Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

Bengalee like delicious foods, especially on Poila Boishakh. So, various hotels and restaurants arranged attractive feast for Bengalee. AUDH 1590: arranged special items for Nabo Barsho : raan biriyani, shahi paya biriyani, kima biriyani, shikari kel biriyani, mahi kofta biriyani, multani kanthal biriyani etc. And juicy pineapple raita would be there with any item of biriyani. Approx cost for 2: Rs. 1000/-. Park Pavilion: special items will be there for 3 days from today. Moglai, Bengali or Chinese, you can get any items here. And the special items are - Murshidabad mutton biriyani, mach paturi, murgi dum, chana mahima polao, ratna moog, mohini sorse, bhapa mach, begun malaikari, hot garlic veg, burnt garlic hakka noodles etc. Cost Rs 1200 for 2 persons. Vat extra. The Gateway: here you can grab food items of Bangladesh like misti kumro phul fry, begun bhorta, patol bhorta, enchor doi, mankachur malaikari, patoler dolma, shol mach er bhorta, macher matha salon, rui murighonto, tiger

Today is Poila Boishakh, the first day of 1421 - new Bengali year. Bengalee of West Bengal always love to celebrate the day with traditional joy, happiness, respect, fun and rituals. When the first light of the day about to break, the traders rush to Kalighat or Dakshineswar to worship goddess Kali with their red book (খেরোর খাতা) i.e. ledger book. Not only the traders, common people of Bengali community go to Kali temple in the morning. Till 1980, a musical function used to held on the morning of Nabo Barsho at Basusree cinema hall. Most of the renowned performers of Bengal like Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, Dwijen Mukhopadhyay, Arati Mukhopadhyay, Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, Pratima Bandyopadhyay, Shyamal Mitra even Uttam Kumar used to perform here. I never had an opportunity to present at that function, but, it was traditionally a very popular event for which Bengalee may feel pride. Various clubs and NGO's use to organise 'pravat pheri' with c

Today is Charak Puja on Chaitra sankranti - the last day of Bengali calendar year. On this occasion, Charak puja has been done this afternoon. Here are some pics in rural Bengal, where I was present and observed the joy of childrens too. -- A. B.

Nabo Barsho Boi Utsav or a book fair would be organised for the first time on the occasion of Bengali New Year 1421, by the Publishers & Booksellers Guild. The book fair (নববর্ষ বই উৎসব) will run from today for seven days (14 April-20 April, 2014). And the venue is College Square (Vidyasagar Udyan). The pavilions would be decorated as huts of Bengal. And not only books, - songs, adda, amusement, gift items, heritage yard, special discount offers would delight the heart of visitors. Today, at 5 pm, a huge rally would be there where the eminent persons of Bengal will participate. And the fair will be inaugurated at 6 pm today. The fair will remain open from 12 pm to 8 pm daily, from tomorrow, till 20 April, for all. -- A. B.

Bengali new year 1421 will start from 15 April, 2014. Hence, the idols of Lord Ganesha are preparing by the clay artists. On Poila Boishakh, the pujas of Lord Ganesha is a regular practice of traders. They also open new ledger (খেড়োর খাতা) on this day. So, this red book is also being prepared to fulfil the requirement of traders on Poila Boishakh. -- A. B.

According to some sociologist, Gajon is a strategy to remain intact the prejudices of aboriginals. So called people of higher class are the inventor of this strategy. Once upon a time the aboriginals used to perform their horrid customs like Baanfora (বাণফোড়া), Kantajhap (কাঁটাঝাপ) etc. Those customs are now being performed by the lower classes of the society. And by this way, the due honour is being paid to them by the people of higher class. The other section of sociologists opined that a very ancient rumour is behind this festival. The king of demons (the untouchables in modern sense) was Baan (বাণ রাজা). His daughter Usha fell in love in her dream with Aniruddha - the grandson of Lord Krishna. She sent her 'sakhi' Chitralekha to Dwarka to fetch Aniruddha. Then, Usha married him secretly. However, the news licked and the king captivated Aniruddha. But, being informed about it, Lord Krishna attacked the kingdom of Baan by the help of Balaram and defeated Baa

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6th April 2014 is the 84th birthday of Suchitra Sen. But, for the first time we're missing her. -- A. B.

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It is very sad that there are no good photos of Ajoy Kar to use. He was under oblivion for decades. Nandan and Tapan Sinha Foundation have arranged Ajoy Kar film festival from 8-10 April, 2014 to mark his birth centenary on 27 March, 2014. Ajoy Kar had started his film career as a cameraman for Shrimati Pictures of Kanan Devi-Haridas Bhattacharya. After a few years, he started to direct films with pseudo name Sabyasachi. And the films were 'Ananya' 'Bamuner Meye' and 'Mejdidi'. After that, he went to south India as a cinematographer. As Ajoy Kar his first direction was the film 'Jighangsa'. Then, Ajoy Kar made several popular films like 'Bardidi' 'Paresh' 'Saptapadi' 'Harano Sur' 'Prabhater Rang' 'Saat Pake Bandha' 'Atal Jaler Ahoban' 'Kaach Kata Hire' 'Shuno Baronari' 'Datta' 'Malyadan' 'Noukadubi' 'Khelaghar' 'Saajghar' 'Gri

Photography & painting exhibition on Ladakh is going to be started from 25 March, 2014 at Birla Academy Of Art & Culture for 6 days. And if you want to decorate your walls with the natural beauty of Ladakh, then you can buy here the photos and paintings. And it would be for a good cause, - a portion of selling money will be deposited for CINI (Child In Need Institute). -- A. B.

