Mookerjee was the founder president of Bharatiya Jana Sangh which later became BJP.
Kolkata :
The Union Cabinet has approved the decision of renaming Kolkata port as Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Kolkata visit on the occasion of the 150-year celebration of Kolkata Port Trust in last January. Mookerjee was the founder president of Bharatiya Jana Sangh which later became BJP.
While announcing the new name of Kolkata port in the programme in Kolkata on January 12, Modi had said, “It is a significant day for Bengal and those connected with the Kolkata Port Trust. It is a historic port that saw India’s freedom and has been a witness to India’s progress. It will be called Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port.”
Mookerjee was independent India’s first minister of Industry and Supply and known to be a harsh critic of the Congress party. Mookerjee, who led the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha from 1943 to 1946 as its president, opposed Article 370 and expressed his displeasure at special status for Jammu and Kashmir. Mookerjee was arrested by Jammu and Kashmir police and died in custody in 1953.
Shortly after Modi announced the renaming of Kolkata port, trade unions at the port protested saying the move will hurt the history of the organisation. A mass signature campaign from the employees of the riverine port against the Centre’s decision had been launched by the National Union of Waterfront Workmen(I), backed by West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnatka / by Express News Service / June 03rd, 2020
Academics specialising in Indo-Bangladesh relations consider the close ties between the border towns quite natural given their shared ethnic identity and Durga Puja’s importance in the Bengali community. SHREYA DUTTA
Taki in West Bengal is a town of green paddies and greener ponds on the banks of the Ichamati river separating India and Bangladesh. Like the rest of the state, it sees enthusiastic Durga Puja celebrations every year. The streets are lit up in canopies of fairy lights, Bengali songs and Bollywood hits blare from loudspeakers, and pandals, or marquees, compete for who carries the tallest, glossiest pratimas—idols—of the goddess Durga.
But what distinguishes Taki from other border towns is a particular tradition on the final day of the Puja. As its residents gear up for the immersion of idols, so do its counterparts in Satkhira, a district across the border in Bangladesh. The inhabitants of both towns place the pratimas in their respective boats and sail up to border security boats floating in middle of the river, along the international boundary. With a dozen metres between them, the two groups of neighbours wave at each other, exchange greetings and—with deafening shouts of “Aschche bochor abar hobe!”–Until next year!–immerse the idols together. For a day, citizens of the two countries, divided by geopolitics, come together to celebrate a shared heritage.
The practice of joint celebrations goes back several decades, Sridip Roy Choudhary, a local Communist Party of India (Marxist) worker, told me over tea and rasgullas when we met in late September 2017. Until the early 2000s, residents of both countries would cross the riverine boundary and dock in the neighbouring country to shop and socialise on the eve of visarjan—the day of immersion. “There would be a little mela on both sides,” Choudhary said. “We’d buy coconuts and sugarcane from there, they’d buy oil, soap and Boroline (antiseptic cream) from here.” Some people would even find a wedding match for their sons or daughters. His friend Subhas Pal, a 48-year-old LIC agent, recalled it as a time of fluid movement across the border. “I made a lot of friends in these visits across the border. Hindus or Muslims, they always treated me with the best of hospitality,” he said. “We’d fish in the ponds and have a feast after.” While those from Bangladesh made use of the medical facilities available in India, Indian visitors were keen on the cheap, “king-size” cigarettes of Bangladesh. And Pal added, these would not be bought, only bartered.
At 6 pm, the border guards would announce the end of the meeting-time. The residents would get into their respective boats and trawlers and return to their countries across the river. There were no passport-checks or entry pass for visitors. At its heart lay an implicit trust, according to Taki residents. The practice of an open-border tradition seems extraordinary now, with security concerns about cross-border terrorism, illegal immigration and cattle trade dominating the mainstream discourse. But academics specialising in Indo-Bangladesh relations consider the close ties between the border towns quite natural given their shared ethnic identity, the mutual practice of soft diplomacy and Durga Puja’s importance in the Bengali community.
“The Puja festivities have always been more social than religious affairs,” Somdatta Chakraborty, a research associate at Calcutta Research Group, told me over the phone. “Not only do Muslims participate in large numbers in the celebrations, most pandal-makers belong to the community.” Many villages along the border lie within shouting distance of each other, sometimes separated by a narrow mud path or shallow streams. Given their shared linguistic identity, it was not easy for many residents living in the border-towns to come to terms with the creation of East Pakistan in 1947 and, later, Bangladesh in 1971. Many had friends and relatives across the border—at times, in their backyards—and restrictions on free movement were often too much to bear.
