata in 1993 with the objective to explore promoting alternate renewable energy resources, such as solar, small hydropower, biomass, wind, etc.

Ever since it came into being, WBREDA has pioneered harvesting and usage of renewable energy, mainly in far-flung areas of the state, where either electricity hasn’t reached or its supply is very erratic.

It goes to GanChowdhury’s and WBREDA’s credit that hundred thousand families of West Bengal are now using electricity derived from Sun, Biomass, Wind etc., and in rural areas of the state, 150 thousand families are using bio-energy for cooking purpose.

More recently, WBREDA is in news for collaborating with Bengal DCL for the latter’s solar housing complex, India’s first, in New Town, Kolkata. Aptly called Rabi Rashmi Abasan, each house in the project will generate 2kW of power from solar tiles on the roof for its own consumption and feeding the surplus into a common grid. The picture below (image courtesy) demonstrates the concept clearly.


Solar energy planned at Rabi Rashmi Abasan: Clean, abundant, renewable
And now, in a new beginning for the city, Gan Chowdhury’s WBREDA and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) are jointly working to install street lights at Indira Park on the maidan, Mollar Bheri at Salt Lake, Patipukur, Lake Town and along Jessore Road (see this story).

Solar lights don’t come cheap. Each costs Rs.35,000 and the entire project will result in a cost of several crores. The plus point is maintenance cost is very low and of course there’ll be big savings on account of non-usage of commercial electricity.

Initial cost being so high, it remains to be seen if these private and public initiatives really succeed. If indeed they do, it’ll usher in a new future for clean energy, which is renewable too.

Technorati Tags: solar power, solar energy, solar housing, renewable energy, solar light

Wanted: Mining Engineers

Mining engineering isn’t taught in many universities in India. Among the handful of institutes that offer the course, the best is the Indian School of Mines or ISM in Dhanbad (Jharkhand). One reason why ISM is the most ideal for studying the course is that it is situated right in the middle of eastern India’s coal belt, stretching from just after Durgapur at one end to Jharia, Sindri and beyond.

ISM has yielded some of India’s renowned mining engineers, but the institute’s faculty is equally strong in other disciplines of earth science, namely Geology, Geophysics and Petroleum Engineering. It is therefore no surprise that students from ISM have shined in their respective fields not only in India, but also in many other countries.

Proof of that is amply evident when a team of Australian professors comes calling to Kolkata to look for, among other things, collaboration with ISM and also IIT, Kharagpur and BESU (Bengal Engineering & Science University), Shibpur. The objective is not only to seek students for higher studies, but staff exchange and joint research programs as well.

Several large industrial initiatives are coming up in eastern India. Mega steel plants for example, and also producing coal-bed-methane (CBM) from shallow coal mines. All these call for participation of various engineering disciplines, of which mining engineering ranks near the top.

Australian delegation’s visit is a confirmation of shapes of things that can be expected in coming days. See this story.


Entering the peerage [Picture courtesy]
Technorati Tags: mining, mining engineering, ism, iit, besu, calcutta, india, kolkata

High fashion calling

After a year’s absence, Stylefile Winter Show is back in original format, which means it’ll not only be seminars and exhibitions, there’ll be the high-profile fashion show as well. Stylefile Winter Show is billed as the city’s most-awaited annual fashion extravaganza. [Stylefile, Nov 22, 2003 picture courtesy]

Here are the planned highlights of the show:

Hostess:
Priti Goenka and Sumedha Saraogi

Likely designer-participants:
Aki Narula, Anamika Khanna, Aparna Chandra, Gaurav Gupta, Kiran Uttam Ghosh, Rohit Bal, Sabina Singh, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Shantanu & Nikhil, Vivek Narang.

Likely models, who will walk the ramp:
Bhawna Sharma, Devdutta, Fleur Xavier, Jessica, Joey Matthew, Laxmi Rana, Muzzamil, Neeraj, Rajneesh Duggal, Sanjukta, Sapna Kumar, Tupur Chatterjee.

Venue:
Sunderbans, ITC Sonar Bangla.

Date:
December 2 next.

