All posts by wellnmed@gmail.com
India’s sepia-tinted U.S. connections
A unique photograph of the elephant (1797), archived by the New York Historical Society, is now exhibited in the city.
“It will be a great thing to carry the first elephant to America,” wrote Jacob Crowninshield, the captain of the ship America. The first living elephant, which was ferried all the way from Kolkata to the US, was later exhibited in Boston, New York and Philadelphia.
A unique photograph of the elephant (1797), archived by the New York Historical Society, is now exhibited in the city. Alongside The Elephant, 41 rare photos, collected over the last 150 years, form part of the exhibition titled ‘Kindred Nations: The United States and India: 1783-1947’at The Indian Museum here that opened during this weekend.
The exhibition tells the story of association between the two countries long before the latest thrust to step up diplomatic and trade ties were initiated.
One compelling example is the photograph of the Indian immigrant workforce in the US. It is perhaps a less-known fact that a significant share of the workforce involved in building modern America migrated from northern India.
At least two of the photographs taken around World War II underscore the role of Sikh immigrants in the construction of rail roads or them joining various other trades. The exhibits also narrate how Americans engaged in building ties with Indians.
Henry Armstrong, one of the greatest American boxers of all times, visited India during World War II and graced an amateur boxing tournament in Kolkata. A candid picture of the pugilist giving spontaneous boxing lessons to local youth (1945) also forms a part of this exclusive exhibit.
Photographs of celebrated Anglo-Indian actor Merle Oberon, who shot in West Bengal for a film, and Charlotte Wiser, an American anthropologist, teaching childcare techniques to local villagers at Allenganj (1919), provide the viewers with an insight about the ever-evolving ties between the two countries.
It all started with bilateral trade relations. From education, cultural and religious values, cinema, jazz music, Kashmiri shawls, books on navigation — India and the U.S have shared them all. There was also a rare shot of Anandibhai Joshi (1880), the first Indian woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S.
Shots of Singer Manufacturing Company’s office (1897), the famous Atkinson house (1860), Swami Vivekananda with his American counterparts at Green Acre School (1894) and Rabindranath Tagore holding the delicate hands of the blind and deaf American activist and author Helen Keller are the other notable ones.
However, some these exhibits are widely circulated on the Internet.
Curated by the Meridian International Center in Washington D.C. and supported by the U.S. Department of State, the photographs and letters speak of what is described as ‘shared prosperity and peace’. Dr. Jayanta Sengupta, Director of Indian Museum, said it was “an honour” to host the exhibition.
“As a museum, we always explore the interstices of cultures and the connections between them, and what better way to do this than by celebrating the two centuries of historical connections between the world’s two largest democracies?” he asked.
Acting U.S. Consul General Cory Wilcox, on his part, complemented Dr Sengupta. “Through the medium of art, we begin a dialogue about our perspectives and values. We hope this exhibit of the past engagement sparks our imagination for the future, seeing how we can take steps to improve the lives of the next generations in both our countries,” Mr Wilcox told The Hindu.
The exhibit was earlier on display in New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai with Kolkata being the last stop, where it will continue till the last day of the year.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National / by Ayshika Mitra / Kolkata – December 07th, 2015
Wedding wows
He was in Bagbazar. She was in Tollygunge. And both had wedding on their mind. What?! Abir Chatterjee and Parno Mittra were busy inaugurating two exclusive ABPWeddings stores in two parts of town on Monday afternoon.
This marks the latest venture from the ABP Group, www.abpweddings.com – a matrimonial site built on trust, reflected through the Trust Score of a profile.
Every registration – log in to www.abpweddings.com or call 8100 100 800 – needs to come with a photo ID proof and more the number of documents submitted, the higher is his or her “Trust Score”.
For those who still prefer the offline route, there are six exclusive ABPWeddings stores – in Tollygunge (near Malancha cinema), Behala (Behala Chowrasta-James Long Sarani crossing), Lake Town (near Jaya cinema), Salt Lake (near Kwality bus stop), Barasat (near Dak Bungalow More) and Bagbazar (near Bata). Pictures by Rashbehari Das and Anindya Shankar Ray
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / Tuesday – December 08th, 2015
Kolkatan bags top honour for documentary
Kolkata :
A moving tale of an autistic child has earned independent filmmaker Amrita Dasgupta the `Best Director’ award at the first International Film Festival for Persons with Disabilities, organized by the Union government. She received the trophy from I&B minister of state Rajyavardhan Rathore in Delhi a couple of days ago.
