SSC Kolkata Adda - discussions, music, films, videos

[SarafIndian]

Lets have a thread for various news, topics, videos, photos, discussion etc related to Kolkata and West Bengal. Please try to post things that are not related to infrastructure as we have various threads for that and please do not post things related to sensitive political issues. Though any positive social or political development discussion is welcome.

Thanks..

[SarafIndian]

State to start foster care project

Swati Sengupta | TNN

Kolkata: It is adoption, but with a difference. The state government is about to launch a “Foster Care” project in Bengal — a family-based child protection programme that intends to offer emotional support and a temporary home for children whose parents are unable to take care of them.
The reasons may be anything from illness, death, poverty, desertion of one parent or an emotional crisis. It is different from adoption in the sense that the child does not sever all ties with the family in which s/he was born, but goes into another family on a temporary basis to feel relaxed and well taken care of.
However, in Bengal, where horror stories are heard every now and then from the 20 government-run children’s homes housing over 3,000 kids, there are questions on how well this project may be implemented.
Nilanjana Gupta, chairperson of Atmaja, an association of parents who have adopted children, said the international conventions for child rights make it clear that the child should not be separated from the biological family even if there is a major crisis.
“Attempts should be made to give support to the family in case it faces a crisis, instead of taking the child out,” she said. In case this does not work out, the child may be given foster care and putting a child in an orphanage may be the absolutely last option. Also, after a certain age, the child’s opinion must also be taken, she said.
The state government plans to implement the project through NGOs and the district administration. But it has to look sensitively at how the selection process is done. According to an officer, the idea is that the foster family is as close as possible to the original family in terms of socio-cultural background and may even be the child’s relatives. Also, awareness programmes will be taken up so that such families come forward. The child’s parents may even visit her/him, so that after the temporary care is given, s/he may get back to the original family.
According to an officer, Maharashtra and Karnataka have run this programme, and a team of officers from West Bengal will visit Mumbai and Bangalore next week to see it for themselves. The target groups of children are from lower socio-economic background, those with single parents, orphaned, abandoned, destitutes or at other risks, who cannot be given up for adoption for various reasons. It may also be suitable for unwed mothers who do not want to give up the child, but may not be able to support the child for the time being.
The programme ultimately aims at reuniting the child with the original family when the crisis is over, or finding a suitable rehabilitation in case the child is orphaned. The Centre and state will together allot Rs 50 lakh for each district.
Another area of concern is to see that families are not coming forward simply attracted by the allowances. “Our officers will especially see how this aspect has been dealt with in Karnataka and Maharastra,” said Rinchen Tempo, secretary, women and child development department.

[SarafIndian]

The Waiting City Trailer

Directed by Australian rising talent Claire McCarthy and starring Radha Mitchell, Joel Edgerton and Isabel Lucas THE WAITING CITY tells the story of an outwardly happy Australian couple who journey to India to collect their adopted baby. When they arrive in Kolkata they discover that the adoption arrangements have still to be finalised. Soon the intoxicating mystic power of the city pulls them in separate and unexpected directions and the vulnerability of their marriage begins to reveal itself. The first Australian feature film to be shot entirely in India, THE WAITING CITY is an intimate, complex love story of transformation, set against the exhilarating epic backdrop of Kolkata.

[SarafIndian]

Tagore's school to celebrate his 150th birth anniversary

Raktima Bose

KOLKATA: On May 9, when people across the country will celebrate the 150 {+t} {+h} birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Kolkata-based St. Xavier's School and College will join in the celebrations for its former student, whose association with the institution, though brief, was close to the poet's heart.

Though the Nobel laureate strongly disliked the system of institutionalised education — resulting in his being home-tutored for most of his academic years — he studied at the school for almost two years; perhaps his longest stint as a student in any school during his lifetime, and penned down his memories of the period on several occasions.

Organised by the Alumnorum Societas and the St. Xavier's College (Cal) Alumni Association, the celebrations will be marked by a recitation of Tagore's ‘ Sesher Kobita' (Last Poem) by actor Soumitra Chatterjee and Dhritiman Chatterji in the presence of several noteworthy alumni of the institution.

The programme will also coincide with the school's celebration of its 150 {+t} {+h} year of existence.

