Games we played – Ahead of the Bengali New Year, Eco Urban Village played host to traditional games that left children from the neighbouring complexes gaping, reports Brinda Sarkar

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Sports

Just as people can barely recall which Bengali year we stepped into yesterday, sports of our soil are getting wiped off people’s collective memories.

At a traditional sports meet organised at New Town’s Eco Urban Village recently, the show was stolen by children from the urban fringes while those living in swanky apartments stared in awe at the games being played and lamely asked how they were played and what they were called.

The sports were part of Lok Tirtha, a three-day festival presented by Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) and implemented by the NGO Art Illuminates Mankind (AIM).

For a generation that is constantly told off for not going outdoors to play anymore, the kids who turned up were spoilt for choice. The ground had been divided into zones for five different games and over 80 names had been registered till the time the event started. Plenty more joined thereafter and every child spoken to said they would be playing every game.

The girls hopped across the ekka-dokka boxes and the boys threw balls at one another to stop the rival team from rebuilding the stack in pittu (see box for rules). “Pittu is not a game for the faint-hearted. I know many kids who’ve broken their arms playing it,” said Md Imtiaz Molla, a Class VII student who lives in a nearby village called Pakapol. “And it’s definitely not suitable for the kids who live in the apartments. They can’t play these rough games.”

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Sneha Bhattacharya, a Masters’ student, had driven down from her Moulali home with her nine-year-old brother Debopriya, and the boy was wonderstruck at the new world of sports. “I mostly play games on the computer or the mobile,” said the boy, without looking away from a lattu (top) that a village boy, Sain Ali, had set spinning for 56 seconds. “I’ve never even seen a lattu before, let alone spin one. These boys are such experts that I’m felling shy to try and spin it today.”

His sister Sneha recalled how she would play kumir-danga and kit-kit (ekka-dokka) as a child. “And that wasn’t too long ago. But computers and mobiles have very quickly replaced all outdoor games for kids,” she said.

Surjaprobha Das, a student of a girls’ school in Lake Town, was too shy to play these “new” games but watched intently how other kids aimed their marbles to hit those of others in guli khela. “My daughter is only in Class II but her afternoons are already chock-a-block doing homework, attending tuitions and studying for tests. She doesn’t have the time to play anything and even if she goes out no other kids would come,” said her mother Sabita, who hoped her daughter would play pittu and ekka dokka, her own childhood favourites.

In fact, many adults joined the kids’ queue too. Hidco officials, the manager and security guard of Eco Urban Village, all played danguli. “There are many attempts to keep alive traditional food, music and dances but sports get overlooked. We wanted urban children to come and get a feel of these games so they at least know what other options they have,” said Debashis Sen, chairman cum managing director of Hidco, after trying a hand at danguli. “In fact, the winners of these games would be given medals, certificates and game kits consisting marbles, lattoos etc to propagate the games further.”

Sonali Chakraborty, secretary of AIM, said she was delighted to see such huge participation in the festival. “We would’ve been happier if more urban children had turned up but we shall try and make this an annual event now and I’m sure they’ll come next time around,” she smiled.

Pictures by Shubham Paul

Do you have memories of playing these games?
Write to The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001. Email: saltlake@abpmail.com

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> Salt Lake> Story / Friday – April 15th, 2016

Bangladesh government observes Mujib Nagar day in Kolkata

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinion

Kolkata:

Bangladesh deputy high commission in Kolkata this week observed the setting up of first Bangladesh government in Meherpur in 1971. They held the programme at Aurobindo Bhawan as it was the place where for the first time outside Bangladesh their national flag was hoisted, as the new government had its base in Kolkata.

The priovisional government of Bangladesh was established on 10 April 1971 in the town on Baidyanathtala in Meherpur, Kusthia, while Mujibur Rehman, Bangabandhu was not in Bangladesh. The day is celebrated as Mujib Nagar, when the first government of Bangladesh started functioning.

A seminar was organsied at Aurobindo Bhawan and journalists Manas Ghosh and Bhabesh Das who had witnessed the Liberation war narrated their experiences.

Zokey Ahad, deputy high commissioner of Bangaldesh also spoke on the event. SM Ali, high commissioner of Bangaldesh also narrated how important was Aurobindo Bhawan during the independence of Bangladesh.

