Monthly Archives: May 2016
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Bristol will always remember Rammohan Roy, says mayor
Continuing along city tradition, the Lord Mayor of Bristol on Sunday led the annual service at the sylvan Arnos Vale Cemetery to pay tributes to Indian social reformer Rammohan Roy, who died here on 27 September 1833 of meningitis.
The service at the tomb built to an Indian temple style, was attended by many people from across Britain, including representatives of the Indian high commission, Brahmo Samaj and the Unitarian church.
Lord mayor Alastair Watson recalled Roy’s many contributions, and said Bristol would always remember and cherish his memory. The annual service at Roy’s tomb has been held for nearly a century.
A new documentary, titled ‘Relics of the Raja’ by academic Suman Ghosh, was shown at the event, which included new research on Roy’s contribution to the anti-slavery movement in early nineteenth century.
It also showed the newly-discovered replica in back of Roy’s original death mask.
Carla Contractor, local historian, who has led several initiatives to preserve, cherish and celebrate Roy’s life and work, recalled his accomplishments. Her latest research is focussed on Roy’s last days in England.
“The Raja was a remarkable man in his day.
He fought for women’s rights and for the reform of legal and fiscal services in India. All Indians can take pride in what the city of Bristol has done in memory of the Raja and be proud too of their own roots in the Indian subcontinent,” Contractor said.
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home / by Prasun Sonwalkar, Hindustan Times,Bristol / September 29th, 2014
Bengal girl Lili Das qualifies for World Jr Athletics C’ship
Bengaluru :
Bengal’s Lili Das claimed the women’s 1500m gold medal with a new junior national record of 4 minutes, 20.31 seconds on the opening day of the Federation Cup National Junior Athletics Championships here on Tuesday. Das’ feat helped her qualify for the World Junior Athletics Championships.
Das set the track ablaze, shaving nearly seven seconds off the earlier record created by Haryana’s Pinki Kumari in 2014. Such was her dominance that the 17-year-old Das almost lapped one of her rivals.
“It is a fantastic performance by Lili as she managed a record in this city which is situated at an altitude of 920m,” her coach Kalyan Chaudhary told reporters.
For the daughter of jute farmers hailing from Triveni in Hooghly district, Tuesday’s show was a personal best. “Her mom always used to wonder about her career. But now she would be happy as her daughter will get her share of the limelight and more importantly a job,” Chaudhary said.
The qualification mark for the world meet to be held in Bydgoszcz, Poland from July 19-24 is 4 minutes, 28.20 seconds. Harmilan Kaur of Punjab, who won silver, also booked her ticket with a time of 4:28.05s.
Priyanka wins gold
Another impressive performer from rural India was Priyanka Kerketa of Jharkhand who took the gold in women’s long jump with a leap of 5.99m, which came in her fourth attempt.
There was no coach at hand to help the Ranchi girl and she was guided by teammate Ramdev Tigga after each jump. “I wanted to do a 6.20,” said Priyanka who is from Tanghar Baishali village near Ranchi. Soma Karmakar of Bengal took the silver with 5.76 and Aishwarya B of Karnataka took the bronze with an effort of 5.60m.
In women’s 5000m race, Heena of Himachal Pradesh was disqualified after being found overage and second- placed Jothi of Tamil Nadu was awarded the gold.
Results:
Junior Men:
100m: 1. Ch Sudhakar (Tel, 10.74s), 2. Chirag (Har, 10.81), 3. Joseph Joe M (Ker, 10.82)
1500m: 1. Manjeet Singh (Man, 3:57,45), 2. Dinesh Lathwal (Har, 3:57.88), 3. Yogesh (Mah, 3:58.95)
5000m: 1. Gavit Murali (Guj, 14:44.90s), 2. Kisan Tadvi (Mah, 14:46.16), 3. Abhishek Pal (Asm, 14:47.84)
Shot Put: 1. Ashish Bhalothi (Har, 17.41m), 2. Ram Chandra (UP, 16.44), 3. Udit Kumar (UP, 16.30)
Junior Women:
100m: 1. Siddhi Hiray (Mah, 12.19), 2. Rajashree P (Ben, 12.40), 3. Sweta H (Mah, 12.48)
1500m: 1. Lili Das (Ben, 4:20:31 NR, Old: Pinki Kumari, Har, 4:27.26s, 2014), 2. Harmilan Kaur (Pun, 4:28.05), 3. Durga (Mah, 4:38.12)
5000m: 1. Jothi (TN, 17:53.62), 2. Sudha Pal (UP, 17:59.78), 3. Kavita Yadav (UP, 18:26.91);
Javelin throw: 1. Pushpa Jakhar (Har, 47.73m), 2. Runjun Pegu (Asm, 42.22), 3. Priyanka (Har, 41.47).
Long Jump: 1. Priyanka Kerketa (Jha, 5.99m), 2. Soma Karmakar (Ben, 5.76), 3. Aishwarya B (Kar, 5.60).
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> Sports> More Sports / by Biju Babu Cyriac / TNN / May 04th, 2016
Brand Bengal to steal the show in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow
Kolkata :
Two-fifty-nine years after East India Company brought business to Bengal, the roles have reversed. Brand Bengal, aka Biswa Bangla, has travelled the British Isles, and it means business.
Starting Tuesday, shows are being organized in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow to hard-sell the exotic arts and crafts of Bengal. The exhibitions will be a prologue to the grand Biswa Bangla showroom coming up in London three months later, as announced by chief minister Mamata Banerjee during her London visit in July, last year.