Tagore was admitted to the fifth standard in 1875, at the age of 14, along with his elder brother Somendranath Tagore and nephew Satyaprasad Gangopadhyay. St. Xavier's was the fourth and last school he attended before his father decided to home-tutor him.

In one of his accounts, Tagore wrote about his disinterest in school education. “I could understand that my value in the civilised society is going down. But I can never connect myself with a school that shuts out life and natural beauty and conjures up frightening images of a prison or hospital,” he had said.

His experience at the St. Xavier's School, according to him, was relatively happier. Though most teachers appeared to him as “mere teaching machines,” he was fond of a Jesuit priest, named Father Alphonsus De Peneranda, who had come from Spain and was appointed a part-time teacher.

Tagore reminisced in one of his accounts that while most students in Father Peneranda's class were inattentive due to his lack of fluency in English, the poet felt a deep sense of empathy and respect for his teacher.

Historians researching Tagore have found out from school records and accounts of his classmates that the school's annual calendar misspelt the poet's name twice as ‘Nobindronath Tagore,' that he failed in the fifth standard, that his roll number was 36, and that he came to school in a horse-drawn carriage.

While Tagore left the school in 1877, he came back in 1931 to preside over a function organised by the teachers and students to collect funds for people affected by the devastating floods in Bengal that year.

[SarafIndian]

Fifa fever outmatches Twenty20

Naveeta Singh / DNA

Mumbai: Cricket is a religion in India, but it turns out that when it comes to choosing between cricket and football abroad, Indians lean towards the latter.

According to tour operators, travel bookings for the Fifa World Cup 2010, starting in June, have clearly surpassed those for the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup.

About 2,000 people from Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata and Kerala have booked for various Fifa packages, and the number is likely to go up.

It is still 43 days to go, but the soccer fever has already gripped the Indian fans.

Several Indians have opted to watch the Fifa World Cup matches in South Africa rather than choosing the ongoing cricket matches being held in West Indies.

“The response to Fifa has been good and about 600 tourists from Mumbai alone are going to South Africa to watch the matches,” says Benazir Nazar, chief executive officer, Akbar Holidays. “Since Kolkata, Kerala and Goa also have ardent football fans, we are expecting 1,600 more bookings from these destinations,” Nazar says.

According to industry experts, the bookings for Twenty20 World Cup have been relatively less compared to those for Fifa.

“The Twenty20 World Cup may be facing a lukewarm response because IPL (Indian Premiere League) cricket matches have just ended and people are tired of watching cricket,” an industry expert says, adding that the rush to South Africa may also be because in June, many people especially from the corporate world go to South Africa for vacations and would also like to add soccer matches to their schedule.

According to Kuoni India, a tour service provider, companies across the world have realised the benefits of rewarding their employees with tour packages to enhance their productivity. The Fifa package may be one of them.

The travel operators say the response to the Twenty20 World Cup in West Indies has not been encouraging, but they say they hope to see a increase in demand for the semi-final and final matches.

A Cox & Kings spokesperson said: “India is a slow market and Indians are known for making last-minute bookings. The response to T-20 is slow but it is picking up and we hope it will improve for the semi-finals and the final.”

[SarafIndian]

Photo cc Rajib Singha

A woman works in a field of marigold flowers at Khirai in East midnapore.

[rupakd]

New regional headquarters of Coast Guard in Kolkata soon

As part of the measures to boost coastal security after the 26/11 terror attacks, a new regional headquarters of Coast Guard will be set up in Kolkata soon.

The fifth such regional headquarters, after the ones in Gandhinagar, Mumbai, Chennai and Port Blair, will ensure effective patrolling of the country's east coast, said Coast Guard director-general Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra on Thursday.

"The proposal is under the consideration of the government,'' he said, adding that his force was also in the process of setting up additional stations all along the 7,500-km coastline.