Related reading:

• December design date
  
• Garment hub in Kolkata

Technorati Tags: fashion, fashion show, stylefile, stylefile kolkata, kolkata, calcutta

Garment hub in Kolkata

Once upon a time, Bengalis used to dress gorgeously. There is often a say among today’s fashion designers that Indian males do not know how to wear clothes out of the box. This, in my opinion, is not true for Bengali males, though admittedly the current trend doesn’t encourage believing otherwise.

In times long gone, Bengali gentlemen wearing finely-weaved dhuti-panjabi, starched and ironed to perfection, happened to be the de rigueur on special occasions, complete with pump-shoes usually worn without socks. Even western clothes with some finest cuts found great favor among the elites. One can easily count yesteryears’ famed actors, Uttam Kumar, Subhendu, Bikash Ray and others, as the best among contemporaries on silver screen in western outfits. [Image source]

Hosiery mills there were many, lining either side of Hooghly river and elsewhere. To talk about women’s wear, cotton and silk saris from Tangail, Dhanekhali, Dhaka, Murshidabad, Nabadwip, Fulia to name a few, were nothing less than prized possessions. Indeed those were heydays of Bengal’s domination in clothing as in many other fields.

Things started going downhill from early 70s for number of reasons, so much so that today Bengal appears virtually nowhere in garment-making ventures. People’s memory being short, it evokes derision and laughter when speaking about Bengal’s past in garments.

In fact, had talented designers like Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Ritu Kumar and others not arrived on the scene, Bengal and Kolkata wouldn’t have had any mention so far Indian fashion industry is concerned.

Now at long last the WB government is waking up to tremendous potential that the state has in making a mark in garment trade. There is plan to create a Rs.70-crore garment manufacturing, marketing and distribution hub in Kolkata just beside Vidyasagar Setu (the 2nd Hooghly bridge) at Kolkata-end. See The Telegraph story.

Though the thrust will be to cater to exports to other countries, especially to the west, the hub will undoubtedly usher in an overall boost in garment trade. Prosperity beckons creativity, and who knows Bengal’s golden days in clothing may really be not that far to reclaim.

Is drinking an avoidable evil?

If I hadn’t come across tulleeho.com’s website, courtesy ET’s yesterday’s Brand Equity, I wouldn’t have believed that one, such as theirs exists. It may perhaps reflect my ignorance, though I’m an avid web watcher, but more than that it represents my typical Indian psyche as to whether talking about liquor isn’t after all a social evil.

To get past tulleeho’s home page, “You have to be of legal drinking age in your city to enter this website.” That assures me I’m not alone in thinking what tulleeho themselves think. I prefer not to check their terms of use before entering the site and I must say it’s pretty bland sans any compelling visual. [Image source]

My mistake having expected so, for isn’t it a fact that Indian law not only does not permit advertising alcohols, it even has strictures on how and where to serve alcohol in public. This is unfortunate because a large section of people carry wrong notions about consuming alcohols. Many – even among younger lot – tend to equate alcohol with alcoholism.

Seen in this perspective, tuleeho’s site is a good example of what one ought to learn about drinking. Drinking is a great social equalizer – if I may use that term – in that it puts participating persons, unknown to one another, at par, as if to seek a common ground. Controlled drinking is also acknowledged by medicos to be useful for maintaining good health (see this post).

Coming back to tulleeho’s site, I like it because it has a ‘crash course’ on everything one needs to know about drinking. But perhaps its 500+ cocktail recipes deserve fullest acclaim, if only to let us know that there is a wonderful world of martinis, highballs, screw drivers and bloody marys outside our rigid mindset of just whiskeys and rums.

May more of tulleehos’ succeed in this drink-starved country. Let us learn to say ‘cheers’ to strangers and guests alike (although I must say I fear that this post may rise hackles of our lawmakers!).

Technorati Tags: cocktail, cocktails, cocktail recipe, martini, whiskey, drinking, india

Howrah Bridge illuminated

Do we know that the Rabindra Setu (earlier Howrah Bridge), commissioned on 1943’s Feb 10, world’s 3rd largest cantilever bridge, arguably its busiest ferrying nearly 57,000 vehicles and 2 million commuters each day, was made with as much as 26,500 tons of steel of which over 85% was supplied by none other than India’s pride Tata Steel?