According to Chakraborty, the Ray Chaudharys, an influential zamindar family, first began communal Durga Puja celebrations in Taki in the 1970s. As it grew in scale, visitors came from across the border for visarjan. “After the economic liberalisation of 1991 in India, people started coming in from Bangladesh for work,” she said. “Then in 1992, the Babri masjid demolition happened. In Kolkata, it prompted communal disturbances for the first time after 1947. This began to dilute the homogeneous Bengali identity.”
Beginning in 1989, the Indian side decided to fence its 4,098-kilometre border with Bangladesh. Thirty years later, the work remains half-finished. A 10-foot fence with concertina wires, and two-foot rock stumps for border-pillars, are visible along the border. The Border Security Forces, or BSF, did not fence the perimeter of the Ichamati river, since local livelihoods depended on it, but ramped up security and surveillance. They also erected watchtowers along the riverfront and floating outposts in the river. By the early 2000s, a day-long free pass across the border on visarjan had all but stopped.
In May 2011, the All India Trinamool Congress, led by the now-chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, swept the state assembly elections. The party, known for promoting better relations with Bangladesh, reportedly organised a Milan Mela—a festival to celebrate the immersion—in Taki, and it allowed for the relaxation of border norms on the day of visarjan. According to eyewitnesses and media reports, thousands allegedly trooped into India under the garb of festivities and boarded buses and trains to bigger cities in search of employment. There was a near-complete shutdown of immersion festivities for the next three years.
The BSF South Bengal Frontier, in charge of the security at the Taki border, refused to either confirm or deny that there had been any security lapses in 2011. Instead, a representative speaking for the BSF chief PSR Anjaneyulu told me, “Such an incident hasn’t happened in the past three to four years. Now it is very organised.” His reluctance to speak about the incident had a familiar ring to it: in a report published on Rediff.com in 2014, a security personnel in Taki told a journalist, “It’s an unpleasant memory that is buried. Let’s talk about today and tomorrow.”
When I attended the Taki visarjan in 2017, the diplomatic relations between the countries were at their least combative. Over the previous four years, India had resolved the administrative anomalies of its border enclaves and started a public border-retreat ceremony at the Petrapole-Benapole checkpoint, the highlight of which was the security personnel shaking hands before calling it a day, every day.
At Taki, the border forces of India and Bangladesh were alert but not intrusive, as they patrolled on steamers with guns, cameras and life-jackets. Thousands had turned up to witness the unique Puja celebrations along the leafy riverfront. Nearly a hundred boats chugged along the length of the Ichamati promenade, carrying revellers from both countries who clicked photos, soaked in the September drizzle and waved at their neighbours across the border. At 6 pm, the security forces announced that the celebrations should wind up. Over the next hour, their loudspeakers and flashlights led the boats back to the coast.
Pal was also among the revellers that day. “My only regret is that the next generation will never know of the joy we had experienced,” he said. “For us, visarjan was not about taking the pratima and throwing it into river. It was about making the journey to the other end, of interacting with people. The charm has now diminished. It now seems like a formality.”
I asked him what he missed the most about the border-crossing tradition. With a laugh, he said, “The free cigarettes, of course.”
The print version of this article mistakenly stated that India and Bangladesh had signed a pact for sharing the waters of the Teesta River. The Caravan regrets the error.
OMKAR KHANDEKAR is a journalist from Mumbai, and an alumnus of Cardiff University. His reporting from India, the Maldives and the United Kingdom has appeared in numerous publications, including The Caravan, Open and Scroll.
source: http://www.caravanmagazine.com / The Caravan / Home> The Lede – Community / by OmKar Khandekar / March 01st, 2018
Proud to state that Alumnus of Heritage Institute of Technology, Swapnadeep Poddar had been a part of the great Research team on ‘Super Human Biometrical Eye with a Hemispherical pervoskite nanowire array retina’, at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology under the leadership of Professor FAN Zhiyong.
Recently the research team and their research was being featured in prestigious science journal ‘Nature’.
Swapnadeep completed his B. tech in Electonics and Communication engineering from Heritage in 2016 and now pursuing his PhD at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology….
Now this biometric human eye will give a pathbreaking development in science and technology. India shines with Swapnadeep now.
source: http://www.youthkiawaaz.com / Youth Ki Awaaz / Home / by Partha Sarathi Bhowal / June 29th, 2020
A border demarcates. It also seams two Indian WIP projects – Dostojee and The Borderlands – presented as part of ‘Goes to Cannes’ at the prestigious film festival.
