Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

Poet Shakti Chattopadhyay was died on this day, in the year 1995 in Kolkata at the age of 61. He was one of the powerful and popular poet of Bengal, contemporary of Sunil Gangopadhyay.            Shakti Chattopadhyay was a bohemian poet. He loved to travel hills, forests and villages of Bengal with friends, and sometimes, alone.            He was born on 25 November, 1933 at Jaynagar of South 24-Parganas.              He was very strong in Bengali language. His poems are literally gems of Bengali literature. The admirer of Bengali poems can never forget his immortal poems - "Abani, Bari Achcho?" (অবনী বাড়ি আছো) and "Jete Pari, Kintu Keno Jabo" (যেতে পারি, কিন্তু কেন যাবো)             In my college life, in late 70s, I had a scope to listen his poems by the poet himself, when he physically attended a literary function at Sisir Mancha, Kolkata. It was an unforgettable experience.             Here are some poems of Shakti Chattopadhyay I love to recite:

R D Burman was born in Kolkata on 27 June, 1939. His full name is Rahul Dev Burman. He was the only son of great music composer and singer Sachin Dev Burman. R D Burman was known by his nick name Pancham. He was a ;      Since 1960 to 1990 he had composed so many super hit songs for Hindi film industry in Mumbai. He also sang and composed many Bengali songs both for Bengali films and basic records. Asha Bhosle will be remembered ever by the Bangla song lovers for her basic Bengali songs composed by her husband Pancham ;      Pancham da used to love music and songs since childhood. His parents encouraged him to learn various instruments and love songs. "Hai Apna Dil To Awara" - in this song by Hemant Kumar, R D B played the unforgettable mouth organ in so young ;       In his film career of about thirty years, Pancham da composed songs for 331 films. The Bollywood films will ever remember the outstanding contribution of Pancham da for his compositions - from

On this day, in the year 1836, Calcutta National Library was founded, but it was then Calcutta Public Library. On 30th January, 1903 it was named Calcutta Imperial Library and in independent India, it became National Library on 1 February, 1953.        The Imperial Library was formed in 1891 by combining several secretariat libraries especially of the then Home Department. In the year 1910, Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee was appointed as president of the Imperial Library Council and he donated his personal collection of 80,000 books to the library by arranging a separate section.       After independence, the government of India announced it as the National Library of India in the year 1953.       At present, there are 86,000 maps and 3,200 manuscripts in the library. Moreover, all the magazines and periodicals published in India in about 15 languages are regularly kept in this library.

Alka Yagnik was born in Kolkata, on this day, in the year 1966 in a Gujrati family. Her mother wanted to teach Alka singing. So, she started singing bhajans in Akashvani Kolkata at the age of six. At the age of 15 she sang that famous song "mere angne mein" in the film "Laawaris". But, Alka got big break in 1988 in the film "Tezaab" and the song was on the lips of Madhuri Dixit - "Ek Do Tin" which became an evergreen song.          In her career, Alka rendered innumerable songs in films and the duet songs with Kumar Sanu became most popular indeed. She also sang many songs with Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam.           She has sung 2486 hindi songs in 1114 films. She won many awards in her life for her songs. She admitted that her mother, Laxmikant Pyarelal and Kalyanji Anandji were her Gurus. Her inspiration is Lata Mangeshkar.

Shashi Kapoor was born on this day, in the year 1938, in Kolkata. He was the son of Raj Kapoor and made his career in Bollywood films. He had his first adult role in Yash Chopra's film Dharmputra (1961). After that, till mid eighties he played in 116 Hindi films, amongst them 61 as solo lead role, 55 in multi-starrer films, 21 as supporting actor and 7 films with special appearance. He was a very popular actor in 60s, 70s and till mid-eighties. His favourite actress was Nanda, with whom he acted in 8 films in 60s. Nanda also admitted him as her favourite actor. They played in the films 'Need Hamari Khwab Tumhare', 'Raja Saab', 'Jab Jab Phool Khile', 'Mohabbat Isko Kahete Hain', 'Rootha Na Karo' and a few more. Shashi Kapoor also played opposite several heroines like Babita, Asha Parekh, Mumtaz, Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman, Shabana Azmi, Raakhi, Sharmila Tagore, Mousumi Chatterjee, Neetu Singh, Parveen Babi. Sharmilee, Pyar Ka Mausam,

