Broadway avenue

Evergreen Dev Anand passes away

2011-12-04T17:04:00.012+05:30

Evergreen star Dev Anand, one of the icons of Indian cinema, died on Sunday after suffering a massive cardiac arrest in London. He was 88.

Dev Anand began his career with ‘Hum Ek Hain’ in 1946. However, he got his first big break with ‘Ziddi’ in 1948.The flamboyant star is also known for giving big hits like ‘Baazi’, ‘Guide’, ‘Jewel Thief’, ‘Johnny Mera Naam’, ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’, ‘CID’ and ‘Tere Mere Sapne’.
An era of Indian Cinema ended with the death of the legend.

Calcutta Girl won the prestigious award

2011-11-15T14:56:00.002+05:30

The whole of India must be proud of hearing the news of Kolkata girl Mahima Khanna, who won the Cambridge's most prestigious Stevesion Award. The 23 year old has topped the 2010-2011 MPhil class of economics at the Cambridge University and will receive this most acclaimed award for her success. With this award she becomes the third Indian and the first Indian woman to bag the award after the Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen who won it in the year 1956 and Sir Partho Dasgupta had won it in 1967, for his contribution to nutrition and developmental economics. Mahima is very excited to share the award with the god [Amartya Sen] in the economics field.

She did her schooling in Loreto House and La Martiniere for girls and she cleared the medical joint entrance examination. But she eventually took admission in St Xavier's College.

When she graduated in 2009, Mahima had topped in economics in Calcutta University. She went to Cambridge for her post graduate degree on a Commonwealth scholarship and she also excelled there too by ranking second and she stayed back for her MPhil.

Hearty congratulations to Mahima. You made India proud, and we the Calcuttans, feel very proud of you. Wish you many more success in life.

Source : SiliconIndia.com

Durga Puja Jalsa at Basel, Switzerland

2011-11-13T15:39:00.003+05:30

Like last year, this year too the Bengalis and all Indians celebrated Durga Puja for the second year. This year was a little bigger way. A singer was hired for one the cultural Function. More over the local talents among them also participated. One such song has come to me to add in this post.

The singer is none other than my son Anirban who is at present in Switzerland (Basel). He was one of the organisers of the puja.

Happy Deepavali - 2011

2011-10-25T20:40:00.003+05:30

On this auspicious occasion, I wish you all a very happy Deepavali. May this festival of light brings all brightness, happiness to your life.

শুভ বিজয়া দশমী

2011-10-07T22:45:00.004+05:30

Shubha Vijaya Dashami.
সবাইকে জানাই শুভ বিজয়ার প্রীতি ও শুভেচ্ছা।

Sharad Jalsa

2011-10-05T22:24:00.004+05:30

Arati Mukherjee, the renowned singer performed at GC Block, Durga Puja on Ashtami, 04th Oct 2011. She was little late due to traffic jam which is a known fact on the puja days. 1030PM is quite late for Para function.

Arati Mukherjee on stage at GC Block Sharad Jalsa, 4 Oct 2011

Durga Puja 2011

2011-10-05T22:10:00.004+05:30

Vishwakarma Puja

2011-09-18T10:09:00.007+05:30

Today (18/9/2011) is Vishwakarma Puja. Every office, factory in this eastern region celebrate this Puja. In my office also it used to be worshiped every year and I used to take part in the puja every year. But last year (2010) I could not join it because that day I was in hospital.

The factories and offices turn the day to a festival day and the gates remain open for one and all. That day, the staff members come with their children for the puja and Prasad. Every office and factory make arrangements for lunch or sweets packets for their staff. Normally after puja and lunch, the offices close. Many, on the occassion, get oppurtunity to drink wine and lunch to celebrate the ocassion.

Ladies group take part whole heartedly for the puja events to make it a grand, meaningful puja. Till Bhog distribution they remain busy in their allocated duties. Due to festival mood, there won't be any office discipline or decorum observed. Unlike office days, ladies come wearing Sari and with make up. To make the day memorable , they ask for photography. Some (ladies) also take this opportunity to go on a joyride.

The office cars, machineries etc are worshiped after the idol is worshiped. I used to take my car every year for worshiping it on the day of vishwakarma puja at my office.

But after my retirement this year, this is the first time when I was missing this puja and the office colleagues. And even my car also was not worshiped. This is the pain of retirement, which we never feel when we are in service. Like this there will be many sentimental issues which comes in retired life.

My Europe Tour-2011

2011-09-04T21:30:00.018+05:30

On the way to Lake Titisee in the region of famous Black Forest of Germany. We visited Germany from Switzerland (Basel) by train to Feiburg City and then travelled to Titisee Lake.

At Swarovski Crystal World, Austria

Jungfrau, top of Europe, visited on 19 Jun 2011

Collosium, Rome

This summer I had been to Europe's most sought tourist spots, on a group tour on 31 May 2011 for 10 days. Tour started from London and ended at Switzerland. As per schedule it was to end at Zurich but due to some reasons, our last destination was Basel City in Switzerland and took return flight from Zurich airport, as per programme. After the tour, we stayed back at Basel where my son is posted and the group departed as per schedule on 10th Jun 2011. We stayed for more than a month there and travelled to most of the important places of Switzerland which was not possible by a group tour. The travel company took us to Important European cities and in Switzerland, to Geneva, Glacier 3000 and Jungfrau. While in Basel for more than a month, we travelled a lot and came to know about the city and citizens and their their life styles.

If you are interested to know more about the places and to see the pictures, please go to the link : My europe tour

In front of Leaning Tower of PISA, Italy

Victory Rally on 21July'09 was an indication

2011-05-24T16:29:00.016+05:30

Victory Rally of Mamata at Esplanade after Lok Sabha Poll, on 21 Jul 2009

I still remember that Rally because we suffered a lot. The Victory Rally on 21 July 2009 of TMC, after Lok Sabha poll was the biggest political rally Kolkata ever seen. That was the last day of Banmahotsab (Aranya Saptaha) week and I remember that from our office we had been to Belur for tree plantation on that day. While gong out we never anticipated such a huge crowd will paralised the city. We realised when we came back from Belur. Our office vehicle struck due to vehicles parked on the roads and that spread-edfrom Esplanade to Hastings area (Beyond Fort William).The meeting was at Esplanade and the vehicle came from all over WB. In the evening, after office hours, I could not take my car out. That we never seen such crowds of vehicles in the city.

After Lok Sabha poll, that victory rally of Mamata on 21 Jul 2009 was an clear indication that she is going to Writers' in 2011 and that was only a matter of time. We never thought of it that day. LF also failed to understand the indication and as usual they ignored it.

Mamata became CM today

2011-05-20T17:57:00.000+05:30

At last Paribartan (change) has come to Bengal. On Friday, minutes after 1 in the afternoon, Mamata Banerjee took oath to become the first woman Chief Minister of West Bengal. It was a historic moment for the state and personally, one that the diminutive giant-slayer has waited for all her life. Mamata took oath in Bengali marking a change of guard that will see the end of 34 years of uninterrupted rule by the CPI(M)-led Left Front.

Among the several thousands present was former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Mamata had sent a personal invitation to him yesterday. Also there were Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister AK Antony.

A new chapter to the History of Bengal

2011-05-14T21:06:00.010+05:30


A leader was born in Bengal in the year 1984. Her destiny was written as a terminator of 34 years rule of CPM. Giant killer, Mamata Banerjee at a rally in Maidan on January 5, 1985, soon after winning the Jadavpur seat in 1984 defeating Somnath Chatterjee.

Mamata Banerjee started her political carrier by demolish of stalwarts and creating history since 1984 when she defeated CPM stalwart Somnath Chatterjee from Jadavpur constituency, to become one of India’s youngest Parliamentarians. After 27 years of her continuous struggle against the regimented ruling party, finally she won her battle and reached to her destination. 13 May 2011 election results came as a shock to the ruling party. Even to the public, because everybody knew there is wind for TMC but public never imagined that wind will turn into a Tsunami which uprooted and swept away all giant-like trees like Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (Chief Minister), Nirupam Sen (Industry), Asim Dasgupta (Finance), Gautam Deb (housing). Ashoke Bhattacharya and many more.


Mamata with Rajiv Gandhi at Netaji Bhawan, Kolkata

In 2009, I wrote in a blog post that "After her stunning performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee making it clear that she was now thinking beyond Trinamool’s role as an Opposition party, she gave a hint of her priorities as the leader of the party in power in the state in 2011". That was my blog post under a heading "Didi sees road to Writers' Building". After two years - She has finally reached to her destination.

Victory Rally at Esplaned on July 21, 2009,after her stunning performance in the Lokshabha poll 2009.

Her political life was full of struggle. And we must salute her for her struggle alone with a regimented party like CPM. No doubt she is courageous and in this regard she is incomparable. How CPM behaved with her, we all knew. Perhaps She took a pledge to dislodge the CPM led Government, when she (in spite of being a union Minister and Firebrand Youth Congress Chair person) was forcibly thrown out from the corridor of writers' Building by the then CM Jyoti Basu (07 Jan 1993) and was lodged in the Police lockup. After release from Lalbazar Police lockup, on the way to home, she spent some time alone at the Gandhi statue at Mayo Road crossing at 0100 AM night. It was perhaps in this moment of solitude she took a pledge to enter Writers’ only after dislodging the CPM from power. Perhaps her destiny was rewritten by God that day. Today CPM has been thrown out from the Writers' in a democratic process and made her way smooth to Writers'.

কে বলে গো সেই প্রভাতে নেই আমি

2011-05-09T15:23:00.006+05:30

আজ ২৫শে বৈশাখ। রবীন্দ্রনাথের ১৫১তম জন্মদিন। আসুন তাঁরই একটি গান দিয়ে তাঁকে স্মরন করি।

হেমন্ত মুখোপাধ্যায়ের কন্ঠে শুনুন "যখন পড়বে না মোর পায়ের চিনহ এই বাটে " । গানটি ভিডিওতে রুপান্তরিত করে আপনাদের উপহার দেওয়া হল। আশা করি আপনাদের ভাল লাগবে। গানটি ইউট্যুবে আপলোডেড আছে (youtube.com/acm365). সেখানের মন্তব্যগুলো পড়লে বোঝা যায় , হেমন্ত'র কন্ঠে গানটি এবং ভিডিওগ্রাফী মিলে জনপ্রিয় হয়েছে। সকলেই পছন্দ করেছেন এবং মন্তব্যে তা ব্যক্ত করেছেন।

My recent paintings

2011-04-17T21:19:00.003+05:30

Two of my recent paintings are posted below. These are painted using dry pastel on paper. This is my first landscape in pastel.