Even a photo-exhibition was also held at ICCR where 180 plus pictures of the Liberation War and that of Mujibur Rehman were also displayed.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / Debashish Konar / TNN / April 19th, 2016

Quality education comes to town

Education

Narayana Schools, Asia’s largest group of educational institutions, opened its new branch in Siliguri on Monday.

The branch at 3rd Mile, Sevoke Road, will be another feather in the Narayana crown, school officials said, as Inspector General of the BSF, Kamal Nayan Choubey, formally declared the school open by lighting the traditional lamp.

Also present on the occasion were Deputy Commandant, BSF, Priya Darshi, Senior DGM of Narayana Schools, Anil Saxena, Dean of Narayana Schools Ajay Kumar Saha, social activist and advocate GS Hora, and a host of other dignitaries.

Another guest at the event, Senior Vice-President (Operations) of The Statesman newspaper, KK Choudhary, was not able to make it due to unavoidable circumstances.

He, however, sent a message that was read out to the gathering there. Thanking the organisers for inviting him, Choudhary, in his message, assured the Narayana Group of his “whole-hearted cooperation and moral support in your noble endeavour.”

Senior DGM, Saxena, said Narayana Schools does not want its students to leave the schools with only the certificates in hand. “We want our students to become engineers, doctors, chartered accountants, and IAS and IPS officers etc, but most of all we want them to be good human beings and good professionals,” Saxena said.

“Narayana Schools is known for career-oriented teaching and outstanding performance in competitive examinations,” Principal, Narayana Schools, Siliguri, Rajiv Ghosh Roy, told the august gathering.

Later, Ghosh Roy told journalists that the group has 549 schools across India, and that 2600 students have enrolled in the Siliguri branch of the CBSE school from the nursery class onwards so far.

“The school boasts infrastructure like other school in the region, with all the modern facilities and equipment required for imparting valuebased education to our students,” he said.

He added that the students in the school include those from far flung areas in north Bengal and neighbouring states, and also as far as Bangladesh.

Asked how he plans to go ahead as there are already so many private English medium schools in the region and as the competition is tough, Ghosh Roy said: “We go by loving and respecting all other schools and education institutions around us. While we have recruited some local teachers, most of the teachers are from outside north Bengal.”

Meanwhile, addressing the occasion, Choubey said education was his primary passion, “the thing that I love the most.”

“I look at education in a much larger context, on a much bigger platform,” he said. “As the nation decides to build itself as a powerful country, a country that is respected and hounoured by other nations in the globe … education is going to be the single most important factor,” he said.

Speaking of his meeting once with noble laureate Amartya Sen, Choubey said: “I asked him what is one thing India should do to develop it at a pace that it comes out of the tag of developing nation or a third world country, and his answer was very simple. He said ‘primary and secondary education.’” “If you are able to give quality primary and secondary education, India has every reason to cheer in the next two-three decades,” he said, quoting Amartya Sen.

He also complimented Narayana Schools, “the pioneers in the field of modern education,” for coming to Siliguri.

source: http://www.thestatesman.com / The Statesman / Home> Bengal / SNS – Siliguri / April 19th, 2016

Indian Museum reserved collection on show, April 19–30

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

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Chess pieces from Mohenjodaro made of terracotta, a Tibetan stirrup, dashavatar cards from Bengal, playing cards from Rajasthan made of leather, and toys made of terracotta will be on display at the Indian Museum during the World Heritage Week starting April 19, in connection with World Heritage Day, which falls on April 18.

The theme for this year as decided by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) is, ‘The Heritage of Sport’.

“The chief purpose of celebrating World Heritage Week is to increase awareness and to encourage the people about the preservation and safety of the cultural heritage and monuments of the country,” said Sayan Bhattacharya, education officer of the Indian Museum.

“Made with materials like bones, snail-skins, marbles and terracotta, these pieces tell us the history of prosperity of a country, which is embedded in the success story of sports and entertainment,” said Tanuja Ghosh, senior guide lecturer of Zoology at the museum.

The stirrup, brought down from Tibet, is made of iron, ingrained with gold damacine (works from Damascus) work whereas the chess pieces made of stone and terracotta, are from the Indus Valley civilization. The dashavatar playing cards made of cloth and paper are from West Bengal.

Now-a-days, cricket having almost gobbled up every other sport, regional sporting traditions are being lost. “Games like pittu, danguli (gilli danda), daria bantha which were very famous while we grew up, have hardly been even heard of by today’s generations,” said Jayanta Sengupta, director of Indian Museum.

