Devi Durga’s idol did not change much in form for over two centuries. This form was quintessentially Bengali in nature, known as ‘Bangla Chaler Thakur.’ Due to constrictions of religious scriptures, even today, ‘Bonedi barir pujo’ or the elite class households of Bengal worship this
When a Covid-19 vaccine is discovered, will it be freely available and be affordable to all? Former resident of Lake Town, Sumi Biswas is confident that it will be possible to make it affordable. She would know. Professor Sumi Biswas, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and
Schools across the world have shut down due to COVID-19. Globally, over 1.2 billion children are out of the classroom. As a result, education has changed dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. But the lockdown situation
The first time I met Sharbari Dutta, she was busy organising an exhibition of her clothes, and didn't have much time for a rookie reporter with little or no idea of the Indian fashion scene. But matters subsequently improved to the point where she called
The 'travel-crazy Bengali' has long been a well established identity. So much so that tour guides in many parts of the country actually speak quite decent Bengali, simply because they cater to such a large number of tourists from our state. And at no time
Coronavirus was for the first time identified in 1960 as a cause of common cold. By now we all know it is an enveloped RNA virus, single-stranded with a pleomorphic or spherical shape having projections of glycoprotein. It has various subtypes such as alpha, beta,
He was a self-taught artist. Yet, he excelled in his art forms. Gaganendranath Tagore, Abanindranath’s brother, was one of the first modern painters of India, who brought in global art forms to Bengal. He was the first to learn Japanese brushwork from Kakuzo Okakura and
In Changing Visions, Lasting Images: Calcutta Through 300 years, Pratapaditya Pal mentions: ‘A type of art flourished in Calcutta, as nowhere else on the subcontinent, for almost as long as the city has existed. It is that of unfired clay sculpture, consisting primarily of representations
Often in our childhood, we heard of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar learning his lessons below the gaslights on the streets of Kolkata. So did many in British Calcutta as those gas lights were the only source of light at night. It was in 1879 when P.W.
As India celebrates the genius of Shakuntala Devi and her mathematical brain as a human computer through a new launched movie, many have probably forgotten the name of Subhankar Das, the Bengali mathematician who used to crack difficult mathematical problems orally. He has realized the