Indiblogger Akshaya Patra Meet at Salt Lake

2011-02-21T21:48:00.006+05:30

Indiblogger Meet at Kolkata on 20 Feb 2011

There was a Indiblogger meet at Salt Lake, Convention Centre on 20 Feb 2011 from 1200PM onwards which continued beyond 0500Pm. The meet was sponsored by Akshay Patra, a well known NGO engaged in feeding under privileged children in schools at different states of India. This was an opportunity for me to meet the dedicated "Indiblogger.in" boys and girls in person who came from Chennai and Bangalore. They are persons who work for us behind the screen of Indiblogger.in. The meet was a grand success as many Bloggers from Kolkata and West Bengal joined the meet and got introduced ourselves during the meet. There were plenty of activities, discussions, Slide shows and a recorded video address of Mr. NR Narayana Murthy, Founder, Chairman of Infosys Technologies, on Akshaya Patra.

This Akshay Patra (www.akshayapatra.org) started its journey in the year 2000 by feeding 1,500 school children across 5 schools in Bangalore. Today they feed about 1.3 million underprivileged school children across 18 different locations in 8 states. Their mission is to feed 5 million students by 2020.

A good news that the Akshaya Patra is planning to start their programme in West Bengal by this year. The mid day meal to the underprivileged children in schools of this state will improve the school enrollment and also attendance rates resulting decrease in dropout rates.The student will be free from class room hunger which in turn improve the performance of the students.

We are not aware about the success of the mid day meal programmes in West Bengal run by the Govt. / Govt. Agency. But we are confident that the program will be a successful by Akshaya Patra because it is already running successfully in 8 states (Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Assam). We welcome Akshaya Patra to West Bengal and hope people of West Bengal will support this noble cause.

Bangalore children (coutesy : www.akshayapatra.org)

Patiala House

2011-02-11T20:55:00.004+05:30

The best thing of this movie is to see Akshay Kumar in a role of a sober boy of 34 years old who plays cricket and runs a small shop. In short, this is a story of a second-generation Sikh in London's South Hall area who gives up his dream to save his father`s reputation until he meets a girl who gives him the strength to stand up for what he believes.

India today has correctly and precisely reviewed the film which goes like this : “Bijis, baujis, bhangra. It’s a tried and tested formula that doesn’t always work. But add to it Bollywood’s new favourite Punjabi kudi Anushka Sharma and lots of cricket on the eve of the cricket World Cup and it’s a surprisingly watchable movie.”

Yes, it is a just watchable movie with family and we should not expect much from it.

Broadway - another multiplex came to Salt Lake

2011-02-11T10:27:00.012+05:30

Broadway Multiplex - another multiplex opened today in Salt Lake City on its Broadway Avenue. The use of name "Broadway" is very significant because it is on the Broadway Avenue itself (on the 5th. floor of Big Bazar Building, at Sector-III, Salt Lake City). With this multiplex, Salt Lake City got two multiplexes, the other one being at City Centre. Another two multiplexes are at Swabhumi and Mani Square Mall which are at stone throw distance from Salt Lake , on the other side of Salt Lake, on the EM Bypass.

Salt Lake residents may remember today that decades back there was a proposal to open a Cinema Hall near today's City Centre but there was a hue and cry from the residents of Salt Lake and the move was stopped. That time the parents of Salt Lake thought their children may go spoiled by frequent watching movies in the nearby theater. The move was opposed and stopped. Today, Salt Lake got 4 multiplexes, each having 4 screens, means 16 theaters, enough to spoil their children.

Now the crazy politician who are in Renaming spree, should rethink to rename this Broadway Avenue, the prestigious Avenue of Salt Lake City. As we know there is a thinking to rename it after a freedom fighter or a poet to show respect to them by some politicians. Putting the respectable leaders or poets or anybody on the roads, is not the only means to show respect. to them There are ways to show respect to them. Why to drag them to the roads.

The Salt Lake city residents, especially of Sector-III, should cheers for this grand opening of this multiplex making movie watching simple, comfortable and convenient.

"Patiala House" will be my first movie in this theatre on the opening day.

Photo Coutesy : Times of India

Bidhannagar Mela 2011

2011-02-04T21:06:00.008+05:30

This is "Mela" (Fair) for which people of Saltlake wait for la ong year to buy different products of their likings. After a year-long wait, like every year this year too Bidhannagar (Salt Lake) Mela has began on 19 January and will continue till 07th Feb 2011. This is 21st year of the Mela. There are in display variety of items ranging from kitchen item to Electronics gadgets. The handicrafts / products of different states of India as well as outside India like Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan to name some of them, have come for business to this year's mela. Bangladesh stalls are offering varieties good quality sarees but prices are on bit higher side (4 thousand and above) for the common people. Generally common people only rush to Mela for buying household goods but Salt Lake mela is exception where people from all sections of the society are seen in the crowd.

In the Mela premises there is a stage where different cultural programmes are also organised in the evening which adds colour and vibrance to the Mela.

The East-West Metro, which is under construction now, is passing through the Mela ground. Once this Metro starts, it will pull lot of crowds from other part of Kolkata even and I can foresee that this will turn a mega event of Salt Lake.

Renaming again

2011-02-02T20:43:00.010+05:30

Broadway Avenue, Salt Lake

As if there is no problem in this state except some names which hindering state's progress which need to be renamed, as done in the recent past for the Railway stations. Salt Lake city (Kolkata) has a broader beautiful road from Stadium to Central Park, meaningfully named as Broadway. Its one of the busiest and important road of Salt Lake. This beautiful Road has already been defaced by lot many hoarding and trimming (cutting) of the trees on both sides of the roads for the hoardings. Politicians don't see those activities.

Now the politicians of a party, have come forward to do a most "demanding" job in this small beautiful town which residents may not like. But who cares. Netas are not bothered about the feelings of the people, they are determined to do what they think. As if, at this moment, there is no issues in Bengal which need to be addressed by them. Only naming or renaming does not count as a developmental work and no credit goes to that party. If this (renaming spree) goes on against the public opinion/ likings, it shows adamant and dictatorial attitude of the leaders and people can understand that the "Change" what this state will be experiencing in few months time, will be disastrous in future.

First Avenue and Broadway Avenue are known for their meaningful existence in their locations. Naming these roads after the great leaders like Gandhi, Subhash or anybody is meaningless in a city like Salt Lake. Because its blocks have been named alphabetically and geographical locations of those blocks can not be explained by putting hundreds thousands names but can be understood well in the present system of naming (alphabetically).

New Flyover

2011-01-06T16:40:00.007+05:30

Ultadanga bypass flyover

Another feather is added in the Buddha’s Cap. Ultadanga bypass Flyover which connects VIP Road to EM Bypass and vice versa. Built in less than two years with cost of 68 crores. Its length is only 1.29Km but its use will be enormous especially during rainy season. Ultadanga was a nightmare for going to and coming from Airport during rainy season. Already there was a short flyover for one way traffic from VIP road to EM Bypass which was also useful for the Salt Lake residents and those who were travelling through EM Bypass to other parts of the city. But being it one way, public was in trouble to move through congested Ultadanga crossings. Some how Government, this time felt its necessity and importance and acted quickly. The short flyover can be useful for entering into Salt Lake and also for taking the EM Bypass. But here one has to cross two to three traffic signals before coming to the point where the new flyover touches the EM Bypass. Naturally this short Flyover will now be useful for the Salt Lake residents only. Thanks to the Government for all out efforts to complete it in a very short time. The Flyover came to reality in a less than two years time and now we the Salt Lake residents, airport goers zoom to VIP Road using this Flyover and reach the destination bypassing traffic congestion at Ultadanga crossings.

The flyover was thrown open to the public by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on 05 January 2011.

Back to life again

2010-12-24T22:41:00.004+05:30

My Gall Bladder was operated, as scheduled, on 15th Dec 2010 (Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy) at Genesis Hospital by surgeon Dr. Purnendu Roy and on 17th morning I was discharged from Hospital. I was advised rest for some days with no restriction except weight lifting. The day I was discharged (after t48 Hrs. of operation) the 4 holes on the belly was dried up externally and some pain killers, antacid etc were prescribed for 5 days and there was no antibiotic in that.

The operation hardly took 15-20 minutes. Before operation, many thoughts were going on inside me, but when I was waken up from anesthesia and said wake up, wake up, operation is over. It was unbelievable to me as I did not feel anything and I thanked God for going everything smoothly. So I am back to life without any pain and the disease has been removed from my body. I am free of the problem that too without any pain. What a wonderful experience. I thanked God once again and gone to sleep again.

When I was told "operation is over" , it was unbelievable for me because in the past, I have seen complicated cases. I have seen how this simple operation turned to a complicated one for one of my colleagues and the patient was required to be transferred to Apollo Hospital and resulted a total bill in lakhs, from a package of Rs. 10-12K, four to five years ago.

I will try to post my experiences on the "Life without Gall Bladder" in day to day life, based on my experiences. So it will take some time for gathering the same. I don't think there will be anything major experiences because 10 days over and so far I am leading absolutely normal life. I am taking normal food like dal, rice, bread, vegetable, fish, etc. Of course spicy food I am avoiding .After 11 days, today (27th Dec 2010) I have resumed my office. Of course not traveling by public transport, but by my own car with a hired driver. Though I am driving in Salt Lake areas where traffic are smooth and less congested but still I am avoiding driving in city.

Broadway blocked by political rally

2010-12-10T21:47:00.003+05:30

Trinamool supporters gherao'ed Hidco Office blocking the Salt Lake's Broadway Avenue

The Salt Lake township felt the jitters of Trinamool Congress’ Hidco gherao programme on 09^th Dec 2010. With Broadway Avenue cut off, commuters were harassed all day and police were on the tenterhooks struggling to manage the traffic chaos and provide security to the Hidco office and the high profile leaders who attended the Trinamool rally. The Karunamoyee-bound lane of Broadway was blocked from 08^th Dec (Wednesday)itself as the stage had come up. The EM Bypass-bound lane stayed open till 1pm on 09^th Dec when the pressure of the rallyists choked it off too.

Karunamoyee-bound vehicles were diverted from AMRI Hospital (50 metres from the rally stage) to the right, adding a few chaotic kilometres to their journey. Bypass-bound traffic from Karunamoyee was diverted towards Hyatt Regency, leaving the Beliaghata crossing chock-a-block while the meeting was going on. With thousands of supporters flocking to Salt Lake from Chingrihata, Beliaghata, Ultadanga and Rajarhat, there was heavy traffic since early morning. Sector-III was badly hit in rush hours.

