Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

Rare species of medicinal plants are in Kolkata. Satyendranath Jana, a Bengalee of the city, resident of Behala's Bakultala Raidighi has created a unique garden of rare medicinal plants at his house. He has collected these plants from various countries. Amongst them are: Brahma Kamal (Night Queen - The Lotus Of God), Bishalyakarani (The all-healing plant of Ramayana), Biriyani plant (The Sarbamashla plant of Andaman which has the smell of biriyani), Payes plant (The Annagandha plant which has the smell of payes - the food of God), Chini-Tulsi or Stibia from Australia (the leaf of this plant is 180 times sweeter than sugar), Hing, Rudraksha, Insulin plant etc. This 'Panchajanya' garden of medicinal plant has wonderful plants such as Insulin plant. In Kerala, it is a practice to make use this plant for production of insulin.You can see here the Jaifol tree of Kashmir (the Jaifol tree on the yard of Indian Museum is a gift by Sri Jana). Most of the plants of his

Amar G Bose, the Indian-American visionary entrepreneur and acoustics pioneer, famous for making high-quality Bose audio systems and speakers for home users, auditoriums and automobiles, has died. He was 83. Bose's death was announced yesterday by his company Bose Corp's president, Bob Maresca, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Bose was on the faculty for more than 40 years. Bose died yesterday at his home in Wayland, Massachusetts. His death was confirmed by his son, Dr Vanu G Bose. "Dr Bose founded Bose Corporation almost 50 years ago with a set of guiding principles centred on research and innovation," Maresca was quoted by New York Times as saying in a statement. "That focus has never changed." Bose was born on November 2, 1929, in Philadelphia. His father, Noni Gopal Bose, was a Bengali freedom fighter who was studying physics at the Calcutta University when he was arrested and imprisoned for his opposition to British rule. Noni Gopal

Rath-Yatra is not only the custom of Puri, Mahesh or any big cities, it is the tradition of centuries that remain within the lifestyle of rural Bengal. I observed the Rath-Yatra of Nalikul, one of the oldest area of Hooghly district, where the main profession of common people is cultivation. And as usual they observe traditional festivals earnestly. Rath-Yatra is one of them. -- A. B.

Bird lovers are watching various birds at the Rath Mela of Moulali Ramlila Maidan, Kolkata now, as usual like every year. -- A. B.

Last Wednesday, on the auspicious occasion of Rath-Yatra, a century-old 'bonedi' family of Jorasanko, performed the 'kathamo pujo' of goddess Durga at home. The picture was published on a newspaper. -- A. B.

Yesterday, on the auspicious day of Rath-Yatra, I visited the 600 year's temple of Lord Jagannath at Mahesh. When I entered in the premises of said temple, the devotees were engaged there to worship Lord Jagannath, along with Subhadra and Balaram. It was around 2 pm. After the rituals, the idols were taken to the 3-storied Rath standing outside on the road around 3:30 pm. -- A. B.

Yesterday, I went to Mahesh, the ancient village of town Serampore in Hooghly district, to observe the holy festival of Lord Jagannath - Rath yatra - the biggest after Puri, and grabbed the colourful hues of its vividness and enthusiasm amongst people of not only locale but across Bengal. It was so crowded that you can't imagine. I liked the day very much in spite of excessive heat and humidity in the air. -- A. B.

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Director Srijit Mukherjee has done the muhurat of his new Bangla film "Jatismar" at Firingi Kalibari of Bowbazar area with puja or ritual on 2 July, Tuesday. Actor Prosenjit and Swastika also performed the worship . Actor star Prosenjit will perform the role of Anthony Firingi in the movie which was really a entertainer. Uttam Kumar played earlier the role of Anthony Firingi. The temple of Kali is about 500 year's old. And not only the rituals, the temple played a significant role in the scenario. -- A. B.

Most of the city had been waterlogged due to incessant rain since the night of last Saturday and so the Amherst Street witnessed boat yesterday as usual. -- A. B.

According to the writings of Sister Nivedita, Swami Vivekananda had immense respect for Lord Shiva. He always searched the inner sense of Lord Shiva within women. Lord Shiva is the foremost god of Hindus. For this reason, Kolkata has many temples of Shiva. It was almost customary that ancient rich and aristocrat families of the city must establish temples of Lord Shiva either in their houses or on the bank of river Ganga. In the year 1856, there were 24 temples of Lord Shiva and only 5 temples of goddess Kali in Kolkata. At Alambazar, beside the bathing ghat, a rich man named Baranasi Ghosh established 6 temples of Lord Shiva (pic no. 4) He built a big house at Jorasanko. It was then Baranasi Ghosh Street, but now it is known as Tarak Pramanik road. At 59/1B, Bagbazar Street, a temple of Lord Shiva, about 150 year's old, is there, which was made of 'atchala' style. In the year 1835, this temple was built by Dr Prasanna Kumar Mitra (pic no.

India's first AC tram will run from today in Kolkata. It is single coach tram. In the morning, the tram will run between Esplanade and Shyambazar via Dalhousie and between Chitpur and Esplanade via College Street from 7-9am as Heritage Tour. The same tram will run between Esplanade-Khidirpur-Esplanade via Maidan from 3-5pm, 5-7pm, 7-9pm as mobile cafeteria. Both of services will remain stopped on each Monday & Thursday. Booking: Rs 260/- per head including snacks. Booking counters are at Esplanade tram depot (IRCTC counters). 5% discount on group booking of 10 persons or more. -- A. B.