This morning, in a quarter-spread newspaper ad, as Tata Steel congratulates Kolkata Port Trust for successfully completing the illumination of the edifice, to be inaugurated later in the day by WB Governor, my mind travels to old days when the place was relatively clean so as to allow newcomers to the city to look at it without bother of the surroundings and appreciate its splendor.


Howrah Bridge - Kolkata's lifeline [Picture courtesy]


Howrah Station - Kolkata's gateway [Picture courtesy]
Today, at either end of the bridge, what comes readily to view is filth and squalor, untidy hoardings, do-as-you-wish type of cavalier attitude everywhere, the open dirtying of Hooghly, haphazard unkempt bus-stands at the Howrah end, and to top it all, a mad rush among vehicles to race ahead.

Alas, the city rulers fail to comprehend that no matter what a great engineering marvel that it is, the majesty of the bridge is completely lost amid din and dust all around. There is simply no ambience to enjoy the beauty of the bridge. If ever the situation improves, there is no doubt that the imposing view that the bridge and the grand Howrah-station building across Hooghly offers will be any city planner’s pride.

When will we wake up?

Technorati Tags: howrah bridge, bridge, howrah, kolkata, calcutta

Casino Royale

Seen the latest Bond film last night at Fame, Hiland Park. To me, in terms of action, this is the best Bond film I’ve seen. Daniel Craig’s physique is put to good use, and he plays his muscle-man role with great élan. The chase on feet shown in the beginning in a construction site, culminating in Bond’s capturing a suspected bomb-maker inside an embassy, is one of the best I’ve ever seen in a movie.

Martin Campbell, the director, has made an excellent thriller, and already Casino Royale’s cash earning has exceeded many previous records (though Fame’s 8 pm show was not even quarter-full). It is Campbell who introduced the previous Bond, Pierce Brosnan in the latter’s first Bond film, GodenEye in 1995. And now, Daniel Craig too launches his Bond career at the hands of Campbell.

Going by news reports, the next Bond film can be expected in about 2 years from now. And yes, we’ll again get to see Daniel Craig as James Bond, the fictional no.7 agent of M16 at Her Majesty’s service.

As Kolkata’s movie-halls are gearing up to welcome Dhoom2 with big dhoomdham while relegating Casino... to second or third preference after only a week's showing, I wish Bond-lovers will not miss this latest rendition, even if you’re not a regular movie-buff. Casino Royale most certainly lives up the hype.

Technorati Tags: bond, james bond, casino royale, movie, film

China’s Kolkata consulate

When China cites tourism as one of the main reasons why it wants to open its second consulate (Mumbai has one) in Kolkata (see this story), my point is proved. Last July, when the border link between the 2 countries at Nathu La opened, hopes ran high that it would boost bi-lateral trade since much of southwest China including Tibet is geographically closer to sub-Himalayan India.

Once the widening of Gangtok–Nathu La road is completed by 2010 as part of India’s Special Accelerated Road Development Programme (Northeast) — SARDP-NE (..more), it is easy to see that Tibet’s access to Kolkata’s all-weather port will be much faster and economical compared to China's far-off ports to its west. Things will be even more exciting if and as the proposed deep-sea port off Bengal’s Sagar Islands in Bay of Bengal is developed.

Trade and commerce apart, there’ll be tremendous boost to tourism between the 2 countries. In an earlier post I’ve written that Kolkata being a little over 1000 km from Lhasa, it may perhaps take less than 24 hrs to reach the Tibetan capital traveling by train/bus. From Lhasa one may avail the 26-hour-1972-km superfast train journey to Xining (in Qinghai province), and then onto Beijing.

Lhasa-Xining train-ride costs between 300 (sitting) to 800 (4-bed coupe) Chinese yuan, or Rs.1800 to Rs.4800 (1 yuan roughly equals Rs.6) (..more). Taking the cost of journey between Kolkata and Nathu La as Rs.500 and assuming it will be another Rs.500 up to Lhasa, the total cost of journey between Kolkata and Xining comes to about Rs.3000. Which is very reasonable indeed.


A Xining-Lhasa train crosses Lhasa River [Picture source]
For actual fares from Lhasa to Beijing and more information, click here.