I myself was a victim of this nonsense when I was returning from Maruti workshop at about 3.00 pm from Beleghata. I knew aabout the Rally but I thought they are sensible and understand the difficulties of the general public, so roads may not be totally choked. Thinking all this, I entered as usual from the Beleghata-bypass crossing and heading to Amri hospital. But to my surprise all the roads, entrance of the Amri Hospital were choked by the rallyists. I took right turn to Tank No. 16 and followed the parallel lane of Broadway. I thought from Amul Island I will be able to take the Broadway towards Bijan Bhawan and onwards but to my surprise the whole Amul Island was choked by the unruly supporters and not bothering to give way for the vehicles. I again took the U-turn, encircling the Island circle, and took the farthest parallel road of the Broadway and reached “GD” Island where the traffic ordeal, first time in Salt Lake, ended and reached home safely.

Courtesy : Times of India

Gall Bladder : An uncommon case study

2010-11-19T21:21:00.038+05:30

In one midnight there was pain in abdomen and it was radiating towards right back and upper chest. When it reaches to chest I was nervous. I was feeling uncomfortable and there was no sign of relief in about two hours. Having no other option but to get admitted in a nearby hospital at about 03.00AM. It was relieved only after pushing 3 injections , including one in the belly. Then I was put into deep sleep. After USG and MRCP they concluded that the GB wall thickened and nothing else could be detected on the following days. They advised for operation in due course or else similar pains may be repeated in future.

Today, we everybody know that doctors who are attached to Private Hospitals are more commercial and they run after to meet their financial targets fixed for each of them. My CGHS (Central Govt. Health Scheme) doctor too advised me to take a second opinion from a experienced Govt. surgeon who may not be having such commercial interests. Surgeon DR. DK Sarkar, of Kolkata's so called super speciality hospital (SSKM) known as PG Hospital, who advised me to get a fresh USG, of whole abdomen, focusing on hepato biliary pancreatic system, and LFT (Lever Function Test) tests before for giving his firm opinion. Going through the reports, he said it is a case of Polyp and not the thick walled GB. Wall thickness is reported as normal in the report. Since it is having polyp of more than 1cm in size, operation is must. Polyp is a growth on the inner side of the wall of GB. Generally polyp grows in the intestines but in a GB? That to in my GB? I think it is a uncommon thing. Generally Gall stones are very common. In both cases, the GB has to be removed.

My CGHS dispensary doctor said it is very simple surgery now a days. He has undergone the same surgery recently. In fact the surgeon who operated him, asked him to walk after the operation. Generally 48 hrs. hospitalization is required.

We always hear about Gall bladder stones but very rarely case of Polyps we come across. Thats what made me to share with you about this uncommon Gallbladder ailment which is not very common as stones. Now lets see what is Polyp or GB Polyps.

Wikipedia says in its articles : Gallbladder polyps are growths or lesions resembling growths (polypoid lesions) in the wall of the gallbladder. True polyps are abnormal accumulations of mucous membrane tissue that would normally be shed by the body. Polypoid lesions of the gallbladder affect approximately 5% of the adult population. The causes are uncertain, but there is a definite correlation with increasing age and the presence of gallstones (cholelithiasis). Most affected individuals do not have symptoms. The gallbladder polyps are detected during abdominal ultrasonography performed for other reasons.

Most small polyps (less than 1 cm) are not cancerous and may remain unchanged for years.However, when small polyps occur with other conditions, such as primary sclerosing cholangitis, they are less likely to be benign.Larger polyps are more likely to develop into adenocarcinomas.

Most polyps are benign and do not need to be removed. Polyps larger than 1 cm with co-occurring gallstones occurring in people over the age of 50 may have the gallbladder removed (cholecystectomy), especially if the polyps are severe or appear malignant. Laparoscopic surgery is an option for small or solitary polyps.

XVI Asian Games

2010-11-12T20:33:00.003+05:30

XVI Asian Games declared open today 12th Nov 2010 at Guangzhou, China. Picture shows the venue ready for the opening ceremony on 12 Nov 2010. 

Photo : Times of India

Happy Deepavali

2010-11-03T21:27:00.002+05:30

Happy Vijaya Dashami

2010-10-18T16:28:00.002+05:30

Today is Vijaya Dashami.
On this auspicious occasion, I wish you all a very happy Vijaya Dashami

Durga Puja at Basel, Switzerland

2010-10-15T20:54:00.018+05:30

Durga Puja is the year’s largest Hindu festival in India in the states of West Bengal, Orissa, Tripura, assam, Jharkhand and other part of Eastern India. Durga puja is celebrated in these states by Bengali population there. Other than this, Durga puja is celebrated in every cities of India, wherever Bengali are there. This festival is celebrated in some states of India in some other form like Gujarat celebrates as Nava Ratri, Karnataka as Vijaya Dashami ( Dussera) etc.

In fact this festival is celebrated in all metros and all small towns of India wherever Bengalis are there. Other than India, it is celebrated in Bangladesh by Hindus.

In fact this festival has no boundary. Today, Bengalis are scattered all over the world and wherever Bengalis are there, there must be a Durga Puja. It is celebrated in most of the American Cities and many places in European countries. In Switzerland too, I believe, it is being celebrated at Zurich and Geneva.

But the news is that this year the Indian population based at BASEL, Switzerland, has started a Puja with much enthusiasm and rejoice keeping all rituals and traditions. The Bengalis, Biharis and people from UP, mostly Indians IT professionals have joined hands to make this a grand begining. Their planning is nothing less than any other Probasi puja . They have planned for community lunch / Dinner and cultural programmes in the evening by themselves and their family members and their children.

This whole-hearted participation of the children in the puja and cultural events will give an opening to the children to the cultures of Bengal and India as a whole. To read more visit www.baselpuja.com

Here are two videos which shows the cultural functions during Durga Puja at Basel ( Song by Anirban) and at Sunrise, Florida, USA. The dance by the children ( Tushar, Ritika and Rai) of the Florida puja, based on a Tagore's song (বাদল বাউল বাজায় রে একতারা) is excellent, especially the little girls - Ritika and Rai. Tushar's performance too is highly commendable being it his first appearance on the stage.

Cultural Program in the evening in progress at Basel, Switzerland (above) and at Sunrise, Florida, USA (Below)

Golden Girl of India

2010-10-14T16:06:00.002+05:30

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal won 38th gold for India by beating Malaysia’s M. Choo Wong in the women’s singles final at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday, 14^th Oct 2010. The Gold won by Saina made all the difference. India winning 38th. Gold snatched the 2nd position in medal tally from England who won 37 Golds. Therefore Saina’s Gold medal is more than Gold because it has lifted India’s rank from third to second. Saina won the final 21-19, 23-21, 21-13.

Saina Nehwal, World No. three, created history today by becoming first Indian woman shuttler to win the single Gold in Badminton at the Commonwealth Games. Congratulation to her.

Dr. Abdul Kalam's Letter to Every Indian

2010-10-10T22:43:00.009+05:30

A letter of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, ex president of India, addressed to every Indian,  is reproduced below which must be read by every Indian and act accordingly,to some extent, if not fully because old habits die hard, can't be changed in one day. 

" Why is the media here so negative?

Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?

We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?

 We are the first in milk production.

 We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.

 We are the second largest producer of wheat.

 We are the second largest producer of rice.

 Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit.. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

 I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is.. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

.. 
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. 
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say.. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are.. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai .. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.
YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs..650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches inAustralia and New Zealand ..
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan ..
Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?
What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England . When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too….. I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.

Thank you,

Dr.. Abdul Kalam"  

Please tell your friends to read it. 

XIX Common Wealth Games 2010

2010-10-03T21:05:00.008+05:30

Photo courtesy : www.cwgindia.net

After lot of controversy, corruption the long waited XIX Common Wealth Games 2010 declared open today. The opening ceremony was spectacular. Olympic Gold medal winning shooter Abhinav Bindra lead the Indian stars Saina Nehwal, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Virender Singh, Sushil Kumar and many more. Wish them all the best and hope they will give their best to make the nation proud again.

The official mascot for the 2010 Commonwealth Games is "Shera".

Snoring or thundering?

2010-09-23T22:56:00.006+05:30

Its an new experience. Snoring could be that thundering I never knew. I had to be hospitalized suddenly on 15th early morning at 3.00 AM at Columbia Asia Hospital on the Broadway, with back and abdomen pain. After series of tests and investigations, nothing could be found except GB wall thickened but no stone. I was released on 18th. So a visit was paid to the Hospital in a very unplanned way, of course visits to hospitals happen in a unplanned way only.

I was in a semi cabin that means a cabin for two. On the first day (morning) I met a peculiar man (patient) who was very often was snoring. The snoring could be that thundering I was not having that experience. It was like thundering, with his mountain like belly going up and down at different tones and volumes. We have seen such scenes in some movies. The man was admitted with heart problem. Why not, his belly says he has born to eat only and pron to heart disease. I complained to the sisters but no way. Its uncontrollable. Doctor came and said first thing you have to reduce your weight by 10 KG and stop your snoring. Consult a doctor for this separately.. Unless you change your lifestyle, you can't get rid of heart disease.

I could not bear that man's thundering snoring. I changed my cabin and took a single bedded cabin. I was feeling pity seeing his wife who was ashamed of his such snoring and my discomfort. I feel pity for her. I was thinking how his wife spend the nights with such thunderous snoring? They must be sleeping in separate rooms, because it is impossible to bear such a disturbing noise.

16th Cleanest City of India

2010-09-03T21:48:00.001+05:30

There is a good news for the people of Salt Lake (Bidhannagar). The National Urban Sanitation survey report of 2009-10 has declared Salt Lake, the 16th Cleanest City in India.

Kolkata is in the 25th position while Mumbai is in the 45th position.. Chandigarh has been confirmed as the Cleanest City in the country. The survey was done in the 423 cities throughout the country.

Accident on Broadway- again

2010-08-24T22:26:00.001+05:30

One Tata Sumo carrying school children in the morning today, just toppled upside down due to sudden break applied by the driver near GD Island. It dashed a Maruti van and then applied brake which resulted the accident. The children were rescued breaking the window glasses by local and passer by people and it appears that nobody was seriously injured. Later police came to the spot.

Maruti's Answer to Nano

2010-08-24T22:13:00.004+05:30

Now, it’s the turn of Maruti, who is seriously planning a car priced closer to Nano, and it could apparently be the Cervo, a compact five door mini that might put the other kids on the block in the shade.The Cervo looks like a smaller Chevrolet Beat with cues from Honda Jazz’s design. The phenomenal fuel efficiency is one of the USPs of this car.

Powered by Suzuki’s 660cc engine – as against Nano’s 623cc – the Cervo could be priced between 1.5 to 2 lakhs, a little higher than Nano. But Cervo looks too stylish and futuristic to be priced under 2 lakhs. So it’s obvious that Maruti needs to delete some of the features available in the car, or use a cheaper material to make a potent contender to Nano.