Titled “Gods and Demons”, the event will include live demonstrations and workshops on the making and rich history of the masks of Bengal. There will be visual storytelling from Patachitra, which was used originally as ways of spreading ancient mythology. The integration of modern social themes and issues in the artwork makes patachitra and mask-making inspiring tools for today’s artists.
Talking to TOI about UK’s exposure to “Bengal summer” at the Nehru Centre (till Friday), the Scots in the Museum of Edinburgh on May 12 and 13, Rajiva Sinha, secretary, micro and small and medium scale enterprises (MSME) and textiles, said, “The Biswa Bangla tagline ‘where the world meets Bengal’ says it all. The most exciting part of the event are the live shows by artisans Suman Chitrakar and Sankar Das. They have blended the traditional art-forms into the modern-day usage.”
In Glasgow, the location for the grand event is the Art Village Scotland which will be held on May 14 and 15, as part of the Southside Fringe festival.
“Biswa Bangla believes there is a keen appreciation for Bengal arts and crafts in the modern global community and we want the British to be a part of it, keep these art forms alive by bringing the magic of Bengal’s temples into the UK living rooms,” said London-based designer Neishaa Gharat, who represents Biswa Bangla in the UK.
Das, who hails from Sabdalpur village in South Dinajpur, will tell the British audience how “there was no rain in Kushmundi 200 years ago and people started praying to the gods for rain and to restrict the evil powers. Many characters became part of the dance, Kali, Rakshasa, Hanuman and Dakini – these are the faces we still carve today.”
Chitrakar, a villager from Naya who has applied patachitra to modern-day products like painted bags, apparels and crockery said, “Patachitra painting started many years ago. Patuas were mostly Muslims but painted Hindu gods. They moved house-to-house, singing for grains and money. Gradually, this took the shape of the art form we see today. In 2004, there were only 18 patuas in Naya, now there are 300.”
Gharat, who has been working with traditional Indian arts, crafts and textiles promoting artisans and creating designs for a global audience, sounded exited “because this is a government initiative to revive the art and craft of Bengal, which is one the most culturally diverse states in India. The art forms are fascinating because they give away such a stark dichotomy between tradition and modernity. There’s a tremendous legacy of skilled work out there and the willingness to take it forward.”
John Bell, former chairmen of the British Guild of Travel Writers and a consultant for the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, delivered the key note speech. Bell, who started his career with the BBC in London, producing and reporting for its travel and transport programmes on radio and television, said, “The work is not just a question of design, its jobs and poverty … this beautiful art is not just beautiful art, its beautiful art for good … the more we trade, the more we work, the more work we give to our friends Shankar Das and Suman Chitraker here, the more we are doing for the people of West Bengal and doing good for ourselves.”
– Aimed at rejuvenating the state’s handloom and handicraft products, Biswa Bangla was conceptualized in 2013
– The first store to sell products under the brand opened in 2014
– With 7 stores, the venture clocked a Rs 15 crore in 2014
– In the next two years, revenue is expected to increase six-fold to about Rs 100 crore.
– Among the arts being revived at Biswa Bangla are:
– Indo-Portuguese shawls (takes six months to embroider)
– Muslin
– Darjeeling tea
– Masks
– Attar perfumes
– Kalimpong cheese
– Mustard sauce
– Sundarbans honey
– Bonolokkhi ghee
– States like Rajasthan and UP are adopting the Biswa Bangla model
– Biswa Bangla markets 5,000 products, including 24 kinds of dolls from various parts of the state
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Ajanta Chakraborty / May 04th, 2016
‘Pather Panchali’ vignettes now in print
Kolkata:
That ‘Pather Panchali’ is a film of international repute is a foregone conclusion but very few know how much labour it took for Satyajit Ray to come up with the masterpiece. A facsimile edition of the ‘Pather Panchali’ sketchbook, which has collated original contents of the film – sketches, notes and post-scripts, will now give an insight into how Ray had visualized and planned the film. It was released on the eve of Ray’s 95th birth anniversary on Sunday.
The sketchbook, as Ray’s son Sandip Ray has written in the preface, formed the very foundation of the filmmaker’s maiden film. Sandip Ray writes on the history of the book: “…Father donated it to the ‘Cinematheque Francais’ in Paris at the request of Georges Sadoul, the eminent French journalist and film scholar. In his final days, he expressed a desire to have a look at the visual script he had made for Pather Panchali. I contacted the Cinematheque Francais management, but they said the sketchbook had been missing. However, it was our good luck that last year we got hold of a scanned copy of it…and decided to bring out this facsimile edition,” Sandip Ray mentions in the preface.
The book not only gives the readers a rare glimpse into original sketches and notes made by Ray for the film, it also has several reviews and previews, original drafts, posters, booklets, letters written by eminent film personalities and some photographs and commemorative stamps.
The book also contains a few articles written by Satyajit Ray on the inspiration behind his maiden film. “I have no hesitation in saying that Aam Aantir Bhenpu, a childrens’ edition of Bibhutibhusan Banerjee’s novel ‘Pather Panchali’, was the source of the script of my film. I illustrated that edition. So I had to go through the book minutely,” writes senior Ray in his article ‘The Whole Film Was In My Head’.
“The sketchbook is the product of a painstaking effort put in by the ‘Society for Preservation of Satyajit Ray Archives’, also known as ‘Satyajit Ray Society’,” said Society CEO Arup Kumar De.
Sharmila Tagore, who has written an introduction for the sketchbook, says that the film holds a special place in her heart. “I owe my life in cinema to this film….No doubt impressed with the resounding international success of ‘Pather Panchali’ and the critical acclaim for its maker, my father took the extraordinary step of allowing me to work in Apur Sansar.,” she reminiscences in the introduction.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / Suman Chakraborti / May 03rd, 2016