Category Archives: Records, All

Magic memoirs: A son pens his tribute

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion
P.C. Sorcar (Jr) at the launch of a memoir of his father on Friday. (Anup Bhattacharya)

Calcutta:

On April 9, 1956, a live telecast of a magic show in London seemed to have gone awfully wrong. The scheduled 15-minute slot on BBC was almost over but the assistant cut in half by the turbaned Indian magician was not coming back to life.

As the channel switched to the news bulletin, viewers jammed the studio lines with calls, convinced that the woman had been murdered. Such was the furore that the event made the next day’s headlines, with interviews of the assistant, alive and well.

“It had all been part of a grand plan. He had deliberately instructed the lady assistant to lie unresponsive… at the critical moment… This man was Protul Chandra Sorcar. He was also my father,” the writer of a book titled PC Sorcar: The Maharaja of Magic describes the incident.

A memoir of the illustrious father Protul Chandra Sorcar penned by his torch-bearer and son Prodip Chandra Sorcar or P.C. Sorcar (Jr) was launched on Friday at Starmark. It is replete with anecdotes that demonstrate how the senior Sorcar single-handedly revived a dying Indian art and went on to be hailed by the International Brotherhood of Magicians in 1948 as “The World’s Greatest Magician”.

The book is also a storehouse of photographs, publicity material, newspaper clippings and cartoons on the phenomenon that was P.C. Sorcar. His reception in the 35 nations where he performed is nothing short of spectacular. If The Sunday Times carried a photo of him reading the newspaper blindfolded, one of Japan’s top newspapers The Yomiuri Shimbun ran the headline on an article on him “Invaluable Living Asset From India Brings Black Art” while The Australian Women’s Weekly did a full page feature on him when he was touring the continent in 1958.

“The book was five years in the making,” said Bikash D. Niyogi, the managing director of the publisher Niyogi Books.

At the launch of the book on Friday, Sorcar (Jr) revealed that his grandfather was bitterly against his son taking up magic as a profession. “‘Do not do public shows. Society is not ready. You will be taken as a dabbler in hocus pocus,’ he kept telling his son. He wanted him to become an engineer instead,” said Sorcar (Jr).

In a way, he was right. “Even after my father’s body was flown in from Japan where he suddenly passed away in January 1971, people gathered outside our house at night expecting him to return, much like he would at the end of his disappearing tricks, appearing from a distant corner with the shout ‘I am here’. People were so gullible that they could not distinguish between his stage persona and the person he was in real life.”

Sorcar, as a child, had an opposite problem. He took the sombre man keeping a strict eye over his son and the smiling magician on stage as different people. The book is a testimony as to how the two avatars of PC Sorcar come together in the eyes of a fellow magician who is also his son.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Home> Calcutta / by Sudeshna Banerjee / May 12th, 2018

Second life for folk museum

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All
A view of the kantha gallery at Gurusaday Museum

Calcutta:

Free entry from 10am to 7pm, selfies with exhibits, mementoes inspired by artefacts and more kept Gurusaday Museum abuzz with activity on Thursday, the private collector’s 136th birth anniversary.

The museum in Joka, a treasure trove of kanthawork, patachitra, dokra and other artefacts, fell on hard times after the central government stopped funding it in December last year.

A sustained social media campaign by two research scholars, an archaeologist and an anthropologist has given the museum a fresh lease of life. The campaign to Save Bengal’s Folk History is aimed at reviving the cash-strapped museum and attracting more visitors.

The efforts bore fruit as hundreds of visitors, including schoolchildren, dropped in at the museum on Thursday.

Banners with the slogan Love the Museum welcomed all visitors. Food stalls, cultural programmes and merchandise on sale kept the visitors happy. They were also invited to take selfies with any exhibit of their choice.

“We are just trying to jazz up the birth anniversary celebrations and make the museum more attractive. People should be aware of the rich treasure it houses,” said Malavika Banerjee, the director of Kolkata Literary Meet and Byloom and one of the players in the museum’s revival.

Banerjee first visited the museum 15 years ago and was taken aback by all the folk art lying in oblivion. Some of the artefacts at the museum date back to the 10th century.

Research scholars Shrutakriti Dutta and Sujaan Mukherjee, archaeologist Tathagata Neogi and anthropologist Chelsea McGill, along with Banerjee, ran an online campaign and uploaded a campaign video on YouTube to spread the word.

