SSC Kolkata Adda - discussions, music, films, videos

[studdmanster]

...for the good start

[SarafIndian]

Good sign of development no doubt.

[SarafIndian]

Mithun now plays struggling actor in Shukno Lanka

Thursday, June 10, 2010 (Kolkata)

After playing varied roles, three time National Award winning actor Mithun Chakroborty will be seen portraying a junior artist in the Bengali movie Shukno Lanka.

"My role in Shukno Lanka is very challenging. It has given me the rare opportunity to retrace my struggling days," said Mithun.

Mumbai Mantras Media Ltd, the makers of national award winning Bengali film Antaheen, is producing the movie that will be released simultaneously in Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai.

Shukno Lanka is a journey about forgotten dreams. It is a story of fear, reconciliation and finally of living the magic called life.

Commenting on the film's theme, director Gaurav Pandey said: "Shukno Lanka is a celebration of the city Kolkata. It's a city that has forgotten how to dream. Shukno Lanka attempts to bring the dream back to Kolkata."

http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_story.a...word=bollywood

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by niljee

Good news indeed!

As per the news item, it's Mamata's party affiliated trade union that had called the strike. Now she resolves it. And she becomes "industry friendly"?



I hear Trinamool unions are trying to replicate what the CITU did to Bengal. That is not really very encouraging. BTW isn't Purnendu Bose a pro naxalite leader?

[Suncity]

This one is funny especially because of the "No Mukh Dekha Dekhi" political scenario in WB.

Two mayors too many at KMC

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/C...ow/6035226.cms

Municipal commissioner Arnab Roy never had it this bad. Left to choose between the rule book and courtesy, Roy stuck to the former, and ignored mayor designate Sovan Chatterjee’s call for a meeting at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation headquarters on Thursday.

That was only the beginning of a drama that would be almost farcical were it not for the tense political atmosphere in Bengal. Chatterjee was the one who ended up feeling left out of the opera. He spent 45 minutes sitting alone in a corner of the KMC conference room as Roy and other civic officials disregarded his summons.

Outgoing mayor Bikash Bhattacharya spiced up the drama with a guest appearance, as if to make it clear he is still the boss (he has announced he will step down on Saturday).

The show began at 1.45pm when the mayor-designate parked his Pajero in the space earmarked for the mayor, and tiptoed into the conference room to “oversee preparedness before the monsoon”. On Tuesday, he had made a similar surprise appearance and Roy had responded out of courtesy.

Like the other day, Chatterjee summoned him for a meeting. Roy didn’t turn up. He was closeted with some senior officials. After waiting for 15 minutes, Chatterjee sent councillors Firhad Hakim and Atin Ghosh to Roy’s office. Roy warmly welcomed them. They had spoken for barely 10 minutes when the phone rang. It was mayor Bikash Bhattacharya, asking Roy to come to his chamber. Bhattacharya had timed it well. He had come straight from the high court and taken his seat minutes after Chatterjee stepped in.

There was more humiliation in store for Chatterjee. Security personnel requested him to shift his Pajero from the mayor’s parking space.

Beyond the childishness going on in KMC, the ABP reports that the Trinamool councillors in Bidhan Nagar have shown the way in stopping wasteful expenditure. They have promised to save Rs 60 lakhs annually by not using state cars and phones. Bidhan Nagar will also have a lady mayor. Trinamool in Kolkata needs to take some lessons from Trinamool in Bidhan Nagar.

[Suncity]

In Bidhan Nagar, confidence the hallmark of women at helm

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/in...t-helm/630393/

“We women treat our wards as our families. If Didi (Mamata Banerjee) can take care of the huge family of West Bengal, can’t we look after the smaller units of wards?” asks Anita Mondal, the first woman Chairman of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.

With 14 women emerging victorious in the recently conducted municipal elections in Salt Lake, councillors cutting across political divide agree that women have proved themselves absolutely capable and deserving.

“People have a natural faith in women because they are honest and have the determination and the right attitude to do some good work,” says Meenu , Trinamool Councillor from Salt Lake’s Ward 22 and a veteran in politics since 1972.

“But yes, for a woman, the competition is tougher,” she adds. “Everyone wants to test her capability in every way before entrusting her with any duty. But we pass with flying colours.”