If China offers some package for Indian tourists to see its central part and just about a day-n-night’s stay in Beijing (it’s rumored to be very costly) to see part of the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square – the latter only out of curiosity because of mid-1989 events – I’m sure they’ll have many people lining up at their Kolkata consulate.

The moot point though is will that happen? I’ve a hope it will. Since China is interested to take part in India’s burgeoning infrastructure projects, it makes sense for them to ensure that more and more common people from India visit their country. If anything, it’ll increase people-to-people relationship, which in turn will make it more conducive to get a bigger pie of Indian business.

Technorati Tags: china, tibet, travel, lhasa, qinghai tibet railway, kolkata, calcutta,

Fading rickshaws

Ask anyone, who has a taste of Kolkata, what are his/her most enduring images of the city, chance is the common choice will be tram and rickshaw in that order, or perhaps in reverse. Both are unique to the city, though not seen at all places, the trams less so. Both represent a bygone era when there were fewer modes of transport, when there was less congestion on road, and people didn’t feel the hurry as they now do. But both somehow clung on.

Time however – as it flows without pause – tells on old and obsolete, and so the turn comes to render them to the pages of history. But bidding them goodbye is not proving easy. Not without reason.

Rickshaws and trams are so much part of Kolkata’s psyche that forgetting them in a hurry is just not done. Trams, for example now have a fresh lease of life. Its tracks are being concretized, so if you now ride one, it’ll not be as bad as in the past.

But don’t trams obstruct vehicles, so much so that during peak hours they are seen as a menace? Tell that to authorities, you’ll most likely be lectured on a litany of reasons why your wish to have trams removed cannot be fulfilled. Never mind none of that would address the actual issue.

With rickshaws the concern centers mostly on what the pullers would do to earn once out of profession. In other words, the idea is to find an honorable exit for them. The rickshaw-pullers – most of them from neighboring states – are hardworking and for them to find other works may not be as difficult as we’d like to imagine.

The government though is not taking any chance, its hands already full with sundry other issues. It plans to allot parking zones to rickshaw-pullers to sustain a living after they are told to stop plying. That’s a good step, and if approved by all concerned, we may soon see the last of hand-pulled rickshaws in the lanes and by-lanes of the city.

Ten years hence, hand-pulled rickshaws will just be a fond remembrance, a relic Kolkata once had.


The feet never tire, come sun or rain. [Picture source]
Related reading: Hand-pulled rickshaws

Technorati Tags: rickshaw, tram, kolkata, calcutta

Mehtab shows the way

For one, he works in ONGC, arguably the biggest Indian company. Among all public sector companies, ONGCs’ is a prized employment. It also sponsors the prestigious National football League (NFL) organized by All India Football Federation (AIFF), which is the annual team-level football tournament in India.

For another, professional career for sportspeople is almost non-existent in India, except for handful of cricketers. Therefore, to earn money playing full-time, especially for footballers, is nearly unthinkable.

Thus when Mohun Bagan medio Mehtab Hussein decides to quit his job to turn pro (ABP, Nov 20), it certainly deserves praise. ONGC wants to play in Mumbai football league, to be followed by debuting in NFL second division. ONGC deserves credit for the simple reason that it at last indicates an inclination on part of Indian corporate world to take football seriously. This despite the presence of several bank teams and teams from railways and services, who in most cases are no better than Kolkata’s innumerable club teams.

If ONGC succeeds in making its presence felt in NFL in days to come like Mumbai’s Mahindra United, it’ll surely open a new chapter in Indian dismal football scenario. But Mehtab’s case is different.

He doesn’t want to stagnate in Mumbai’s football, having donned national colors and now playing for Mohun Bagan, one of the premier football clubs of the country. His leaving ONGC job to enter into a contract with his old club indicates that he is very serious in pursuing his professional career. For talent-starved Indian football, this brings a whiff of fresh air.

Technorati Tags: football, mohun bagan, ongc, kolkata

Nuclear investment

Move over Salim group or Tata Motors, the biggest investment in eastern India is going to be Rs.60,000 crore for a mammoth nuclear power plant in Haripur in East Medinipore. It’s likely to have 6 units of 1650 megawatt each, making it possibly the largest nuclear power plant in the country.