On this occasion, a lecture-cum demonstration will also be organised by the museum authorities, where “Visitors will get to know how these regional games were once played,” said Sengupta.

The exhibition will kick off on 18 April through an internal lighting ceremony. “As the museum remains closed on Mondays, the exhibition will be open to the public only from Tuesday and continue till 30 April,” said education officer Bhattacharya.

Present only in the history pages, these artefacts are being brought out from Indian Museum’s reserved collection, and have been selected from the Art, Anthropology and Archaeology section of the museum.

World Heritage Day is globally celebrated every year on 18 April to raise public awareness about the diverse cultural heritage of mankind; about the efforts that are required to protect and conserve it; and to draw attention to its vulnerability.

source: http://www.thestatesman.com / The Statesman / Home> Bengal / by Shreyosi Chakraborty, SNS / Kolkata – April 17th, 2016

Hand that tightens cycle nuts also writes poetry

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features
Kashi Nath Naskar reads a Tagore poem in his CK Market shop. Picture by Shubham Paul
Kashi Nath Naskar reads a Tagore poem in his CK Market shop. Picture by Shubham Paul

Kobida’s shop?” That’s the response you will get from anyone in CK Market if you ask for directions to the local cycle repair shop.

An ageing man sits at the edge of the market all smeared in grease, tightening the bolts of a cycle. He answers to the name “Kobi” too. It’s neither his name nor surname but a title he has earned.

“My real name is Kashi Nath Naskar but since I’m always talking poetry everyone calls me Kobi (poet),” smiles the man. Naskar breathes poetry. He knows most poems in Tagore’s Gitanjali and Naibedya by heart and quotes British Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Urdu poet Daagh Dehlvi with equal felicity. And all this while oiling cycles.

Of fishing net and black robe
Naskar is the first graduate in his family. “…in my village,” he corrects. He was born in Mahisbathan, behind what is now Sector V, in 1948. His mother was unlettered, his father had studied till Class III or IV and he has four brothers. “We are fisherfolk and milkmen but I loved studying and completed my B.Com from Maharaja Srish Chandra College, Shyambazar,” he says.

It was in college that Naskar borrowed Gitanjali from an acquaintance and fell in love with it. “Since then, I started reading whatever I could lay my hands on. I also started writing poetry.”

Naskar wanted to study law thereafter or join the West Bengal Civil Service but couldn’t afford the courses. “The rich people in our village wanted to pull me down as I was getting more educated than them. They lobbied against my family and made it difficult for us to sell our products. For the next 15 or so years, I tried to form a co-operative of us poor fishermen and fight the rich in court. It didn’t work out. I had to give up my dream of working in an office,” says Naskar, his bespectacled eyes blinking away tears. “I was almost suicidal at that point but poetry kept me alive,” he says, beginning to recite Tagore’s Kothay Alo but getting interrupted by a customer walking in with a punctured tyre.

Wherever he did the rounds for government paperwork, he discovered libraries — at Writers’ Buildings, Commercial Library in Dalhousie Square, National Library in Alipore, Asiatic Society library… “We could barely afford food those days so there was no question of buying books. It is at libraries that I got to read the entire works of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and many works of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Sunil Ganguly. My favourite novel is Tagore’s Shesher Kobita.

Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay’s Saptapadi was also great but not its film version,” he says.

Part of a poem, titled Sathi, by Naskar.
Part of a poem, titled Sathi, by Naskar.

Wrench to Gitanjali
In the 80s, Naskar helped his brother start the sweet shop Panchanan Mistanna Bhander, that still stands in CK Market. His cycle repair shop came up a few years later.

“In the beginning, I was a fish out of water,” he recalls. “Wrenches were thrust into hands that only knew how to hold the pen. I had to learn everything from my employees.”

Even today a pocket-sized Gitanjali and Naibedya find pride of place amid his nuts and bolts. “I read them when I get tired of working,” he smiles. He knows the poems by heart.

Naskar writes poetry too. “My favourite subjects are god and peace although I also adapt Tagore’s poems such as Sathi and Duhswapna,” he says. “But since I work all day there’s not much time or energy to write these days,” says the 68-year-old.

Many of Naskar’s original writings got lost when he was shifting home a few years back but he’s not upset. “Dil gaya, tum ne liya/ Hum kya kare/ Jane wali cheez/ Ka gham kya kare,” he says, quoting a couplet by Urdu poet Daag Dehalvi.

