Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, 12 January declared as the 'Yuba Diwas' or Youth Day. On this day, at 6:31am, with the call of siren, the auspicious moment of Swamiji's birth will be marked. Later, at 8am, two rallies will start, one from Goal Park, and another rally from College Square. And overall programmes of various youth activities, public services, cultural functions will be organised across Bengal. -- A. B.

The Chief Minister of West Bengal just unveiled a bronze statue of 'Bharat Pathik' Swami Vivekananda at Dakshineswar Temple to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Swamiji, who was very much concerned with Dakshineswar Temple. -- A. B.

Now the second Derby match being played at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata between the ever rivals of the city of joy - East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan. East Bengal played without any concrete plan during first half. On the other hand, Mohun Bagan played very well, without giving East Bengal any scope to score. The first goal by Odafa was good, but Sandip Nandy was responsible for the goal also. The best goal of first half was by Manish Bharguv - a fantastic header. -- A. B.

Gangasagar Mela of the year 2012 will start on 13 January and will run upto 15 January on Sagar Island. Already about 50 thousand pilgrims arrived on the island. All the arrangements are made to run the mela smoothly. The holy dip will perform from the dawn of 14 January for 24 hours. The pilgrims shall worship the Kapil muni also at the temple on the island. -- A. B.

Bollywood's item girl Rakhi Sawant now in the city of joy to act in 'Om Shanti' - new Bengali film directed by Shatabdi Roy. Yesterday, she was on the set with the director to dance with the song "Rakhi, toke kothai raakhi". -- A. B.

Primary work of beautification of the riverbank from Armenian Ghat to Bajekadamtala now nearing completion, This part will be opened to public on 26 January. A blue print already prepared to decorate the parks and roads of Kolkata. The railings of parks will be painted with blue and white colours. Season flower trees will be planted inside the parks. Various species of fruit trees will also be planted to attract birds. Roads will be provided shady trees and pavements will be flooded at night by LED lamps. Deviders of the roads will be decorated with beautiful bushes. Mobile vat on pavements will also be provided. At first, beautification work of 19 roads and 657 garden parks of the city will be completed within next month.-- A. B.

Zubeen Garg of 'Ya Ali' fame live at Vintage & Classic Car Rally 2012 at Eastern Command Sports Stadium, Kolkata on Sunday 8 January 2012 10am onwards.-- A. B.

Eminent American philosopher Martha Nussbaum recommended 'The Essential Tagore' as the best book of the year 2011. The 800 pages book is the largest anthology of Tagore's literary collections translated in English by a group of eminent translators of India and Bangladesh. The US edition of the book published by Harvard and south-asian edition by Visva-Bharati. -- A. B.

'Shibalik' - the house at the riverbank of Khardaha, near Kolkata going under river Ganges (Ganga) as it is very old house where Rabindranath stayed four times. The poet used to like the light coldness during winter here and stayed in this house from the year 1932 and in total, he stayed here for 54 days. During this period, the poet wrote poem-letters like 'Har' 'Kalo Ghora' 'Maranmata' 'Marichika' 'Ratrirupini' 'Yatra' 'Pasarini' 'Godhuli' 'Aprakash' 'Puspacharini' 'Bhiru' and many more. Later, these poems placed in the collection of poems 'Bichitra' and 'Bithika'. He wrote the last part of 'Malancha' also in this house. Now, the residents of Khardaha alongwith numerous admirers of Rabindranath want the administration shall take concrete steps to conserve the heritage house in memory of Rabindranath Tagore.-- A. B.

If you want to fly to reach Shantiniketan or Mandarmoni, Sagar Island within half-n-hour, helicopters of Behala Flying Club are ready to offer a ride in exchange of a nominal fare. If you only want to watch the city from above, the copter also ready to give you the opportunity. Hence, the joy ride must be a new feather in the cap of the city. -- A. B.

The artists of Kolkata will sit at Dharmatala on 10 January 2012 at noon in protest of exhibitions of fake paintings of Rabindranath Tagore in the city of joy. -- A. B.

The city of joy will walk for the kids of Anurup & Sagarika on 9 January 2012 from Rabindra Sadan to Rabindra Sarobar. Abhigyan & Aishyarja - two kids of less than three years old now under the custody of an organisation in Norway. But the couple of Bengal want to get back their children. So, Kolkata decided to support their parents and will walk to protest it. -- A. B.