A still from the film ‘Dostojee’
The Bengali landscape is resplendent in the trailer of Prasun Chatterjee’s debut feature Dostojee (Two Friends), and its cinematography “sumptuous”, as the American magazine Variety noted. Vast, rainwashed stretches of paddy fields along river Padma and the glint in the eyes of the two young protagonists, reminiscent of another Bengali village boy, Apu, from Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1955). First-time cinematographer Tuhin Biswas, a still photographer and primary-school teacher in West Bengal’s Nadia district, was unsure about the video format, until Chatterjee told him, “This is photography too, just think of these as 24 stills per second.”
The location is the remote, no-man’s-land near Domkal (in Murshidabad) — the last subdivision on the Indian side. The Padma river separates it from Bangladesh’s Rajshahi. The backdrop is an early-’90s Bengal, touched by the communal violence that followed the Babri Masjid demolition and the ’92 Bombay blasts, but Dostojee speaks of the friendship between two boys from different faiths, living in a border village. In one scene, as their torn kite flies into Bangladesh, and as Palash says he will move with his fearful mother to the Hindu-majority Nadia when he grows up, one wonders if, when the time comes, Safikul will recall his words to his dostojee (best friend): “bhoy ki, aami toh aachhi (have no fears, I’m here with you)”. “I wanted to show anger and love through the eyes of children. What they witness is my subject of inquiry, too,” says Chatterjee, 34, who grew up in Kolkata’s Dum Dum and dropped out of Physics (Hons) at Calcutta University to make films.
For over two years, hestayed with and trained 150 locals as his cast and crew. One afternoon, when he was packing to return to Kolkata, an angry nine-year-old came banging on his door. The boy, Arif Sheikh, whose friend Asik Sheikh was cast as Palash, said, “Ekhane cinema’r jonno baccha leya hoye? Boite lyen amake, Deb er moto koyee debo (Are children being cast in films? Take me, I’ll act like the Bengali hero Deb),” guffaws Chatterjee who, bowled over by his confidence, cast Arif as the other lead, Safikul. Another time, the crew landed up to find one of them with a Neymar hairdo (the 2018 FIFA football world cup was on) and had to wait for “his hair to grow back” to start the shoot.
Prasun Chatterjee
For Chatterjee, who traces his roots to Bangladesh, the pull of these border people has always been great – more than even cinema which he calls “tucchho (trivial)” in front of their lives. “Your work should make the provincial man – the labourer, the farmer –win at the end, or even if he dies, show that there is a flicker of hope for their lot,” says the filmmaker, who is inspired by Ritwik Ghatak’s ideology and Ray’s craft.
From paper to screen, it’s been a seven-year journey since 2013. The film’s working title Dharmik, used while crowdfunding,was changed for a film by that name already existed.Co-producers Prosenjit Ranjan Nath and Soumya Mukhopadhyay came on board in 2017, and Taiwan’s Ivy Yu-Hua Shen after NFDC Film Bazaar selected Dostojee in November in its Recommends section. NFDC sent it, among five films, to ‘Goes to Cannes’: 20 work-in-progress (WIP) films from across the world, whose pitches were made to global buyers and distributors at the Marché du Film from June 22-26 – the only segment of the Cannes Film Festival that took place online this year.
There, Asia’s leading film project market Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) picked up the Bengali feature Dostojee (feature) and two Indian documentaries, including Samarth Mahajan’s The Borderlands – the only three from South Asia – among its 22 shortlisted projects for its WIP programme in August. HAF presented The Borderlands – the only Indian documentary in ‘Goes to Cannes’ official selection – at Marché du Film.
The sense of invisibility runs deep in villages and towns along the borders. Mahajan, 29, recounts how, when in 2015 his town Dinanagar, 10 miles from the India-Pakistan border in Punjab, faced a terrorist attack, his mother sounded excited over the phone — Dinanagar had made national news and relatives had woken up to her existence.
Samarth Mahajan
“Most of the stories that we hear about border areas create a specific image of army men and terrorists but no common people. I come from a border area and have lived through experiences which don’t fit these general perceptions of borders,” says Mahajan, who while growing up would often see people visiting Dera Baba Nanak, near his town, to see – through binoculars – Pakistan’s Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib.
The graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, gave up his cushy FMCG job in Kolkata to make documentaries. He moved to Mumbai in 2015, where he met his IIT-K batchmate Ashay Gangwar and began collaborating. Gangwar was the cinematographer for Mahajan’s first documentary on fireflies of Maharashtra’s Purushwadi, Kazwa — A Million Lanterns (2016), his company Camera and Shorts produced Mahajan’s The Unreserved (2017), on the India seen on the General coaches of trains, which won the National Award for ‘Best On Location Sound Recordist’, and, with the media company All Things Small, co-produced the crowdfunded Borderlands.
