Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

Coming articles (in picture): 1. Significance of Ganga Sagar Mela 2. Rabindranath Tagore's house in North Bengal 3. Ancient oil paintings of Bengal -- A. B.

Beautiful Eden Garden of Kolkata, where held the annual flower fair. It is a nice place full of trees and flowers. A children's park is also there. The cricket stadium is beside it. -- A. B.

Glimpses of beautiful Flower Show of last year held at Eden Garden, Kolkata. -- A. B.

Detective Bomkesh Bokshi will again unravel the mystery, 'Chitrachor' this time. The investigation, I mean the story will say at the end, who would be the thief of picture. Abir Chatterjee is playing the role of Bomkesh and the others like Shashwata Chatterjee as Ajit, Ushashi as Satyabati . The director Anjan Dutta went this time to north Bengal with his team to shoot in jungle. The Bengali crime thriller movie is slated for release on 23 March 2012.-- A. B.

100 years ago, on this day, Mr Universe Manohar Aich was born in Bangladesh. Now he resides in Kolkata and became the pride of the city. He won the 1952 Mr Universe title and three-time Asian Games gold medal winner in body building. His chest measured 54 inches and waist only 23 inches. He is known also as 'Pocket Hercules' due to his short height. He is a happy person with his sons, daughters, students, admirers, friends and well-wishers. Manohar Aich - the pride of Kolkata is being felicitated today by the city for his marvellous centenary. -- A. B.

By the audition in 4 regions, 24 best selected will be screened and finally best 6 would be selected to take part in grand finale to be held in Kolkata in June. Aromatherapist Keya Sheth announced it in a press meet in Bangladesh. 24 competitors would be selected from the audition in Dhaka, Chitagong, Bogura and Khulna. The Bangladesh final would be held in the first half of April and 3 each from both Miss & Mrs category, would be selected to participate in the grand finale of Kolkata. This unique "sundari" competion is being held in both Bengal and Bangladesh by the supervision of Keya Sheth. For the final round, 32 competitors would be selected from the 16 districts of West Bengal. These 32 and other 6 from Bangladesh, would compete for the final round. Bangladesh witnessed 'Miss Bangladesh' and 'Miss Dhaka' till now, but, not only Miss, Mrs would compete also for the "best" crown - it was a dream for the Mrs of Bangladesh before

2 Ladies Special trams and buses introduced yesterday in the city. Ladies Special tram will run from Goriahat (7.25am, 9.30am) and from Nonapukur to B B D Bag. And the Ladies Special bus will run from Sealdah Stn. (9.45am) to Howrah Maidan. -- A. B.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation declared the house of Sister Nivedita, 16/A Bose Para Lane as heritage building last year and was decided to prepare an archive there with the memoirs of Sister. But the present owner of this house reluctant to sell the house and said, 16/A is not the house of Sister Nivedita, but she resided at house no. 16 and hence the project facing setback. We know that Sister Nivedita established a school for girls at house no. 16 and therefore 16/A also a part of house no. 16 where Sister Nivedita was resided. At present, condition of house no. 16/A is very grave as shown in the picture. It is under dilapidation. Therefore, it is high time to undertake the house and start the works of renovation as done by the Ramakrishna Mission in the case of Swami Vivekananda's paternal house in north Kolkata.-- A. B.

Aish's BetiB now named Aaradhya - which means worthy to worship. The house of BigB declared recently about the naming of new-born baby in the family. The Bachchan family love the traditional cultural heritage of India. And so, named the baby girl of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as 'Aaradhya' which is a Sanskrit word. -- A. B.

-- A. B.

I've seen the movie 'Kahaani' yesterday. The film grasped the spirit of Kolkata very well. One can feel the intensity of a metro city sitting anywhere in India through this cinema. Durga puja, gorgeous immersion of Ma Durga, Kumortuli, the Metro rail, morgue, lanes and by-lanes of the city, trams, taxi, corporate houses - blended well with the smart scenario. And the people of Kolkata - from the running-water carrier little Vishnu to corporate magnet, from cops to common men - all the perspectives depicted well in the film. Hence, Kolkata one of the hero of Kahaani. And another hero Vidya Balan.- She again proved her excellence of acting in the film. By the manner, she managed to roam within Kolkata, it seemed that her love affair with the city is a very old one. And the story is a crime thriller, loaded with suspense.- A. B.

To celebrate the 200 years of existence, Indian Museum would get a new look. It'll break the idea of traditional museum and would come with a more visitor-friendly outlook. The authority have some projects to be completed by the year 2013. One of the project is the entire renovation of the buildings. The other projects are: re-open the Harappa gallery with a new look to the visitors, recruitment of guides for the visitors, training programmes relating to the museum, organisation of seminars, re-run of Museum On Wheels, more security arrangements etc. A community named 'Friends Of Indian Museum' already opened on social networking site 'Facebook'. Programmes on quiz, chat etc will broadcast on FM Channel. The official website of Indian Museum will be updated. A 6-months crash course on 'Cultural Heritage & Museum Studies' will be run shortly. Graduates in any stream will be eligible to apply for this course. Course fee only Rs. 1000. No ag