To plain eyes it won’t be apparent, but perhaps the root of such massive nuclear plans lies embedded in the success of proposed India-US nuclear bill, which has received approval from US Senate a few days back. Pending its legislative status under US law and further unanimous approval from the Vienna-based 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG), it is still not certain that India will have the ‘green pass’ to import technology and machinery it needs for the nuclear power plants.

For the moment, NPCIL’s (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited) selection of Haripur is only a part of necessary groundwork it has to do prior to setting up a nuclear plant. So that as and when the international approvals come India’s way, there must not be any time to loose.

For Bengal, NPCILs' is a prestigious investment, whose importance is not in terms of number of people finding employment – there may be few local people unless highly skilled – but in its long-term potential to spruce up the place for more investments.

Technorati Tags: nuclear, nuclear power, nuclear plant, power, power plant, npcil, npcl, bengal

Some fun

Breaking away from serious stuff, here is something for fun. Actually, 2 things: A picture of a cat threatened (sent by a friend), and then a limerick, Son of Bengal vs A Bengal Tiger, which my daughter shares with me. Do enjoy.

Son of Bengal vs A Bengal Tiger

Through the jongole I am went
On shooting Tiger I am bent
As because Tiger has eaten bhife
No doubt I will avenge poor darling's life

Too much quiet, snakes and leeches
But am not feared these sons of beeches
Hearing loud noise I am jump with sturt
But noise is coming from damn fool hurt (heart)

Taking care not to be fright
I am clutching rifle with eye to sight

Should Tiger come I will fell him down
Then like hero return to native town
Then through trees I am espying one cave
I am telling self - "Bholanath be brave"

I am now proceed with too much care
From nonsense smell this Tiger's lair
My leg is shake, I start to pray
I think I shoot Tiger some other day

Turning round I am going to go
But Tiger giving bloody roar
He bounding from cave like shooting star
I commend my soul to Kali Ma

Through the jongole I am went
Like bullet with Tiger hot on scent
I am a telling that never in life
I will riks again for damn fool bhife.

The Telegraph Hall of fame

This from the wikipedia:

A hall of fame is a type of museum established for any a field of endeavour to honour individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or museums which enshrine the honourees with sculptures, plaques, and displays of memorabilia. In other cases, the hall of fame is more figurative, and simply consists of a list of names of noteworthy individuals maintained by an organization.

It’s not known if there are any halls of fame in India, whether actual or notional. If not, then The Telegraph Hall of Fame will be the first. It’s an actual hall, in the first-floor foyer of the Calcutta Club, which according to it “is a magic fusion of old-world grandeur and charm that characterize the institution on the cusp of its centenary year, and of bold, contemporary vision that looks to take fresh guard beyond the venerable century". [Image source, © gosh.org]

Turning what was once a dark gloomy place into one of remembrance with the help of noted architect Dulal Mukherjee, the Calcutta Club and The Telegraph are now busy collecting artifacts that would be displayed on the thickly paneled walls of the Hall of Fame.

A beginning has been made, what with such rare pieces as the bust of Sir RN Mukherjee, the club’s founder-secretary, oil painting of the Maharajah of Cooch Behar, its first president, and that of its first patron, Lord Minto, among others.

One hopes in due time it may as well be an important place to visit, and also to know the city’s history and its forefathers.

Technorati Tags: hall of fame, the telegraph, calcutta club, calcutta, kolkata

Fish here, fish there

I walk briskly being late to start for my morning-walk. The sun has just shown up, the sky clear, and there’s a slight chill in the air. As I sharply negotiate an onrushing cycle-rider, then another, a small patch of cold air gushes past, reminding me the winter is not far.

Upon the culvert across the narrow stream I turn right, then stop all of a sudden as if someone pulls me from behind. Just ahead of me, a cycle-rider is about to loose his balance. He tries hard to save the big aluminum container tied onto the cycle in the back from not tilting. But tilt it will, and tilt it does.

There, as the cycle lies flat on the road, the contents of aluminum container pour out rapidly. Small fish – mainly pona (baby carp) and some tilapiya – spread everywhere, dancing and jumping as if surprised at sudden turn of events. A few quickly make their way into the stream (clever they are), while others jump here and there, not knowing what to do next.