Revamping the drainage system in her ward and setting up lines for drinking water are her first priorities.

She coyly admits that though she was actively involved with the Congress and had even been a part of Indira Gandhi’s Guard of Honour in 1976, she decided to join Trinamool Congress ¿ against the wishes of her father ¿ only for Mamata Banerjee. “I joined as a soldier in Didi’s party, because I was moved by her ideology and indomitable fighting spirit.”

The fact that women have come out and have won in a lot of places, does not mean the fight was easy.

“My ward and Rebecca Banerjee’s wards were red forts, but , we won by sheer good work,” says Chameli Naskar, Trinamool councillor from ward no 1.

Apart from solving the huge drinking water problem, Naskar wishes to set up municipal hospitals and primary schools in her ward. “I have plans to set up some self-help projects, so that women of the area become self-reliant,” says Naskar, who was a councillor when the first municipal board was formed in Salt Lake in 1995. She is credited with bringing electricity and water, and developing roads in an area which had nothing at the time.

Ira Nandy, the Left Front councillor from Ward 17, echoes the Trinamool women.

“It has been proven time and again that women are far less corrupt,” she says. “Also they have proven that they are very capable through their good work in panchayats and municipalities.”

A retired headmistress of Saptagram Girls’ High School, Nandy thinks if a party loses once after ruling for 34 years, it is nothing to raise a hue and cry about.

“It’s but normal,” she says. “No party in the world has ruled for so many years at a stretch. We should just concentrate on keeping up the good work.”

Nalanda waits for ‘Bihar ki beti’

http://www.telegraphindia.com/110060...y_12544038.jsp

Nalanda is waiting to greet its daughter Farzana Alam — “Bihar ki beti”, as she is lovingly referred to in her home district — who has been selected deputy mayor of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

Farzana, the second woman deputy mayor of the civic body in 86 years, has decided to come home to Kagzi Mohalla in Biharsharief, the headquarters of Nalanda district, a week after taking oath of office as councillor.

“Yes, following pleas from family members and friends I have agreed to visit my native place on June 20. I am eager to meet my family and friends,” said the 46-year-old.

She, however, asserted that she was “very much a Calcutta woman” and “all her energies” would be directed at improving the life of Calcuttans.

Farzana — who studied in Nalanda, also the home district of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, and Patna — thanks the “liberal values of Bengal, Didi (Mamata Banerjee) and her husband (Abdul Momin, a lawyer)” for her rise in politics. “As a woman I was not supposed to take part in outdoor activities like politics. The women-friendly liberal values of Bengal helped me fulfil my aspirations,” Farzana said.

Just a couple of years ago - in 2008, women broke the political glass ceiling in the twin city of Howrah!

Howrah gets lady mayor

http://www.telegraphindia.com/108120...y_10225133.jsp

Three women broke the glass ceiling of civic governance on Monday, being named for three top posts in the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) by the Left Front.

Mamta Jaiswal became the first woman mayor of Howrah, Kaberi Mitra the deputy mayor, and Swapna Bhattacharya the chairperson.

“This is a historic moment. Twenty-one women candidates of the Left Front have been elected to the 50-member civic body this time. We think they will run the body efficiently and skilfully,” said a senior district secretariat member.

[SarafIndian]