Although not all can repeat the Nano story, Maruti has resources and expertise to come up with such a model at a cheap price without compromising on quality. Lets hope for the best.

Source : Yahoo news

My Sony Ericsson Mobile W508i

2010-08-23T22:19:00.015+05:30

I am using Sony Ericsson W508i phone for a quite some time and it has proved its quality in all respect.Being a satisfied user, I just want to give its dues to Sony Ericsson. Now I can say, its a great phone due to its great unmatched features. Nokia even Black Barry phones and all other reputed brands are not at all comparable to its quality. Its sound and color is outstanding.

This is a Walkman-branded phone. The Walkman series of phones have established a first-class reputation for music, and the W850i fully lives up to expectations. You can enjoy stereo sound from the music player or the FM radio with excellent audio quality and user-friendliness. A built-in FM radio, 3G video calling and a 2 megapixel camera. The W850i's camera gives very outstanding quality photos with great resolutions and colour. It is a 5 STAR Rated phone.Read more : http://www.mobile-phones-uk.org.uk/sony-ericsson-w850i.htm.

But this model is now out of market. Further improved version has replaced it.

Rath Yatra

2010-07-13T21:31:00.000+05:30

Puri in Orissa, Kolkata and other places in West Bengal celebrated the Rath Yatra today. Thousands of Kolkatans came out on the streets to participate in Rath Yatra. Salt Lake too participated in the festival, like every year. The Rath (The Chariot) was pulled along the Broadway of this township. Many pulled the chariot of Lord Jagannath while the rest stood along the way to catch a glimpse of Lord Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra. Traffic was stopped enroute Rath Yatra. Prasad was distributed to the people while moving the the Rath Yatra.

ISKCON, like every year, this year too organized Rath Yatra which started started from the Park Circus Maidan, went through the central Kolkata streets and journey ended at Ganga Sagar Mela ground nearBabughat. The Rath will be parked here till Ulta Rath, on the eighth day, when it will be back to the place of origin. Devotees of the ISKCON from different parts of the world participated in the festival.

Future Transport System of Kolkata

2010-07-13T20:18:00.000+05:30

It is reported by the media that the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) is implementing four extremely important projects that would ensure smooth and fast travel. It will take just 30 minutes from Barrackpore and Barasat (north) and Joka (south) to the central business district, a journey that takes a couple of hours now.

Let us wait and see.

Source : Times of India 13/7/2010

.

Super Saina-the shuttle queen of India

2010-06-28T20:25:00.002+05:30

Saina Nehwal with the Tricolour after beating Japan’s Sayaka Sato in the final of the Indonesia Open Super Series final in Jakarta on Sunday.

India’s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal notched up an incredible ‘hat-trick’ by successfully defending her Indonesia Open Super Series crown with a hard-fought win over Japan’s Sayaka Sato here on Sunday. This was Saina’s third successive title, having won the Indian Open Grand Prix at home and the Singapore Open Super Series Tournament last week. This is also the 20-year-old’s third Super Series title overall.

Congrats to Super Saina, the shuttle queen of India. India and Indians are proud of you. Keep it up.

Photo & News Source : Times of India.

Nicco Park

2010-06-22T20:58:00.009+05:30

Nicco Park Salt Lake

One of the sight seeings of Kolkata is located at Salt Lake that is Nicco Park which is very close to Broadway Avenue now after connecting Salt Lake Sector III to Sector V where Nicco Park is situated, by a small Bridge. The bridge is a small one, but it made the big differences for the commuters to Sector-V, especially employees of IT sectors and other offices and establishments like Nicco Park, Nalban, aquatica etc which are situated at the sector-V of Salt Lake City. This makes the journey more comfortable than the route through Karunamoyee. Now going to Newtown is much easier through this and the Wipro bridge, bypassing Karunamoyee.

New Town as on 20 Jun 2010 (Road to Airport)

Confidence

2010-06-18T20:16:00.005+05:30

A hypothetical situation where 20 CEOs board an airplane and are told that the flight that they are about to take is the first-ever to feature pilot less technology: It is an uncrewed aircraft. Each one of the CEOs is then told, privately, that their company's software is running the aircraft's automatic pilot system. Nineteen of the CEOs promptly leave the aircraft, each offering a different type of excuse.

One CEO alone remains on board the jet, seeming very calm indeed. Asked why he is so confident in this first uncrewed flight, he replies:

"If it is the same software that is developed by my company's IT systems department, this plane won't even take off.”!!!!

That is called Confidence!!!

Vespa once again in India

2010-06-17T15:44:00.011+05:30

The iconic Vespa, which made waves on almost every Indian road for many years, is set for yet another comeback, with unmistakable appeal and practicality combined with comfort and modern design. After its first entry into Indian soil 50 years back, Vespa surely has had a lot of fame on its side before ‘Hamara Bajaj’ spoiled its party.

The board of Piaggio & Co has announced its plan to set up a 1.5-lakh capacity plant that will produce a model specially developed for India, the world’s second-largest market for motorcycles and scooters. Most probably, the model will be from the LX125 model range and the cute little wasp (Vespa means wasp in Italian) will be making its presence felt in the domestic circuit in its new avatar by 2012.

Look at the beautiful product :

http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=vespa+lx125&z=e

Source : Yahoo News

A tale of a city

2010-04-15T16:33:00.015+05:30

Adda at City Centre Mall

Ekti Shaharer katha (একটি শহরের কথা / A tale of a city) a documentary film on Salt Lake City (Bidhan Nagar) produced by Bidhannagar Municipality. The VCD of this documentary was released yesterday on 14 Apr 2010 by Soumitra Chattopadhyay at Purbashree theater at EZCC Salt Lake.

On this occasion, Rabindrasangeet, dance & poem recital by Soumitra Chattopadhyay and Bratati Bandopadhyay was organised by the organisers. Shompa Kundu, Manomoy, Paromita (London) were among the artists of Rabindrasangeet. At the end the film was shown on the screen. Soumitra and soma Dey were in leading roles.

The film was not upto the mark. The dialogues and photography was very poor. More over, like everything, the film also is one sided. This was a good attempt and the film could have been a good documentary of Salt lake but somehow it failed.

In the film, there is a mention of the tasty cutlets (Chop/ চপ) of Tank No. 11, but purposely omitted the "Indira Bhawan" where once Indira Gandhi stayed during one of the Congress session, if I am correct, in the seventies. To avoid that pronouncement of "Indira Bhawan" & Indira Gandhi - they mentioned "this is the place where India's No. 1 politician, Shri Jyoti Basu lives. Since it was a documentary film, they should have mentioned the history of that Indira Bhawan with details of why and when it was built and who all stayed there including Indira Gandhi, PM of INDIA. The writer, producer have given a flavour of nasty & narrow politics here. I am not a political person or politically inclined to any party but my point is that when you are showing the statue (only Head) of Karl Marx and Sourabh's academy why a Prime Minister should be ignored? It has to be because its writer Bishwajiban Majummdar, Chairman, Bidhannagar Municipality belongs to a political party, where Indira Gandhi can be ignored but not jyoti Basu.

The film mentioned about the greenery of the city, but it is silent about the destruction of the greenery by the Bill Board advertisers/ hording owners on the Broadway avenue of Salt Lake. More over the Broadway Avenue of Salt Lake has been defaced by the Bidhannagar Municipality by putting lot many hoardings on Islands and on the both sides of the Avenue. Because of these hordings, there are lot of destruction of trees on the Broadway Avenue. The trunks on the ground are the proofs of the destruction carried out by the hording owners/ advertisers. Chairman said once, there are plenty of trees in Salt Lake, nothing goes wrong if some are eliminated. To bring up a tree, it takes years, but they are hacked in minutes, just to clear the sight of the hordings. in the film these aspect has not been discussed, because it is produced/ scripted by the Chairman himself. So it can not be classified as a documentary film of today's Salt Lake.

"Palash" on Broadway Avenue

Broadway Avenue, in the early morning

Big Bazar came to salt Lake

2010-03-28T21:01:00.003+05:30

A new shopping mall (Big Bazar) opened in Salt Lake today at IB Block, near Columbia Asia Hospital on the Broadway. Salt Lake already had a prestigious mall of International standard named City Centre. City Centre is the first mall came up in Salt Lake with a different concept of a huge open space for car parking as well as Adda of young and old couples. There are two malls around Salt Lake which are Big Bazar at Beleghata and Mani Square Mall on the EM Bypass.

Welcoming customers with Abir

No escalator, only slops for easy movement with trolley from one floor to another. Stairs and lifts are also there for elderly persons.

Outside of the Mall

The way malls are coming up every corner of the city, the shopping culture of the urban people is changing slowly and getting adapted with the malls . This mall is opened today on 28th March 2010 and at 08PM there was a mad rush inside and because of long ques in the cash counters, finally we left the items what we picked up on this inaugural day, and came out of the mall.

Nissan's Micra

2010-03-23T20:33:00.001+05:30

Nissan's Micra

Back View

Save our tigers

2010-02-03T22:57:00.007+05:30

মা হারানো শিশু/ Orphan

The video of this two month old cub, heartened me in the deep of my heart to say nothing but to join the cause to make a roar to save the Tiger at : http://saveourtigers.com

I request my fellow bloggers & readers to blog this, tweet this, share this on social networking sites and forums and contribute to the movement by getting involved for the immensely significant cause.

When you watch the video at www.youtube.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRwOgGn6OmQ) you will feel for the little cub. Make a move to join the cause at http://saveourtigers.com and make a roar for them because they are fighting for their existence today.

BidhanNagar Mela

2010-01-30T23:06:00.009+05:30

Bidhannagar Mela of 2010 has started like every year. This Mela (Fair) of Bidhannagar is an annual affair like Book-Fair of Kolkata. This fair is a quite popular now. People of Saltlake and Kolkata eagerly wait for this fair to come every year. At the end of December this fair starts and goes for about two weeks. Stalls come from Bangladesh, Pakistan and from other states of India. All type of item from Furniture to Pickles are available in the fair.

This year the Mela Ground has been cemented and sitting arrangements have been provided so that elderly people can take rest for a while.

Plenty of food stalls have come to the Mela this year. From Kabab, Fish fry to "Pithe-puli" and varieties of sweets are available.

Giant wheel

Copy and Paste - A classic Joke

2010-01-25T21:28:00.002+05:30

A popular motivational speaker was entertaining his audience. He Said:

"The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who wasn't my wife!"
The audience was in silence and shock. The speaker added: "And that woman was my mother!"

Laughter and applause.

