Balmy winter mornings in Kolkata are not just about the smog enveloping the city’s lungs around Maidan, but also about exciting walking tours, considering the mild cool winters that set in around Kolkata. And then the fiery Christmas laced with the nostalgia of a British
…Kato biplobi bondhur rokte ranga/ Bondi shalar oi shekol bhanga/ Tara ki phiribe aaj su-probhate/ Jato torun arun gyachhe ostacholay/ Muktiro mondiro sopano tolay/ Kato pran holo bolidan/ Lekha ache ashrujoley… (The shackles in the prison cells are stained and broken with the blood of
Did you ever have Sali Marghi -- tender chicken wrapped in fiery masala and topped off with shredded fried potato? Sali Marghi is an age-old recipe that has been a traditional one in Parsi households. Or, perhaps, Patra Ni Machcchi? Does this sound familiar? The
April 13, 1919 was a watershed moment in the nation’s history when the tyranny of the British imperialists was exposed. British troops butchered at least 379 unarmed demonstrators meeting at the Jallianwala Bagh. Described as “the darkest stain on British rule in India” and as
This dates back to the time when the missionaries were active in Bengal in the education sector and was also spreading Christianity. Babus of Kolkata held several meetings to find a suitable solution under the leadership of Radhakanta Deb, the head of the Kayastha community
The July 1843 edition of the now defunct ‘Calcutta Journal of Natural History’, edited by John Mclelland of the Bengal Medical Service and Asiatic Society, contained an interesting paper by a now unknown author, titled ‘Proposal to form a Zoological Garden in Calcutta’. Citing the example
Representative Image IGiven Calcutta’s status as the ‘second city of the British Empire’, it should come as no surprise that it became a target for Japan at the height of World War II (1939-45). A paranoid British-Indian government clearly believed very strongly in the possibility of
In the decade of 2000-2010s very few science students of Kolkata missed the experience of watching the towering statue of a T-Rex greeting them enroute to India’s largest science museum, the Science City. As Science City touches 25 years of a fascinating journey which started
“None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try.” – Mark Twain In this fast-paced world where everything is transient and innovations keep replacing older models, there are people who hate to sever their ties with
Some would say this was long overdue. On June 12, the Lalit Great Eastern Hotel received a Culinary Heritage Award from the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). These awards have been instituted to “create and enhance awareness of heritage in general,