Once upon a time, they were called Platform Children, street urchins of any age between 4-14 years, who live in hordes on the Howrah and Sealdah station platforms of Kolkata. Most of them are either sexually abused or forced into a beggar racket. Today, the
Saira Shah Halim is an educator and a civil and human rights activist who’s actively involved with causes such as gender equality, safeguarding secularism, democracy and women’s issues. She’s a proud Calcuttan and takes pride in everything Bengali There is something about Bengal that stands out
West Bengal Heritage Commission has finally taken up restoration of the famous Jalpaiguri Rajbari. Though Coochbehar Palace has been a popular tourist destination for ages, Jalpaiguri Palace has hardly ever been on the tourist map. But now with the Heritage Commission showing interest in the
Sunanda Bose is a social activist and has worked for decades on women education and rights. She also belongs to the erstwhile Taki Zamindar family Well, this is not the playground for East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, rather this is the buffer zone between Ghotis of
• How did it feel to get the Bengal’s Pride Award at the UK House of Commons? I feel completely humbled and quite pleasantly surprised by this recognition. Awards were never my forte. I was terrible at sports. I never put myself into music competitions that
Samarpan Maiti from Kolkata has made us proud, not just by winning the runners up at The Mr Gay World contest this year, but by his grit to face this society where LGBT community is still stigmatised. He speaks to Saheli Mitra. We wish him
PIYALI CHANDA My early memory of Patha Bhavan dates back to 1956, when I was admitted there as a regular student. What was so special about this place is not easy to define, but it was obviously different. A familiar scene at Santiniketan was this: a
Her father Shyamal Sengupta is from West Bengal. Though born in Glasgow, Anita Sengupta has always held to her roots in Bengal. She later migrated to USA and started working with NASA at the Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL). And now she has something to cherish
Here is a new virus on the block, just like the new movie in town. And yes, this time it is a deadly one. Nipah virus, that originated in Malaysia, has on and off caused scare in India too over the past few decades. Even
The name that strikes us the minute we speak about Chandraketugarh, is that of Gorai Gazi or Gorachand Pir. Hewas born in the city of Mecca in Arabia and his real name was Pir Hazrat Shah Syed Abbas Ali Gazi. He came to India to