A still from the documentary, ‘The Borderlands’
For his latest, Mahajan, along with cinematographer Omkar Divekar and associate director Nupur Agrawal, took a four-part journey to different borders: Pakistan, Bangladesh, China -Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. He learnt that borders have their own ecosystem. How civilians cooperate with the Nepalese army to nab human traffickers. What happens when a tiger, from Arunachal Pradesh’s Dibang Valley wildlife sanctuary, crosses over into China? “The mountainous China-India border, the LAC, doesn’t have border pillars. A shaman told us that if a tiger gets killed (by neighbouring tribes or Tibetans living across the border), his tribe observes penitence for five days: no alcohol, no sex, etc. They mourn the environment,” says Mahajan. How a Pakistani Hindu refugee in Rajasthan “studying to be a doctor, has to unlearn the Arab script and learn Devanagari. Her dream got complicated because of crossing the border.”
His film will explore these, along with heartwarming tales of common people along the borders. How the Bengalis on either side dry their clothes on the fence, and exchange gifts on Bengali New Year. “There are two Indias. One is upper-class privileged and the other we have stopped engaging with. At this point in India’s history, we need to hear stories of people from the grassroots. To explore life beyond the domain of violence and politics. For military valour stories, there are already films like Border (1997), LOC: Kargil (2003), Lakshya (2004),” he says.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Eye / by Tanushree Ghosh / New Delhi / June 28th, 2020
Vasudevan is survived by his wife, historian Tapati Guha Thakurta, and daughter Mrinalini Vasudevan.
Historian Hari Sankar Vasudevan (Photo: Twitter @IFPStudies)
Historian Hari Sankar Vasudevan, who had tested positive for coronavirus , died at a private hospital in Kolkata early Sunday. He was 68.
Vasudevan tested positive two days after being admitted to AMRI Hospital in Salt Lake on May 4. Soon after, he was put on a ventilator after developing respiratory distress. The state government is, however, yet to identify whether he died of Covid-19 or due to comorbid conditions. Vasudevan was an expert on European and Russian history and the India-Russia relationship. A graduate of Cambridge University, where he also completed his post-graduation and PhD, Vasudevan was the director of the China Centre at Calcutta University.
Earlier, he served as director of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata, of the Ministry of Culture. Between 2003 and 2005, Vasudevan was a professor at Central Asian Studies and acting director at the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. Between 2011 and 2014, he was member the Indian Council of Historical Research.
Vasudevan is survived by his wife, historian Tapati Guha Thakurta, and daughter Mrinalini Vasudevan.
Mrinalini told The Indian Express , “My father had tested positive for coronavirus and his condition was critical since Friday. He was on a ventilator. We learnt from the hospital that he died of multi-organ failure. His body is at AMRI, and the cremation will be as per protocol for Covid-related deaths.”
After the historian tested positive, his family members were asked to go into home isolation.
“Only one of my father’s friends will be allowed to see the body. The cremation will be at Dhapa,” Mrinalini added.
Expressing his condolences, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said in a statement, “A multifaceted person, he made his mark while being involved in a formal consultative capacity with projects/institutions of the Ministry of Culture, MHRD, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of External Affairs of the GoI… His contributions to society will be ever recalled. May his soul rest in peace.”
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> India / by Express News Service / Kolkata / May 11th, 2020
Paris in Calcutta equates the beauty of the two cities by drawing parallels between the ambience, the architecture, the grunge, the art and the heritage.
A neckpeice from the collection
When Raj Mahtani showcased his creations along with couturier Anamika Khanna at Paris Fashion Week in 2008, it could well have been a prophetic moment for the first Indian jeweller to have done so on that esteemed international platform. More than a decade later, as his house of couture jewels enters its 20th year, the Kolkata-based master jewellery designer is ready to floor connoisseurs with a collection that brings together the cultures and concepts of Kolkata and Paris in a celebratory union.
Raj Mahtani
Paris in Calcutta equates the beauty of the two cities by drawing parallels between the ambience, the architecture, the grunge, the art and the heritage. The ornaments and adornments belie the conventional Indian wedding jewellery narrative to suit a more global context deriving from the European vocabulary of opulence in a modern format.
Known for creating concept luxury jewellery that marries the core of a Mughal sensibility (as well as Ottoman influences) to a more Western canvas, Mahtani has always strived to elevate the art of Indian jewellery to suit a modern palate. His penchant for creating statement neckpieces saw him present some of the most eye-popping polki and jadau collars, body corsets and scarfs along with Khanna’s clothes at the Paris Fashion Week that year. Courting immense critical acclaim and commercial laurels, Mahtani soon recognised the potential of his craft in India. The modern Indian woman, with an evolved, bold outlook and a confident sartorial sense was ready for the avant garde in bijouterie.
