All of us at some point in our lives have been mad about that Fountain Pen! Call it nostalgia, call it aristocracy, or just a royal, colonial hangover. Even for millennial kids today, fountain pens though obsolete, have a special collective value for sure. It
Kolkata Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra has been chosen as one of two recipients of the Anirudh Bhargava-INTACH Environmental Award. Instituted in memory of his son Anirudh by Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) life member Dr Raniit Bhargava, the award is conferred
Subrata Mitra | Photo by Sanjeet Chowdhury Subrata Mitra may have been one of Indian cinema’s most talented cinematographers, but the recognition he deserved came late in his life. And now, his ancestral home at 70, Sarat Bose Road will be granted heritage status as announced
Diptarka Ghosh is a research scholar in Zoology and a passionate environmentalist West Bengal might be a small state in size, but it is home to about 12.27% of the Indian biodiversity that is known till date. According to the State of Forest Report, 2019, West
Metcalf Hall With apologies for the hiatus between our last edition and this, we return to our walkabout of Kolkata’s oldest quarters. As promised last time, our walk this week will take us around the Esplanade area, and will be the last of our short walks.
Dhamrai Rath Yatra, Dhaka In a previous article, we had written about the grand Rath Yatra at Mahesh in Hooghly district’s Serampore area. Now in its 625th year, the festival in Mahesh is India’s second oldest Rath Yatra after Puri. Bengal is home to many more
It was 1942, the year that defined the fate of an impoverished Calcutta, with the notorious Bengal Famine of 1943 looming large amidst the ravages of World War II. It was during this time that American soldiers landed in Calcutta. But the Great American Dream
Why are Bengali actors rushing to Bollywood? This question is rhetorical. No one is really sure, including the actors in question, whether they are 'rushing' to Bollywood or not. Because they are doing very well in their home state and are rooted in the home
The majestic downpour of monsoons from the middle of June is a welcome relief from the sultry, humid summers of Bengal. The host of problems that the rainy season heralds including waterlogged streets, leaking roofs and diseases are nothing compared to the Bengalis’ zest for
In the autumn of 1872, Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay launched a magazine which was to create a new epoch in the history of Bengali literature and nationalism. He called the magazine ‘Bangadarshan’, and in the autumn of 1875, it featured his new novel titled ‘Radharani’, apparently based