Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

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This is the small room (maternity room) where not only Rabindranath but his father Debendranath and many other members of their family were born. After birth, the new born baby and mother used to lie on this zone of red floor for 21 days.The room witnessed many visitors yesterday on the occasion of Tagore's 154th birthday. -- A. B.

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Yesterday, 25 Boisakh, on the occasion of poet Rabindranath Tagore's 154th birthday, visitors came from far & near to see the exhibition on Rabindranath and his family at Bichitra Bhavan of Jorasanko Thakurbari. -- A. B.

Visitors at Jorasanko Thakurbari garlanded the statue of Rabindranath on the ground to pay homage on the occasion of 154th birthday of our great poet. -- A. B.

Today is the 154th birthday of Rabindranath Tagore. So, the Jorasanko Thakurbari was full of visitors to pay homage to the immortal soul of the great poet. Since early morning, hundreds of thousands of visitors from Kolkata and adjacent districts came to the ancestral house of Rabindranath. Lot of people visited the Nat Mandir keeping off their shoes and took rest in the Nat Mandir. -- A. B.

Today is 25 Boisakh, 154th birthday of Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore. The musical programme as usual held at the campus of Jorasanko Thakurbari this morning. -- A. B.

Kolkata - the city of joy will celebrate the birthday of Rabindranath Tagore. A unique function would be held on 8 May, 2014 in the house of Chatu babu Latu babu on Beadon Street. Book publisher 'Sutradhar' and Sutanuti Boi Mela Committee will jointly organise this cultural programme named 'Record-e Rabindra Sangeet'. The function will start at 6:30 pm. At the first part, Tapobrata Ghosh - the famous author will share his experience of listening Rabindra Sangeet. On the second part, Sushanta Chattopadhyay - the famous record-collector will play old records of Rabindra Sangeet. He will play records of 1905 to 1950 from his collection. The listeners can hear the songs recorded by Rabindranath himself. And the records of Hapy Singh, Amulya Charan Mitra would also be the pleasure of listeners there. A book named "Rabindra Sanniddhye" by Raichand Boral would be given to the audience there on behalf of 'Sutradhar'. Rabindra Bharati University will organise

During the making period of 'Apu Trilogy', Satyajit Ray intended to make a documentary on Ravi Shankar - the mmusic director of his first film 'Pather Panchali'. So, he made around 120 sketches of that documentary during the recess period of shooting. But the dream never fulfilled. A book named "Satyajit Ray's Ravi Shankar - An Unfilmed Visual Script" would be published on 2 May, 2014 on the occasion of Ray's 94th birthday. The book comprised of story board and outstanding interview of Satyajit Ray & Ravi Shankar - face to face. The book was edited by Sandip Roy - son of Satyajit Ray. Actor Nasiruddin Shah will formally publish the book at 6 pm in Satyajit Ray Auditorium of ICCR. Then, he'll deliver Satyajit Ray Memorial Speech. Actor Dhritiman Chatterjee will initiate the function. At the end, two documentary films of Satyajit Ray would be screened. The organisers of this function are Society For The Preservation Of Satyajit Ray A

Today is the 95th birthday of legendary singer Manna Dey. Unfortunately, he died in last October. But, he will remain with us forever by his immortal songs. Now, ABP Ananda is paying homage to Manna Dey on his birthday by a repeat telecast of live function of the singer held 5 years ago. And the last interview of Manna Dey at Bengaluru would be telecasted at 7 pm on ABP Ananda today.-- A. B.

It was the last part of 60s when a gentleman made a feature film 'Sara Aakash' in Bollywood. He was Basu Chatterjee - the filmmaker for the common man, of the middle class. The hopes, happiness, joy, sorrow, aspirations, achievements of salaried middle class depicted Basuda in his films and the common cinegoers identified with them. His heroes were most ordinary in the story and the heroines were next-door-girls. Basuda made so many successful films became popular and it was not so easy to make such films at that time of heroism. A unique and imaginative exhibition on Basu Chatterjee was inaugurated by Basuda himself on 26 April, 2014 in Kolkata named 'Basu Chatterjee - A Manzil Of Memories'. The posters of his films, publicity booklet, still of his films and TV serials, DVD, Lobby Cards, 2 hand-written manuscripts and print of his various films on ceramic tiles would be exhibited there. Moreover, 16 LP records of his film songs will also be exhibited th

Since Tuesday, heat wave is reigning in the city Kolkata for the 3rd consecutive day as the maximum temperature is 5 degrees above normal. 41 degrees C recordrd yesterday in the city which was the second highest after 19 April, 2009 (41.2 d C). 3 people died in the city due to heat wave yesterday. -- A. B.

Before the initiation of British Raj in India, along the west bank of river Hooghly, only within an area of 100 kms, Portuguese, Dutch, Dinemar, French, German merchants wanted to establish their trades. Their trades never been fruitful, but, the towns like Bandel, Hooghly, Chuchura, Chandanngar & Serampore still have the signs of their presence and cultural memories. The inception of Bangla printing and European education was held here. The work of writing history of this area had been initiated two historian - Suranjan Das and Basudeb Chattopadhyay. After the untimely demise of later one, this work completed by Suranjan Das recently. He is the VC of Calcutta University. The book named: Europe And The Hooghly : The European Settlements On The West Bank Of The River (K P Bagchi). The book has many rare photos of that period too. Andre Beteille, famous sociologist and writer of India, will publish the book on 24 April, 2014 at 3 pm in Calcutta University campus audito

Gulzar is my one of most favourite poet. And filmmaker too. When I was at high school, I used to listen the sweet songs penned by Gulzar - from "mora gora ang lei le" of 'Bandini' to "dil dhoondta hai" of 'Mausam'....... In 1975, when the film Mausam released, I rushed to the theatre to watch this national award winning film. I just at the 1st year then. The film was also with my favourite actors like Sanjeev Kumar, Sharmila Tagore and music director was Madan Mohan - my most favourite composer. Another point to admire Gulzar is that, he has love for Bengali literature. Classic writers like Rabindranath and Sharatchandra are his favourite. He made a film 'Khooshbo' based on the timeless classic of Sharatchandra - "Pandit Moshai". He made a very romantic film 'Izaazat' based on a classic of Subodh Ghosh - "Jatugriha". He had chosen Suchitra Sen for the role of political leader in the movie 'Aandh

College Square of central Kolkata is an ancient place famous for a swimming pool and Durga puja. It is situated on College Street, in front of Calcutta University. It is one of heritage of the city situated on College Street. Indian Coffee House, Hindu School, Sanskrit College, Presidency University, Medical College & Hospital are the other sites near College Square. So many boys and girls are the member of this swimming club practises regularly. -- A. B.

This evening I visited the book festival on the occasion of Bengali new year (বাংলা নববর্ষ). The venue is College Square, Kolkata. Bengali culture and traditional heritage are being depicted here by organising cultural function, show of palanquin, small boat, dheki, chorka, jata, bioscope etc. is an attempt to get familiar of ancient practices of rural household traditions. The books (mainly Bengali books) are the traditions of Bengali culture exhibited nicely by the publishers participated here. -- A. B.