Thus, Mahtani started his fascinating journey that broke the traditional concepts of wedding and occasion wear. While drama is one element that marks his pieces, subtle elegance is another leitmotif. But no matter how simple the pieces were, they always sprung surprises of technique or execution (a diamond caterpillar necklace reflects the art of dynamism in diamonds, a gold choker that resembles crochet lace). The Paris in Calcutta collection, too, features some remarkable statement pieces that look extravagant, yet create a narrative of versatility and viability.
Bold, handcrafted pieces that take the onlooker’s breath away, each piece is a marvel in intricacy and artisanship that Satramdas Dhalamal, the family of jewellers that Mahtani is from, is legendary for.
Entering its 140th year, the designer has big plans for the mothership as well as his label in 2020. “These are pieces constructed in a manner so that they can be broken down into smaller pieces. We want patrons to wear them regularly instead of storing them away in lockers. These are jewels to be loved and worn again and again,” says Mahtani showing us a layered polki necklace that can be worn in six ways. And a curling wrist cuff encrusted with sapphires and diamonds that opens up to form a scintillating hasli.
“When we think of an Indian bride, the entire look had become too straight-jacketed. I wanted to break that notion. This is wedding jewellery for the bride who is a global citizen. She travels, she takes in the sights, sounds and cultures of a world village. She deserves jewellery that is so much more—demure, elegant, yet wow. Because simple needn’t be boring,” says Mahtani sitting amidst a veritable selection of jewellery.
The need to push the envelope in the field of wedding jewellery arose when Mahtani lived and worked in Europe in the 1990s, taking in how tastes and preferences in fashion were changing internationally. “The modern woman does not want to look like a bag of jewels. It’s one striking piece—a ring, an earring, a cuff, or a necklace—that does the trick. The definition of refinement and the context of couture jewellery has seen a sharp curve, bordering on boho-chic, functionality and the element of drama,” says the jeweller.
Indeed, if you’re looking for sheer, dramatic elegance, the Paris in Calcutta collection is right up your street.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Magazine / by Sharmi Adhikari / January 25th, 2020
After three silent films, Bengali filmmaker Aneek Chaudhuri has helmed a Malayalam film — a first for someone from Bengal. The film is now part of Cannes 2020 and will be screened later this month.
Aneek Choudhuri’s Malayalam film Katti Nrittam is part of the Cannes Film Festival 2020 lineup.
Art transcends barriers. So, it should come as no surprise when a Bengali decides to make a film in Malayalam. However, for Kolkata-based filmmaker Aneek Chaudhuri — whose Malayalam film Katti Nrittam is part of the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival 2020 — it’s the one question he gets asked all the time.
“Films speak a universal language,” said Chaudhuri, 28. It’s a fitting answer from someone who first forayed into cinema with silent films. A film in Malayalam then — a language he doesn’t speak himself — is a natural progression. “I believe that cinema should not have any kind of language barrier,” he said.
Katti Nrittam — a thriller about a failed Kathakali dancer who turns into a psychopathic killer — made a mark earlier too, when its script was included in OSCARS’ Margaret Herrick Library in California— regarded as one of the finest film-related libraries in the world.
In its 73rd edition, the Cannes Film Festival, which is scrapping its physical event for a series of virtual screenings on account of the COVID-19pandemic, will launch the Marché du Film or the festival’s Film Market online to support industry professionals around the globe. Katti Nrittam is one among the many being screened during the five-day virtual event between June 22 and 26.
Chaudhuri’s previous films — The Wife’s Letter (2016), White (2018), and Cactus (2018) — were also screened at Cannes. However, it is for the first time he won’t be there in Paris to present his film.
First Malayalam film from Bengal
While Katti Nrittam, meaning the Knife Dance, is a modern-day adaptation of ‘The Mahabharata’, the film also draws inspiration from O. Henry’s short story ‘The Cactus’ (1902).
Starring Rahul Sreenivasan, Rukmini Sircar, Sabuj Bardhhan, Anuska Chakraborty and Aritra Sengupta in major roles — it’s the first Malayalam film by someone from Bengal.
“Malayalam Cinema is indeed the best form of Indian Cinema these days,” said Chaudhuri, explaining his choice of language in an email interview. “They have found a way to integrate mainstream and parallel cinema.” However, it was his trip to Kerala’s Kalamandalam in 2018 that further sparked his interest in Malayalam arts and culture.
