Category Archives: Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Olympic gold-winning hockey legend Keshav Datt dies

Hockey player Keshav Chandra Dutt   | Photo Credit: Rajeev Bhatt

He was part India’s historic feat at the 1948 Olympics where they beat home team Britain 4-0 at the Wembley Stadium in London to win the first gold post Independence.

Two-time Olympics gold medallist Keshav Chandra Datt, the last surviving member of the Indian hockey team in the historic 1948 London Games, passed away here early on Wednesday, according to a Hockey Bengal (HB) statement. He was 95.

An HB official said Datt’s last rites would be performed after the arrival of his daughter Anjali from abroad in a few days’ time.

A product of the famous Government College, Lahore — which also produced Olympians like Syed Jaffar, Commander Nandy Singh and Munir Dar — Datt, born in Lahore on December 29, 1925, participated in the 1948 London and 1952 Helsinki Games respectively.

Some claim that he could not take part in his third Olympics, in Melbourne in 1956, due to “professional commitments with Brooke Bond”.

Datt — who migrated to India after the partition and played in Bombay and then in Bengal — was part of the Dhyan Chand-led Indian squad that toured East Africa in 1947. As a half-back, he played in 22 matches and scored two goals.

In 1949, Datt had the honour of playing against hockey wizard Dhyan Chand, who led the Rest of India squad, in two exhibition matches here.

First, Datt was part of the 1948 Olympics squad and in the second he was a member of the Bengal team.

In his autobiography Goal, Dhyan Chand rated Datt as one of the finest half-backs of that time.

Best moments

Defeating host Great Britain 4-0 in the final at the Empire Stadium, Wembley, London, to win Independent India’s first gold in 1948 on the British soil and then thrashing the Netherlands 6-1 four years later in Helsinki to bag the second consecutive Olympic Games title were the finest moments of Datt’s career.

By the age of 26, he had the prized possession of two Olympic gold medals.

He was among the last ones to witness India’s monopoly in the Olympics as it faced some challenge in the 1956 Games where it experienced tight matches — including 1-0 wins over Germany and Pakistan in the semifinals and final respectively.

Datt shone in his club career as well.

“While playing for Calcutta Port Commissioners, he impressed famous actor and Mohun Bagan Hockey secretary of that time, Jahar Ganguly. He joined Mohun Bagan in 1951 to respect the wishes of Ganguly and played till 1960.

“In 1952, Mohun Bagan achieved the first double in hockey when it lifted the Beighton Cup for the first time along with the Calcutta Hockey League (CHL),” the Bagan website said.

Datt won CHL six times and the Beighton Cup three times in his 10-year Bagan career. He was the first non-football sportsperson to be conferred the Mohun Bagan Ratna, in 2019.

Datt represented Punjab (in undivided India), Bombay and Bengal in the National championship.

Badminton player

He was also an accomplished badminton player and was Bengal No.1 of his times.

Datt’s passing away snaps the only living link with Independent India’s first sporting glory.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Hockey / by Y.B. Sarangi / Kolkata – July 07th, 2021

The Radio Star

One little Santhal girl was sent away to the city for a better life. Years later, she returned to her roots, astride air waves.

Shikha Mandi / Courtesy – Shikha Mandi

Shikha Mandi was barely four years old when she came to Calcutta from Jhargram’s Belpahari village. Her parents, both farmers, sent her to the city in the hope that she would get a better education, be safer than in a region routinely in the news for Maoist activity.

“My paternal uncle lived in north Calcutta’s Ariadaha with his family. I was told that my elder sister and I were going for a vacation. I was very eager to see a big city. The next thing I knew was that we would be living with them and not return to the village,” recalls Mandi.

Shifting from a village wasn’t easy, not in the least because of the language switch. Mandi, now 27, grew up in Calcutta among Bengalis but retained a love for her mother language, Santhali. Santhals are the largest tribal community in Bengal and Santhali is spoken by over 70 lakh people across Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar and Assam.

At the city school, Mandi had to speak in Bengali. She says, “In our village we barely knew Bengali. Even in Calcutta, we would speak Santhali at home. But to fit in with the rest I had to prioritise another language over my own.”

But bigger struggles lay ahead. Mandi changed school when she was in Class V. She says, “Nobody wanted to be friends with me at Ariadaha Sarbamangala Balika Vidyalaya. I looked different and I was from a different community. They didn’t know much about Santhals. But they would associate tribals with certain things. They would say, ‘Look at her, even a buffalo is more fair-complexioned in comparison’ or ask ‘Do your people wear clothes made of leaves and eat raw meat?’ I would feel hurt. I kept thinking if only I was like them, I wouldn’t have to face all this.”

In hindsight, she wishes she had made a clean breast of her feelings to someone. She says, “My chacha would tell me we are different from the rest but we should not pay attention to anyone who slanders us. He is a government schoolteacher and he too had his fair share of struggles as a Santhal. Now when I talk about my experiences, I hear others say that they too have gone through similar things in life, because of their tribal identity.”

