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Joynagar moa makers offer an authentic sweet deal
The famous GI tag holders tie up with Kolkata shops to check imitations.
The makers of the famous Joynagar moa are, for the first time, tying up directly with popular sweet shops in and around Kolkata in a bid to check imitations that cash in on their name.
The moa is a popped-rice ball held together with fresh date-palm jaggery that is extracted during the winter months, and its manufacture is so synonymous with the town of Joynagar near Kolkata that it earned the Geographical Indication (GI) tag of Joynagar Moa in 2015.
Also because of the synonymy, almost every moa sold in Kolkata is palmed off to the customer as Joynagar moa — and that is what the manufacturers’ association in Joynagar wants to prevent by reaching out directly to popular shops and confectionery chains.
“If a customer buys moa believing it is made in Joynagar when that’s actually not the case, not only is he deprived of the real taste of Joynagar moa but he also forms a bad impression of us. This is what we want to check,” Ashok Kumar Kayal, founding secretary of the Joynagar Moa Nirmankari Society, told The Hindu.
The society earned the GI tag and a logo from the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry in March 2015, and so far 26 of the 46 manufacturers registered with the society have received the certificate to make Joynagar moa — the remaining 20 applications are still under process.
It is these manufacturers with certificates that will send their moas to shops in and around Kolkata, packaged in boxes that will display the logo and nutritional facts. “There’s plenty of fake Joynagar moa in the market. The real moa is available only during the winter, for about two and a half months, when you get jaggery. If someone sells you moa outside of these months, it’s fake,” Mr. Kayal said.
The moa, even though highly popular, is said to have made its appearance as recently as in 1904, becoming synonymous with Joynagar over the decades, even though many other adjoining settlements specialise in it. The sweetmeat is made of aromatic khoi — popped rice — mixed with jaggery, sugar, cashew nuts and raisins. Today it is an organised business; the manufacturers’ society even has a constantly-updated website that lists the shops offering the authentic moa.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by Bishwanath Ghosh / Kolkata – December 07th, 2020
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Stadium in Bengal’s Barasat named after Maradona
The football legend had conducted a clinic for schoolchildren at that facility three years ago
A stadium near Barasat, where Diego Maradona was last seen in action in India, was on Friday named after the football legend.
During his last visit to Kolkata three years ago, Maradona had conducted a football clinic with school children at the Aditya School of Sports in Kadambgachi on the outskirts of Barasat, about 35 kilometres from here.
“The stadium has now been converted into a full-fledged cricket stadium and we have named it ‘Diego Maradona Aditya School of Sports Cricket Stadium’,” chairman of Aditya Group Anirban Aditya told PTI.
“This is the first-ever cricket stadium in the Argentine football legend’s name. We also have special Maradona memorabilia in the changing room. The seat and the cloth hanger that Maradona used would now be preserved with his autographed No. 10 jersey.”
Intense session
Maradona was last seen in action in India on December 12, 2017 when he turned up in shorts on a humid afternoon playing with 60-odd school kids. He was seen drenched in sweat, pouring water on his head during the gruelling session.
He also crooned Spanish songs and inaugurated a seven-a-side exhibition match featuring former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly.
He was slated to feature in a match billed as ‘Diego vs Dada’ but by the time the match began, the 1986 World Cup-winning Argentine captain was completely drained out after the session with school kids.
Anirban said the stadium was built in four months and Maradona was the first sportsperson to step into it. “I remember taking Maradona from his hotel. He was tired but when he saw the crowd he became full of life. Initially, it was to be a 45-minute affair but it went on. He had promised he would be back and train the kids. So as a tribute to him we have named the stadium after him.”
Students heartbroken
Some of the students who had interacted with Maradona at the school were heartbroken.
“I had always heard of Maradona but never thought that we can touch him and play with the ‘God of Football’. It was completely magical.
“I will always remember the workshop that he took as the most remarkable event of my life, said 17-year-old Avita Sarkar of Aditya Academy Senior Secondary School.
“I was one of the lucky ones who got the football pass from Maradona. It was unbelievable,” said 18-year-old Aritra Sarkar.
Built on a 30-acre campus, the school conducted grass-roots programmes for Indian Super League franchise ATK Mohun Bagan.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News< Cities> Kolkata / by PTI / Kolkata – November 28th, 2020
Lalbazar in West Bengal is now art hub, thanks to artist Mrinal Mandal
By settling there and teaching its people, he has demonstrated how art is capable of rescuing a neglected human settlement.
Two years ago, Kolkata-based artist Mrinal Mandal was so captivated by the charm of a tiny village — close to where West Bengal borders Jharkhand — that he decided to make the hamlet of some 80 people his second home. In doing so, he has demonstrated how art is capable of rescuing a human settlement from neglect and poverty.
“I have been travelling in search of folk art from the time I graduated from the Government Arts College 20 years ago,” Mr. Mandal, 42, told The Hindu. “In 2018, I chanced upon this village, surrounded by forests, and I immediately took a liking for it. I decided to make it a beautiful village by teaching art to its people.”
Today, the residents of the village — officially called Lalbazar but christened Khwaabgram, or village of dreams, by one of the admirers of the project — earn a decent income by selling paintings and handicraft to tourists, whose increasing presence, in turn, has earned it the attention of the local authorities.
Tourists come to Khwaabgram, about 4 km from Jhargram, not just to buy handicraft but also to take a look at the village itself, where the walls of most houses are now themselves works of art.
“These people are from the Lodha tribe, once outlawed by the British. Traditionally, they are very shy people; if you built a house next to theirs, they would shift elsewhere. It wasn’t easy for me to make friends with them, until I began making drawings related to their life,” said Mr. Mandal, who lives in Jhargram and commutes to Khwaabgram on a daily basis.
Until he arrived on the scene, the villagers mainly worked as labourers in nearby farms and some of them were small farmers themselves. Today, they are trained in kutum-katum (handicraft made from twigs and roots), kantha stitching, pottery and wall painting.
“All these years, I survived on whatever little I made from farming,” said Sashti Charan Ahir, 46, who, in spite of a physical handicap, is today successful as a kutum-katum artist. An art form introduced by Abanindranath Tagore, it means making use of found objects.
“Every morning, I go out to the forest to collect twigs and branches, then I roam around there for a while to get ideas — should I make a bird today or some animal? People visiting the nearby deer park now often come to our village to take a look and buy our products — that has indeed made our life better,” Mr. Ahir said.
The public attention has led to improved conditions in the village, and what Mr. Ahir wants now is a school to be built there. “My daughter’s school is on the other side of the forest, and I spend a better part of the day taking her there and bringing her back. A school will really help — I believe they are considering the idea,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by Bishwanath Ghosh / Kolkata – November 30th, 2020