Naskar got married some 25 years back and though his wife isn’t into poetry, his daughter is. “I don’t force it on her. She has done her graduation in geography and is studying animation now,” says the proud father.

His poetry books amid his repair kit. (Shubham Paul)
His poetry books amid his repair kit. (Shubham Paul)

Everyman’s poet
Naskar’s reputation has spread far and wide and residents come to chat with him about poetry or hear him recite.

“My husband Arnab and I come to CK Market for tea after our evening walk,” says Seemanti Dutta of AN Block in Sector V. “But truth be told, the tea is just an excuse to hear Kobida recite. He knows even long poems like Tagore’s Borsho Shesh by heart!”

Chittaranjan Bera, of Karunamoyee G Block, appreciates Naskar so much that he bought him the copies of Gitanjali and Naibedya that are his most prized possessions today. “I am a retired librarian from Konnogor College, so I encourage anyone who loves books,” he smiles. “His interest and talent are both extraordinary.”

Govinda Chatterjee of AL Block believes it is from poetry that Naskar draws his energy. “I am so impressed with Kobi that I had even invited him to come recite at our block’s Holi programme but he could not make it,” he says.

Not everyone admires Naskar’s talent. “Sometimes people get annoyed with my recitation and ask me to stop,” Naskar confesses.

“The other day someone said Tagore was overrated and that he was a bourgeois poet. I got livid and defended him. Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth, Byron are all great. I myself count Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner among my favourites,” he says taking a moment to recite the famous “Water, water, everywhere” line from the poem. “But have any of these poets been as prolific as Tagore? Have any of them contributed as much to literature?”

If he could, Naskar says he would read and write poetry all day. “But I have to work,” he says. “If you are a poet at heart then no matter what profession circumstances force you to choose, the poet in you will emerge.”

What is your message for Naskar? Write to saltlake@abpmail.com

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> Salt Lake> Story / Brinda Sarkar / April 15th, 2016

Former Woman Cricketer Dies in Road Accident

Sports

Kolkata :

Former Bengal batswoman Chandravati Pal died in a road accident today, according to Cricket Association of Bengal.

Chandravati, 40, was on her way to Calcutta Parsi Club where she was coaching when the accident took place near Red Road this morning, a CAB official said.

“She was riding pillion on a two-wheeler when she was hit by a bus from behind near the Red Road. She was taken to hospital in a critical condition and passed away around 9 am,” the CAB official said.

“It’s really unfortunate, I had met her at the CAB a couple of days ago. She was always smiling and never got into an argument,” he added.

A top-order right hand batswoman, Chandravati represented Bengal for 15 years and also played for East Zone several times.

She coached Combined District Team for two years and currently was coaching Howrah District under the ageis of CAB.

“We convey our solace to the bereaved family and pray for eternal peace to her departed soul,” CAB stated in a condolence message.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cricket> News / by PTI / April 16th, 2016

‘Poila Baisakh’ becomes major culinary event for Kolkata foodies

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
Bengali communities enjoying their New Year (Poila Baisakh) through 'Suryanamaskar' . ( TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)
Bengali communities enjoying their New Year (Poila Baisakh) through ‘Suryanamaskar’ . ( TOI photo: Anindya Chattopadhyay)

Kolkata :

As poll-bound Kolkata took a break on Thursday to celebrate Poila Baisakh, the Bengali new year, stand alone eateries and restaurants of major hotels rolled out new dishes to greet the Bengali gourmet.

Typical Bengali veg and non-veg items were served in some restaurants while lip-smacking street foods took centre stage in some.

‘Sonargaon’ of Taj Bengal rolled out specialities of the region like topse fish fry, kosha mangsho, echorer kaliya, shukto, radha bolobi, kacha aam er chutney.

‘The Junction’ of the same hotel introduced a specially crafted menu drawing heavily from street food items machher chop, mangshor chop, mochar chop to postor boda, a Taj Bengal spokesperson told PTI.

Joining two provinces of different frontiers, the Park Plaza introduced ‘Kapurthala to Kolkata’ culinary journey where ‘Macchi Amritsari’, Masala Aloo Dum, Sarson Ka Saag will complement Chingri Malai curry, Kadai Chicken and Doi Potol, Executive Chef Jayanta Banerjee said.

General Manager Avneesh K Mathur said the culinary route, reflecting the nature of both Punjabis and Bengalis to celebrate life, can be explored from April 13 to April 23.