College was comparatively better, but it was difficult to be comfortable in one’s own skin, especially when compounded with her gender, it became an othering factor. “In the city, people seemed to believe that girls should be pretty and fair only,” says Mandi, and for the first time I hear her soft voice break into a laugh.

When Mandi arrived in Calcutta for the first time, she found a friend in the radio. Over the years this friendship endured. Every evening, there would be a Santhali programme on Akashvani and Mandi listened devoutly. “It had Santhali songs and chat shows. Listening to them was my home away from home. It made me miss my village and parents less,” she says.

“I would wonder what it might be to become someone like those people inside the radio — as I imagined them to be. I didn’t even know how it worked, what one needs to do to be on air, but I knew that I wanted to grow up and talk on the radio,” Mandi says.

After school, while the other kids played ghar-ghar, Mandi would pretend to be a news reader and a radio jockey. She would sing Santhali songs too. Over a call, she hums a song she says was her favourite: Hane biti Ganga gada dak do biti nel me, bai bai bai te, bai bai bai te atu kana. She says the song is by Lal Susant Sorenji from Dumka in Jharkhand. “It is a very old song and I’ve grown up listening to it.”

But when she spoke to her parents about her ambition, it didn’t go well. Mandi continues, “My parents were clear they couldn’t afford to spend much on me and insisted I complete my education and get a government job.”

After her school-leaving exams, Mandi joined an Industrial Training Institute in south Calcutta and after training, started preparing for an apprenticeship exam for Garden Reach Shipbuilding and Engineers Ltd.

And then, the tide turned and her ship changed direction.

Mandi saw an advertisement for a radio jockey for an upcoming community radio station in her hometown, Jhargram. Radio Milan 90.4 was starting a Santhali programme and she put in an application. She says, “My parents were not pleased with my decision.” Yet she appeared for the interview, gave a voice test and finally took up the job in December 2017.

Shikha Mandi thus became one of India’s first tribal radio jockeys, commanding the attention of thousands of listeners through her evening talk show Johar Jhargram.

For Shikha, shifting from a village wasn’t east, not in the least because of the language switch / Courtesy : Shikha Mandi

The programme was all about making Santhals feel connected. Says Mandi, “Everyone wanted to listen to their language on radio and television, it doesn’t happen very often for us. So people were very excited.” But years of living in Calcutta had had its impact on her fluency in Santhali. She adds, “People complained that I used Bengali words.”

Mandi spent the next many months brushing up her Santhali. She learnt the Ol Chiki script, re-acquainted herself with tribal customs, culture, rituals, songs. She started reading up about ground realities of Santhals. She would scour around for socially relevant topics for her show. “Every day I’d choose a new topic that people could relate to. I would invite guests for expert opinions on these topics. I even got Santhali callers on my show from other cities. There were conversations about love, friendship, tragedy, everyday struggles of being a Santhal, it was all about us,” she says. Mandi is soft-spoken, but I sense a firmness in her tone.

Mandi wrote her own script and made playlists. Broad themes were festivals, religion and gender, but everything was in Santhali. There was no place for any other language. If someone called in with a request for a Santhali song but spoke in Bengali, Mandi urged the caller to speak in Santhali, assuring that it was okay not to be entirely fluent. Soon from being a daily hour-long show, her show became so popular that it became a three-hour show.

Says Mandi, “I didn’t just want to become a radio jockey to indulge some personal aspiration, I wanted to do something for my people, keep the Santhali language and culture alive among the youth. The pride for the language is fading among people of my generation and those younger to me. When they move to the city, they pretend they don’t know the language and don’t speak it even if they do know it. I wanted to change that.”

When Shikha arrived in Calcutta for the first time, she found a friend in the radio… After school, while the other kids played ghar-ghar, she would pretend to be a newsreader and radio jockey

Sometime during the pandemic, Mandi quit her job of a radio jockey. She seems to think that the channel had strayed from its initial commitment. She says, “It wasn’t doing what actual community radio centres do — work with the locals.” These days, Mandi runs her own podcast on Tumdah, an app to discover, stream and share Santhali music.

But from the sound of it, radio continues to be the love of her life. She cannot stop talking about her radio jockey days. She tells me, “I used to love the fact that I could connect with so many people through this medium… I couldn’t reduce anyone’s pain in life but I could always say two words of hope.”

She is sure that this is not the end of RJ Shikha Mandi. She says, “I want to start my own community radio centre where we will involve more tribal people and I am working towards it.”

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> Culture / by Manasi Shah / April 25th, 2021

Gautam Sengupta and Yasmeen Sengupta talk about the inclusive Bengal where they lived and loved

At a time when politics of hate threatens to tear apart the inclusive social fabric of the state, such stories demand a telling.

The couple at their ancestral home in Park Circus on Apirl 6 / Debraj Mitra

Gautam Sengupta is 69. Yasmeen Sengupta is 65. He is a Hindu. She is a Muslim. Married for 46 years, the two have lived through many ups and downs. Their families have always stood by them. 