The man, the fishmonger that is, is quick to salvage his catch as fast as he can, throwing them into the near-empty container, still tied onto his cycle, now standing on its feet. But however fast he may be, some of the fish continue to dodge him with élan. And then happens what can only be expected.

Boys and men come rushing – two, three, six of them – surfacing from nowhere, despite the morning being so early. Time is precious, so they join the fishmonger in earnest, some even dashing off into the stream. Quickly they successfully catch the fish from here and there, return some but keep a good number for themselves.

The fishmonger vainly argues to have the rest returned, then perhaps remembering he is already late to the market, dashes off. The smallish crowd melt soon, having enjoyed an early-morning spectacle.

I too hurry, having had my share of enjoyment. 15 minutes gone, I’m already late.

Heavenly feeling!
[Picture source, ©1999-2006 Cary and Associates.]

..another account or 2 of Kolkata

The first one by Tammois from Melbourne, Australia. And it's unspoilt by preconception. Knowing oneself through others' eyes is akin to facing a mirror. I quote a small portion of her essay:

In the space of four short days, I went from a sort of brain cloud reaction to the chaos of Kolkata, to someone able to begin to make partial meaning. Some of that meaning is troubling for obvious reasons - how can a place have such a privileged middle class in the face of stark poverty and crumbling infrastructure? But many of those same people, the intelligentsia of Bengal, are passionate, revolutionary, feminist, often Marxist and always leftist, and are doing their 'everyday' bit to find meaning and work within the constraints of a very challenging environment. Their students adore them, and they, in turn, shower attention and respect on their students, who are arguably even more self-assured than Americans. The intellectual passion and comradery I encountered in my four days was breathtaking and refreshing. I'm going to keep arguing for knowledge as a way to engender belonging. [Link to Tammois' post]

Compared to Tammois', Julian Azzopardi's experience in Kolkata is longer and varied. His story too is full of discovering 'wonders' that many well-heeled Kolkattans do not seem to aware of. Excerpt below:

I have been to wash village kids that live on the banks of disease infested ponds along the boundaries of Kolkata's communal dump. Run by Rod, an Australian nurse for the past couple of years nearly, his NGO Calcutta Station Missions, provides medical assistance to the residents of Dhapa and Topsia communities.

It is situated within the confines of Calcutta's communal dump site. A miniature version of Ayers rock or Table mountain, it is not as picturesquely drapped by a table cloth of clouds or surrounded by a clear expanse of open bush, but rather is encircled by a hefty cloud of intoxicating gases, ravaging vultures, and rag pickers homing in on every single opportunity for a bite to eat, piece of clothing or recoverable goods. Link to Julian's post.

Different lens, different views

How do you see Kolkata? It depends. It depends on whether you’ve set foot there or in any Indian city earlier or a first-timer here, whether you’ve a practiced eye to gaze beyond the din, whether you’re ready to accept that what you see is what you don’t see in your hometown, and of course much more.

Here are 2 accounts about Kolkata. One from Indrani Dutta of The Hindu, titled From a bygone era (no surprise here!). The other is from Sheryl’s blog (no surprise here too!). Sheryl from Singapore has been here with some of her friends. Some excerpts:

• From Indrani's story:
  Next time you are in Kolkata, take a launch-ride down the Hooghly just as dusk is falling on the city. On the west bank of the river, a golden sunset will beckon you and, on the east, edifices of the Raj era will vie for your attention. Today, many of the centuries-old buildings are a mere shadow of their former imposing facades, but some still stand tall, showcasing the heritage of a metropolis that was once considered the second city of the British empire.
  
  
• From Sheryl's blog:
  even in the restaurants like pizza hut and ivory, we witness the dichotomy between the rich and the poor classes. the whiter skin of higher superiority would be the ones enjoying the food, yet the darker skin were the ones serving, and only allowed to stare enviously and question the unfairness in life. all of them were of the same race, yet the shade of the skin divided them drastically
  
  sometimes i wonder "god, why arent you helping them?" it was morally draining.