“We want to start a crowdfunding effort to save the museum and help it sustain itself. We want to work in tandem with the staff and authorities here,” Dutta said.

The museum’s 13-member staff have not received their salaries for over seven months, said the museum’s executive secretary and curator, Bijan Mondal. “Today we have seen many firsts, including the selfie fest. A celebration of this scale till 7pm would have been unthinkable before,” he said.

The celebrations culminated in a discussion on The Life of Our Heritage that had panellists – Jayanta Sengupta, the secretary-curator of Victoria Memorial Hall; Bappaditya Biswas, the creative partner of Byloom; and Snehangshu Sekhar Das, designer at the Regional Design and Technical Development Centre, office of the development commissioner (handicrafts), ministry of textiles – offering suggestions on how to make the museum attractive.

Sengupta spoke about how a museum must be more than just a silent custodian of the past. “It has to reach out to people through smart storytelling,” he said. His advice: Organise workshops, reach out through the social media, engage the audience through proactive and interactive smart thinking, improve display and hook kids with the help of audio-visual clips.

The Victoria Memorial curator offered to hold an exhibition of items from Gurusaday Museum on the Victoria grounds. “We can help restore some collectibles,” he said.

Devsaday Dutt, grandson of Gurusaday Dutt, welcomed the idea. “The museum should be of a seat of knowledge. There are 275 paintings of Abanindranath Tagore and several Jamini Roys here. The storytelling in kantha artworks here will entice anybody,” he said.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Home> Calcutta / by Chandreyee Ghose / May 11th, 2018

Kolkata youth now a London councillor

Amazing Feats, Leaders, NRI's / PIO's, Records, All, World Opinion
Rohit K Dasgupta (L)

Kolkata :

Rohit K Dasgupta, 30, has become the first Bengali from India to be elected as councillor in the London Borough of Newham. An alumnus of St James’ School and Jadavpur University, Dasgupta had joined UK politics in 2009, when he shifted to London to pursue his masters in English.

Last year, Dasgupta had unsuccessfully contested as the Labour Party’s parliamentary candidate for East Hampshire against the Theresa May government. This year, he won with 70% votes.

His parents — Mukut and Joyasree — are ecstatic. “My mother said my hard work paid off. My parents were up all night waiting for the results. They will have a celebration dinner,” Dasgupta said. After results, Dasgupta partied with all the Labour activists who contributed to his win.

Though he comes from a Left political tradition, none of Dasgupta’s parents have been involved in active politics. “I joined the Labour Party as I thought Gordon Brown was a fantastic leader and deserved to remain UK’s PM,” he explained. As for contemporary Indian politics, Dasgupta is against the “kind of Hindutva nationalism being espoused by the BJP”. “I was born in a secular country and to see that secularism being eroded makes me angry. I’m glad Bengal is one of the few states that has remained immune to Hindutva politics,” he said.

However, the recent Metro incident at Dum Dum — where his parents live — has left him ashamed. “Kolkata has been a bastion of liberal values compared to many other Indian cities. Moral policing is unacceptable. Showing affection should not be something we should be ashamed of or be censured for,” he said.

He will now he busy balancing his academic job at the Loughborough University and responsibilities as a councillor. Both jobs, he said, complement each other. As an elected representative, his priority is to expand “the equalities agenda of the council, repair and maintain all council homes and increase crime prevention”. Housing, he pointed out, is a big issue in Newham. “I’d like to see our council build more affordable homes for everyone,” he said.

Looking forward to strengthening the connection between Kolkata and London, he said, “Newham also has a sizeable number of Indian and Bangladeshi communities. There is opportunity for all kinds of cultural exchange with Kolkata and also learning good practices from each other.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City News> Kolkata News / by Priyanka Dasgupta / TNN / May 06th, 2018

Landmark nuggets in 75th year

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, World Opinion

Desi steel for Howrah Bridge

• When Howrah bridge was built in the late 1930s, nearly 90 per cent of its steel was made in India.

• When Vidyasagar Setu was built in the 1980s, all the steel was imported.

• The 705m-long Howrah bridge was built in 41 months. The 823m-long Vidyasagar Setu took 14 years to be built.