Till their health permitted, Yasmeen used to paint alpona during Saraswati Puja at her in-laws’ ancestral home in Park Circus every year and Sengupta broke bread with her during Ramazan. 

There are many like the Senguptas of Park Circus around Bengal. But such stories demand a telling because of the politics of polarisation that threatens to tear apart the inclusive social fabric of Bengal.

Gautam and Yasmeen Sengupta with daughter Rohini during a trip to Madhupur, now in Jharkhand, in 1979 / Sourced by Correspondent

Jesuit culture, Tagore

Yasmeen’s family shifted from Ballygunge Place to Circus Row when she was nine years old. Sengupta’s family home stood a stone’s throw from the Park Circus Seven-Point intersection. The two got introduced through a set of common friends and got married in 1975.

Sengupta, who did his school and college from St. Xavier’s, holds Jesuit principles close to his heart till this day.

Yasmeen did her school from South Point and graduated from Loreto College. Yasmeen’s grandfather, Rafiuddin Ahmed, is the founder of the R. Ahmed Dental College, the oldest such institute in Southeast Asia. 

But her inspiration is her grandmother Ayesha Ahmed, an alumnus of Brahmo Balika Shikshalaya. Later, Ayesha was part of a group of women who started a school for girls from marginalised families in Beleghata, which is now called the A.I.W.C Buniadi Bidyapith Girls School.

She made Rabindranath Tagore a part of the lives of the Ahmed family. 

Yasmeen and Sengupta got married in Brahmo tradition. “There was hardly any ritual. I remember my friends singing Tagore songs,” said Yasmeen.

“When we were growing up, inclusiveness was not just a textbook word. It was a part of our everyday lives. Every home had pictures of Tagore, Gandhi, Vivekananda and Netaji,” she said.
Sengupta remembered growing up in a neighbourhood where the president of the local Durga Puja committee was a Muslim and the treasurer a Christian.

Sengupta, who runs a manpower consultancy firm, has turned a part of his ancestral home into a guesthouse. The couple also own a flat in the Hastings area and keep shuffling between Hastings and Park Circus.

‘Heroic’ acceptance

One of Sengupta’s grand-uncles (father’s uncle), a doctor, was killed during the 1947 riots. “A man disguised as a woman in a burqa entered his chamber as a patient and shot him point blank,” said Sengupta.

But the past never came in the way of the Sengupta family embracing their daughter-in-law. “My family members always considered the incident an act of terror, an aberration in a moment of madness,” he told this newspaper.

“Their acceptance of me has been absolutely heroic. We (her parents and in-laws) speak the same language, eat similar food. It is not like I was wedded into an alien culture. But the way they rose above petty human instincts was heroic,” said Yasmeen.

The couple have a daughter and a son. Their daughter, Rohini, is married to a Muslim man. The two are settled in Sydney. The bride and the groom’s family had known each other for three generations and the couple knew each other from childhood.

“The marriage happened in 2001. It was such a happy occasion,” Sengupta said. His no-fuss demeanour drove a point home. That some of the stereotypes associated with interfaith marriages are based more on myths than reality. That an interfaith marriage can still be a normal and spontaneous affair.

Yasmeen, a social worker, keeps reading newspaper reports and seeing television programmes around “love jihad” — a Right-wing narrative of Muslim men marrying Hindu girls with the alleged intention of converting and radicalising them.

At least two BJP-ruled states have introduced legislation criminalising interfaith marriages if conducted for the ostensible purpose of religious conversion.

“Where is the individual freedom, guaranteed by the Constitution? This is a blatant violation of constitutional values. Not only is this bad in principle, it is also bad in law,” said Yasmeen.

Fear of tomorrow

“I am terrified of the future,” Yasmeen told this reporter bluntly. She is worried because she has heard plenty of stories of Partition from her elders and she dreads a rerun.

“Politics now thrives on polarisation, more so in the run-up to the elections. Bengal and Punjab are two states scarred by Partition. Both places have seen how polarisation brings out the basest instincts in people. I have grown up around people who saw best friends baying for each other’s blood during Partition,” she said.

Sengupta has spotted a change in the social fabric of Bengal. “A section of people now asserts their religious identity more strongly than before. Wearing your religion on your sleeve is the norm,” he said.

The next second, he gave a caveat. “I have never been too religious. Perhaps that’s why I notice these things more than others.”

Sengupta remembers some “flare-ups” in his neighbourhood in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and surrounding author Taslima Nasreen, who was eventually “expelled” from Bengal in 2007.

Sengupta stood up to a mob with sticks and flaming torches intent on setting a series of taxis on fire. “I managed to prevail on them. They were fuming but went back. Most of them were local boys,” he recounted.

