Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

It is the picture of one of the oldest building of Kolkata - Clive House, otherwise known as 'Barakothi', located at 91 Rastraguru Avenue, Dum Dum erected before the seizure of Kolkata by Siraj-ud-daullah. It was also known as 'Dum Dum House', once upon a time - a well built house, standing on an artificial mound, surrounded by a moat. The history and origin of the building is obscured yet it is presumed to be a Portuguese or Dutch factory or godown of cotton and saltpeter. It is also presumed that the building of the late Mughal period was sometimes owned by Nawab Alivardi Khan and his grandson Nawab Siraj-ud-daullah and later on passed to the hands of Lord Clive who used it as his country seat (1757-60). The present double-storyed brick built building with number of small windows and supporting buttresses looks like a small fort. It was originally single storyed and in subsequent period additions and alterations have been done and converted to be a dou

Mahanayak Uttam Kumar used various cars but his most favourite was Ambassador. WMC 8787 is the last used car of Uttam Kumar which is now lying neglected on the road in front of his house at Bhowanipur. He departed us more than 30 years ago, but not yet the car declared heritage. It is high time to preserve this white Ambassador and save the memories of Mahanayak. -- A. B.

Rabindranath Tagore at the Galerie Pigalle, Paris, 1930 -- A. B.

Romain Rolland and Rabindranath Tagore in Villeneuve, Switzerland in the year 1926. -- A. B.

Partial load-shedding at Salt Lake Stadium on the 85 min of play didn't snatch the joy and happiness among the supporters of Mohun Bagan - finally Bagan won the first Derby match of this year. And beat East Bengal after 19 months! But the total match never reached at the peak of standard play. Lack of quality, tendency to play on the mid field - not expected from the two teams. But referee Pratap Singh tackled the adverse situations well (4 yellow cards). And Mohun Bagan won the Derby Match by solitary goal of Odafa Okolie - hero of the day. -- A. B.

In the year 1838, on this day, Brahmbhabandhab Keshab Chandra Sen was born at Kolutola in Kolkata. He educated from Hindu Metropolitan and Hindu College. He had profound knowledge in various fields. He came in touch with Debendranath Tagore in 1857 and joined in Brahmo Samaj. He was an eloquent orator. He published periodical 'Indian Mirror' and 'Sunday Mirror'. He established 'Bama Bodhini' magazine and 'Brahmika Samaj' for girls. For the education of girls, he established 'Native Ladies Normal And Adult School' which was later named 'Victoria Institution'. He was the founder of 'Albert Hall' in Kolkata. -- A. B.

Tomorrow, 20 November - Derby match of the year. The two big football club of Kolkata will play the most prestigious, most gorgeous, most magnificent and most deadly match of i-league at the biggest stadium of Kolkata - Salt Lake Yuba Bharati Krirangan. Much enthusiasm created already with this match among the supporters - who will smile the last smile. I'm always the supporter of Mohun Bagan. And hope, with Barreto and Chhettri Opara - Bagan will win the match.-- A. B.

Rabindranath staged his play 'Dakghar' (The Post Office) at his own house in Kolkata and acted in the role of Fakir (on the right here).-- A. B.

Bid of a notebook with handwritings of Rabindranath Tagore full of songs and poems found in London will go for bid on 13 December in New York. Much enthusiasm expected amongst admirer of Tagore and so the bid may go upto 1.50 lakh US Dollar.-- A. B.

Whether science or poetry - Rabindranath used to take interests in both of them. Here the poet alongwith the great scientist Albert Einstein (up) and sharing some memorable moments with the famous Spanish poet Victoria Ocampo (down). -- A. B.

Presentation of a colourful cultural programme by the Tollywood stars - marked the closing ceremony of Kolkata Film Festival at Nandan a gorgeous entertaining evening. It was a tribute to the Bengalee stars of silver screen like Ashoke Kumar, Kanan Debi, Debaki Kumar Basu, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Mithun Chakraborty, Uttam Kumar etc. through dance and songs. A massive crowd of cine-goers of Kolkata enjoyed the weeklong film festival. -- A. B.

Rabindranath Tagore was also the director of his famous dance drama 'Notir Puja' and staged it several times. He directed it on the celluloid also. -- A. B.