Calcutta:

These and more such nuggets of information about the two bridges across the Hooghly were shared at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday during a lecture on the completion of the Howrah bridge’s 75 years.

Amitabha Ghosal, an engineer who was part of the team that built Vidyasagar Setu, spoke about the history of the Howrah bridge and its engineering.

Ghosal began by saying why the Howrah bridge was built. Traffic to and from Howrah station had been slowly but gradually on the rise. A pontoon bridge that stood over the Hooghly and connected Calcutta and Howrah had to be lifted whenever a large ship came under it.

“River traffic was then more important than road traffic, which was however increasing. So a need was felt to build a bridge,” said Ghosal, who studied the design, construction and tendering of the Howrah bridge while working on Vidyasagar Setu.

There had been talk about building a bridge since 1900 but the actual planning didn’t begin till 1921. World War I was one of the reasons for the delay.

Amitabha Ghosal at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
(Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)

The pontoon bridge was commissioned in 1874 for 25 years, but remained in use till 1943, when the Howrah bridge was commissioned. Construction began in November 1938 and carried on till March 1942.

Four companies from England, Scotland, Germany and India had placed bids in a global tender floated for the construction of the Howrah bridge. The German company was rejected because World War II was brewing.

Cleveland Bridge of England won the bid but British-owned Indian company opposed it. “It was a tiff between the British in India and the British in England. The British in India managed to convince the authorities that the entire work cannot be given to an England-based company,” said Ghosal.

A compromise was worked out. The Indian company – BBJ Construction Company Limited, a consortium of Braithwaite, Burn and Jessop – was asked to make the steel. Most of the steel – 23,500 tonnes out of 26,500 tonnes – was manufactured and supplied by Tata Iron and Steel Company (Tisco), now Tata Steel.

The foundation of the bridge was built by the Indian-owned Hindustan Construction Company, which is now building the Parama flyover in Calcutta.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Home> Calcutta / by Subhajoy Roy / May 03rd, 2018

‘Logged out’ of school at 10, boy turns IITian at 19

Education, Records, All
Nirmaan J. Sarkar with sister Sohana at their father’s office in New Town. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

New Town:

A 19-year-old Calcutta boy who had been pulled out of school by his father when in Class V has made it to IIT Kharagpur without a conventional education in between.

Nirmaan J. Sarkar, a second-year student of agriculture and food engineering, believes that being homeschooled since the age of 10 suited his later goal of cracking IIT-JEE to study in his father’s alma mater. He revelled in the freedom of learning at home and focusing on what he liked even as his sister Sohana pined for the structure and company that school provided.

The siblings’ father, Sourabh J. Sarkar, had had a normal schooling and taken the usual long, hard route to IIT. But he was disillusioned with the education his children were getting and wanted to free them from what Nirmaan now calls “the cage”. The decision to “log out of the system” came after much disagreement at home.

Sohana, for one, did not take kindly to being told she would not go to school again. For some time, she was even ashamed of it.

Nirmaan showed no such withdrawal symptoms. “After I quit school, I started learning programming in my father’s office from his technology team…I also learnt things from the Internet,” he recounted.

It wasn’t always homeschooling and no play. Nirmaan would visit the Sports Authority of India complex every day for basketball, was part of the orchestra at the Calcutta School of Music and also learnt to play the tabla.

Realising his son’s proficiency in mathematics, Sourabh hired a tutor in the subject who would come home to teach Nirmaan for 10 hours on some days. At the age of 15, Nirmaan was sent to a coaching institute started by three IITians.

“By then, I wasn’t interested in going to any other college. I was fascinated by IIT Kharagpur, having heard from my father and tutors about the campus culture there. I wanted to experience that,” he said.

While Nirmaan’s progress through homeschooling and private coaching was an affirmation that the method was working, his parents grappled with the thought that he and his sister still needed a group environment.

According to Sourabh, who lives in New Town, the challenge was to provide his children with peers representing a certain diversity “because life is not made up of a group of people of your age only”.

Sourabh J. Sarkar

He and his wife Reena conducted a talent hunt to identify children from remote villages with different talents so that they could come and stay with them. The group was required to follow a routine, which included making breakfast and wearing uniform.

“We selected 30 underprivileged children with different talents like theatre, music, yoga and dance. We told their parents that their children could stay with us and we would help them get better at what they do,” Reena said.