The film, which took almost a year to finish as Chaudhuri started to work on the script in early 2019, was primarily shot in Kolkata. The only difficulty was finding locations that resemble Kerala closely. So would it not have been easier to shoot in Kerala itself then? “Yes I could have but that would mean I need to drop out a lot of technicians from Calcutta without whom I cannot work. They wait for me to make a film so that they can work in terms of creative liberty I provide them,” he said.
A modern day Mahabharata
In Katti Nrittam, Chaudhuri uses the graceful Kathakali dance of Kerala to articulate a story of violence. “When I had decided to adapt Mahabharata on-screen, I had to make the killings classy and beautiful and I thought of nothing but this dance form,” he said.
In the film, Arjuna is portrayed through a Kathakali dancer. “After studying the patterns of murderers like Ted Bundy, I believe that for them, killing was a form of art,” said Chaudhuri, “We had to beautify the process of killing.”
In his modern-day interpretation of the epic, Chaudhuri tries to do what otherwise is a taboo: highlight the darker sides of the divine. Answering if the epic — which he dubbed one-dimensional — is still relevant, he said, “Sometimes the interpretation of an epic is directly proportional to the times we are living in.”
‘People expect a change’
Katti Nrittam is expected to have a commercial release in 2020.
Winning many accolades and awards in the last couple of years, Chaudhuri’s films often put women at the centre. His last directorial work Cactus portrayed Jesus Christ as a woman and White was a poignant silent film about rape.
Katti Nrittam is no different: while the film narrates a complex tale of a quadrilateral love based on Henry’s novel, the gender roles have been reversed.
Talking about his women-centric films, the filmmaker, admitted that he is inspired “a lot” by women. “I would try to look out for feminist dimensions in every character I read or create, because women are so damn interesting,” he said, “They can do everything and that too, successfully. And I strongly believe that the world was created from a woman’s point of view that’s why we are still safe; they are the most able and organised people, I must say.”
Chaudhuri’s film has been received positively in Kerala — “But back home, people think that I am in too much of a hurry,” he said.
“In Bengal, you don’t get the space to film alternative stuff. People might be in the legacy of auteur, but most of them in the current scenario are not original and inclined toward earning rather than creating. Now, that is alarming, isn’t it?” said Chaudhuri.
However, it is in his audiences that he has hope. While Katti Nrittam is expected to have a commercial release in 2020, Chaudhuri has spent the lockdown working on a feature-length film titled The Symphony of Pansies with a Lebanese artist Stephanie Bou Chedid. “And if all goes well, something big in 2021,” he said, without divulging further details. “People expect a change.”
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Malayalam / by Shreya Das / June 03rd, 2020
It began with author Prochy N. Mehta”s grandchildren being barred from Kolkata”s sole fire temple and culminated in a meticulously researched book on the role of prominent Parsis and the community at large in various aspects of the city”s growth in diverse areas over the years.
“My grandchildren were going to the only fire temple in Kolkata (the Late D.B. Mehta”s Zoroastrian Anjuman Atash Adaran) with us. In 2015, the newly appointed Head Priest phoned and requested us not to bring my daughter Sanaya”s children to the fire temple. On asking why, I was told that the (temple”s) Trust Deed is sacrosanct,” Mehta, author of “Pioneering Parsis Of Calcutta” (Niyogi Books), told IANS in an email interview.
“This started my search into the past. The Trust Deed is dated 1915, but no one today has any recall of us Parsis of that time, of the community in Calcutta, and what they fought for and believed in,” Mehta, one of just 420 Parsis in Kolkata, said. The community has seen zero growth in the last three years as there have been no births.
“Sanaya is married to a non-Parsi. Her children were visiting the fire temple till 2015 We have an Originating Summons in the Calcutta High Court asking for interpretation of the Trust Deed. That is why I studied the Trust Deed and unearthed information. We can now interpret the Deed with this new information. The fire temple trustees are not opposed to it.
“Every family in Calcutta has children who have intermarried. In the last three years, all marriages are intermarriage. They do not want to take a decision in case people point fingers at them saying it”s being done as they are in a similar situation. If the court rules that would decide the issue (but the case is still pending),” Mehta explained.
Mehta elaborates on the issue in the Preface.
“I had no illusions. What I was taking on is what every religion faces at some state: the fear of change. Any change from the norm upsets someone of the other. Sometimes, change comes about because there are enough people to force the change through. Sometimes, the silent majority want the change but do not have the time, means or patience to make it come about. I felt I had all three. More importantly, I wouldn”t allow my daughter”s children to be treated any differently than the children of my son,” Mehta writes.
This initial curiosity turned into a voyage of discovery, which changed her perception of her community and awoke in her an intense pride in the Parsi stalwarts of yesteryear. Mehta”s meticulous research reaped rich dividends as she slowly dusted off the cobwebs of history that revealed the pioneering Parsis” arduous journey to Kolkata, their forward thinking, their broad-minded approach, their willingness to give and to improve the lives of all around them.