Both the husband and wife said the ongoing polls are more than a battle for political power. “We don’t know if it is possible to get back the Bengal where we got married. But we still have a place where all kinds of people live together. We must try to preserve what we have,” Sengupta said.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> West Bengal / by Debraj Mitra, Calcutta / April 19th, 2021

Gandhi – The Calcutta Connection

Yesterday marked 72 years since a man fired by bigotry and hate assassinated the Mahatma. We bring you excerpts from a little known but painstaking work on his trysts with the city.

The Mahatma visits Subhas Chandra Bose’s bedroom at Netaji Bhavan in 1945. File Picture

South Africa calling

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi reached Calcutta by the S.S. Pangola on July 4, 1896, after leaving Durban on May 6. He did not stay in Calcutta… After visiting Rajkot, Bombay and Madras, he returned to Calcutta via Nagpur on October 31. He stayed at the Great Eastern Hotel from October 31 to November 14… Gandhi had no friends in Calcutta. He wanted to meet Sir Surendranath Banerjee to get him interested in South African affairs. He met Banerjee at the Indian Association Hall, and he told Gandhi, “I am afraid people will not take interest in your work. As you know, our difficulties here are by no means few. But you must try…” The editors of Amrita Bazar Patrika and Bangabasi — leading Bengali newspapers — whom Gandhi met did not take interest in the South African problems. But the Calcutta-based English dailies, The Statesman and The Englishman, showed interest and published his interviews.

A Growing Acquaintance (1901-1921)

Gandhi did not want to miss the 17th session of the Indian National Congress held in Calcutta in December 1901. He reached Calcutta on December 24 and stayed at the India Club (6 Bankshall Street) at Dalhousie Square. The session, under the presidency of Dinshaw Edulji Wacha of Bombay, was held at Beadon Square.

Gandhi visited Calcutta in August 1920 to attend the Congress session presided over by Lala Lajpat Rai. His wife Kasturba and son Devadas accompanied him. All of them stayed with Gandhi’s eldest son, Harilal, at 4 Pollock Street.

Gandhiji at a meeting in Calcutta / File Picture

He was in Calcutta four times in 1921… Foreign cloth was burnt at five venues: Harish Park, Mirzapur Park, Halliday Park (or Mohammed Ali Park), Beadon Square and Kidderpore. Gandhi was in Calcutta on September 9 and 10, when he held discussions with the Marwari Association and the Chambers of Commerce about the burning of foreign cloth and picketing of shops selling them.

Subhas Bose

On April 28, 1939, Gandhi had prolonged discussions with Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru. Sarat Chandra Bose called on Gandhi after his prayer time. Gandhi visited Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s house at 19A Ballygunge Circular Road, accompanied by Kasturba and Nehru for discussions with Congress leaders. On April 29, he held discussions with Bose who was the Congress president. On April 30, Bose resigned making room for Dr Rajendra Prasad.

Gandhi visited Subhas Chandra Bose’s house at Elgin Road (on December 17, 1945) and saw the bedroom from where he escaped. Haridas Mitra took Gandhi to different rooms of the house. Sarat Chandra Bose and other members of the family were present. 

1947

Gandhi stopped at Calcutta while returning from Noakhali on March 4, 1947, on his way to Patna. He returned to Calcutta on May 9 and went to Sodepur… Central Calcutta Congress leaders led by Kalipada Mukherjee and Debendra Chandra Dey discussed the effects of Partition of Bengal with him. Sitaram Seksaria, member, AICC, called on Gandhi. On May 11, S.H. Suhrawardy, premier of Bengal, accompanied by Mohammed Ali Bogra (minister of undivided Bengal) and Abul Hashim (general secretary, Bengal Provincial Muslim League), called on Gandhi and discussed the idea of United Sovereign Bengal… After listening to Suhrawardy and his companions, Gandhi said a new Bengal could not be born in utter disregard of the past. When the past was so full of wrongs, how could people believe in the sincerity of the new proposal unless past wrongs were set right? Suhrawardy broke into an eloquent defence of his government… Gandhi was of the opinion that this was not different from the argument of British imperialists.

May 14.

A massive report was presented to Gandhi by a number of journalists containing a detailed description of the riots that were continuing in Calcutta and of the failure of the police and the administration in this connection. Gandhi expressed a desire to visit the affected parts of Calcutta. Necessary arrangements were immediately made and he was driven to all the affected quarters along with the acting chief minister, Mohammed Ali, and also important persons such as Debendranath Mukherjee, who was the secretary of the Bengal Provincial Hindu Mahasabha. The journey was over 50 miles and when Gandhi returned home he expressed the opinion that there was exaggeration in the description of damage in the report. August 9. Gandhi returned to Calcutta from Patna… Riots had once more broken out in Calcutta. This time, apparently, the initiative had come from the Hindus. The latter felt that the power of the League Ministry was now broken and the police could therefore no longer encourage the Muslim goondas. Under the new regime of the Congress, the time had therefore come for the Hindus to strike back. This was perhaps the reason why, on the present occasion, the targets of attack were certain slums in Miabagan or Paikpara that had been known to harbour gangs of Muslim goondas in the previous phase of the riots… Gandhi called on Governor Burrows at 3.30pm at Government House. Burrows requested Gandhi to stay over in Calcutta and help quell the riot-like situation.