Burn, Braithwaite erupt in joy

Takeover Green Signal Fuels Fresh Hope, But Unions Still in Squabble Mode

TIMES NEWS NETWORK


Workers and their families celebrate at Burn Standard’s Burnpur unit on Thursday

Kolkata: Even in moments of celebration, Bengal can’t evade the bitter acrimony of politics. This was proved again on Thursday, when jubilation over the takeover of ailing PSUs Burn Standard and Braithwaite was marred by infighting among rival workers’ unions.
As soon as news spread that union cabinet committee on economic affairs had given the go-ahead to the railway ministry for taking over both PSUs, workers of Burn Standard units in Howrah and Burnpur and of Braithwaite in Bhadreswar and Kolkata came together to celebrate. Though the decision had given fresh hope to 1,500 workers, union leaders stayed put in their respective camps and fought to take credit.
Once under the railway ministry, the ailing PSUs can beef up production with fresh funds. Burn Standard managing director S P Bakshi held that things would improve as the company will now get preferential treatment from the Railways while securing orders. Burn Standard has two wagon units at Burnpur and Howrah. The total employee strength in these two units is around 1,000.
Braithwaite managing director S K Rishi endorsed the view. “Now we are utilising 60% of our capacity,” he said. Braithwaite has two units in Kolkata and one in Hooghly. The total number of employee in the company is 459.
The infusion of funds has to be to the tune of Rs 300 crore to reach the break even, held Anutosh Banerjee, president of the Burn Standard officers’ association. “The shortage of working capital and technology is a big problem for us. Manpower too is not adequate. Now we are being able to utilise only 35% of our capacity,” Banerjee said.
Employees, however, were in no mood to go into the nitty-gritty. All they saw was hope for the company’s revival. Even as the Trinamool-led union in Burnpur was busy celebrating by throwing green abir at each other, their counterparts from Citu and other unions kept their distance.
Welcoming the decisions, CPM state secretary Biman Bose said that Citu’s tireless movement had made it happen. “This is good news. The decision was taken by former railway minister Laloo Prasad. It has been implemented today. Citu has been staging a movement for revival of Burn Standard for a long time,” Bose said.
In Burnpur, Trinamool leader Malay Ghatak thanked his party boss, railway minister Mamata Banerjee. “We are grateful to Didi. She has given the people of Burnpur fresh hope. Without her this would never have happened,” he said. Though Ghatak arrived at the factory gate leading a procession of Trinamool supporters, there were no jeers from the rival unions.
Citu, on the other hand, has decided to call a meeting on Friday at the factory gate to raise more demands. “Burn Standard employees should be brought on a parity level with employees of other railway units. There should be no retrenchment. Railways should treat Burn Standard as captive units like Chittaranjan Locomotive Works,” said Nirapada Majhi, a Citu leader at the Burnpur unit.
The scene was similar at the three units of Braithwaite. At the Bhadreswar unit, Citu union secretary Achintya Pal said the decision was inevitable. “When Nitish Kumar was railway minister former MP Rupchand Pal had placed the demand for Braithewaite. The standing committee chaired by Swadesh Chakraborty had cleared the decision on Dec 29 2008,” Pal said.

[sourav2010]

Celebrating Tagore’s creations, the world over



TIMES NEWS NETWORK
June 11,2010



Kolkata: Did you know that Rabindranath Tagore is one of the most read and venerated poets in the Hispanic world? Almost all his works have been translated into Spanish by leading poets of Spain and Latin America and, even today, they are bestsellers in those places.
Naturally, when the rest of us are celebrating Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary, a large part of the Hispanic world is doing so as well.
Malabika Bhattacharya, who teaches Spanish at Jadavpur University, spoke about how Tagore —through his extensive travels across the world — became extremely popular in many countries. She was speaking at a programme organised by The Times of India at Weaver’s Studio Centre for the Arts on Wednesday to celebrate Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary. This marked the beginning of yearlong celebrations in the city.
“Top Spanish poets such as Antonio Machado and Octavio Paz translated Tagore profusely. Among the many works of Tagore that are still extremely popular in Latin America are ‘Malancha’, ‘Shishu’ and ‘Dakghar’. Tagore shot to fame in the Hispanic world after he won the Nobel Prize; from 1914-1922, he was perhaps the most popular poet there,” Bhattacharya said.
Tagore himself grew close to poets and other luminaries in the literary circuit of those countries, and this perhaps reached a zenith with the relationship he shared with Victoria Ocampo of Argentina.
On Thursday, a musical evening was organised to take the audience through a tour of how Hindustani raag sangeet inspired Tagore and how he composed music for many of his songs based on these ragas. “However, he moderated these ragas to suit his needs and so we should call them Tagore-ragas,” said Sounak Chatterjee, a classical music exponent who has started singing Rabindrasangeet.
It was Chatterjee who sang raga after raga and followed them with Tagore songs to match. “One is amazed to see how Tagore bent the so-called rules of classical music to create his own music. He was never a stickler for rules because if he were, then he wouldn’t have been Tagore. Imagine what we would have missed out on,” Chatterjee said.
The music was punctuated with interesting anecdotes from Tagore’s life, read out by anchor Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee.
On Saturday a musical evening, A World of Joy, will be organised at Tollygunge Club to showcase Tagore’s creations through an ensemble of dance, poetry and music by Pramita Mullick and Sasha Ghoshal, among others. Among those who would be present are singer Sumitra Sen and artist Shuvaprasanna.

