When I first read the autobiography of Charlie Chaplin, I was a student of class VIII, yet his life had impacted me so much that when a personal tragedy struck me a few years later, I knew the truth behind the words he spoke ---
Buker bhitor hotey, futey otha biswase, banglar ghore ghore…. Brands survive on trust, and this truth overrides even trade wars across continents, making global brands survive in a competitive market. Shalimar Oils, the Bengali brand established in pre-independence India, probably had a hang of this
Loreto College We ended the previous edition of our walk at Russell Street, which leaves us free this week to continue down Park Street and turn right parallel to Russell Street, on to a street still known as Middleton Row after Sir Samuel Middleton, president of
Part 2: Jugalkishore, the dashing feudal lord of Bengal who did not look like a Bengali Jugalkishore, the young, dashing feudal lord of Mymensingha was growing up into a fine young man under his uncle Krishnakishore’s tutelage and supervision. He was a remarkably intelligent boy who
East India House in London in 1800 Slavery. An ugly word to describe an ugly, despicable practise. Owing to what history has documented, most of us probably tend to equate the term ‘slave’ with the image of Africans working on huge American cotton plantations, and the
He is an electrical engineer, but he runs a decades-old paan shop in Kolkata, that is an icon by itself. But why did someone give up a career in Engineering and take up the reins of a paan shop? Well, Shyamal Dutta, the electrical engineer,
If Khela Hobe raised a storm in the poll circuit of Bengal, Kolkata Police and Trisys Foundation’s recently launched Cholo Kheli has broken all barriers to address the childhood needs of street children, something that is grossly neglected. This unique initiative has been launched to
We are in the midst of a cultural crisis. Soumitra Chattopadhyay, the lifeblood of our cultural milieu, left us after a relentless battle for survival. The steps of our cultural edifice are etched with gold, thanks to his cultural richness. Poetry, plays, essays, directing plays, acting
St Thomas’ Church, Middleton Row We ended last week at New Market, and if you have had your fill of shopping, we can now walk on through a most interesting part of the city. As Calcutta grew and evolved, this was part of the area which
Legendary singer Arati Mukherjee hails from the golden era of Bengali music, a genre that will always remain ensconced in the heart of Bengali audience. The popularity of a vast treasure-trove of evergreen numbers sung by legends like Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, Manna De, Shyamal