Gandhiji with Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy and others at the Beliaghata Camp in 1947 / File Picture

Syed Mohammad Usman, a former mayor of Calcutta, called on Gandhi at Sodepur and requested him to postpone his trip to Noakhali and save Calcutta… It is interesting to note that at a later stage, at one of Gandhi’s prayer meetings, in reply to a question Suhrawardy practically confessed that he was responsible for the great Calcutta Killings of 1946… Gandhi refused requests by the Information Department of the Governor of India and BBC to broadcast a message on August 15… On August 11, Gandhi conducted a tour of the riot-affected areas of Calcutta from 2.30 to 4.15pm accompanied by Dr P.C. Ghosh, chief minister designate, and Mohammad Usman. Suhrawardy, the outgoing Prime Minister of Bengal, met Gandhi at 9pm and stayed till 11pm.

The next day Suhrawardy agreed to Gandhi’s condition that they should stay together and quell the riots in Calcutta. Mahatma Gandhi left Sodepur in the afternoon of August 13 and took up residence in a house owned by a Muslim family in the disturbed area of Beliaghata in northeast Calcutta. Gandhi fasted all day on August 14. On August 15, all day long unending streams of people proceeded to Beliaghata to see Gandhi. Gandhi broke his fast after his afternoon prayers in observance of Independence Day. His face beamed with joy when the West Bengal premier, Dr Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, told him about the unique demonstrations of Hindu-Muslim unity seen in connection with Independence Day celebrations.

Gandhi made a tour of Calcutta at night and witnessed how the city was observing Independence Day and how the communities were fraternising… At a press conference at his Beliaghata residence on August 20, Gandhi met the representatives of Calcutta Press. In his advice to them he said: “Let the past be buried. Do not rake it up. Think of the future. Analyse. Do not exaggerate. The country has often suffered from exaggeration.”

AUTHOR’S INFO:

Parameswaran Thankappan Nair is known as Calcutta’s barefoot historian. He has written A Tercentenary History of Calcutta: A History of Calcutta’s Streets and among his other books are Calcutta in the 19th Century: Company’s Days and Calcutta: Origin of the Name. This piece has been excerpted from his 63rd book, Gandhiji in Calcutta, published by Punthi Pustak in 2019

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> Culture> Books> Big Story / by P.T. Nair / January 31st, 2021

Lalbazar in West Bengal is now art hub, thanks to artist Mrinal Mandal

The villagers, who previously worked as labourers, are now trained in kutum-katum (handicraft made from twigs and roots), kantha stitching, pottery and wall painting.   | Photo Credit:  Special Arrangement

By settling there and teaching its people, he has demonstrated how art is capable of rescuing a neglected human settlement.


Two years ago, Kolkata-based artist Mrinal Mandal was so captivated by the charm of a tiny village — close to where West Bengal borders Jharkhand — that he decided to make the hamlet of some 80 people his second home. In doing so, he has demonstrated how art is capable of rescuing a human settlement from neglect and poverty.

Mrinal Mandal   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

“I have been travelling in search of folk art from the time I graduated from the Government Arts College 20 years ago,” Mr. Mandal, 42, told The Hindu. “In 2018, I chanced upon this village, surrounded by forests, and I immediately took a liking for it. I decided to make it a beautiful village by teaching art to its people.”

Today, the residents of the village — officially called Lalbazar but christened Khwaabgram, or village of dreams, by one of the admirers of the project — earn a decent income by selling paintings and handicraft to tourists, whose increasing presence, in turn, has earned it the attention of the local authorities.

Tourists come to Khwaabgram, about 4 km from Jhargram, not just to buy handicraft but also to take a look at the village itself, where the walls of most houses are now themselves works of art.

“These people are from the Lodha tribe, once outlawed by the British. Traditionally, they are very shy people; if you built a house next to theirs, they would shift elsewhere. It wasn’t easy for me to make friends with them, until I began making drawings related to their life,” said Mr. Mandal, who lives in Jhargram and commutes to Khwaabgram on a daily basis.

Tourists come to Khwaabgram not just to buy handicraft but also to take a look at the village itself, where the walls of most houses are now themselves works of art.   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Until he arrived on the scene, the villagers mainly worked as labourers in nearby farms and some of them were small farmers themselves. Today, they are trained in kutum-katum (handicraft made from twigs and roots), kantha stitching, pottery and wall painting.

“All these years, I survived on whatever little I made from farming,” said Sashti Charan Ahir, 46, who, in spite of a physical handicap, is today successful as a kutum-katum artist. An art form introduced by Abanindranath Tagore, it means making use of found objects.