[sabya99]

I remember a few years back similar debate was organized by India Abroad ( New York ). They presented that city of Pune had population of 6 million ( 2000 ) out of which 15% were from West Bengal. Bulk of them migrated after 1980, courtesy of Jyoti Basu!

[Suncity]

Originally Posted by sabya99

I remember a few years back similar debate was organized by India Abroad ( New York ). They presented that city of Pune had population of 6 million ( 2000 ) out of which 15% were from West Bengal. Bulk of them migrated after 1980, courtesy of Jyoti Basu!

I think all communities tend to exaggerate a bit when it comes to strength in numbers outside their zone of comfort. You will also see migrant communities trying their best to project how great and productive they are and how they are contributing positively to their adopted land.

As per this article the Bengali Associations claim that there are 10 lakh Bengalis in Pune. That is roughly 14%.

As per the this site: There are approximately 38% Marathis, 10% Tamilians, 10% Keralites, 14% Telugites, 2% Bengalis etc.

Anyway, one has to remember that Bengalis have been on the move (despite some myths that they are Kolkata centric) especially since the British rule. That's why you find Bengalis all over India and that too long before commie rule. Another surge of Bengali migration happened during the partition and 71 war. Many of them resettled in different states. Long before Basu's rule, most professionals in eastern Indian cities were Bengalis. That was because, Bengal had the only professional colleges in the region at that time. And if we count Bangladesh, Bengalis do have a huge spread across the globe.

[Samrat]

Other than metros and big cities there are certain pockets/concentrations of Bengalis resettled after the partitiion of the country. A few are here:

(a) UP - districts nainital and pilibhit/rudrapur
(b) MP - districts - Hosangabad, jhabua, Indore, Betul etc.
(c) CG - districts and city of Raipur, Bastar, Durg-Bhilai, Bilaspur-Korba, Jagdalpur, Rajnandgaon
(d) Orisssa - Koraput, Malkangiri, Ambaguda
(e) AP - Kagaznagar, Adilabad
(f) Maharashtra - districts of Chandrapur, Gadchurali
(g) Tripura(for centuries)
(j) Jharkhand -- Ghatshila, Choto Nagpur, Singhbhum, Ranchi, Purnea etc.(both old and resettlers)
(k) Bihar - Bhagalpur, Kishengunj, (for centuries)
(l) Andaman

Please remember Kachar district of Assam and Kishengunj of Bihar are Bengali majority districts

some cities where Bengalis are living for generations are:

Allahabad, Varanasi, Jabalpur, Cuttack etc.(I am not counting Delhi/Mumbai etc)

Assam has more than 50 lakh, out of 1.82 Crore total population of Jharkhand, 33% are Bengalis, Bihar has almost 25 lakh, Tripura has more than 20 lakh Bengalis.

Altogether there are more than one and half crore Bengalis in India living outside West Bengal

And lastly, if you count all Bengalis irrespective of their abode of geographic boundaries world over then their total number is about 30 crores(largest after Chinese, Hindi, English and Spanish and perhaps Arabic (not sure)

[sabya99]

Samrat ,
Very useful information.

[Samrat]

Originally Posted by sabya99

Samrat ,
Very useful information.

Thank you

[SarafIndian]

Photo cc Rangan Datta (www.panoramio.com)

Ananda Bhairabi Mandir, Sukharia, Hoogly District



Photo cc milusiddique (www.panoramio.com)

An interesting looking Mosque at Sultangunj, Malda district

[SarafIndian]

Hmm. Interesting. So Bengalis are not "Ghor kuno" at all..