The film, `The New Girl in Class’, was produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust and Doordarshan. “They take proposals for films every year, and I had sent mine. I made the film after it was selected,” said the Delhi-based Amtrita, who graduated from Calcutta University . “The screening was with special educators and children with disabilities. Every child could relate to it, which I didn’t expect. I never thought of children as the target audience; it is primarily meant for parents and teachers,” Dasgupta said.
The filmmaker credits her stay at her ancestral home on Hindustan Road for helping her develop a passion for art and culture, which later became a profession.
“I’m trying to bring the film to Kolkata. I’m arriving on December 19 and I’ll try to screen it,” she told TOI.
City musician Mainak `Bumpy’ Nag Chowdhury has composed the soundtrack for the film. The film explores the possibility of education for children with autism in regular schools.
It traces a mother’s perseverance over the years to improve her daughter’s condition with autism -her behaviour, communication and learning ability. Her struggle does not end with her daughter’s admission to a regular school, but continues every day with a greater zeal to ensure her learning as she shadows her to school and other remedial classes.
While announcing the dates for the film festival last week, Lov Verma, the secretary at department of empowerment of persons with disabilities, ministry of social justice and empowerment, had said it was organized to recognise the spirit of persons with disabilities.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Shounak Ghosal, TNN / December 07th, 2015
RIP, Sister
Nuns of Missionaries of Charity at a prayer service for Sr. Gertrude MC at Mother House on Sunday. Sister Gertrude, the second woman to join Mother Teresa in starting the Missionaries of Charity, passed away in the morning.
Born on March 8, 1929, Sr. Gertrude was a doctor. She was Mother Teresa’s student at St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta in the 1940s. Mother Teresa was then the headmistress and in-charge of the boarders at the school.
Inspired by Mother, Sr. Gertrude spent her life serving the poor.
She was by Mother’s side when she passed away at Mother House in September 1997. “We became truly mother and daughter, more than a sister or a doctor,” Sr. Gertrude had written about her relationship with Mother Teresa.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / Monday – December 07th, 2015
Kolkata based cardiologist felicitated for path-breaking surgery
Kolkata :
Most patients with heart injuries caused by speeding missiles (bullets, daggers, knives) are deprived of treatment because they bleed to death on the way to hospital, or while being operated. A surgeon has been felicitated for correcting the rarest of accident-related heart injuries by the Central Asia Regional Congress of Medical Women in India.
Prof Sushila Mitra, former head department of cardio-thoracic surgery, SSKM Hospital, presented the cases at the congress in a city hotel on Saturday.
Her first presentation was on Jagadhish Khatua (26), who was hit on his right chest by an arrow during an in-fighting between tribal groups at Birbhadrapur village in Midnapore in 1989. Bleeding profusely, he was admitted to SSKM Hospital and the x-ray showed that the tip of the arrow was inside her heart. “We did purse-string sutures on him, and transfused six units of blood. He went home, cured. Today he is totally symptom free, leading a normal life,” Mitra told TOI.
In another case, 18-year-old Tanmoy Gayen, was hit on his left chest by a stray bullet while he was driving his cycle van. He was admitted under Mitra on 4 April, 1998. “Initially, the bullet was missing in his x-ray reports. His chest was opened and closed. A post-operative CT scan showed that the bullet was deep inside his heart. The bullet was finally removed through an open-heart surgery,” Mitra said. She showed pictures of the man, 17 years later to show his fitness.
The surgeon’s third presentation was about 21-year-old Mahesh Chand diagnosed with a hole in his heart. He was admitted on 18 Match, 1994. “During the corrective surgery, the catheter tip accidentally broke inside the heart and got stuck in the right upper chamber of the patient’s heart. He was immediately shifted to the cardiothoracic surgery department and we did an open heart surgery,” Mishra said, adding “the patient was admitted through the night. We removed the ‘foreign body’ first and then the hole in the heart was mended. Post surgery, the patient was on ventilator for two weeks.” Twenty-one years later, Mishra said, the patients is married with a child.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Ajanta Chakraborty, TNN / December 05th, 2015
Toy train service is back
The Northeast Frontier Railway restarted the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) toy train service between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling on Wednesday.
The service between NJP and Darjeeling was suspended on June 15, 2010, after a landslide near Paglajhora, about 35km from Siliguri, damaged the tracks. The tracks had caved in because of landslide and rain in Tindharia also.
The NFR resumed train services on June 12, 2015, but it was suspended again on June 15 because of landslides.