“Every morning, I go out to the forest to collect twigs and branches, then I roam around there for a while to get ideas — should I make a bird today or some animal? People visiting the nearby deer park now often come to our village to take a look and buy our products — that has indeed made our life better,” Mr. Ahir said.

Residents of the village earn a decent income by selling paintings and handicraft to tourists, whose increasing presence, in turn, has earned it the attention of the local authorities.   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The public attention has led to improved conditions in the village, and what Mr. Ahir wants now is a school to be built there. “My daughter’s school is on the other side of the forest, and I spend a better part of the day taking her there and bringing her back. A school will really help — I believe they are considering the idea,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by Bishwanath Ghosh / Kolkata – November 30th, 2020

Soumitra Chatterjee | The tree’s gone, the shade remains

SOUMITRA CHATTERJEE 1935-2020 | MOVIES

Soumitra Chatterjee. File   | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

The actor, even in his mid-eighties, was not only active but also highly sought-after. Terms like ‘has-been’ or ‘yesteryear’ never applied to him

A piece of information, by itself, is dead wood – like a piece from a jigsaw puzzle – which comes to life only when you collate it with other pieces. Take actor Soumitra Chatterjee’s date of birth, for example. The fact that he was born on January 19, 1935 doesn’t say much about him. But if you place that date against October 1, 2020, when he last reported for a shoot before showing symptoms of COVID-19, you realise he was no ordinary actor but someone who was professionally active even when nearing 86.

Not many lead actors continue to work – or get work – at 86. None actually, if you discount Clint Eastwood, Kirk Douglas, Christopher Plummer and maybe a couple of other names that don’t lend to easy recall. Back home, there was exception in the form of Dev Anand, who continued to work until he died at 88, but by then he was long past his prime and was making those films only to feed his vanity.

But Chatterjee, even in his mid-eighties, was not only active but also highly sought-after. Terms like ‘has-been’ or ‘yesteryear’ never applied to him. Ernest Hemingway once said that no writer ever produced anything worthwhile after winning the Nobel; the same holds true for the Dadasaheb Phalke award in Indian cinema, in the sense that it invariably comes at a time when the awardee’s productive years are spoken of in the past tense. But not for Chatterjee. He got the award in 2012, and ever since then he got only busier by the year. In 2019, he had as many as 15 releases; and in the pandemic-hit 2020, almost as many of his films either released or are lined up for release.

So, how does one define Soumitra Chatterjee?

If you label him as a Satyajit Ray actor – they worked together in 14 films – his knowledgeable fans will instantly point out that he worked with numerous other directors too and that those 14, even though they brought him acclaim, form only a small percentage of the more than 300 films he did during his lifetime. In fact, with the notable exceptions of Ritwik Ghatak (whom Chatterjee claimed to have punched once, during a debate back in the 1960s) and Buddhadeb Dasgupta, he worked with nearly all directors, including Tapan Sinha, Mrinal Sen and Tarun Majumdar.

If you label him as a cinema actor, people will remind you that he did theatre too.

If you label him as an actor, someone or the other is bound to tell you that he was a painter, poet and an activist as well.

If you identify him as Feluda, there will be someone disagreeing: ‘No, he was more popular as Apu.’

If you classify him as a Calcuttan or a Bengali, they will say he was global, decorated twice by the French, with Order of Arts and Letters and with the Legion of Honour.

More an actor than a ‘hero’

But in debate-loving Bengal, one thing remains indisputable: that for several generations of Bengalis, the mention of the word ‘actor’ instantly brought two names to mind, Uttam Kumar and Soumitra Chatterjee. There were the two colossuses. After Kumar, nearly a decade older and far more popular of the two, died at the age of 54 in 1980, Chatterjee became the lone flag-bearer of meaningful Bengali cinema.

Chatterjee was one of those very few Indian actors who, even while playing the lead in commercial movies, was acknowledged more as an actor than a ‘hero’ – a hero being someone one who can jump off a tall building without a scratch and can knock out a dozen bad guys with his bare hands.

While it was only fairly recently that some fresh air swept through Bollywood with the arrival of Irrfan Khan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Rajkummar Rao – mainstream actors who could draw crowds even without fight scenes – Chatterjee was all of them rolled into one, right from the black-and-white era. And considering that he was around for 61 long years, almost every Bengali – from nonagenarians down to teenagers – lovingly preserves in mind his or her own image of Chatterjee: the innocent Apu; the charming Amal of Charulata; the daring Feluda; the resolute swimming coach in Kony; the middle-aged man next door; the genial grandfather. His very presence on the screen was assuring: for filmmakers and audiences alike.

His passing is akin to the falling of an ancient tree. But while the tree is gone, its shade remains. It wouldn’t be entirely wrong to say that the trunk of the tree was essentially made of the 14 films he did for Ray. For, one will always wonder how Chatterjee’s career would have fared without Ray. For that matter, one can also wonder how Ray’s films would have fared without Chatterjee.

