Kumartuli or Kumortuli is located in the northern part of the city of Kolkata . The locality is a traditional habitat of the potters for nearly three hundred years. The potters or the artisans or the artists settled here during the restructuring of the Kolkata colonial region by the British East India Company . Earning a livelihood by making earthen pots and utensils first they gradually shifted to the making of the idols of Gods and Goddesses for various festivals round the year. With increasing demand and quality of their creations over time the artisans became famous and Kumartuli came to be known as the hub of idol makers supplying thousands of idols, particularly of Goddess Durga , to whole of the state of West Bengal and to NRIs of around 90 countries across the globe. At least three months before Durga Puja , the biggest festival of West Bengal and one of the biggest across Eastern India, more than five hundred workshops come alive with hyper activity day and night. Fir...
If you are here in Goa Inox Festival campus with no managerial duties assigned you better enter into one of the theatres. Else you face the noise which you can still savour with lots and lots of beer glasses and other food delicacies. The Goan music bands are playing full blast, the mega monitors of a local cable channels are emitting noise in terms of pop, fashion, cuisine and a series of unending star interviews. There is no escape! Come out of the campus and you confront the carnival blazing just opposite on the banks of the Mandovi river. It's all fun no doubt, but if you are one of the film purists who want the typical film festival ambience then you are in troble. You also need tickets to enter theatres with proper seat numbers. You are alloted maximum of five tickets on your delegate or media card. The good old days of carefree enjoyment are gone. There is also tight securtiy all around which is of course the utmost necessity. Today being the first anniversary of 26/11 terro...