At the speciality Saptapadi Restaurant, themed on Bengal’s evergreen matinee idol couple Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen, fusion is the buzz word with typical Bengali items like Mochar tarkari has been given a Latin American spin in ‘Tex Mex Nachos With Refried Mocha’.

Similarly, there is ‘Ranga Aloo, Karai Suti, Mangshor Pie’ (A Scottish dish made with Bengal mutton and sweet potato served with garlic bread and house salad), ‘Baked Dab Chingri Alaska’ and ‘Ilish Steak’, are also there.

Its chef and co-owner Ranjan Biswas said, “Timeless songs from Uttam-Suchitra films were played in the background when food is served on earthenware cutlery.”

‘Durbari’ and ‘Caf Swiss’ of the Swiss tel offered an array of mouth watering Bengali dishes even for overseas guests .

The ‘Bengali Food Festival’ offers a lavish spread of Gaach pathar chop (Crumb fried jackfruit patty), Agune pora parshe (Parshe fish marinated with freshly ground spices and cooked in tandoor), Posto diye potoler dolma (Stuffed sweet gourd cooked in spicy poppy seed gravy) etc, Subhrajit Bardhan, General Manager of the Swiss tel Kolkata Neotia Vista said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / PTI / April 14th, 2016

Bengal: Now, a wax statue of Michael Jackson in Rajarhat

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion
Visitors to Mother’s Wax Museum in New Town will be able to see a statue of pop icon Michael Jackson. (EPA/Representative Photo)
Visitors to Mother’s Wax Museum in New Town will be able to see a statue of pop icon Michael Jackson. (EPA/Representative Photo)

After seeing statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Maradona, Ramkrishna Paramhansa, Mother Teresa, Amitabh Bachchan and many others, visitors to Mother’s Wax Museum in New Town will be able to see a statue of pop icon Michael Jackson.

In addition, they will also be able to see statues of various Hollywood stars like Angelina Jolie, who is a familiar face in India. These would become possible after the museum undergoes an expansion.

Hidco authorities have decided to add 12,000 square feet to the existing museum. The tender process is over and work has already begun. If things go as per planned, then the phase II of the museum will be completed and commissioned in six months from now.

The existing wax museum is also spread across 12,000 square feet and is located on the sixth floor of the Finance Centre building which is located opposite Eco Park.

The phase 2 of the museum will be located a floor below the existing museum. After expansion, the museum will have a total area of 24,000 square feet. Besides Hollywood stars, the expanded museum will have a place dedicated to statues of well-known personalities of the West.

In addition, the new museum will also have a children’s zone, a fun area, Limca Book of Records and light zones.

“The construction work began on Monday. We will have a lot of surprises for children in the zone,” Debashis Sen, chairman of Hidco, said.

“Not everything in the children zone will be made of wax,” he said. The chairman did not want to disclose names of other Hollywood stars whose statues would feature in the Limca Book of records zone.

The museum was inaugurated by chief minister Mamata Banerjee on November 10, 2014. Since then, the museum has recorded a two lakh footfall till date.

The country’s first wax museum, it has statues of famous personalities on the lines of Madame Tussauds wax museum in London. The museum gained immense popularity along with the Eco Park.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Kolkata / by Saptarshi Banerjee, Hindustan Times,Kolkata / March 25th, 2016

Oldest NGO finds a new home after a century

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

Kolkata:

After 100 years, the Bengal Home Industries Association has finally moved into its own home.

Founded in 1916 by a group of intellectuals to give a boost to the swadeshi movement, the association had to run around from one rented place to another all these years. Touted as the country’s first NGO to promote Bengal’s handloom and handicraft, the association has bought its own outlet and reinvented itself to be in tune with the changing times.

The swanky outlet off Rashbehari Avenue is now ready to compete with other pan-India brands that promote handloom and handicraft. The focus has changed too: items for sale have been designed as lifestyle products to attract the urban cli entele. There is no shift from the basic theme of promoting village products, only that they are more stylish now.

In 1914, Rabindranath Tagore’s nephew, a prominent master of the Bengal school himself, Gaganendranath Tagore and his brother, Aba nindranath Tagore, along with some friends like Burdwan Maharaja Bijoy Chandra Mahtab and the royal family of Coochbehar, formed the association as a symbol of swadeshi. The idea behind forming the Bengal Home Industries Association was that it was not enough to just reject foreign goods but to also encourage our own weavers and craftsmen to make indigenous products. The association’s job was two-pronged: to network among village craftsmen and collect and sell their products.