A week later, a top manager trained by the motivational speaker tried to crack this very effective joke at home. He was a bit foggy after a drink.
He said loudly to his wife who was preparing dinner, "The greatest years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who was not my wife!"

The wife went; "ah!" with shock and rage. Standing there for 20 seconds trying to recall the second half of the joke, the manager finally blurted out "...and I can't remember who she was!"

By the time the manager regained his consciousness, he was on a hospital bed nursing burns from boiling water.

Moral of the story: Don't copy if you can't paste!

Join the queue

2010-01-21T20:56:00.007+05:30

Behind the second coffin was a solitary man walking with a black dog. Behind him was a queue of about 300 men walking in a single line.

The man couldn't stand his curiosity. He approached the man walking with the dog, "I am so sorry for your loss, and I know now is a bad time to disturb you, but I've never seen a funeral like this with so many of you walking in single line. Whose funeral is it?"

The man replied, "Well, that first coffin is for my wife."

What happened to her? "

The man replied, "My dog attacked and killed her."

He inquired further, "Well, who is in the second coffin?"

The man answered, "My mother-in-law. She was trying to help my wife when the dog attacked and killed her also."

A thoughtful moment of silence passes between the two men.

Then the first one asks in excitement "Can I borrow your dog?"

The man calmly replied "JOIN THE QUEUE..!!!"

<<<<>>>>

Bose and Basu

2010-01-18T21:37:00.015+05:30

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

SS Ray and Jyoyi Basu

"The two great Bengali Heroes of 20th century are surely Bose and Basu, Subhas and Jyoti. Both should have become Prime Ministers. One was stopped by fate, the other prevented by his own party in 1996".

This is said by MJ Akbar, a prominent columnist. I have regards and respect to MJ but I beg to differ with him in some points. First of all he is not comparable with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the great freedom fighter. The word "Hero" of 20th Century is also not suitable for Mr. Jyoti Basu. He is not a hero like Netaji Subhas. Netaji fought for freedom for the country whereas Jyoti Basu fought for the rights of the workers and the result we all know. He may be a great leader of Communist movement, he may be a hero to some section of people but not a national hero like Netaji accepted by every Indian. Nobody can deny that he or his policies (too much of rights to workers) are in fact, responsible for making West Bengal a 'Industrial desert'. His Govt. was responsible for banning English in the the primary classes which "paralysed" a generation. He was a successful leader for developing his party (not the state) and ruling the state continuously for more than 3 decades. He did more goods to his party than the state. Therefore, he may be a hero to his party and his party men but not to everybody. So comparing Jyoti Basu with Netaji, is a insult to him (Netaji).People have become more emotional and comparing him with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

In a democratic system anybody can become a Prime minister. That does not mean that he is comparable to a National Hero like Netaji. Netaji could have become PM of this country that does not mean any PM can be equated with Netaji.

Corporate Lessons

2010-01-16T22:55:00.002+05:30

Usually the shop-floor staff of the company play football.
The middle-level managers are more interested in tennis.
The top management usually has a preference for golf.

FINDING: As you go up the corporate ladder, the balls reduce in size.

.

Must have full knowledge of your job

2010-01-14T22:49:00.000+05:30

A priest was driving along and saw a nun on the side of the road, he stopped and offered her a lift which she gladly accepted.
She got in and Crossed her legs, forcing her gown to open and reveal a lovely leg.
The priest had a look and nearly had an accident.
After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.
The nun looked at him and immediately said, "Father, remember psalm 129?"
The priest was flustered and apologized profusely.
He forced himself to remove his hand. However, he was unable to remove his eyes from her leg. Further on, while changing gear, he let his hand slide up leg again.
The nun once again said, "Father, remember psalm 129?"
Once again the priest apologized. "Sorry sister, but the mind is weak."
Arriving at the convent, the nun got out, gave him a meaningful glance and went on her way.
On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to retrieve a bible and looked up psalm129. It said, "Go forth and seek; further up, and you will find glory."

MORAL OF THE STORY :

Always be well informed in your job; or, you might miss great opportunities!

Top 10 Words of 2009

2010-01-14T20:05:00.002+05:30

1. Twitter — The ability to encapsulate human thought in 140 characters
2. Obama — The word stem transforms into scores of new words like ObamaCare
3. H1N1 — The formal (and politically correct) name for Swine Flu
4. Stimulus — The $800 billion aid package meant to help mend the US economy
5. Vampire — Vampires are very much en vogue, now the symbol of unrequited love
6. 2.0 — The 2.0 suffix is attached to the next generation of everything
7. Deficit — Lessons from history are dire warnings here
8. Hadron — Ephemeral particles subject to collision in the Large Hadron Collider
9. Healthcare — The direction of which is the subject of intense debate in the US
10. Transparency — Elusive goal for which many 21st-century governments are striving.

We should be attentive while replying a call

2010-01-08T15:42:00.003+05:30

A Pleasant Surprise was waiting today when I reached home from Office. My landline rang up as usual. I thought my daughter, or some marketing call. I could not make out the name of the caller, I thought Bangalore means some fellow from Credit card customer care,Standard Chartered telephoned me, I casually replied. Hearing my casualness he also was doubtful about my identity so he repeatedly asked whether he was talking to Mr. AC Mandal and said he was talking from CQAL, Bangalore. Now hearing CQAL, I concentrated on the call and i asked from CQAL? other end replied - yes from CQAL Bangalore. I asked May I know who is speaking ? He said - Brigadier Reddy, Controller, CQAL. I immediately said : Good evening sir, what can i do for you? He said I wanted to know Mr. Kalyan Roy's telephone No.

In fact I left the Number with PA but he could not pass it on, before that he left the Office. PA told him that he will get it from AC MANDAL, just hold on. When he returned to telephone, he left the office. So he got my name from the PA but how he got my land line telephone number, I am still unable to solve that.

At the of conversation, we exchanged the New Years Greetings to each other.

Happy New Year 2010

2009-12-23T21:44:00.009+05:30

Plug the wastage, conserve energy

2009-12-16T20:48:00.013+05:30

The road to Copenhagen is paved with good intentions that start at your doorstep. Even as the macro-level negotiations over reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue at the Climate Summit in the Danish capital, you can do your bit by making micro-level lifestyle changes that can help reduce the carbon footprint on earth.

To reduce the wastage of energy replace all your incandescent bulbs with Compact Fluorescent (CF) Lamps in your house. In fact Government should take immediate action to stop manufacturing and marketing of incandescent lamps in the country like Australia. Replacing ordinary lamps by CFL can reduce the power bill by 18%. Like this, there are simple ways by adopting those, by changing little of our life-style or habits we can do a lot towards energy saving thus reducing carbon emission which is the prime cause of Global warming and climate change. Following simple steps we must do in our daily life and contribute our little effort to reduce CO2 emission.

Don’t put your TV/DVD or any kind of electronic gadget into standby mode by switching off by remote control. In standby mode it draws one fourth power when it is on. Therefore , it should be switched off at the plug point by the switch.

Prudent use of air-conditioners can make a whopping difference to the electricity bill. Instead of using the AC all night in summer, switching it on for a couple of hours to chill the room and then using a fan to circulate the cool air can reduce the bill by a whopping 35-40%.

With the average household consumption in Kolkata pegged at 130 units a month, a family can save 65 units of electricity through lifestyle change. That means reducing the carbon footprint by 65 kg per month or 780 kg a year. For the 20 lakh consumers in Kolkata that use 260 million units a month, that can translate to a saving of 19,600 tonne CO2 a month or 2.35 lakh tonne CO2 a year.

We the conscious citizens can contribute towards huge reduction of GHG simply by eating less meat, buying efficient appliances, recycling products, maintaining greenery, using electricity and water efficiently and taking public transport.

Facts & Figure source : Times of India
Poster : WBSEBDCL, West Bengal

Bina Rai, Bollywood's Anarkali

2009-12-07T21:03:00.015+05:30

Yesterday the B-town lost one of its beautiful ladies. Bina Rai, the popular actress of the black and white era, passed away due to cardiac arrest. Bina Rai was a first year student of Arts in the Isabella Theodore College' of Lucknow in 1950, when she came across an advertisement for a talent contest, she participated in the contest where she won along with the 25,000 rupees in prize money a leading role in Kishore Sahu's 'Kali Ghata' (1951), which became her film debut. Bina Rai stepped onto the screen in spite of strict reservations from her family. It is said that the actress had challenged her parents with a hunger strike and after they gave in to her wishes. She is best remembered for her roles in ‘Taj Mahal’, ‘Ghoonghat’ and ‘Anarkali’. Interestingly, Bina Rai had won the Filmfare Best Actress Award, for which Madhubala was also nominated for ‘Mughal-e-Azam’.

Poster of Taj Mahal

Bina Rai

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Know about coconut water, the nature's gift

2009-11-28T20:04:00.009+05:30

Coconut Water is More Nutritious than whole milk - Less fat and NO cholesterol!
Coconut Water is More Healthy than Orange Juice - Much lower calories
Coconut Water is Better than processed baby milk- It contains lauric acid, which is present in human mother's milk
Coconut water is naturally sterile -- Water permeates though the filtering husk!
Coconut water is a universal donor-- Its identical to human blood plasma
Coconut Water is a Natural Isotonic Beverage - The same level we have in our blood.
Coconut water has saved lives in 3rd world countries thru Coconut IV.
Coconut water is the very stuff of Nature, biologically Pure, full of Natural Sugars, Salts, and Vitamins to ward off fatigue... and is the next wave of energy drinks BUT natural!', according to Mortin Satin, Chief of the United Nation's Food Agriculture Organization.
Coconut water contains more potassium (at about 294 mg) than most sports drinks (117 mg) and most energy drinks..
Coconut water has less sodium (25mg) where sports drinks have around 41mg and energy drinks have about 200mg!
Coconut water has 5mg of Natural Sugars where sports and energy drinks range from 10-25mg of Altered Sugars.
Coconut water is very high in Chloride at 118mg; compared to sports drinks at about 39mg.

From the above facts, it is needless to say that from health point of view, the coconut water is better than any drink available in the market. It is also cheaper when compared to other drinks. Then what prevents us to change to the natural one and healthier one ?

Data is based on a 100ml drink

Source : Yahoo Group

Anil Mandal

2009-11-27T20:38:00.005+05:30

When I opened my Facebook account with my name, I found a person of same name. I just made him my friend and vice versa. We both are known as Anil Mandal in Facebook. We became friends.

Anil Mandal, came to my office today to meet me in person, because , so far we were in touch either through Facebook or telephone. Mr. Mandal is settled in England but few days back he has come down to Kolkata. I contacted him over telephone and we talked about us. Since my office is nearer than my residence, he came down to my office to meet me.