 In the year 1860 on this day, Jaladhar Sen was born in Kusthia district of now Bangladesh. He was a Bengali writer, poet, editor of mag's and paper's and also a traveler, philanthropist, educationist, social worker and litterateur. Jaladhar Sen was born in the Kumarkhali village of Nadia District (presently known as Kusthia district of Bangladesh) in a Dakshin-Rarhiya Kayastha  family. His family originally hailed from Deganga, North   24 Parganas of  present-day West Bengal, India.  His great-grandfather migrated to Kumarkhali to  work as a Diwan under the East India Company. They were known as "Degangar Sen" (Sens of Deganga).    He was conferred রায় বাহাদুর (Ray Bahadur) by the British government in 1929 for his contribution to Bengali literature and social reform. However, he never suppressed his inclination and support to the Indian patriotic movement. He was elected twice as the Vice President of the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad. In 1932 Jaladhar Sen was facilitat

 11 March 2021 - Shivaratri in Kolkata, we know already. But let me tell the particular time. Nishithkal or Night puja time is between 11:22 pm to 12:10 am on 11-12 March, 2021 (duration 48 mins.). And Shivaratri paran time is 5:48 am to 2:45 pm on 12th March. Chaturdashi tithi begins 2:39 pm on 11th March and ends 3:02 pm on 12th March. There are many old temples of Lord Shiva I mentioned here in this blog with pics of those temples with the title "Old Temples Of Lord Shiva In Kolkata". You may search here to view the temples with address and description. Now, I am telling you the religious significance and process of rituals regarding the observance of this Shivaratri puja below. One day before Shivaratri Vratam, most likely on Trayodashi, devotees should eat only one time. On Shivaratri day, after finishing morning rituals devotees should take Sankalp (संकल्प) to observe full day fast on Shivaratri and to take food next day. During Sankalp devotees pledge for self-determi

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Today I went to rural Bengal to watch the Saraswati Puja. I visited the Saraswati Puja mandaps and found them decorative  

 

 On 1st February in the year 1827, Bengal Club was founded in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Bengal Club Then: Bengal Club now: Epitomizing elegance and class, it is one of the social clubs in the world that outlasted its colonial founders and yet retained its majestic legacy- blending in modernity with tradition. Set up by a group of East India Company officials, the first president of Bengal Club was Lt Col J Finch. Military Secretary to Lord Combermere, Commander-in-Chief of the East India Company’s army and also the first Patron of the Club. His life-size portrait dating back to 1829, still adorns the Dining Hall wall. During those days membership was largely confined to senior military personnel and top administrators along with a few medical professionals. Only six merchants and heads or directors of banks find mention in the first roster with 141 names. The Club soon became the city’s favourite social club. The list of Presidents in the first 40 years includes some who’s who of British

  Sambad Prabhakar   was the brainchild of Ishwar Chandra Gupta. His patron was Jogendra Mohan Thakur of   Pathuriaghata . It began as a weekly newspaper launched on 28 January 1831 (16   Magh   1237BS).  As stated , Mr. Thakur was the backbone to this paper and his death caused the paper to close publication in 1832. In 1836, the newspaper was revived by Ishwar Chandra Gupta and appeared as a tri-weekly on August 10, 1836. The Thakurs of Pathurighata lent a helping hand to the paper again and in 1837 the  Sambad Prabhakar  became the first  Bengali language  daily on June 14, 1839. সংবাদ প্রভাকর ) was a  Bengali  daily newspaper founded by  Ishwar Chandra Gupta . It began as a weekly newspaper in 1831 and became a daily eight years later in 1839. It was the first Bengali daily newspaper.  Sambad Prabhakar  covered news on  India  and abroad and put forward its views on religion, politics, society, and literature. It was influential in the  Bengali Renaissance  and in building public s