Bankim Utsav is being observed at Sharat Sadan of Howrah from 24-26 March, 2014 by various programmes to mark the 175 year's birth anniversary of the author of 'Vandemataram' - Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Seminar, recitation, dance drama, songs, musical programme and event based on 'Anandamath' would be presented on this occasion. It may be mentioned here that, Bankim Chandra resided here in Howrah for several years as Collector and Magistrate for three times. Not only that, he wrote so many novels in Howrah. He created the famous lines of the poem 'Vandemataram' - "bahute tumi ma shakti / hridaye tumi ma bhakti / tomari pratima gori mandire mandire" inspired by the idol of 'hazar haat ' (thousand handed Kali) of Baje Shibpur. This information has also written on the wall of this temple. -- A. B.

90 years old K. G. Subramaniyan - one of the Indian pioneer of modern art. He is from Viswa-Bharati and recipient of Padma Shree, Kalidas Samman, Padma Bhushan and Padma Bibhushan. And a precious event will be initiated at Jorasanko Thakurbari on 23 March, 2014. Exhibition of Subramaniyan's paintings will be there with combination of Padma Bhushan Girija Devi's semi-classical songs. Saakshi Gallery and Seagull Art Foundation jointly organised the painting exhibition of K. G. Subramaniyan. And Ahiritola-Sutanuti Heritage Trust is the organiser of Girija Devi's function. This joint event at Jorasanko Thakurbari is very significant in the context of rich heritage of music and paintings of Thakurbari, - Jadubhatta, Radhika Prasad Goswami, Swami Vivekananda came here to perform songs. And Abanindranath, Gaganendranath and Rabindranath used to draw paintings here at Thakurbari. -- A. B.

Indo-German classic silent film of 1929 - 'A Throw Of Dice' made by Franz Osten-Himansu Rai will be screened this evening at 5:30 pm in Science City Mini Auditorium. But the special feature of this special show is the live music. The film is based on a story of two kings who want to marry princess Sunita. Two young composers - Gourav Malakar and Suryakant Sahani will conduct the orchestra live during the show. This programme has been organised by New Delhi based 'Blot'. The live music would be a unique experience of analogue electronica - fusion music. -- A. B.

Sudder Street - always colourful, lively and full of fun. Many kinds of people reside here, come here daily for various purposes. And just for this reason, Sudder Street is totally different from any other streets of Kolkata. Rabindranath Tagore once resided here. He wrote the poem "Nirjharer Swapnabhanga" here. A young batch of Jadavpur University will come here to bring more colours, life and fun on 22 March, 2014 at 5 pm. Various colours and modes would be adopted here by them to paint the old walls and pavements of Sudder Street - pastels, water colour, wax etc will be used to bring more life in this old street of Kolkata. Not only colours, songs and music will fill the blanks. Saxophone, guitar, flute, drums, dupki etc will accompany the singers. 'Aabra ca Dabra ' will bring a totally different evening in the routine of Sudder Street. -- A. B.

7-day long programme and exhibition 'Excellence On Tour' will be held in Science City auditorium of Kolkata. It will be started from 22 March, 2014. All the good works being done all over the world on this century's ultra-modern technological researches, will be exhibited in this programme. The works in this field by Jadavpur University, Indian Association For Cultivation Of Science, and Indian Institute Of Chemical Biology will also be exhibited here. Several German Organisations would be presented here to pick young & promising scientists of Bengal as well as of the country in general. The best scientist according to them would be invited to work in Germany. This 'Excellence On Tour' exhibition was already held in Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. -- A. B.

One Way Cafe in the city of Kolkata near Maidan is a new addition in the list of coffee shop. But it is not merely a coffee shop - it is more than that. You can sit here after the morning walk at Maidan and take your first coffee. Then, you can take breakfast here with special tea, and starters like Flat & Furious Potato, Chili-Cheese paupers, Fried Ginger Chicken strips or with Prawn Tempura. Not only that, you can take the day's main course here by delicious veg or non-veg dishes. You can get veg thalis like Mushroom & Broccoli Skewers, Cottage Cheese Steak, Layered Stuffed Paratha and non-veg dishes like Stuffed Chicken Breast, Grilled Bhetki, Shredded Mutton, Chicken In Red Thai Curry etc. After the lunch, you can take soft drinks. Special Coffee Lounge, Banquet and Conference Hall are also here for a small party or official meeting. One can take his or her breakfast here by spending only Rs150-200 and for the main course, you have to pay only Rs. 225-300. -- A.

UNESCO has declared 21 March as the World Puppetry Day with a view to create awareness among masses regarding the negligence and excellence of this ancient art form. 3-day long puppet show will be held from 19-21 March, 2014 at Tapan Theatre of south Kolkata. Courtesy: Dhumketu Puppet Theatre. 10 teams of Puppetry like Tal Betal, Dana, Rang Taal would be participated in the show. -- A. B.

I visited a rural fair held on the occasion of Dol utsav in Bengal last evening. -- A. B.