Kolkata Film Festival

Strictly speaking, the 12th Kolkata Film Festival was not an international event, for it was not allowed the ‘international film festival’ tag by the central government. There appears a conflict here.

The I&B ministry at the center has its own international film festival, the IFFI (International Film Festival of India), which it organizes mostly in Delhi and Goa, occasionally rotating it at other cities. Since the ministry apparently feels there cannot be a second international film festival in India, it has peeved the culture-minded film-loving Bengalis, and rightly so, and hence an international film fest in Kolkata every year.

This has meant that Kolkata Film Festival (let’s call it KFF) – though recognized way back in 1997 by FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations, Paris), the international authority of film festivals (it recognizes IFFI too) – is shunned from being officially known as an international film fest.

That doesn’t mean the fest wasn’t a success. In fact judging by footfalls and collections, KFF was resoundingly successful. However, for all its fair share of bricks and bouquets, many film-lovers opine that ‘international’ tag or not, KFF usually presents an image of chaos and lack of planning.

This is succinctly brought out when the cops had to intervene to prevent trouble at New Empire where Sex and Philosophy by Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf was to be screened. The organizers should have known why some films invite rowdyism so as to take necessary steps to prevent such crassness.

The rush to see Sex and Philosophy was more on account of expectations to see erotic scenes, as the lack of it in the film made a good amount of crowd – fed with titillating flesh-showing Hindi films – utter with disgust, “Dhut, shudhu philosophy, no sex.”

Here then are some high points at the fest:

• There were 225 films from 53 countries shown at 9 venues.
  
  
• Gate collection has been Rs.11 lakhs, Rs.2 lakhs more than last year. Total audience totaled 2.2 lakhs, impressive by any yardstick.
  
  
• There was no thali girl at the inauguration as it dawned on the organizers that such a practice has no parallel in any film fest anywhere.
  
  
• Neither was any central minister invited to inaugurate, because as mentioned above, shorn of ‘international’ tag and monetary help, there was no reason why it should be so.
  
  
• Film sale in CDs/DVDs was poor. And so, film business on the sidelines of the fest was lukewarm at best (when would the organizers wake up?).
  

Related reading:

1. Sense, Nonsense, & Sensibility
   
   
2. A week of wait and watch
   
   
3. The best in the west

Technorati Tags: iffi, fiapf, film, film festival, kolkata film festival, calcutta film festival

Will Imran marry?

I admire Imran Khan. I admire him not only because he is handsome, which he is even at his 54 years, but also because he stands for a mysterious charm that one finds missing in many celebrities.

Imran captained Pakistan’s cricket team when it won the ICC world cup in 1992. Later, when he married the pretty Jemima, daughter of British billionaire, James Goldsmith, it became the talk of the town. His flamboyance has won him many a woman’s heart, not the least that of Sita White, whose daughter Tyrian he is said to have fathered.

Now in domestic politics, Imran aspires to become his country’s head to lead a democratic government. That however appears a long way off. In the meantime, he remains busy with Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, which he founds in early 90s, named after her mother who died from cancer.

His achievements notwithstanding, Imran doesn’t mind marrying again provided he gets the ‘right’ partner. He says this in an interview to Anandabazar Patrika (appearing in its Nov 18 issue). Looking at his exuberant pose in the picture, one feels the day is not far when we hear his wedding bells again. [Image source]

Technorati Tags: imran, imran khan, cricket, jemima

Missing rail link

Compare Dum Dum airport’s rail link to Dum Dum Junction station with Heathrow Express line’s non-stop service between London’s Heathrow airport and Paddington station. Okay okay, that’s too much to digest, I agree.

Compare then Dum Dum’s rail link with that between Chennai’s airport’s suburban rail-station at Tirusulam and Egmore. What do we see?

We see a classic case of everything that can go wrong. If there’s a subject in management studies about how to plan and execute wasting of public resources, then Dum Dum’s rail link will surely be a prime example.

Heathrow Express is the quickest rail connection to Europe’s busiest airport that operates nearly 19 hours a day at 15 minutes’ interval. There’re other rail services to Heathrow airport like Heathrow Connect and London Underground’s Piccadilly Line.