He is a retired Doctor but engaged in social activities. He is in a mission to spread the awareness about cancer, including breast cancer. He has written a book on this and to my surprise, he presented me a copy of that.

As he said we do not take care about our health, we don't go for cancer detection centres in time. More over nobody wants to spent money on that. But it is true that, cancer is curable if it is detected at early stage. We know but we don't go for detection tests. In Englad, as he said, Government takes action to call their citizens when they reach at age of 50 years. It takes place automatic and if you don't turn up in first call, 2nd. call comes then third call. Third call comes not by letter but by person takes an declaration from the individual stating that if he dies in Cancer the Govt. will not be responsible.

In India it is beyond imagination. Individual has to take care for himself. Otherwise one has to die. Here Government has no responsibility for your health. We have to take care of our health ourselves.

26/11, 1st anniversary

2009-11-26T20:20:00.002+05:30

On the 1st Anniversary of 26/11, Mumbai terror attack, we salute to those brave hearts who laid their lives on this fateful day.

Indira Gandhi at Shantiniketan

2009-11-23T20:24:00.012+05:30

Indira Gandhi, the late prime Minster of India, at Shantiniketan. She was an alumnus of Vishva Bharati. She wrote a small write up called ‘Acharya Nandalal’, was published in the December 1966 issue of the university’s in-house magazine, Visva Bharati. The article was written in Bengali by Indira and also signed in Bengali.

In the article, she describes how lucky she was to have Nandalal Bose as a teacher, who told everyone to think independently because he believed that only free thinking can give vent to creativity. A true teacher, he looked for talent in his students. Instead of caring for his own success and career, he helped to shape lives of others on the campus. His aim in life was to make Santiniketan an ashram following Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s ideals.

Teachers should rise above his/her own self and dedicate in the moulding the characters of the future citizens of the country. They should know how important role they are playing.

courtesy : Times fo India

Historical Judgement

2009-11-20T21:45:00.009+05:30

Sheikh Mujib with Indira Gandhi in Bangladesh

15th Aug 1975, when India was preparing for celebration of its Independence Day in the early morning, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh, was assassinated brutally by his own army, in a military coup in Bangladesh. Thirty-four years after, the country’s Supreme Court, on 19th Nov 2009 upheld the judgment of the high court. It was a well planned coup by the Army as seen from the date they selected for their operation. The ruling of the Apex court paves the way for the execution of the five former army officers, who murdered Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, along with his wife and three sons, on August 15, 1975.

Bangabandhu waves to supporters on March 23, 1971 as daughter Sheikh Hasina looks on

Sheikh Mujib led the country to independence in 1971 after a bloody, nine-month war against Pakistan. He was the only leader in true sense who raised his voice against the Pakistani authorities and demanded independence for East Pakistan, after securing majority seats in the National Assembly in 1970 election by his party Awami League. Instead, the Pakistani President, sent his troops to regain control of the eastern province but those Pakistanis were defeated with the help of India and they were made to surrender to Indian Army and Independent Bangladesh was created in 1971.

Mujibur Rahman with his family members:

(from left) son Sheikh Kamal, daughter Sheikh Rehana, 

son Sheikh Russel (on his lap), wife Fazilatunnesa,

son Sheikh Jamal and daughter Sheikh Hasina

Bangladesh people like it or not, it is true that Bangladesh was born just because of India’s help and the most courageous Prime Minister of India, Smt Indira Gandhi, took that bold decision to help the country. Had India not helped that time, it would have been a impossible task for East Pakistan to Achieve the Independence of the country. The Pakistanis (army) still unable to digest this defeat and the loss of their Eastern province which turned them a permanent enemy of India.

Visit to Beautiful Islands of Andaman

2009-11-01T20:59:00.041+05:30

An opportunity came to visit Andaman and finally dream came true on 20 Oct 2009 when we reached on the holy land of Andaman by Air-India morning flight. Visit to Andaman is not like other places of interests. Andaman was part of the great Indian independence history and had witnessed the inhuman sufferings and sacrifices of unsung heroes of Indian freedom fighters. Thereby visit to Andaman is considered to be a pilgrimage for every Indian.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is situated in the Bay of Bengal and well connected by ship and air to its main land India . The climate of the islands can be defined as humid, tropical coastal climate. Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been recognised as an eco-friendly tourists’ destination. As a tourist paradise, these islands have something very special to offer like Cellular Jail, Ross Island and Havelock Island.


Radhanagar Beach, Havelock Island, Andaman
The Andaman tropical evergreen rain forests, beautiful silver sandy beaches, serpentine mangrove-lines creeks, marine life abounding in rare species of plants, corals, etc., provide a memorable experience to the tourists. There are scopes for enjoying nature in the beach resorts. The original inhabitants of the islands lived in the forests on hunting and fishing. There are four Negrito tribes, viz., the Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa and Sentinalese in the Andaman group of islands and two Mongoloid tribes, viz., Nicobarese and Shompens in the Nicobar group of islands. While cruising through the Jarawa reserve forests of Andaman Islands, Jarawas are seen on the road sides.

We travelled the Islands by ship, boats and on road to cover the following places/ Islands :

1st day : Chatam Saw mill, Forest Museum, Gandhi Park, Marine Park, Anthropological Museum, Fisheries museum, Cellular Jail (day Time) and light and sound show in the evening.

2nd Day : We explored three Islands by ship those were Ross Island, Viper Island & North Bay Island. North Bay Island beach is not sandy like Red skin or wandoor beaches. Coral viewing program was there. Here we could find red aquarium fishes.

3rd day: MG Marine Park / Red skin Island Coral Viewing, Wandoor Beach, Rubber Plantation, Agriculture firm and Back (By car & ship).

4th Day : Havelock Island, Radha Nagar Beach, Stay at Dolphin Resort of Tourism Depatment ,Govt of Andamand & Nicobar.

Havelock Island is little costlier than others but try to stay here two days. Due to cost people stay for one night only but later we realise it is the best place among all to spent two days. From here another Beach (Elephant Beach) also can be explored. But we did not go as it was not in our program.

5th Day : Port Blair to Baratang. This journey started at about 0400 AM in the early morning to cruise thruogh the Jarawa forest and all vehicles travel in groups, Jarawa can be seen while passing thru the jungle. we too seen Jarawa families on way side standing for food etc. But you should not give anything as Govt has barred that to allow them to live as they are. From Baratang we took a ship then a boat for Lime Stone Caves, then go to Rangat (170 Km) and stayed there. Here we skipped the mud volcano which is not worth seeing.

6th Day : Amkunj beach (Rangat), Karmatang beach, Avis Island (Skipped).

7th Day : Mount Hariate, Curbyne Cove Beach and sunset at Chidiya Tapu.

8th day : We spent 8th day by shopping at Sagarika (Govt. Shop) and Atul smriti shop and other private shops beside Sagarika. And also at Anthropological Museum.

Nest day by morning we took the Air India Flight to Kolkata at 0810Am. The tour operator dropped us at Airport in time. Everything went as per plan and there nothing went wrong except TEAL HOUSE, the Govt Guest house where we stayed, did not pick up on our arrival at airport, though they promised over phone.

Therefore it is advised not to depend on the Govt. departments . The tour operator there are more reliable.

Happy Deepavali

2009-10-18T14:52:00.002+05:30

Shubha Vijaya Dashami in my Office

2009-10-07T21:15:00.015+05:30

Vijaya Dashami is a social function which starts from the day of Dashami. On that day, after the immerson of the idol, in other words, after bidding adieu Maa we celebrate Vijaya Dashami. On this occassion, we greet our parents, elders in the family seeking blessings, friends and even to unknowns. Sweet is distributed to each of the the visitors on that day or after that day. It goes upto Laxmi Puja in West Bengal but out side Bengal, it continues upto Deepavali. In fact outside Bengal it makes a reason for family get together on every weekend and it goes upto Deepavali.

In West Bengal, in offices too this is celebrated on the next working day or a suitable day. On that day we assemble in the conference room or in a bigger room and we greet each other after the greeting speech of our Boss we take sweet, namkeen and coffee or tea. This function is celebrated in my office on 07th Oct 2009 since our Boss was on leave.

Son gifted a PC to father

2009-10-06T21:38:00.026+05:30

I was having a Vintage P-III PC which was purchased in the year 2000 for my daughter who was doing Web Designing Course in Mumbai, It came with 10 GB HDD & 164 RAM. Within a month or so 20 GB Hard Disk came to the market and I was repenting - why I did not wait for another month. Anyway, soon I realised, computer technology is fast changing everyday and it is impossible to race with it. After few years, I got it upgraded to 40 GB Hard Disk and 256 RAM which Mother Board supported maximum. After 9 years of service, it was still maintained to run though it was slow for Imulti tasking. Only one window can opened at a time.

Due to slow performance, it was not feasible to connect webcam and multi tasking like chatting, listening song or watching video in Youtube.

My Son came during Puja holidays in September who needed a PC for him to check his mails etc. He did not plan to bring his Laptop. But I could not gurarantee him with my vintage PC that it will work perfectly. He knew my struggle with the vintage PC. So he decided to gift a latest PC to me.

Finally my vintage desktop gone and a latest PC came. Its Compaq Desktop PC Model # SG3770IL with 18.5" TFT Monitor . The Configuration of the PC is as follows :

Model : Compaq Presario SG3770IL • Colour – Silver and Black
• Intel Core2 Duo Processor E7400 with EM64T(2.8 GHz)
Cache Memory : 3 MB Integrated L2 Advanced Transfer Cache

Chipset : Intel G31 Express Chipset

Memory : 2 GB PC2-6400 DDR2 (800 MHz) / 2 DDR2 DIMM Slots (Expandable to 4 GB with discard)

Hard Drive : 320 GB SERIAL ATA II Hard drive / 300 MB/sec @ 7200 RPM

16X DVD Super Multi-Drive with DL
• LightScribe Technology
• 40X CD/CD-R/RW Read
• 40X/32X CD-R/RW Write
• 16X DVD-ROM Read
• 16X DVD+R Write
• 8X/6X DVD +RW/-RW Re-write
• 8X/8X DVD+R/-R (DL) Write
• 12X DVD-RAM Read / Write

Video Graphics : • Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• DVMT 4.0 – Up to 256 MB

Audio; • Up to 5.1 Surround Sound Ready

Network Card : • Integrated 10/100 BaseT (Broadband ready)

Total Memory Slots : • Two 240-pin DIMM Slots (one available)

I/O Connectors
• Front Access Ports /• Two Hi-Speed USB 2.0 / • Microphone-In
• Headphone-Out / • Rear Access Ports / • Four Hi-Speed USB 2.0
• One RJ-45 / • Two PS/2 ports / • Line-In, Line-Out
• Microphone-In /• One external VGA Port

Included Peripherals : • Compaq PS/2 Keyboard/ • PS/2 Optical Scroll Mouse
Monitor W185q 18.5" TFT

What a technological advancement in less than 10 years from 256 MB RAM to 4 GB RAM and from 10 GB to 320 GB HDD in less than 10 years. Its a wonderful experience. It gives complete satisfaction except some minor like the orientation of the front USB ports should have been horizontally instead of vertical and these should have been separated from each other so that two USB could be used simultaneously.

