Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

It is the time for fun & frolic, it is the time of season's greetings, it is new year. The city Kolkata observed today the last sunset of the year 2012. Charlie Chaplin is entertaining the passers by, and amusement parks use to greet kids in disguise. The Chittaranjan Locomotive Works are all set to entertain kids by a 4 metre long steam engine, now obsolete. The train will run on each weekend at Deshbandhu Park, Chittaranjan. -- A. B.

They're renowned in their respective fields - literature, music, poetry, play, sports. They're veterans and lived in the city. But the year 2012 claimed their lives. They're: 1) Shailen Manna - the footballer 2) Joydeb Basu - the poet 3) Himanish Goswami - the writer & essayist 4) Chhabi Bandyopadhyay - the singer (kirtania) 5) Humayun Ahmed - the writer 6) Syed Mustafa Siraj - the writer 7) Sunil Gangopadhyay - the writer 8) Shanti Gopal - the 'jatra' actor 9) Mohit Chattopadhyay - the playwright 10) Pandit Manas Chakraborty - theke vocalist 11) Surya Chattopadhyay - the art director actor. -- A. B.

NYE at SPE - High on Rock Mon, Dec 31 8:00 PM Onwards @ Someplace Else , Park Street New Years Eve cannot get better than this! Someplace Else brings you The Saturday Night Blues band, amazing British pub ambience and rocking DJ music by retro expert DJ Austin! Phone : 40049000 Someplace Else Lower Ground Level, Park Street, Kolkata. -- A. B.

Mon, Dec 31 @ Nostradamus , Park Street Nostradamus Ground Floor, Park Street, Kolkata, Kolkata 39884422, 30619400 A. B.

Zoran Dukic (Croatia) Live In Concert Sun, Dec 30 8:00 PM Onwards @ Satyajit Ray Auditorium , Ho Chi Minh Sarani Bickram Ghosh and Siddha presents Zoran Dukic (Croatia) live in concert. Tickets : Rs. 200 to 500 Satyajit Ray Auditorium Ho Chi Minh Sarani, Kolkata, Kolkata 22872680 -- A. B.

Pic Courtesy: Ei Samay -- A. B.

Pic courtesy: Ei Samay -- A. B.

The chilled winter is reigning with all its severed elements in the city alongwith Bengal. The minimum temperature today in the city is 10 degree Celsius. It is the lowest of this season. The pic above is the winter night view or Kolkata. -- A. B.

Lectures, seminars and cultural programmes, aimed at propagating Swami Vivekananda's message across the country to mark his 150th birth anniversary celebrations, will be launched by the Vivekananda Kendra here from Jan 12. The year-long celebrations end Jan 12, 2014. "Swami Vivekananda said 'Rise, Awake and Stop not till the goal is reached'. We all know this but to introduce his enlightened words to the masses in a fresh manner, we are launching the campaign," said Swami Purnatmananda, secretary, Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Vivekananda's Ancestral House and Cultural Centre, Kolkata. The programmes that begins on the Swami's 150th birth anniversary Jan 12, 2013 will see participation by youngsters across the country at the state as well as district level in discussions, lectures, contests and processions, said organisers. "There will be programmes involving village people to disseminate his teachings. In February there will be a...

With camel rides on artificially-created sand dunes, folk music and dance, traditional food, a children's carnival and a host of other attractions, a eight-day Rajasthani Mela 'Aapno Gaaon' is set to enthrall revellers here till Dec 31. 'Aapno Gaaon', inaugurated Dec 24, aims to bring the vibrant Rajasthani culture to the fore and connect the youth to their heritage. "The youngsters are more into partying these days in clubs and discos. This has been a cause of concern among us and it resulted in the creation of a unique idea called "Aapno Gaaon" (which means our own village) where everyone can come together and bask in the festivities which celebrate our rich culture and tradition," said Pradeep Agarwal, convenor of Salt Lake Lok Sanskriti, the organisers The highlights of the fest at the sprawling grounds of Nicco Park in the satellite township of Salt Lake, will include 'Chokhi Dhaani', or kitchen of the fair, ...