The artist duo of Gaganendranath Tagore and Abanindranath Tagore added value and novelty to the products, making them a hit even with the elite clientele.

One such patron was Carmichael Duck. The story goes that Lady Carmichael -wife of the then Bengal Governor -who was close to members of the association, asked Gaganendranath to create some interesting designs that could be used on blocks. “Gagan Tagore created a motif of a duck created out of a simple geometric pattern.The design became popular overnight and was used widely for block printing on scarves, stoles and sarees,” said Nandini Mahtab, the “queen” of the Burdwan royal family and a member of the association.

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The Bengal Home Industries Association has tied up with Banglanatak.com, a revivalist organization that is working on indigenous tangible and intangible art forms in Bengal. It is helping the association to use art forms, such as `patachitra’, on textiles to make lifestyle products like cushion covers, throws, runners and even tshirts and trousers.

The association was famous for items like its Portuguese cutwork and shadow work and a unique weave called Roshanara, which is created by mixing rayon and cotton yarn. “We have once again trained our artisans in these arts. While the Portuguese cutwork in home linen is available in our new store, Roshanara will make its entry any day now,” Mahtab added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Jhimli Mukherjee / April 11th, 2016

US scholar on tea trail to dig up treasure trove

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Education, NRI's / PIO's, World Opinion

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Kolkata:

A research on the treasure trove of tea in India has earned an associate professor of art history at Syracuse University, with roots in Kolkata, the prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship 2016.

Romita Ray is not oblivious to the crisis ailing the tea industry, but she is working to strike a balance between the desolation associated with the sector and the shining aspect of the golden brew. “These (starvation deaths at tea estates) are a reality of the industry, but one needs to balance the bleakness with identifying tea as a botanic exotic. After all, it’s a living history that continues to connect Kolkata and Britain even after so many years,” said the Loreto House alumna who migrated to the US many years ago.

Her unique research is set to culminate in a book, tentatively titled ‘From Two Leaves and a Bud: The Visual Cultures of Tea Consumption in Colonial and Modern India’.

This will be the second literary attempt by the Yale University scholar, who specializes in art and architecture of the British empire in India, her earlier work being ‘Under the Banyan Tree: Relocating the picturesque in British India’.

Her passion for the evergreen shrub seems to run in the family, her great grandfather, Tarini Prosad, being the founder chairman of the Indian Tea Planters’ Association in Jalpaiguri.

Her current project, funded by the exalting and year-long National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (NEH) 2016, will be her second literary attempt. NEH is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States, and highly competetive.

WhatsBrewingKOLKATA12apr2016

Ray now is set to deliver her first “tea talk” in Kolkata on Monday at Victoria Memorial Hall, when she is going to deliver a lecture on ‘Botanical treasure, ornamental wonder: Aestheticizing tea in Britain and Colonial Calcutta’.

She will focus on how Chinese tea, once a botanical novelty in the 18th-century Britain, crystalized into a paradigm of the “tea time”, a fashionable culinary ritual in the 21st century Britain.

“Calcutta’s (‘Kolkata’ doesn’t roll off Ray’s tongue so easily) connection with tea goes back to the 18th century when East India Company started the Canton tea trade,” said Ray, explaining why she had to be in Kolkata, away from her classes in the US, for her research.

“My book is about the visual cultures and landscapes… it is about consumption of tea in colonial and post-colonial India. It looks at the tea plant as an ornamental curiosity, the tea planter (British and Indian) as a pioneer figure whose portraits are rarely discussed, and the tea plantation as a multi-layered landscape of cultivation and leisure.”

The book will not be launched soon. “Academic books take a long time to research and write,” Ray said. The task involved extensive research at museums, archives, private collections, tea estates and libraries in the UK, India and Sri Lanka.

Being the epicentre of the Indian tea industry, Kolkata houses the Tea Research Association, Indian Tea Association and the Tea Board, along with auction house J Thomas, and even tea companies McLeod Russell and Goodricke are headquartered here.

This is where she will find the East India Company records.

“The Shibpur botanic garden is a mine of information,” said Ray, who has visited Assam, Darjeeling and the Dooars and intends to travel to south India as well as Sri Lanka.

She also intends to dig out family records with the help of multi-generations of tea families.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / April 10th, 2016