Originally Posted by Samrat

Other than metros and big cities there are certain pockets/concentrations of Bengalis resettled after the partitiion of the country. A few are here:

(a) UP - districts nainital and pilibhit/rudrapur
(b) MP - districts - Hosangabad, jhabua, Indore, Betul etc.
(c) CG - districts and city of Raipur, Bastar, Durg-Bhilai, Bilaspur-Korba, Jagdalpur, Rajnandgaon
(d) Orisssa - Koraput, Malkangiri, Ambaguda
(e) AP - Kagaznagar, Adilabad
(f) Maharashtra - districts of Chandrapur, Gadchurali
(g) Tripura(for centuries)
(j) Jharkhand -- Ghatshila, Choto Nagpur, Singhbhum, Ranchi, Purnea etc.(both old and resettlers)
(k) Bihar - Bhagalpur, Kishengunj, (for centuries)
(l) Andaman

Please remember Kachar district of Assam and Kishengunj of Bihar are Bengali majority districts

some cities where Bengalis are living for generations are:

Allahabad, Varanasi, Jabalpur, Cuttack etc.(I am not counting Delhi/Mumbai etc)

Assam has more than 50 lakh, out of 1.82 Crore total population of Jharkhand, 33% are Bengalis, Bihar has almost 25 lakh, Tripura has more than 20 lakh Bengalis.

Altogether there are more than one and half crore Bengalis in India living outside West Bengal

And lastly, if you count all Bengalis irrespective of their abode of geographic boundaries world over then their total number is about 30 crores(largest after Chinese, Hindi, English and Spanish and perhaps Arabic (not sure)

[SarafIndian]

Source: www.daylife.com

An Indian shopworker picks up football-shaped chocolate from the display in Kolkata on June 10, 2010. Football is slowly taking off in cricket-mad India and the World Cup is set to give the game another lift in the country of a billion-plus people.

[SarafIndian]

Source: Times of India e-paper


Tourists enjoy a game in the rain with local boys at the Maidan while kids at a central Kolkata ‘para’ get into the World Cup mood with their faces painted in the colours of various competing countries

[studdmanster]

Originally Posted by SarafIndian

Source: www.daylife.com

Where is jabulani???

[studdmanster]

Originally Posted by Samrat

Other than metros and big cities there are certain pockets/concentrations of Bengalis resettled after the partitiion of the country. A few are here:

(a) UP - districts nainital and pilibhit/rudrapur
(b) MP - districts - Hosangabad, jhabua, Indore, Betul etc.
(c) CG - districts and city of Raipur, Bastar, Durg-Bhilai, Bilaspur-Korba, Jagdalpur, Rajnandgaon
(d) Orisssa - Koraput, Malkangiri, Ambaguda
(e) AP - Kagaznagar, Adilabad
(f) Maharashtra - districts of Chandrapur, Gadchurali
(g) Tripura(for centuries)
(j) Jharkhand -- Ghatshila, Choto Nagpur, Singhbhum, Ranchi, Purnea etc.(both old and resettlers)
(k) Bihar - Bhagalpur, Kishengunj, (for centuries)
(l) Andaman

Please remember Kachar district of Assam and Kishengunj of Bihar are Bengali majority districts

some cities where Bengalis are living for generations are:

Allahabad, Varanasi, Jabalpur, Cuttack etc.(I am not counting Delhi/Mumbai etc)

Assam has more than 50 lakh, out of 1.82 Crore total population of Jharkhand, 33% are Bengalis, Bihar has almost 25 lakh, Tripura has more than 20 lakh Bengalis.

Altogether there are more than one and half crore Bengalis in India living outside West Bengal

And lastly, if you count all Bengalis irrespective of their abode of geographic boundaries world over then their total number is about 30 crores(largest after Chinese, Hindi, English and Spanish and perhaps Arabic (not sure)

Very nice info samrat......it proves that we bengali have spread and spread across the length and breadth of the country...btw u missed jamshedpur in jharkhand...from the birth of tata steel till date...majority of the workers, officials are bengalis...and the town is also a bengali dominated town..!

[Samrat]

Thank you studdmanster.

yes I know there may be some names missing as I did not recall all of them while writing online. Since there are about 33% Bengalis in Jharkhand, it means there are still many places where Bengalis are in huge numbers. For instance, besides, Jamshedpur(Tatanagar) Dhanbad is also a place where Bengalis live in plenty. One may notice even the name of the railway station at Dhahbad is also written in Bengali.

However, there may also be some other pockets which are still left out.

Numerically, we Bengalis are ranked 5th or 6th in the world