Sohana, who will appear for the Class X examination through the National Institute of Open Schooling next year, appeared to miss school less after that. She started learning dance and is now also pursuing art.

After Nirmaan went to IIT Kharagpur, the thought of putting Sohana in a formal school did cross Reena’s mind but she ultimately decided against it. “Schooling would take away a lot of the things my daughter is doing,” she said.

Like her brother, Sohana has a clear goal. She wants to study fashion, albeit without going to college. “I don’t need to go to college to do what I want to do. I can do internships…. They teach circles and squares and I don’t want to do that. Now, I don’t lie to anyone that I go to school,” she said.

Sourabh refuses to label the education his children has had as homeschooling. “I think the term homeschooling is misleading for this set of children. The decision was to log out of the system. And when we decided that, I had no clue what the alternate system would be,” he said.

For Nirmaan, graduating from IIT won’t be the end of the road in terms of learning. “I don’t think just getting into IIT labels me as a success story. A real measure of the success will be what I learnt in the seven years I was out of school and studying at home. IIT isn’t the one big success in my life,” he said.

Father Sourabh gives himself “only 20 out of 100” for doing what he has for his children. “Till this day, I don’t think we have been successful in giving them the ideal option that I would have wanted,” he said.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Home> Calcutta / by Jhinuk Mazumdar / May 01st, 2018

1.5-million-year-old tools found in Museum vault

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion
Indian Museum is pushing back the history it has been narrating thus far. It has ‘excavated’ Paleolithic stone age tools, some of which are up to 1.5 million year old, from its own sub-terranian store and will put them on display at a new pre-historic gallery that will open next month

Kolkata :

Indian Museum is pushing back the history it has been narrating thus far. It has ‘excavated’ Paleolithic stone age tools, some of which are up to 1.5-million year old, from its own sub-terranian store and will put them on display at a new pre-historic gallery that will open next month.

The collection, handed over to the museum in the 19th century by geologist-cum-archeologist Robert Bruce Foote, had been gathering dust in the underground store till they was re-discovered recently. Foote is considered the father of Indian pre-history and was the director general of Geological Survey of India.

Museum officials stumbled upon the collection of 100-plus tools that were discovered by Foote in south India. The oldest among them were unearthed in Atiram Pakkam, an area in Pallavaram, Chennai. These finds were named Atiram Pakkam tools.

“The Bruce Foote Collection is indeed the oldest collection of human tools anywhere in India. This treasure trove has never been viewed since it was brought to the museum. The inventory has swelled for 200 years without proper cataloguing. We are now sorting and classifying the collections scientifically,” said Indian Museum director Rajesh Purohit.

About 40 stone tools comprising of hand axes, scrappers, cleavers and arrow heads, mostly made of quartzite, will be brought out from that collection and displayed in the new gallery that will replace the Harappa gallery which had been till now the starting point of history at Indian Museum. The Harappa gallery has remained shut to public for nearly 15 years. Handpicked items from the Indus Valley Civilisation will also be exhibited at the new gallery.

The focus though will no longer be on Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, because these are both in Pakistan today and a large number of excavations on the Indian side around a circumference of 1.22 lakh sq km have revealed footprints of contemporary civilisations. “We can build our own history around these sites that have been unearthed in Haryana, Gujarat and Rajasthan. While in the earlier case, the civilisation developed along the Indus, on the Indian side the civilisations sprung up along Ravi, Chenab, Beas, Sutlej, Jhelum, Saraswati, Hakra and Ghaggar,” Purohit explained.

While Lothal (Gujarat) and Kalibangan (Rajasthan) excavations are well-known, other explorations in Rakhigarhi, Krunal, Birhana, Banawali and Firmana that have happened later and have led to discovery of thousands of archaeological remains like pottery, figurines and seals will now be part of the new gallery.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Kolkata News / by Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey / TNN / April 15th, 2018

Gate-way to a new Calcutta

About Kolkata / West Bengal, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion

Kolkata Gate, a steel-and-glass structure with giant arches at the Rabindra Tirtha crossing of New Town, is almost ready. The two steel arches that criss-cross each other 55m above the ground can be spotted from several kilometres away.