These extraordinary Parsi men and women played a prominent role in society by taking upon themselves the responsibility of helping one and all, regardless of class, caste, creed, or colour. Their ability in business and faith in the future was matchless. These early Parsis were not afraid of taking on the establishment and fought publicly to resolve disputes where the orthodox members were unwilling to give the reformists their way.
“I try to trace the history of the Parsis, as there is no recorded history of the Parsis in India, except for a poem the Kissa-e-Sanjan written in 1599 by a priest, Boman Kekobad,” Mehta told IANS.
“An interesting fact is that we had forgotten our religion till Changa Asha (the leader of the Parsis in Navsri) found a group of Parsis in about 1490 living amongst the Hindus as a tribe following Hindu customs and way of life. Till today, the World Zoroastrian Organisation is finding such co-religionists living in poverty in the villages of Gujarat and seeks to rehabilitate them.,” Mehta elaborated.
To turn to the pioneers, the book says Rustumji Banaji may have been the most prominent man in Bengal in the 1800s; owner of Kidderpore and Salkia docks, master ship builder, pioneer in banking, insurance, social service, social reform, and shipping. But alas, forgotten today.
Many of the pioneer Parsis of Bombay had their early roots in Kolkata: Sir Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy; Nusserwanji Cowasji Petit; Dinshaw Petit; Framji Banaji (brother of Rustumji Banaji); the Wadia family of shipbuilders; Meherwanji Mehta, father of Phirozshaw Mehta; Khurshedji Cama; Dadabhoy Navroji; Jamshedji Madan (father of Indian cinema); and Dorab Mehta (Meherwanji”s brother), who had done extensive charitable work for the city of Navsari.
Then there were the nationally famous Parsis who belonged to Calcutta, but were forgotten by us. D.N. Wadia, the world famous geologist; Erach Bhiwandiwala, the artist; A.C. Ardeshir and his famous horse, Ethics; and Dr Irach Taraporewala, who translated the Gathas and wrote the Divine Songs of Zarathusthra.
And then there was the Tata family connected through marriage with the (DB) Mehta family. Jamshedji and Dhunjibhoy Mehta met at Dadabhai Navroji”s home in England, where they purchased machinery for their cotton mills, Empress Mills, Nagpur, and Empress of India Mills at Srirampur. Dhunjibhoy”s grandson, Phiroze Sethna, and Jamshedji”s son, Ratan, married the daughters of Ardesher Sett, Navaz, and Banoo. This must have sealed the bond of friendship among the families, the book says.
(Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)
–IANS
vm/rt
source: http://www.outlookindia.com / Outlook / Home> The News Scroll / by IANS / May13th, 2020
Artist Anita Gopal, who divides her time between Calcutta and London, talks about her charmed childhood in Calcutta
Gopal as a child / Sourced by the Telegraph
In part one of her story, artist Anita Gopal, who divides her time between Calcutta and London, talks about her charmed childhood in Calcutta, a chance meeting with artist David Hockney and her moment of truth
I was brought up in a very visual household. My father Prem was a British Raj dandy. He only wore Chinese silk shirts, sharkskin suits and bow ties that were hand-tied. He scoffed at the American clip-on versions. Never short-sleeved shirts: he considered it too vulgar for men to show their arms.
He dressed me and my brother Paul and my mother. He would take me to New Market in Calcutta and buy me dresses and matching knickers, shoes and bags…often six at a time!
I was told that there was a clear distinction between good and bad taste. It was not a matter of opinion.
Anita Gopal / Sourced by the Telegraph
My mother Rosalie was a beauty and glamorous. She was English and came from a family in which beauty was highly prized. My parents met and married in London and travelled to India on a P & O liner in 1947 to land in the middle of Partition. My father’s family were Punjabis from Lahore and were Hindus, so they left everything and ended up in Delhi. My grandfather Nand, who had also been a British dandy, followed Gandhi and started wearing dhotis!
Eventually my parents moved to Calcutta where they became a glamorous couple. They went to parties every night. They went to the Grand, the Great Eastern and Spencer’s and Firpo’s and the nightclub Golden Slipper.
My mother always wore beautiful saris in the evenings. I still remember the smell of Lanvin’s Arpege and the rustle of saris when she kissed me goodnight. She gave me a golden slipper charm from the nightclub which I kept for years. My birth certificate states place of residence as Grand Hotel! My parents knew M.S. Oberoi, who kindly let them stay at the Grand for six months.
Later they lived in Ballygunge and my father designed the flat with cream walls and dark red sofas; the verandah with a bar and cane furniture, which later featured in my life.
