13, Cornwallis Street Though Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, great grandfather of Satyajit Ray and one of the prolific children’s authors of Bengal was born in Mymensingh district, he was educated in Calcutta. While in his graduation days from Presidency College in 1884, he possibly joined the Sadharon
In our childhood days we often heard of family members working for the well-known multi-national company Andrew Yule. But who was Andrew Yule? He was the son of a small-town draper in Scotland. In 1863, he arrived in Calcutta as an agent representing several British
The Boys’ Own Library and Young Men’s Institute — a library over a century old, is now on the verge of shutting down. Once founded by three young men with a vision to create a dedicated reading space in the heart of Kolkata, this iconic institution has
Turning up the volume of the song, Mantu continues his hair-trimming work. His one hand is engaged with the scissors, and the other one is busy with a decade-old comb. When the comb was used for the first time, Ashoka the Great was ruling India.
Indranil Halder is an entrepreneur living in Australia who is enthusiastic about preserving the heritage of Bengal As traders across the globe learnt about the wealth of Indian produces, specifically Bengal textile, they sailed down Bay of Bengal for trade. So came Robert Clive (1725-1774), who
Mistletoe & Wine… If you happen to groove to this Christmas number, dancing away at some posh Kolkata club, then singing sensation Cliff Richard must be reigning your hearts. But while enjoying that Christmas spirit, little did you know that our heart-throb once upon a
If tourists have always romanticized the divine ghats of Varanasi, there are those who have turned a blind eye to the ghats of Kolkata. They are steeped in history as much as the ghats of Varanasi, built by various zamindars centuries ago as private bathing
Long before the internet personalized entertainment into solitary corners of mobile screens and binge-watch sessions came to Bengali households, Sunday evenings used to share a collective ritual every week in the living room…sitting with everyone in the family with tea and pakora and a flickering
Remember the days when people put a one-rupee coin in a box to communicate with their loved ones from a public phone booth? And the time was so limited that the caller had to keep an extra coin beforehand to continue the conversation further. The era
Master da! A name that evokes one of the most daring revolutionary act in British India and highlights anytime the might of the Bengali freedom fighters. So, when a street in Kolkata is named after Masterda of Chittagong Armoury Raid, one wonders, there must be