Repair was undertaken and finally, the service resumed on Wednesday.
According to NFR sources, a passenger special DHR train will leave Darjeeling at 10.15am and arrive at NJP at 5.45pm.
From NJP, the train will leave at 8.30am and reach Darjeeling at 4pm. Each train will have two first-class coaches and a luggage van and would be pulled by a diesel loco.
The toy train was flagged off by Purnabahadur Lepcha, a senior railway employee, at the Darjeeling railway station in the presence of Md. Jamshed, the general manager of NFR, and other senior officials at 9.30am.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> North Bengal> Story / Thursday – December 03rd, 2015
German precision for cardiac surgery
Kolkata :
Cardiac surgery and heart ailment detection techniques are set to take a leap ahead with the introduction of advanced systems that will shorten the diagnosis period and make it easier and more precise.
Surgical devices and methods, developed in Germany and launched by Dr Kunal Sarkar at Medica Superspecialty Hospital on Wednesday, will help to detect the extent of blood flow reduction in the arteries, provide cardiac and respiratory support to patients whose heart and lungs are unable to function normally and make surgeries possible through small incisions.
The new methods include Transmit Time Flow Measurement (TTFM) -a diagnostic method that determines the level of blood flow reduction through vessels and helps in identifying vessels that are deeply embedded in the heart muscles. It can be used in transplantation surgery and other vascular procedures other than coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
The techniques also include one of the latest and most advanced procedures for conduit harvesting in CABG -endoscopic vessel harvesting (EVH). It requires a very small incision and apart from the cosmetic benefits, the pain is less compared to the open technique.
Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenator (ECMO) is another technique that is part of the package. It provides cardiac and respiratory support to patients whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequate amount of gas exchange to sustain life. ECMO works by removing blood from the patient’s body and artificially removing the carbon dioxide and oxygenating red blood cells.
Fractional Flow Reserve is the final procedure on offer. It helps in accurate diagnosis of a heart block and significantly reduces unnecessary stenting revascularization and helps in optimizing the therapy for heart patients. It helps the cardiologist in making an informed decision, particularly in case of multi-vessel blocks. The procedure relies not on how severely constricted an artery appears to be, but on how the constriction is affecting the blood flow.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / December 03rd, 2015
IIT Madras helps KoPT to slash dredging costs by Rs.250 crore
The Kolkata Port Trust may implement a technology that will help it save Rs.250 crore annually through reduced dredging costs, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari said.
Dredging costs at the country’s only riverine port is likely to get reduced from around Rs.400 crore to around Rs.150 crore due to a new process of dredging suggested by the IIT-Madras on the basis of recommendations made by the Boston Consulting Group. The two port systems of KoPT at Kolkata and Haldia have a draft of around 7.5 metres.
Boston Consulting, on the basis of a Ministry mandate, had made 120 recommendations on improving the performance of all the major Indian ports. “About 20 suggestions are being implemented and the rest would be put in place in two years,” Mr Gadkari said adding that it is not possible to improve exports without good ports.
“For this government, waterways had the highest priority in the logistics segment followed by railways and roadways.” Against the previous government’s pace of laying two km of roads daily, now 18 km of roadways were being laid, he said. The target is to increase it to 30 km a day by March 2016. The Minister also said that within five years, 50 lakh jobs are expected to be generated by the transport sector, which would contribute two per cent to the GDP.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Business / by Special Correspondent / Kolkata – December 02nd, 2015
Urban landscape honour for Eco Park
Kolkata :
The central Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) has voted Eco Park at New Town as one of the top two projects in the country for innovative planning and design, bringing new accolades for the city in urban landscaping.
The project, developed by West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (Hidco), has won the second position under the `Landscape Planning and Design’ category . The first prize went for the development and revitalisation of Ranmal Lake at Jamnagar in Gujarat.”It is an encouraging recognition for the Hidco planning and engineering team.
The project was inspired by the CM,” said Hidco CMD Debashis Sen. Off the arterial road in New Town, Eco Park is spread over 480 acres, a 104-acre waterbody in its middle.
On July 19, 2011, on her way from airport, Mamata Banerjee reportedly alighted from her car as the waterbody caught her attention. On her instruction, the Hidco converted the area into an ecological garden.
New attractions, such as the Biswa Bangla Haat, a children’s play area, a butterfly garden, a musical fountain, a bamboo garden, a replica of the Ghum station and an adda zone, were added.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Suman Chakraborti, TNN / November 30th, 2015