A Heathrow Express passenger coach – smooooth!
[Picture source, ©2006 SPG Media Limited, a subsidiary of SPG Media Group PLC]

Similarly, the desi variety between Tirusulam and Egmore in Chennai is also very efficient. Frequent flyers who use rail service to travel into the city or to airport will tell you how convenient it is for them.

So when Dum Dum rail link came up, there was lot of joy that at last travelers can use the Metro service from Dum Dum Junction for smooth journey to far corners of the city. Unfortunately, that is not meant to be.

According to this report in The Telegraph, this is a train service nobody takes. Why? There are a variety of reasons, but what transpires is that the railway authorities themselves do not want it to succeed. Strange indeed!

Technorati Tags: heathrow, london, railway, airport, chennai, calcutta, kolkata, flying

A drama called Ashwamedha Yagna

Alas, it ultimately fell on the shoulders of Gayatri Janakalyan Sangha, an NGO, to prevent malaria and dengue in Kolkata. Over 1000 pyres lit up yesterday at their behest at an Eastern Railway ground in Howrah, which will continue for 2 more days, in what is termed as Ashwamedha Yagna sans the symbolic marching of horse, to stave off occurrence of the diseases. See this report.

The rituals were elaborate, what with chanting of vedic hymns by some of the most qualified Hindu priests, assembling as they did from all over country. Women carried water pots on their heads to render a semblance of earnestness to the yagna.

To their credit, the organizers later denied that the yagna can do anything to keep the diseases at bay, but maintained that it will prevent decay of ozone layer.

The episode featured on Star Ananda all day long, and later at night when it was asked if this incident proved that science was taking backseat, one of the participants gave an interesting reply. While rightly brushing aside the suggestion, he said that rather than disproving the usefulness of yagna, what was important was to ensure that it did not pollute the atmosphere with the fumes from the pyres. In effect it would mean that so long the laws of land are not violated, people are free to practice their beliefs.

I wish to add a tail to it. Is organizing the event on railway premises an indication that it wouldn’t have had permission to hold at any other place? This seems likely, going by railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav’s support for Hardwar’s Acharya Ramdev in the face of criticism by CPM’s Brinda Karat.

Are they missing opportunity?

One almost feels apologetic about US business’ skipping Kolkata because of city’s negative perceptions (more here). Aileen Crowe Nandi, the Kolkata US consulate's principal commercial officer, seems to feel sorry that no more than 3 companies out of 200 in their largest business delegation are consenting to visit Kolkata.

There is an attempt to link their non-interest with the perception of negative image about Kolkata, and incidents like IT union and anti-US procession day before yesterday are cited as examples. Nandi’s comment that the consulate is keeping a close watch almost means that their nod is necessary for any agitation program in order to qualify for US investment.

Happily, the reality on ground is different. Though admittedly Bengal did lack congenial atmosphere to do business a few years back, today it is pro-business like any other Indian state. The signal that now emanates from Bengal is unmistakable and very pronounced. Those who are catching it on their radars are acting pretty fast. IBM's increasing its Kolkata employee strength is an example of that.

So are the instances of Indonesia’s Salim group’s huge investment plans in Bengal and Japan’s feeling peeved at not being able to bag the Kukrahati-Raichak bridge project.

Incidentally, Japan’s largest single investment in India is in Haldia in the form of Mitsubishi Corporation’s chemical plant there which it is in the process of scaling up further. There is also the talk of JBIC (Japan Bank of International Cooperation) investing in 19-kilometer east-west metro in Kolkata. One also feels had it not been at the instance of civil aviation minister Praful Patel, US' Boeing Company would have possibly considered Bengal for its MRO hub instead of Nagpur in Maharashtra.

Seen from this perspective, and considering that US businesses are known to invest in some of the most dangerous places in the world (like any hard-nosed businessman will do to seek high returns), Aileen Crowe Nandi’s remarks at yesterday’s Calcutta Chamber of Commerce meeting can mean one of the 2 things or perhaps both:

One, she intends it to be more political than economical in nature, aimed at 'certain quarters'. Two, her homework lacks updating. If indeed it's the latter, it's unfortunate. It belies justification of creating her post in Kolkata, if she fails in what is essentially a part of her job. Which is to convince and attract investments from her country in Bengal and other places in the eastern region.


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