That’s something Bengal can now debate.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Movies / by Bishwanath Ghosh / November 15th, 2020

Pandemic shut his restaurant, then he saw opportunity in it

Surojit Rout  

Surojit Rout of Kolkata now delivers food to COVID-19 patients who need simple, healthy meals

The lockdown forced by COVID-19 pushed nearly everybody in the restaurant business — particularly in a food-loving city like Kolkata — into a corner from where they could see only two possibilities: sink or swim.

While many did sink, downing their shutters for good, many others stayed afloat by home-delivering the same food that once attracted customers to their establishments. But a few, like Surojit Rout, chose to reinvent themselves: by delivering food to patients recovering at home.

It was in August 2018 that Mr. Rout, a London-returned former solutions architect, started a restaurant called Ekdalia Rd — named after the neighbourhood, Ekdalia — in south Kolkata’s Ballygunge area. It was just about beginning to gain popularity when the virus struck and it never reopened after the imposition of lockdown.

Once the restrictions were eased, he began getting requests from friends and clients across the world who wanted home-like food to be delivered to their elderly parents and relatives living in Kolkata. That’s when he realised that there was an increasing demand for simple healthy meals and also that the demand was going to last for a long time to come.

So a month ago, he — along with a friend Ipshita Banerjee Bhandary, an ad professional and a home cook — started Dietfixx, with the purpose of delivering diabetic-friendly food to those unwell (including COVID-19 patients) and also to the elderly and working professionals.

“We have been around for only four weeks but the response has been encouraging. Of the total number of daily orders, five to six are for COVID-19 patients. Our clients also include quite a few cancer patients,” said Mr. Rout.

“My idea was to create an ecosystem that benefited everybody. The food is prepared by home cooks based in different areas of the city — it’s a sustainable model for them at a time when they themselves or their spouses might have lost their job or faced a pay cut,” he said.

Mr. Rout’s new business is indicative of two things: that more and more people in Kolkata are using their personal kitchen for supplementing their income; and that it is no longer considered unusual for a COVID-19 patient to get treated at home.

“So far we must have served nearly 100 families with a COVID-19 patient or patients in their midst. These are early days and we are still evolving. But I must say that the entire team, including the home cooks, are working round the clock to ensure seamless delivery of food,” Mr. Rout said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by Bishwanath Ghosh / Kolkata – November 04th, 2020

Four Bengal climbers head to scale Ama Dablam

Kolkata:

For the first time from Bengal, 4 mountaineers will soon start their expedition to one of the most aesthetic and challenging peaks in the Himalayas—Mt. Ama Dablam. The peak rises 6,856 meters in elevation.

Overcoming the challenges posed by the pandemic, the mountaineers—Satyarup Siddhanta , Malay Mukherjee, Kiran Patra and Debasish Biswas, have already reached Nepal. The climbers left the city to reach Siliguri by train on November 1. They had to follow the stringent COVID guidelines of the Nepal government before leaving for the final expedition.

“We will face the daunting task amid the chilling weather conditions. When we will be scaling the mountain, the temperature is expected to hover around minus 40 degree Celsius mark. The steepness of the peak will be another hurdle that we will have to overcome. If everything goes as per plan, the expected summit will end on November 24 or 25,” said Siddhanta.

Interestingly, Prince of Bahrain will simultaneously take up the expedition along with the Bengali mountaineers. They will be assisted by a team of experienced Sherpas.

The team claimed that chances of frost or blizzard during the summit would be minimum. Rudra Prasad Halder, who works with the state Police, was also expected to join the expedition. However, Halder—who had climbed Mt Everest in 2016—had to stay back for official reasons.

source: http://www.millenniumpost.in / Millennium Post / Home> Kolkata / by MPost / November 03rd, 2020

Women make Bengal government doorstep delivery a hit

A state government agency delivering essential items has outsourced its entire operation to the women of Self Help Groups in various districts.

A state government agency has been promosing everything – from locally produced vegetables and select fruits to grocery, fish and meat products – at the doorstep. Freshly-cooked meals, too, are available. / Sourced by the Telegraph

A doorstep delivery of essential items for senior citizens during the lockdown has now turned into a full-fledged delivery system for the entire city and parts of Howrah.

A state government agency has been promising everything — from locally produced vegetables and select fruits to grocery, fish and meat products — at the doorstep.

The West Bengal Comprehensive Area Development Corporation has been delivering such items and more to people in Calcutta within hours of them placing orders on WhatsApp or on the department’s website.

The corporation is an autonomous organisation under the Panchayat and Rural Development Department.

Freshly-cooked meals, too, are available. The entire operation has been outsourced to the women of Self Help Groups in various districts.

The corporation, which has been training members of Self Help Groups in agriculture, fishery and animal resource development, used to sell their produce in New Town before the pandemic struck. They sold at fairs and haats (Ahare Bangla and Saras), too.

The corporation started doorstep delivery for the elderly once the Centre announced the lockdown. A WhatsApp group was formed.