Source: TNN

[sourav2010]

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

May 10th,2010



Santiniketan: Caroline Diekysi was interested in studying Indian art. While surfing the internet, she chanced upon Visva-Bharati and Rabindranath Tagore. Caroline is now one of the many foreign students who still throng to Visva-Bharati. More specifically, it’s Kala Bhavan and Sangeet Bhavan that still continue to attract lots of students from abroad.
“I wanted to study Indian painting and life. Tagore’s works attracted me and I decided to study here,” said Caroline, a first year student of painting. Officials heading the education system in the country may take note of what attracts Caroline the most. “The schooling system here is not too rigid. The serene and calm environment, the natural surroundings, everything combines together to make Santiniketan a lovely experience,” she said.
The harsh climate, rudimentary amenities and the laid-back lifestyle in Santiniketan doesn’t bother students from abroad. For them, the opportunity to become experts in Tagoreana is more valuable than the comforts in other city-centric universities.
Driven by its motto ‘Yatra Visvam Bhavatyekanidam’ (where the world makes its home in a single nest), Visva-Bharati has always been open to students and teachers from foreign shores. The legendary C F Andrews and William Pearson are an integral part of Santiniketan’s history. Though in comparison to previous decades the number of foreign students is much less now, students interested in art, drama and music are still easy to come by, especially from the neighbouring Bangladesh.
Sheikh Mohammad Tutul came from Bangladesh to study drama. “Santiniketan students still command a lot of respect in Bangladesh. For me and my countrymen, Rabindranath Tagore is above everything else,” said Tutul, a first-year drama student, now preparing for a stage show to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore.
“The ashram’s environment is beyond description. Tagore is like a god. I had heard a lot about this place and the three years that I have spent here will always remain with me,” said Thililini Munasika, a final-year drama student at Sangit Bhavan from Kandy in Sri Lanka.
Tutul agrees with her. “In universities in Bangladesh and elsewhere, a very rigid syllabus, methods and schedules are followed. That is not the case with Visva-Bharati, at least in our department. We still follow the method prescribed by Tagore,” Tutul said.
Visva-Bharati has received students from Japan, China, Iran, Poland, the US and South Korea among other countries. Students from abroad are given direct admissions, primarily because “it was Tagore’s dream to make Visva-Bharati a meeting place of world community”.
“For me, Santiniketan is a pilgrimage. It has helped me understand Tagore better,” said Tanvi Dey, a Bangladeshi student of Kala Bhavan.

[sourav2010]

Santiniketan keeps it simple & dignified



Prayer Meeting, Play Mark Tagore’s 150th Birth Anniversary Celebrations


Arnab Ganguly & Someswar Boral | TNN

May 10,2010


Santiniketan: No pomp, grandeur or high-decibel display — Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations that began in Santiniketan on Sunday were a simple, dignified affair.
The residents of Visva-Bharati quietly assembled at Chhatimtala, the place where Tagore’s father Maharshi Debendranath Tagore first sowed the seeds of a new order. Prayer meetings, which were close to Tagore’s heart, followed, with all the assembled guests joining in the chanting. Doors of Rabindra Bhawan were opened early to allow visitors to wander on the same pebbled paths where Tagore had once walked.
No other place could have been fitter for the ceremony. Chhatimtala and the nearby Amra Kunja have been the symbols of Santiniketan, protected and loved equally for their association with Tagore.
Veteran ashramik Somendranath Bandyopadhyay led the prayer meeting that was accompanied by the chanting of Sanskrit shlokas. A handful of Tagore devotees, most of them teachers and ex-students, were among those who came together for the prayer meeting. The teeming visitors who throng Santiniketan during Basantotsab and Poush Mela were nowhere in sight. Unlike most other occasions, Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Rajat Kanta Ray stayed in the background.
“For the centenary celebrations, too, prayer meetings were held at Chhatimtala. This time as well we felt that we wouldn’t be able to accommodate all the visitors in the temple,” Bandyopadhyay said.
During the last Basantotsab, clashes between two groups of students had led to the damage of frescoes in the famous Kalo-bari but also led to the cancellation of all cultural programmes. The simmering tension between students, teachers and employees — something that plagues Visva-Bharati most of the time – has cast its shadow on the 150th anniversary celebrations as well.
“The possibility of the hostilities sparking another round of clashes can’t be ruled out. Everybody wants to have a big share of the credits for organising the festivities because of the prestige involved,” said a Visva-Bharati official. Exhibitions were inaugurated at Kala Bhawan’s Nandan and at Konark, inside the Uttarayan complex.
Uttarayan was thrown open to visitors, who trooped into Shyamali, cameras clicking furiously for that personal moment in Tagore’s abode. The place has been under a security blanket ever since the Nobel medallion theft in 2004.
Songs and recitals also took place in front of Udayan, the grandest of buildings within the Uttarayan complex. By 11 am, the doors of Rabindra Bhawan were once again shut as the performances — individual and group — came to an end. The evening saw the staging of Tasher Desh, which has also been selected for performance across the country.