Whatever it may be, it won't take much time to be obsolete.

Puja Greeting

2009-09-24T21:28:00.003+05:30

Goddess Durga may shower her choicest blessings on you.

A trip to Bangalore

2009-09-21T17:12:00.004+05:30

I was having busy schedule this time, hardly I could spare time to visit city except one day evening when we three visited SP Road for a computer hardware. But the New airport which I saw last time was just beginning . But this time what I saw was in real shape. Coming out from the Airport I found Taxis and Volvo buses are waiting for the passengers to board for different destinations of the city. After much hesitation I too took a Volvo for my destination.

In Bangalore, there is no Yellow Taxis like Mumbai or Kolkata and other cities. Taxis services in Bangalore, all are Luxery A/C taxis like Meru Taxi, City Cabs, RR Cabs, Mega Cabs etc etc. This concept of Radio Taxi, is slowly coming up in Kolkata too. In Kolkata there are services of Radio Taxis over the phones like Mega cabs, Kolkata Cabs etc.

Volvo Buses running from Airport to all corners of the city and passengers are availing the services because the fare of Volvo is cheaper compared to Cabs. Perhaps the services are available throughout night. When I was going to Airport at 0330AM, the buses were plying towards Airport.

Since Airport passengers generally come with huge luggage, the Volvo buses also have been designed to cater this requirement. The half of the bus in the front side, near to gate, having no seating arrangements instead that portion is fitted with huge racks to accommodate huge suitcases, luggage so that passengers can move with their luggage.

While on return journey I booked a taxi at 0330AM as my flight was at 0605AM. It was heavily raining that time, but Taxi fellow reported in time and took me to airport in 35 Minutes from Benson Town.

Bangalore again, but this time for a course

2009-09-04T22:19:00.004+05:30

Next week I will be going to Bangalore for a Course on ISO/IEC-17025:2005 from 07th Sep 09. So for the next few days I will be taking leave from you all.

See you again, till then I wish you all good health & nice time.

Technology making life good

2009-08-21T21:28:00.009+05:30

Today I purchased a car FM /AM /MP3 Player for my cute Alto. This player will play MP3, WMA formats beside FM/AM Radio stations. Its not a CD or DVD player. But it has a front USB where you can load MP3/WMA songs thru a pendrive or a MP3 Player. More over you can listen your MP3 songs stored in your Mobile phone or ipod thru a Aux socket provided in it. So switch over to any of the sources if you don't like Radio. This is the advantage in this player. You need not carry lots of CDs which takes some space and makes noise in the car. Whereas a Pendrive takes no space and can hold plenty of music- you never feel boring when you are on a long drive.

Reception of the FM Radio is very good and it give stereophonic output irrespective of direction.

Technology has advanced so much that the products have become cheap, affordable and makes life good.

Treatment meted to SRK at US

2009-08-17T22:38:00.007+05:30

The incident of detaining SRK at American airport Newark, is most shocking and disturbing to the Indians. When Obama administration is trying to develop a new relationship with the Islamic world, detaining SRK, the Bollywood hero, has sent a wrong message to them. Authorities have different opinions about the incident which may not be convincing to the Indians and it shows that he was grilled just because of his Muslim name ‘Khan’. It is most humiliating and insulting - I too thought and wrote this post hurriedly.

But But I think we should be matured in thinking and tackling the issue. SRK may be feeling insulting humiliating because the position (Bollywood Badsha) he enjoys here in India, he was denied that and he was treated like a common man. From Security point of view, if you think, they are not wrong, they have done their duty. Only thing they should have done the process faster. Security of a country whether it is US or India, there should not be any relaxation. In America, Security personnel may not know him. We too don’t know many VIP’s of US.

We should not forget the Attack on Mumbai last year for which the security lapses, negligence of duties were the main reasons. Therefore there should not be any relaxation in security checks which may sometime cause unparallel damage to the safety of the citizens.

SRK relax and try to cooperate with the system without feeling any humiliation. Remember India and US are the prime targets of the terrorists today.

Happy Independence Day

2009-08-15T18:17:00.004+05:30

Today, on the 63rd. Independence day, we must not forget those brave hearts, leaders who laid their lives in the freedom struggle of India and made India free from the colonial rule. We got the taste of freedom and we are enjoying it for the last 62 years.

On this occasion we must salute the martyrs who laid their lives in the wars with our enemies. The martyrs - They had promised their families they would come back soon. They more than kept their word. Went as mere men. Came back as heroes. In coffins.

“THEY GAVE THEIR TODAY FOR OUR TOMORROW”

Today, let us give our today for them and remember their sacrifice. "Aye mere watan ke logon" is my favourite patriotic song sung by Lata Mangeshkar, the Nightingale of India.

When in 1962 Lata Mangeshkar sang this patriotic song, it moved Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister, to tears.

Jakhan porbe na mor payer chinha ei bate

2009-08-01T20:48:00.000+05:30

Popular Rabindrasangeet - "Jakhan porbe na mor payer chinha ei bate..." sung by great singer Hemanta Mukhopadhyay. It has been sung so well in his melodiuos voice that it touches our souls and gets embedded into our mind. Once you listen to this you wont like to listen this by others voice. The song has been presented in a video form by me and I am sure you will like it.

Solar Eclipse and Village Taregna

2009-07-26T17:24:00.000+05:30

Solar Eclipse at Varanasi (photo TOI)

Till recently many of us were not aware of a village named Taregna in Bihar near Patna, which became famous for being a venue for witnessing most spectacular and century’s last celestial event (Solar Eclipse) on 22 Jul 2009. Taregna means ‘counting of stars’ (‘Tara gona’ in Bengali). The name is interesting and it interested me to know more about it.

Taregna is believed to be the birth place of Aryabhata, the most renowned Indian astronomer who some 1400 years ago discovered that earth is not static and it revolves and moves. Aryabhata, it is said, used to count stars and study celestial bodies from his laboratory, the remains of which still exist there in ruins. This is why this place is named as Taregna, counting of stars.

Name of Taregna came to news because it was a place from where the eclipse could be visible clearly for a longer duration which attracted many astro-scientists and astro-tourists on 22 Jul 2009 including Chief Minister of Bihar Mr. Nitish Kumar, but the mosoon clouds disappointed everybody.

Taregna is also famous for being it the birth place of left extremism (Maoism) in Bihar. So it the place which gave birth of Aryabhat and later after 1400 years, it gave birth to left extremism (Maoism). what a contrast.

"Didi" sees road to Writers Building

2009-07-22T22:56:00.000+05:30

The human sea at the Trinamool Congress gathering at Esplanade on Tuesday 21 Jul 2009, saw the birth of a mature politician – Mamata Banerjee. Success has made her more sensible. She asked her supporters to behave politely and not to resort to blockades without the permission of the leadership. People are in distress. Food prices are soaring. Lets not to add to their inconvenience.

Her victory rally, timed to coincide with the Martyr’s Day in commemoration of 11 Youth Congress workers killed in police firing in 1993, saw a record turnout that clogged the city streets, bringing traffic in arterial roads to a standstill for nearly five hours.

After her stunning performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee making it clear that she was now thinking beyond Trinamool’s role as an Opposition party, she gave a hint of her priorities as the leader of the party in power in the state in 2011.

A beaming Mamata unfolded her roadmap for the post-2011 Bengal, saying the industry and the agriculture will grow side by side. “Both will flourish under the Trinamool rule. They will be like two sisters — hashi (smile) aar khushi (happiness).”

It seems she is in the process of changing, but she is still to be more matured and realistic in talking as well as in her works.

Aranya Saptaha 2009

2009-07-22T22:48:00.003+05:30

Group photo after plantation of saplings

Celebration of "Aranya Saptaha" has just ended. During this plantation week a good news has come to environment and nature lovers that will help us to protect today's plants and future trees. As per news report the state government is planning to introduce a Bill to restrict tree-felling in and around Calcutta. Once the Bill is passed, felling of trees will become punishable by fine as well as imprisonment.

This law should be first applied to the Salt Lake Municipality because they have given free hand to the bill board owners to cut (not trim) the grown up trees on the braodway in Salt Lake. Many trees have been cut from the stem just to increase the visibility of the bill boards. One side, some departments, public are planting trees every year during this week and some department of the same Government / people are deliberately cutting trees.

I welcome the views of mayoral council member Fayaz Khan, in charge of parks and gardens, who asserted that outdoor advertising agencies would not be allowed to trim trees to increase the visibility of their billboards. He was reacting to the trimming of 18 trees along AJC Bose Road on Tuesday. An FIR has been lodged at Park Street police station against the incident.At least Mr. Khan is alert there to look after the City area but who will look after Salt Lake City? Here trees are cut mercilessly by the bill board owners with the Municipality's silent approval for this act. A strict law should be introduced to save the trees. There should be complete ban on cutting trees for viewing bill boards.

If this type of things go on, then what is the necessity to celebrate Aranya Saptaha? Every Year in the rainy season, this festival is celebrated by Government and its offices through out the country. This year, my office too celebrated 'Aranya Saptaha' on 21 Jul 2009 in response to a directive from HQ for the same. We collected 50 saplings from the Forest department, Govt of West Bengal and each of us planted more than two saplings at our Residential complex at Belur.

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'Morning Walk' - A super flop movie

2009-07-19T21:19:00.000+05:30

Hindi Movie 'Morning Walk', seems to be a movie whose story revolves around senior citizens and they discover love once again in their lonely life. Had Director (Arup Dutta) kept the movie moving on this track only, it might have been a sensible work and public would have loved to see it. But, instead, he made the film a Khichdi. The main characters (Anupam and Sharmila) are from Kolkata and Anupam is a Bengali Professor ( Mr. Sen) of Presidency college. He has shown everything in the movie but very less 'Morning walks' which was expected by the name itself. His numerous plots in the movie and the way the plots were unfolded was not at all impressive and matured way of talking. Generally "Sas bahu kissa is a common thing in Indian society but he brought a new "shashur-bahu" kissa in it, which is rare in real life. He has included right from this kissa to the youngster's and oldies' love story , love child to the oldies' reunion again. Scripts and direction is of very poor quality. which turned the film a complete flop. Inspite of the being veteran actors there, there is no touch of emotion in the film, just because of poor direction and poor script. More over there is nothing new in the the movie that you have not seen before.