Also, the state government began an exercise to create a database of all senior citizens living on their own in Calcutta, Howrah and Salt Lake.

Orders are placed on the WhatsApp group or on the corporation’s website.

Women SHG members prepare meals at the CADC canteen for doorstep delivery. / Sourced by the Telegraph

The corporation started expanding from vegetables, essential items such as pulses, cereals, and oil, and fish and meat to cooked meals, moringa powder, Mecha sandesh (a GI product from Beliatore in Bankura), crabs, Kadaknath chicken and fresh hilsa.

Before Durga Puja, the corporation intends to introduce chicken dust, mango flake, and dried fruits.

Primarily, Self Help Groups were trained in pisciculture and rearing animal husbandry. “We are into research, output and production,” Soumyajit Das, special secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development, said.

Das personally responds to every WhatsApp order. “The initiative here is to empower women, the entire operation is run by women from Self Help Groups handpicked by us.”

Piu Bag from Birohi Mahila Samannay Samiti in the Haringhata Block has been supervising girls from her Self Help Group in the supply of vegetables to the corporation this month.

“We cultivate bottle gourds, ladies fingers, onions, cauliflowers… we have been supplying to the corporation after the lockdown. We are getting a better price here than elsewhere. My girls are helping out in the corporation canteen, too, and they get a monthly salary,” Bag said.

Salekha Khatun from Hariharpara in Murshidabad is part of Nil Akash Mahila Samannay Samiti, which supplies spices and pulses to the corporation. “We have leased out 50 bighas this time in the hope of getting more orders from the corporation.”’

The department is now trying to grow the produce locally and Self Help Groups are being trained in vertical gardening and maintaining bioflock ponds at Mrittika Bhavan, the corporation headquarters.

“We have noticed we need to produce locally to maintain quality. So, we are training them to grow here in Calcutta where they are supplying,” Das said.

All customers give their feedback on the WhatsApp group and every complaint is attended to.

Indranil Hazra from Belgachhia said: “A friend sent me the link to the WhatsApp group and I have been ordering since April. I am very impressed with the professional service as well as the range and quality of products.”

His neighbour Subhasree Banerjee, a Corona warrior, along with her husband, too, have benefitted from the service.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> West Bengal> Calcutta / by Anasuya Basu / Calcutta – October 11th, 2020

Call of duty: Bengal doc works round-the-clock to reach out to vulnerable people in remote regions

Kajiram Murmu, the block medical officer, belongs to a tribal community and is posted in Bengal’s most backward zone. He leads a team of four doctors and oversees the treatment of 250 patients daily.

Kajiram Murmu at a camp for villagers in Purulia;

It is 8 pm— time for most residents of Purulia’s Bandwan block, located along the West Bengal- Jharkhand border, to go to sleep after the day’s hard work.

But Kajiram Murmu, the block medical officer, isn’t through with his work. Murmu attends to sick children, women and the elderly who can’t make it to the block health centre.

He belongs to a tribal community and is posted in an area known as Bengal’s most backward zone. Murmu leads a team of four doctors and oversees the treatment of around 250 patients who turn up at the block health centre every day.

After that, he sets out to remote villages located in the dense forests of Bengal to reach out to those who cannot afford public transport fare or they simply don’t have any transport. “Malaria, tuberculosis and diarrhoea are the common diseases in this region.

“Additional precautions and long-term medication are required as part of the treatment. Other than meeting new patients, I also follow up on those who visit the health centre,” says Murmu. According to the 2011 census, Bandwan has a total population of over 94,000, of which around 89,000 live in rural pockets. 51.86% are from the scheduled tribes.

The zone has an almost equal male-female ratio. Those who are not involved in cultivation work as agricultural labourers, forming over 60% of the population, depend on forests for their livelihood.

“Malnutrition is a major issue. Malnourished tuberculosis patients show a delayed recovery and higher mortality than well-nourished patients,” says Murmu, who was posted at Bandwan over two years ago.

checking up on woman at a health centre | EXPRESS

Murmu says he has to persuade the tribals to use mosquito nets to avoid malaria. Murmu realized that prescribing medicines at the block health centre would not be enough.

“We conduct overnight camps for two days in remote villages. We teach them how to use bleaching powder during the monsoon season. Besides, we make them aware of how to use water purification tablets to avoid diarrhea.”

Thakurmani Murmu of Duarsini village, the last hamlet located in Bengal along its border with Jharkhand, says she would never forget the night when Murmu turned up at her doorstep a year ago.

“My eight-year-old granddaughter was suffering from fever and was vomiting. She had become too weak. The doctor treated her. He also taught us various dos and don’ts.”

Subhash Tudu’s 12-year old son was suffering from tuberculosis. “We took him to the hospital and doctor examined him. Before discharging him, he advised us about various precautions. The doctor-babu started visiting my house regularly to inquire about my son’s health. My son got a new life because of him,” Tudu said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Pranab Mondal / Express News Service / September 27th, 2020