With this background it was fairly inevitable that I became mad about fashion and glamour and beauty.
My father died tragically young and my mother, brother and I moved to London.
I went to Kingston School of Art to do a B.A. Hons. in fine art. During my foundation course fashion was one of the elements. I was asked to do my BA in fashion but I refused as I thought it was trivial and frivolous! I thought fine art was a much more serious vocation!
I painted from the model for three years, using a method of measuring known as the Coldstream method by William Coldstream, an English painter. It was a very strict and precise way of painting based on the school of philosophy called Logical Positivism started by A.J. Ayer, an English philosopher. This style was not approved of at Kingston School of Art. It was considered reactionary. One was supposed to paint in the house style of abstract expressionism.
After college I lost faith in the idea and stopped painting.
I travelled back to India with my partner for the first time since childhood. We started a small business importing cane furniture from Calcutta to London. It was a successful business, but I also started painting again in a very different way. Whilst travelling all over India I fortuitously met David Hockney, who told me to do whatever I liked, as that was what he had always done.
This was a release for me from the self-imposed Coldstream method.
I started using different viewpoints like Cezanne and local colours like El Greco and rhythms like Delacroix.
I suddenly realised that art was about beauty. I painted again from the model and from fashion magazines like Vogue which are full of beauty and glamour.
So full circle back to my childhood upbringing!
Needless to say I have hundreds of clothes shoes and bags!
I also am very particular and fastidious about the decor in my flat!
This is part one of my art story…the second part is how I came to invent my eventual style, which I call Fractism. It is made entirely of paper and is cut paper relief, but of course it is all cut from glamorous magazines.
(To be concluded next week)
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> Style / by The Telegraph / April 30th, 2020
‘You’ve all got to remember that we will get through it in the end’
Captain Tom Moore at his home in Marston Moretaine, England, on Thursday after he completed 100 laps of his garden and raised £15 million for the NHS.(AP)
Captain Tom Moore, a former British army officer who served in Calcutta during World War II, had intended to raise £1,000 for the NHS by marking his 100th birthday on April 30 by doing 100 laps of the 25-metre loop in the garden of his home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, in 10-lap segments.
But by the time Moore, aided by his walking frame, had completed his mission on Thursday morning, donations from 620,000 people in 53 countries had taken the total on his fundraising page to over £15m — a record for a single campaign on “JustGiving”.
It is all a long time since his days in India. Moore was conscripted into the British Army in June 1940 when he was 20, and began his military career in Otley, West Yorkshire, where he joined the 8th Battalion, the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment under Lieutenant Lord George Saville.
This might explain why, when donations hit £10 million late on Wednesday night, Moore tweeted “Virtutis Fortuna Comes” — the Latin motto of the Duke of Wellington which means “fortune is the companion of virtue”.
In October 1941, his unit was posted to Bombay, with the sea voyage, via Cape Town, taking six weeks. He took a train to Poona and joined the 50th Indian Tank Brigade, where he was asked by his commander to start a motorcycling course for the Brigade because of his expertise in the sport.
He was next ordered to move to his base in Calcutta — the journey during the monsoons took three weeks — and later took part in two exercises in the Arakan before moving to Rangoon.
After all in his background, he probably thought his walk in England, even at 99, was a bit of a doddle.
Still, among those who applauded his fundraising achievement was Ben Stokes, Wisden’s cricketer of the year, who said: “The funds you have raised for the real heroes (in the NHS) are just sensational.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said Moore’s “extraordinary” efforts “goes to show the British spirit is as strong as it’s ever been”, while the health secretary Matt Hancock remarked, “This is an awful crisis, but there are some little shafts of light…. He’s served his country in the past and he’s serving his country now, both raising that money for the NHS, but also cheering us all up.”
From his home, Michael Ball, a well-known singer, offered a rousing rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone.
As the sprightly dressed 99-year-old, with his medals gleaming in the spring sunshine, finished his mission, there were TV cameras and journalists to record the occasion plus four soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment to give him a ceremonial salute.
An emotional Captain Moore, then revealed that he had postponed his 100th birthday party and that after a short rest he would resume his walk.
He added an uplifting message to people in Britain and beyond: “You’ve all got to remember that we will get through it in the end, it will all be right but it might take time. All the people are finding it difficult at the moment, but the sun will shine again and the clouds will go away.”
He said that NHS workers on the frontline “deserve everything we can give them”, and that “I’ve always been one for having a future, I always think things will be good. We’ve fought so many battles and we’ve always won and we’re going to win again.”
www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> World / by Amit Roy in London / April 17th, 2020
