Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

Today is 12th January - 163rd Birthday of Swami Vivekananda. Swamiji was born in Simla area of North Kolkata at his ancestral home, but later in his youth he used to spend most of his days in his maternal house at Ramtanu Bose Lane of North Kolkata . Swamiji loved to stay in the room of 1st floor of this house (as shown in this picture) and used it as his study room.

Sunil Gangopadhyay  was born on 7 September, 1934. His poems I like very much. An innocent statement prevails his poems and that is the essence I like. Neera is the woman for whom he had written so many poems - although imaginary one this 'Neera'. Below, one of his famous poem I like, 'Suddenly for Nira.' .    হঠাৎ নীরার জন্য বাস স্টপে দেখা হলো তিন মিনিট, অথচ তোমায় কাল                                    স্বপ্নে বহুক্ষণ দেখেছি ছুরির মতো বিঁধে থাকতে সিন্ধুপারে–দিকচিহ্নহীন – বাহান্ন তীর্থের মতো এক শরীর, হাওয়ার ভিতরে তোমাকে দেখছি কাল স্বপ্নে, নীরা, ওষধি স্বপ্নের নীল দুঃসময়ে। দক্ষিণ সমুদ্রদ্বারে গিয়েছিলে কবে, কার সঙ্গে? তুমি আজই কি ফিরেছো? স্বপ্নের সমুদ্র সে কী ভয়ংকর, ঢেউহীন, শব্দহীন, যেন তিনদিন পরেই আত্মঘাতী হবে, হারানো আঙটির মতো দূরে তোমার দিগন্ত, দুই উরু ডুবে কোনো জুয়াড়ির সঙ্গিনীর মতো, অথচ একলা ছিলে, ঘোরতর স্বপ্নের ভিতরে তুমি একা। এক বছর ঘুমোবো না, স্বপ্নে দেখে কপালের ঘাম ...

Ramendra Sundar Tribedi was born on 22 August, 1864 at Kandi of Murshidabad district in West Bengal.  Ramendra was a successful student from his childhood. After obtaining his B.Sc. degree (coming first in the exams), he competed for the prestigious Premchand Roychand Scholarship with physics and chemistry as his subjects. He won that scholarship in 1888. Ramendra Sundar was a polymath who wrote on a host of themes, including popular science and the philosophy of science. His first articles appeared in the periodical 'Navajiban'. His contribution to the functioning and development of the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad is considered to be momentous. His writings have been used in school and college textbooks in West Bengal and Bangladesh. In Bengal, Ramendra Sundar's fame rests mostly on his popular science essays. As a popular science writer, Ramendra's commitment seems to have been "to share with everyone else the fun, the delight and ecstasy of science (in Ramen...

Swami Vivekananda's Birthday: Sovabazar Rajbari: At 2pm Swamiji's birthday and in memory of Chicago speech a programme presented by Shankha Ghosh, Srijata, Joy Goswami, Shankar etc. Organiser - Ritabak. Ramkrishna Mission (Golpark): Swami Vivekananda Music Festival (9am-8:15pm). Misc. - Baguiati Sports Council: Exotic bird exhibition (2pm-7pm) upto 14th January'18. Pithe-Puli Utsav (পিঠে-পুলি উৎসব): At Rajdanga Maath, organised by Rajdanga Club Samannay (রাজডাঙ্গা ক্লাব সমন্বয়) upto 16th January'18.

             Today is the 151st birthday of Sister Nivedita who dedicated her life for India. Actually, she was an Irish lady named Margaret Noble. Swami Vivekananda asked her to go to Kolkata for the progress of Indian women. She was a teacher of a renowned school of London. And was raising funds for the education of poor people of India. At that time, Swamiji told her to leave London for India. Then she was just 31 year's old lady.                We don't exactly know how much money she had at the time of boarding on Mombasa ship in London, but can anticipate that, Miss Henrietta Muller was the contributer of money who contributed money to Swamiji to purchase land for establishment of Belur Math. But Swamiji was not agreed with the special dependence of Margaret on Muller.                Swamiji wrote to Margaret from Almora in a letter on 29th July, 1898 t...

On 157th birthday of Rabindranath Tagore, upasana (prayer) was performed this morning in Upasana Griha (কাঁচঘর) of Shantiniketan-Bolpur.

On 157th birthday of Rabindranath Tagore, songs, poems & writings of the poet are being performed at the yard of Jorasanko Thakur Bari now. The artist: Swapna Ghoshal

87th birth anniversary of Mahanayak Uttam Kumar would be celebrated on 3 September 2012 by Shilpi Sansad at Rabindra Sadan. The function will start at 5 pm. Tickets: 150, 100, 80, 60 and will be available at hall from today (12-7). Eminent singers, artists of Tollywood will perform at the programme to pay homage to the matinee idol of Bengalee . -- A. B.

27 August is the birthday of legendary singer Mukesh. The city of Kolkata observed the day with several functions throughout the day. Mukesh Lovers Association will organise a musical programme at Rotary Sadan of Kolkata on 2 September in which, Srikanta Acharya and Saikat Mitra will sing popular hit songs of Mukesh there. In this context, it is to be noted that, 29 August is the death anniversary of this legendary singer of all time. -- A. B.

The 'samadhi sthal' of Mother Teresa in the city was filled with homage, respects, pranams and love by her admirers. -- A. B.