A circular viewing gallery made of steel and toughened glass has been set up at 25m above the ground level. The 10ft-wide and 60m-long gallery has been constructed by interlinking four prefabricated structures that resemble aerobridges. These structures in turn are welded and attached to the steel arches at designated points. The facade is made of toughened glass with laminated silicone sheets that can withstand gale-force winds, hailstorms and extreme heat.

A bird’s-eye view of New Town clicked from a landing a few feet below the viewing gallery of the Kolkata Gate. The view from the gallery will be unhindered as nothing taller than the gate will come up in the area, New Town being a planned city and with pre-determined floor levels for every plot.

Programmable LED lights and flashers have been placed along the length of the steel arches to give it a snazzy look at night. The viewing gallery will have a snacks counter during the day and a fine-dining restaurant after 7pm. At night, only diners will be allowed inside the gallery that will offer a panoramic view of the township. The walls of the gallery have been painted with murals with an entire wall dedicated to the schemes and achievements of the state government.

“The restaurant will offer a one-of-a-kind experience. It will be unlike any other in the city and will offer cuisines from across the world,” said Debashis Sen, the chairman of Hidco. It is likely to open doors in June, officials said.

Two lifts with a glass facade made of toughened glass similar to that used in the viewing gallery will take visitors up to the gallery. The lifts are equipped with telephones at every level so that the operators can get in touch with visitors in case of an emergency. Hidco is mulling a Rs 30 fee per person for a visit to the gallery. Diners at the restaurant won’t need to pay the fee.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Home> Calcutta / by Snehal Sengupta / Photos by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya / April 30th, 2018

Kolkata youngsters script success story in UPSC exams

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

Kolkata :

Several aspirants from Kolkata cracked the civil services final exam, the results of which were declared on Friday. Among the successful candidates were Azar Zia, who ranked 97th, Shekhar Kumar Chaudhary, who bagged the 216th position and Purnava Ganguly 498th.

Son of a retired state civil servant, Tiljala resident Zia was confident of clearing the exam in his third attempt. “The first time I took the exam in 2015, I was unprepared, and during the next attempt in 2016, I was down with chikungunya. This time I prepared well,” said the St James’ School alumnus. Finishing plus-two in 2005, Zia scored over 90% in both ICSE and ISC. “I did my BTech in electronics and communication engineering from a private engineering college in Kolkata. Though I got placed, I didn’t take up a job immediately. I studied for CAT in 2009. I pursued MBA from FMS Delhi and in 2012, landed a job in a corporate biggie. But I quit in 2015 and from 2016, started preparing for UPSC,” he said.

What made him shift to civil service? “After three years in the corporate sector, I realized money was not my motivation. I wanted to contribute to society,” Zia said. He studied at a residential campus in Delhi for UPSC. “I was mostly dependent on online material.” The two main areas Zia wants to focus on are alleviation of poverty and uplift of kids through education.

Shekhar Kumar Chaudhary cracked UPSC even last year and is now undergoing IPS training at Hyderabad. He did his MTech from IIT-Delhi in communication engineering, before studying physics at Presidency College and BTech at Rajabazar Science College. “Earlier, I worked as a state civil service cadre in the commercial tax department.

After I cracked UPSC last year, I joined IPS. But since my rank is better now, I will probably move to a different service,” said the Teghoria resident. “I will work to help generate more employment.”

For Purnava Ganguly, success came at the fifth attempt. “I went to Patha Bhavan, after which I graduated in civil engineering from JU in 2010. I did my Masters in international business from Delhi School of Economics. I currently work at a central government undertaking at Jharsuguda, Odisha.” Ganguly expects to get through IRS or Indian Audit and Account service. “I am also interested in Indian Trade Service,” he said, adding his parents living in Garia were happy with his performance.

“My advise to youngsters is get into civil services. The more aspirants we have, the better for Bengal,” said Jyotirmoy Pal Chaudhuri, who runs a civil service coaching school here.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Kolkata News> Schools & Colleges / by Somdatta Basu / TNN / April 29th, 2018

Hidden collections

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion

Did you know that the City of Joy is also a city of museums? We’re not talking about the most obvious ones, but several that are tucked in forgotten corners, waiting for the elusive visitor to drop in. In fact, many of these museums provide a wealth of material for those who are interested, but lose out because few people know they exist. Utsav Basu does the rounds of a few of Kolkata’s lesser-known museums