Kolkata remained wide-awake since Monday night, with its famous shops and fine dining restaurants decorated with Christmas trees, models of Santa Claus, colourful ribbons and lights. Baking cakes from good bakeries is another tradition among the Christians over here. Most of the city hotels and restaurants have included in their menu sumptuous turkey dishes and delicious cakes, while the iconic bakeries like Nahoum's and the famed tearoom Flury's too have lined up a wide variety of their wares. People visited their relatives, exchanged greetings and gifts, while children and youngsters organised picnics and community feasts. Amid tight security, Kolkata put on its Christmas robe Tuesday to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with midnight masses, cakes, cookies, candles and carols. The celebrations embraced both Christians and non- Christians, with the winter chill adding to the merriment and a spirit of wanderlust that saw huge footfalls at the...

Today is the coldest day of the season as the minimum temperature recorded at Alipore is 11.5 degree Celsius. Cold wave is reigning across Bengal and the minimum temperature of rural Bengal is 6 degree Celsius. -- A. B.

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Indian Museum in Kolkata. Despite chilled weather, crowd preferred to visit the 200 years old museum on this Sunday of cloudy winter. -- A. B.

On this cloudy cold day, the vendor of Santa caps looking for prospective buyers on Park Street. -- A. B.

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The Israeli singers performed folk songs yesterday in south Kolkata at international festival of folk culture. -- A. B.

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar passes away yesterday in America. The pic here is from the album of his last concert at Netaji Indoor Stadium of Kolkata on 7 February, 2009. -- A. B.

Kolkata is the only city of India where the live story writing show would be held from 10 December to 18 December ar Park Street Metro station. Ar present, this kind of live show had happened only in 5 countries of the world. But why the Metro rail station? It is the plan of a German playwright. And the motif is to exchange cultural opinions between India and Germany. So, they decided to take the opportunity of popularity of Metro rail in Kolkata. The Metro rail authority has informed that 4 writers will write about the experiences of commuters of Metro rail, their harassment of buying tickets, sudden disruptions of train service, suicide on Metro, lovers alone at Metro platform... etc etc. Two writers in Bengali and two writers in English will write the stories from 11 am to 1:30 pm and then from 2:30 pm to 5 pm. When the writers will write the stories, cameras will show it live on giant screens at the platform. The whole programme will be organised by German embassy ...

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Original scenario of Satyajit Ray's first feature film 'Pather Panchali' reportedly missing from Cinematheque Francaise - one of the largest film archive of the world, situated in Paris. And the most pathetic part or this news is that it has no duplicate and the script is missing for the last ten years. Recently a German film-maker enquired about the script in Paris to make a documentary on Ray. And then the archive authority informed her formally that the script is missing. It was the only document making of the film, but not a proper script, only the water colour images of the shots were there which also the vital part of making the film. Satyajit Ray was also eager to see again the document before his death. But the archive authority didn't fulfill his desire. It assumed that the document is missing since then. The film was released in the year 1955. And it bagged the best human document award next year at Cannes film festival. After that award the archive authority...

Sandip Roy's new film 'Jekhane Bhuter Bhoy' - the ghost story comprises three stories, one by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay and the other two by Satyajit Ray. The movie will release on 21 December. -- A. B.

8 new footbridges with moving stairs and 5 underground parkomat would be constructed in the city to speed up the movements of cars. The new footbridges will be constructed at Esplanade East (in front of K C Das), Dorina Crossing, Lalbazar, Moulali More, M G Road-College Street More, M G Road-Central Avenue crossing, Central Avenue-B B Ganguly Street connector, Central Avenue-Ganesh Avenue crossing. Parkomats will he constructed at Shraddhananda Park, Hazra Park, Ganja Park, Trikon Park. The fifth site would be decided later. - - The plus point of these projects : all the footbridges would have escalators for the benefit of aged and handicapped. A. B.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni testing the pitch of Eden Garden where the cricket test match between England and India would he played from tomorrow. -- A. B.

Bright performance of Mighty Trio In Drums by the direction of George Ellis in the city, organised by KMDA. -- A. B.

Preparation of Handicraft Fair at Milan Mela of the city. -- A. B.

Captain Cook of England cricket team was playing with orphan students at Ballygunge of the city on Saturday. -- A. B.

'Udaan 2012' - the event of flying kites was organised yesterday in the city to encourage the habit of flying kites. -- A. B.

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