25 Boishakh, 8 May 2012 - 152 birthday of poet Rabindranath Tagore. Kolkata, the city of joy will observe the birth centenary of the great poet with traditional reverence, happiness and enthusiasm. The main event on this day would be performed in the open stage at Rabindra Sadan from 2pm-10pm. Eminent singers of the city will sing Rabindra Sangeet : Dwijen Mukhopadhyay, Purba Dam, Mohan Singh, Swapan Gupta, Swapna Ghoshal, Abhirup Guhathakurata, Purabi Mukhopadhyay, Ajoy Chakraborty, Hoimanti Shukla, Pubali Debnath, Dr. Chitralekha Chowdhury, Pramita Mullick, Srikanta Acharya, Swagatalaksmi Dasgupta, Shraboni Sen, Raghab Chattopadhyay, Shantanu Roy Chowdhury, Rajashri Bhattacharya, Ustad Rashid Khan, Nachiketa, Rezwana Chowdhury Banya, Jayati Chakraborty, Indrani Sen, Indraneel Sen, Lopamudra Mitra, Anjan Dutta and Sriradha Bandyopadhyay. Recitation: Pradip Ghosh, Shaonli Mitra, Pranati Thakur and Satinath Mukhopadhyay. Dance-drama: Balmiki Pratibha (direction: Alakananda...

Rabindranath Tagore was felicitated at Town Hall for the win of his Nobel prize by Kolkata Corporation, and now they're celebrating the 152 birthday of Tagore at Town Hall. The 4-day long musical programme inaugurated this afternoon where various artists of Bengal will perform Rabindra Sangeet and will recite Tagore's poems. The cultural programmes will run 5-8 May at 3pm and the only venue is Town Hall of Kolkata.--- A. B.

Today is the 40th birthday of Sachin Tendulkar. The city of joy Kolkata also celebrating Little Master's birthday with much enthusiasm. The paintings of Sachin displaying on Park Street. It's a token of love by a fan and well-wisher of Sachin. The fans of Kolkata also demanded on his happy birthday alongwith all the fans: 1. Tennis Elbow should be named 'Tendulkar's Elbow'. 2. ABC Corporation's box no. 9994 in respect of Don Bradman's 99.94 average; so, to honour Sachin's 100th 100, the AIR Post Box No. should be 100-100. 3. The 'boiling point' of water 100 degree centigrade in thermometer should be replaced by 'Tendulkars Point' in respect of make boiling 100 crore hearts by him. -- A. B.

Today is the birthday of Suchitra Sen - the one and only romantic heroine of Bangla cinema, who was born in the year 1931 and reigned for 25 years (1953-1978) on the silver screen and now resides in Kolkata. -- A. B.

In the year 1824 on this day, the great poet of nineteenth century Bengal - Michael Madhusudan Dutt was born at the village Sagardari in Jessore district of British India. His education was started by the inspiration of his mother. Two years after his learning at Khidirpur school in Kolkata, he admitted to Hindu College. At the college, his classmate were Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, Rajendralal Mitra, Rajnarayan Basu etc. At that time his poems were published on various newspapers and periodicals. The poet cherished a dream to go to London and Europe since childhood. So he adopted christianity and became known as Michael M Dutt. Then he admitted to Bishops College and learnt Greek, Latin, Sanskrit languages. Later the poet stayed in Madras (Chennai) as a teacher at the school of Madras Male Orphan Asylum. At that time, he was known as journalist and poet. He edited the paper 'Hindu Patriot The poet used blank verse in Bengali for the first time. The poet wrote his own epit...

Today is the 118 birthday of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay - the eminent writer of Bengal who was born at a rural village, but a major part of his life spent in Kolkata. He is my most favourite novelist and short story writer. Khelat Ch Ghosh Memorial Committee will observe his birthday in Kolkata today. Another popular writer Buddhadeb Guha will preside over the function and will discuss about Bandyopadhyay's literature and life. Later, 'Bibhuti Samman' prize in this field will be delivered to the writer Sanjeeb Chattopadhyay and vocalist Amiya Ranjan Bandyopadhyay. Bibhutibhushan was the writer of common people. So, common people will also get scope to speak about the unforgettable writer - Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. If you like, by clicking the title link, you can read the Wikipedia about the writer, to know more. -- A. B.

When the world's eye placed on Mathura-Brindaban, the place where Shri Krishna spent his playful childhood and lovely adolescence periods, remained neglected. After the birth of Shri Krishna, his father Vasudev brought him at the house of Nanda and left him under his custody. But when Shri Krishna's maternal uncle Kansha send the female demon 'Putana' to kill Shri Krishna, Nanda feared and left his own house with family to save the life of Shri Krishna. About 90 kms away from home, he took shelter at a place surrounded by forests and hills. Nanda and a few of his neighbours constructed houses there and used to live. Later, the place was named 'Nandgaon'. Shri Krishna spent his entire childhood there playing with other cowboys. About 7 kms away, there are a village named 'Barsana' where Shri Radha was lived. Adolescent Shri Krishna used to meet Shri Radha at Barsana. And thus, their love affair developed. There are still the house of Nanda, th...

Kolkata - the city of joy also celebrating the birthday of Lord Krishna with traditional devotion and enthusiasm. It is the day to renew the love and mutual faith within friendship of mankind. -- A. B.

A vendor at Maidan in Kolkata observing the birthday of poet Rabindranath Tagore on 9th May. -- A. B.