(Above and below) Ashramites celebrate Rabindranath Tagore’s birthday in Santiniketan; (right) vice-chancellor Rajat Kanta Ray inaugurates the celebrations at Udayan; (below right) dance drama ‘Tasher Desh’ being performed by Visva-Bharati students on Sunday evening

[SarafIndian]

"Le Chakka" trailer..



Two songs I have posted on the songs thread as well..

[SarafIndian]

Fearless shooter who loved tigers

Sunderbans Foresters Struggle To Replace Legendary Gopal Tanti

Prithvjit Mitra & Monotosh Chakraborty | TNN

Kolkata: It was a chilly, winter evening at Heronmoyipur village in Jharkhali, Sunderbans, 24 years ago. Residents were crouching in their homes, their doors shut tight. A Bengal tiger was on the prowl. It had stationed itself in a bamboo bush in the village. Not even forest guards dared to approach the bush.
That was till Gopal Tanti — the ace tranquillizer shooter — arrived at the scene. It was to be his first encounter with a tiger but the young marksman was not jittery. Armed with his gun, he headed straight for the spot though it was already dark. Barring a young assistant who carried a searchlight, Tanti had none with him. The forest guards stood at least 500 metres away from the bush.
Crouching on the ground, Tanti crawled along the muddy undergrowth to within 40 feet of the animal. As the searchlight fell on it, the tiger bared its fangs and roared.
Tanti looked the tiger in the eye, not moving his gaze even for a second. After a tense 15 minutes, he gestured to his assistant to turn the light to a neighbouring bush to divert the big cat’s attention. For a few fleeting seconds, darkness engulfed the animal and it was left confused. Tanti took aim, fired a shot and scampered out of the bush. The dart hit the tiger on its left shoulder. It fell unconscious within the next 15 minutes.
“I could hear my heart pounding but I didn’t lose my nerve. I
knew if I fired with the tiger staring at me, it would charge and kill me. I had to take a chance by firing in the dark, which I did and it worked,” Tanti had told TOI in an interview some time back.
The forest department has struggled to replace him ever since a debilitating neurological disorder forced him to part with his gun two years ago. Now, with him gone, it’s going to be even more difficult.
Tanquillizing operations have repeatedly gone awry in his absence. Even as the number of tiger strayings spiralled, the less experienced shooters have been messing it up. In 2007, a tigress mauled four villagers half an hour after it had been ‘tranquillized’. Last December, a tiger died after being shot, apparently due to an overdose of the drug. The animal had mauled three, including shooter
Krishnapada Mondol.
Wildlife experts fear that the art of tranquillization might die if efforts are not made to train youngsters with the skill and the temperament. “They must get those who love the sheer thrill of venturing close to a wild animal. Only those who get a kick out of taking the risk and have the courage to gamble with their lives can do it. Gopal Tanti was so successful for he didn’t see the tiger as an enemy. He loved tigers and wanted to get close to them,” said Bittu Sehgal, conservationist and tiger expert.
The ace shooter has inspired many to take up the job. Take Krishnapada Mondol for instance. The beat officer volunteered to join a shooters’ training inspired by Tanti. “Having worked with Gopal-da for years, I wanted to be in his shoes. I knew it was a risky job but the thrill of encountering a royal Bengal was just too much to resist,” said Mondol.
But experts point out that tranquillizing operations were increasingly going out of control, which was a bad sign. “It shows they are either choosing the wrong people or are just failing to organize it properly,” says Pranabesh Sanyal, former director of Sunderban Tiger Reserve.
Tanti was considered an expert on prescribing the right tranquillizing dose. “It’s partly training and partly instinct. Dosage has to be decided on the basis of the animal’s weight, age and appearance. My assessment proved right every time barring one,” Tanti had said. In 1986, a tiger shot by him died of katamine overdose. “But that was an exception. Now, they are getting it wrong frequently,” said Sanyal.

[SarafIndian]

Photo cc Amartya Bag

A photo of Ras Mancha. Bishnupur, Bankura District. built by Bir Hambir in AD 1587. Well maintained..