I think the director is a Bengali and being so he has tried to put a line of a Rabindrasangeet "Aalo aamar aalo ogo, aalo bhuban bhara...." from Anupam's voice which was not sounding like a Bengali pronounciation. Anupam Kher is playing a Bengali character (Mr. Sen, from Kolkata), idirector should have taken care of it.

The Director himself was direction-less while making the film. He lost his way in between. He forgot what he wanted to tell in the movie. He forgot he was in the making a serious movie. This type of movie, there was no need of song sequences. At the most one Rabindrasangeet in hindi could have been given a better taste of him. Instead, he has done a mockery of Bengali song 'tumi kader kuler bougo tumi, kader kuler bou' . This is most disgusting and tasteless.

Anupan Kher and Sharmila Tagore, being the veterans, they are helpless because they do not have any scope to perform due to poor story telling through poor script. Avika Gor, the 'Balika Vadhu' girl, looks cute and charming.

Rabindrasangeet : Akash Bhara ... sung by Sagar Sen

2009-07-16T21:05:00.000+05:30

This music video on popular Rabindrasangeet "Akash Bhara Surya Tara .. sung by Sagar Sen has been presented by me using various photographs of India and Switzerland. switzerland photos have been taken from Anirban and Arunima (my son and daughter-in- law)who are in switzerland for the last nine months. The 'Jangfrau' is the highest place of Europe (Top of Europe) and this photograph was taken by my daughter Arpita who recently visited Switzerland and neighboring countries. Among other photographs, Kausani is known as Switzerland of India because of its climate, natural beauty. In addition to these, you will like its serenity. I visited this place last year. The place is worth visiting. Many poet/ writers (including Mahatma Gandhi)created their works in this serenity.

God's painting

2009-07-15T21:24:00.000+05:30

Rupasi Bangla. Green landscape of Beautiful Bengal on a cloudy day.

Photo Courtesy : TOI/15.7.09

Rules of Life

2009-07-15T15:08:00.000+05:30

Wise people have framed some rules based on their experience in their lives. Here are some of the Rules of Life which shows you a right direction to achieve happiness and success in life.

1. Marry the right person . Take your decision very cautiously because this one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.
2. Work at something you enjoy and that's worthy of your time and talent.
3. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
5. Be forgiving of yourself and others.
6. Be generous.
7. Have a grateful heart.
8. Persistence, persistence, persistence.
9. Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.
10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
11. Commit yourself to constant improvement.
12. Commit yourself to quality.
13. Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationship with people you love and respect.
14. Be loyal.
15. Be honest.
16. Be a self-starter.
17. Be decisive even if it means you'll sometimes be wrong.
18. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.
19. Take good care of those you love.

(This post was a part of another blog of mine. Reproduced here for visitors like you.)

Tabu mane rekho - Rabindrasangeet from Agniswar

2009-05-04T21:20:00.000+05:30

Holi : Basanta Utsav

2009-03-11T12:55:00.001+05:30

Basanta Utsav in Shantiniketan

Today is Holi. Holi the Festival of Colours, is a popular Hindu spring festival observed in India, Nepal, Bangladesh. In West Bengal of India and Bangladesh, it is known as Dolyatra (Doljatra) or Bashanta Utsav ("spring festival"). Dolyatra is celebrated throughout India. In the rest of India, it is referred to as 'Holi'. Holi is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of Falguna (Phalgun Purnima), which usually falls in the later part of February or March.

On the day of Holi, it is celebrated by people throwing coloured powder and coloured water at each other. Bonfires are lit the day before, also known as Holika Dahan (death of Holika) or Chhoti Holi (little Holi). The bonfires are lit in memory of the miraculous escape that young Prahlad had when Demoness Holika, sister of Hiranyakashipu, carried him into the fire. Holika was burnt but Prahlad, a staunch devotee of Vishnu, escaped without any injuries due to his unshakable devotion.

In Shantiniketan Holi or Dolyatra is celebrated as Basanta Utsav in the campus of Visva-Bharati University. The students of Visva-Bharati start their preparations from days back. They take to decorate the university campus with beautiful artistic 'alpana'. On the day of Dolyatra, they bring out 'Probhat-pheri' singing songs of Basanta Ritu based on Rabindranath Tagore. Dance-dramas are also presented on the occasion highlighting the importance of the occassions. Almost all students of the University take part in the event. The songs and dramas are filled with colourful clothes and the use of 'aabir' in keeping with the spirit of the occasion. People from all over Bengal throng to Shantiniketan to witness the events. It is from Shantiniketan that the usage of the term 'Basanta utsav' gained popularity. The celebration was initiated by the Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore himself and it continues till today.

Kajol on Complete Wellbeing

2009-03-08T20:37:00.001+05:30

On International Women's day I would like to present you the thinking of an prominent woman, Kajol, a Bollywood actor. I like kajol for her simplicity besides her acting talents inherited from her mother, Tanuja. I have seen the actor during Durga pooja at Santacruz. On ashtami days she takes part actively in the community feast and she serves foods to the guests. During that occasion I have seen her from very close and seeing her I could not think more than that of a next door girl or my daughter. When I saw her interview in print I liked it and I thought of giving a place in my blog, so that her beauty in body and mind radiates here.

“On certain days, I am happy, energetic, confident and some others, I am not. Every day, you eventually strive to be whatever you wish to be. And I think it’s an ongoing struggle for everybody. Nobody is completely balanced, completely happy or completely sad. I think it’s a really struggle everyday to be as complete human being as you can. And isn’t that the beauty of life? To me, mental health and mental peace are more important than physical fitness. If you accept yourself and feel good about it, you will remain fit. Whether you are fat or thin, short or tall, dark or fair-skinned - at the end of the day it does not really matter as long as you like yourself, accept yourself. What matters is how you are on the inside. At the core we are all energy. This energy is beyond definitions. It is intangible and can not be described. As long as we know that this part of us is healthy, we are healthy. That is being truly healthy.”

Bollywood actor Kajol on Complete Wellbeing.
(Source: Times of India)

Slip, Scream & Splash ......

2009-03-05T20:19:00.000+05:30

Lilting breeze on the Hooghly. Soft music. And Aishwarya on a canoe. Pity the script had to come along and have her tumble into the river for Mani Ratnam’s "Raavan". Aishwarya is shooting in Kolkata.

While the rest of the city slept, a tiny station in North Kolkata rumbled as Raavana Local chugged in. It was 12.30 am, and we ‘trained’ our cameras on Kolkata Railway station — renamed "Lal Maati" by Mani Ratnam — where Ravi Kishan and Sachin Khedekar acted out a scene on the platform. Aishwarya and Abhishek made their entry later.

(Source : Times of India)

Terrorist Attack on Cricket

2009-03-03T22:26:00.000+05:30

Bollywood star Preity Zinta wipes a tear from her eye after hearing that two of IPL Punjab Kings players Jaywardne and Sangakara were injured in a terrorist shooting in Pakistan while she was attending the New Zealand and India 1st one day international cricket match at McLean Park, Napier, New Zealand. A dozen masked gunmen armed with rifles and rocket launchers attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team as it traveled to a match in Pakistan on Tuesday, wounding several players and killing five police officers, officials said. (AP Photo/NZPA, Ross Setford via Yahoo/india)

Six members of the Sri Lankan cricket squad were wounded when a dozen gunmen attacked their bus as it drove under police escort the Gaddafi stadium in the Lahore, Pakistan. Lahore Police chief Habib-ur-Rehman said five people were killed in the attack by the unidentified gunmen, who fired AK 47s and rockets and hurled grenades as the team bus drove to the 60,000-seater Gaddafi stadium in the eastern city.

Bollywood's Glamourous Lady Priyanka

2009-03-01T20:55:00.000+05:30

Priyanka Chopra celebrates her win as Best Actress (For the film "Fashion") at the 54th IDEA FILMFARE Awards 2008 in Mumbai on Saturday. Hrithik Roshan, who won the Best Actor award for Jodhaa Akbar, could not make it to Yash Raj Film Studio, the venue of the function.

Priyanka Chopra was crowned Miss India World and later Miss World in 2000. In the same year, Lara Dutta and Dia Mirza, both also from India, won the Miss Universe and Miss India Pacific crowns, in a rare triple victory for one country. When Chopra won the Miss World crown, she became the fifth Indian woman to win the title.

(Source : Timesofindia.com)

Freida Pinto and Her Destiny

2009-03-01T16:37:00.000+05:30

We the God's children are driven by Destiny, some of us believe this, many disbelieve. But the story of FeidaPinto's rise shows us that it is true. Freida Pinto has leaped from Mumbai’s Local train to Limousine at Los Angeles. Her destiny has taken her to Hollywood from Bollywood. Her life changed overnight like a fairy tale and she turned to be an Hollywood sensation and fashion diva.

On 22nd. Feb 2009, Sunday night at the Kodak Theatre in LA, you saw her as part of the jubilant Slumdog Millionaire team that swept the Academy Awards with eight Oscars. After two days, Vogue India presented the new style sensation and red carpet darling Freida Pinto in a different avatar as its cover girl for VOGUE March issue. In a matter of months, this young actor has become a Hollywood sensation and a fashion diva.

She has been signed up a film with director Woody Allen. This is not just massive news for the 24-year-old Mumbai girl, but a spectacular breakthrough for any Indian actress. Allen has created many women characters in his films and now it the turn of Freida Pinto of Bollywood to be characterized by him and who knows we may see her in the Kodak Theater again next year.

At last Indian talents got recognition : Jai Ho

2009-03-01T16:19:00.000+05:30

The debate about the film Slumdog Millionaire's originality whether its an Indian Film or a British film, will continue but we must not forget to appreciate and to be proud for our Gulzar saab, AR Rahman, Pookutty and all indian actors including child artists who have shown their talents in their respective filds. Talents and creativity of the Indians have been exposed to the world audiences through SM and for this, we must be thankful to the Director and producers of the movie. We all know that Rahman has composed much better songs (Roja, Bombay etc) before this but we could not reach to the western audiences. India was never poor in the field of music, literature or any cinematographic fields, only one opening and recognition was required and that came through Slumdog M and this is the beginning.

A R Rahman has created history by becoming the first Indian music director to win Oscar for his composition in Slumdog Millionaire. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ directed by Danny Boyle, swept eight Oscars, out of ten nominated at the 81 st Academy Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Sound Mixing, Film Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Best Direction and Motion Picture. Indian music maestro A R Rahman brings home two Oscars with his Jai Ho… composition. India’s Resul Pookutty won his Oscar for Best Sound Mixing.