Sabarna Sangrahashala

Located in Barisha, Sabarna Sangrahashala is a museum on the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family and the city of Kolkata. Developed by the Sabarna Roy Choudhury Paribar Parishad in 2005, the museum mainly caters to young students and researchers who wish to learn more about the history of the City of Joy. The museum – or rather a collection by the family trust – possesses rare documents and articles, including ‘kabilatipatras’ dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. Among them is an important artefact which bears the signature of Kavi Rama Prasad Sen dated 1794. The highlight of the museum is the historic judgment of the Calcutta High Court in the Kolkata birthday case and the expert committee report on the matter, which states that Job Charnock was not the founder of Calcutta (Kolkata), nor is August 24 the city’s birthday.

Other articles include a huge earthen rice pot dating to 1840 with can carry 240kg of grain, a metal hookah from 1878, a metal candelabra from 1795, grinding wheels from 1845 and a wooden table used by Antony Firingee’s grandfather, John Firingee, from 1680.

Timings 10am-12pm and 5pm-7pm every day except Thursday
Entry free

Gurusaday Museum

Tucked away in a corner of Joka, Gurusaday Museum, run by Bengal Bratachari Society, is a house of folk art forms conceptualised by civil servant, folklorist, and writer Gurusaday Dutt. A deep interest in Bengal’s folk art led Dutt to collect around 2,325 specimens of various art forms of Bengal. These artefacts were later housed in a museum, which was thrown open to the public in 1963 by Humayun Kabir, the then Union minister of education. The museum now reels under financial crunch, after the Centre, in a notification, asked it to run on its own. The museum authorities claim this is a breach of agreement between the President of India and the Bengal Bratachari Society of May 23, 1984. Before the recent turn of events, it was funded by the Ministry of Textiles.
From specimens of Bengal’s ‘kanthas’ to ‘patachitras’, the museum is a paradise of eclectic artefacts that range from clay dolls to sandesh chhach (sweet moulds) and Dutt’s personal belongings. A few interesting things include ornaments made of paddy, archaeological specimens from the 1st and 2nd centuries BC, dokra crafts and manuscripts of undivided Bengal.

Timings 11am to 5pm (Tuesday-Sunday) Entry 10; IRs 2 (students); 50 (foreigners)

Raja Rammohun Roy Memorial Museum

Located on Raja Rammohun Roy Sarani near the Amherst Street crossing, the nearly 200-year-old house owned by Raja Rammohun’s family houses a history that talks about his life and work. Through various documentations, the museum talks about his ideological battles with his father, compatriots and with a few British officials.

Though the museum does not have any of the real documents or objects used by Roy, a beautiful recreation of the period talks about his life. There are, however, a few original documents such as the original cover of the ‘Tuhfatu’l-Muwahhidin’ (A Gift to Deists), which was a frontal attack launched by Roy against idolatry and superstition plaguing Hinduism in the 18th and 19th centuries, the cover page of the first sermon of the Brahmo Samaj, and photocopies of a few letters written by Roy to various luminaries of the day.

Started in 2000 as a permanent exhibition, the museum slowly took shape through donations from many quarters and the tireless efforts of teachers and professors of Raja Rammohun Roy College. The museum, like any other lesser-known museums of the city, reels under a financial crunch and is thus not being able to expand and house many other artefacts related to the reformer.

Timings: 11am to 4.30pm, all days except Mondays Entry 10;50 for photography

State Archaeological Museum

Located near the Behala tram depot, the State Archaeological Museum, under the state government, is divided into six departments – Site and Sights, Early Historic Period, Sculptures of Bengal, Paintings of Bengal, Metal Sculptures gallery and the Nandadirghi Vihara: Jagjivanpur.

Inaugurated in 1980 by then chief minister Jyoti Basu, the museum has a collection of rare tools of the Early, Middle and Late Stone Ages from Susunia (Bankura) and other sites, proto-historic antiquities from Pandu Rajar Dhibi (Burdwan), sculptures, stone and stucco from the Gupta, Maurya, Shunga, Kushana, Pala and Medieval times.

The painting section of the museum boasts Mughal miniatures, paintings on wooden planks, Kalighat patachitras and watercolours. Primarily painted by court painters of different rulers, the section also has paintings that tell stories.