The oldest brick temple located in Bishnupur, Ras Mancha stands out from the rest for its structure and it is the only temple of its kind in the whole country. It was built by Bir Hambir in AD 1587.

A magnificent red brick building, it has only a single chamber, the sanctum sanctorum, with an elongated tower, surrounded by hut shaped turrets. A passageway surrounds it and some large cannons found here dates back to the Malla period. It was built to host an annual festival where idols, brought from all over the kingdom, were displayed under the arches.

Ras Mancha is a protected monument today and no longer a temple. The popular festival has been shifted to grounds near a Durga temple.

http://www.india9.com/i9show/Ras-Mancha-40462.htm

[SarafIndian]

Talking about Bankura. A great place with great history, heritage and culture. A picture of the famous "Bankurar Matir Putul"(terracotta work).Terracotta is still a thriving culture of this part of Bengal..

Photo cc { AddyCh }

[Suncity]

Making of the Japanese Wife - a movie by Aparna Sen

[SarafIndian]

Ferari Mon Full Song - Antaheen

[SarafIndian]

www.daylife.com

An Indian woman takes a photo on her mobile of a print of Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore at an exhibition honouring his work on his 150th birth anniversary in Kolkata on May 9, 2010. The five coach airconditioned exhibition train which display various aspects of Tagore's life and teachings will crisscross India, halting at major railway stations across the country. The journey is named Sanskriti Yatra.

[SarafIndian]

On top of the world, in 10 hours

For The First Time, All-Civilian Bengali Team Scales Everest
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


ROCKING MOUNTAIN HIGH: Basanta Sinha Roy (right), with Debashish Biswas, led the 5-member team that set off from Kolkata on April 1

Kolkata: At 7.45 am on Monday, when Basanta Sinha Roy and Debashish Biswas finally dug their pickaxes into the ice, they were feeling on top of the world. Literally. Having tackled bad weather, blinding snow and treacherous terrain, the two men — a banker and a taxman — had reached 8,848 metres. There was nowhere higher to climb. They stood on the peak of Mt Everest.
This unique feat, which took them on a heart-pounding eightday climb from Base Camp to summit, made them the first all-Bengali civilian team to conquer the world’s highest mountain.
Earlier, two Bengalis — Commander Satyabrata Dam and Major Shipra Mazumdar — had summited Everest. But unlike Punjab National Bank employee Basanta and income tax officer Debashish, Satyabrata and Shipra were part of naval and Army teams.
Basanta and Debashish weren’t exactly greenhorns, though. Fifty-year-old Basanta has scaled several mountains in the Garhwal Himalayas, including Kamet, Chou Khamba, Thalay Sagar and Bhigu Panth. The biggest achievement was the Shiv Ling climb with Debashish, 11 years his junior. Both belong to Mountaineers’ Association of Krishnagar (MAK), a private organisation with limited resources, and have been making preparations for Everest for the past year, with rigorous stints at Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling, and Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi.
The five-member team led by Basanta set off from Kolkata on April 1. The initial plan was to attempt the climb via the North Col through Tibet. But China denied permission, forcing the team to switch to the South Col via Nepal’s Namche Bazar.
The push for the summit began on May 9. While the other members of the team— Sourabh Sinchan Mandal, Ashok Roy and Bibhas Sarkar — stayed back at Base Camp (5,380 metres), Basanta and Debashish pushed ahead with two sherpas, Pa San and Pem Ba. They had targeted the peak on May 15, but were held back by bad weather. They started on the final climb around 10 pm on Sunday, reaching the peak after nearly 10 agonising hours.
The route was the same that Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay had taken in 1953 during the first climb. “He made it to the same point that Tenzing had reached so many years ago. I’m very happy,” said Basanta’s mother Panna Rani Sinha Roy, breaking into tears after hearing the news.
Mukti Biswas, Debashish’s wife, got a call around 9 am, which informed her of her husband’s feat. Since then her cellphone hasn’t stopped ringing.

[Illusionist]

the waiting city looks good. i am fan of radha mitchell..
i sure will watch it when it comes out

[mockingbird101]

whats the waiting city?

[SarafIndian]

Originally Posted by mockingbird101

whats the waiting city?

Its a movie. See the trailer at post #3.