The main attraction of the museum, however, is the Nandadirghi Vihara: Jagjivanpur section, which documents the 1992 excavation activities at the site in Malda. The section doesn’t have all the real artefacts found in the excavation, but has flawless replicas, apart from a few real exhibits. It also has a model of the excavation site in Malda.

Timings 11am-4.30pm (Wednesday to Sunday) Entry Rs 5

Cultural Research Institute

Barely a two-minute walk from the Kankurgachi crossing, beside the Bureau of Indian Standards building is the Ambedkar Bhawan Cultural Research Institute, which houses a museum divided into four sections. Run by the state government, the museum was earlier at the New Secretariat building. In 1980, it was shifted to Ambedkar Bhawan.
The cultural institute, through the four sections – Ethnographic, Puppet, Kantha and Boat – has an interesting collection that talks about Bengal and its varied cultural background.

The ethnographic section displays baskets of several tribes, tribal musical instruments, Birbhum paintings, masks and other artefacts that talk about Bengal’s ethnic milieu at length. The puppet section breaks the popular belief that Rajasthan is the only land from where puppetry originated. This section has a collection of puppets that were used to tell stories of Dakshin Rai and Bon Bibi and that of other kings who ruled Bengal and their valour. The Kantha section is also quite interesting. This section displays some of the finest examples of kantha.

The main attraction is the boat museum, which boasts a collection of around 40 models of several boats of Bengal, used for various purposes. This section is a virtual boat-ride through a wave of stories. Through detailed descriptions about the type of boats used for specific reasons, the narratives also throw light on the areas of Bengal where the boats were used or made.

Timings 10am-5.30pm (Monday to Friday)

Entry Free

Acharya Bhawan

The museum on Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose at his house built in 1902, beside the Bose Institute on APC Road, houses furniture used by Bose and his wife, the original instruments used by him for his various scientific experiments and his personal belongings. A request to the trustees can also take you to the attic room where Bose used to carry out his experiments.

Restored by INTACH and looked after by the Sir J C Bose Trust, Acharya Bhawan has not been changed a bit from its original glory. The trust has arduously taken the task of keeping intact the feel of the house as it was more than 100 years ago.

A section of the museum has the original chairs and the table which Bose exclusively used while interacting with his friend, Rabindranath Tagore. The museum also has the dark room and the observatory used by Bose for his experiments.

Timings 2pm-4pm (Wednesday and Friday) Entry | Free

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City News> Kolkata News / Utsav Basu / TNN / April 28th, 2018

Fighting fire, girl invades male bastion

Amazing Feats, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All
Tanya Sanyal

Kolkata :

Years before she was selected to train as the first woman firefighter at the Airports Authority of India (AAI), a chemistry teacher had given Tanya Sanyal the moniker birangana meaning ‘brave woman’. Tanya’s elder sister Tanima had always known her to be fearless.

“One evening at the chemistry class, the girls suddenly screamed and scrambled up on to the chairs. I realised it was a cockroach that had caused the panic. I caught it and threw it out of the window. The teacher was shocked and named me Birangana,” recounted the Dum Dum girl who suddenly finds herself in the limelight in an allmale profession.

Good at classical dance and painting, Tanya wasn’t aware of where she was headed till she bumped upon the AAI advertisement that changed the course of her life.

“I had a desire to do something different, but didn’t know what till this opportunity came by. The exam went off well. On Panchami, a letter arrived stating that I had qualified and had to report to Bhubaneswar for physical fitness and medical tests. Thrilled, I forgot about Durga Puja and began to train for the fitness exam,” she narrated.

She passed the test, that included a 100-metre sprint within 20 seconds, lifting 40kg and climbing up a rope.

Currently undergoing training in Delhi, Tanya is enjoying the course. “Since I am the first woman, everyone is very supportive and encouraging. I consider myself extremely lucky,” said Tanya.

She is aware of the challenges that the job entails. Tanya says the biggest thrill in the job is the lightning speed with which the team has to head into a crisis. “At an airport, there is the criticality of time. The Rosenberg tenders have to move out within 90 seconds. If a plane catches fire, it must be doused within 2 minutes and 18 seconds. For that is as much one can get before the fuel tank catches fire and explodes,” she explained excitedly.

She can’t wait till June 9 when she gradutes and is given the first posting at an airport.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Kolkata News> Civic Issues / by Subhro Niyogi / TNN / April 26th, 2018