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...
My grandfather , Indreswar Chakravarty, was a very learned man, though he had the opportunity to study only up to matriculation level. He was a scholar in Sanskrit language and always gave time to interpret and analyze ancient Sanskrit scriptures. He wrote articles regularly and published one book too in late years. He had a perfect sense of reasoning and a logical mind. He used to tell me that he had had numerous paranormal experiences and he tried to explain or justify or negate everyone of them. But, some of them remained as they were. Here is one of them. One fine morning my grandfather was reading a book in the sitting room. On being called by his name he looked up towards the doorway. A very well dressed strikingly handsome young man was standing there and asking for a glass of water. Failing to recognize him Grandpa requested him to sit and turned to the sideways table to pour a glass of water. In a moment he faced the young man with the glass ready. The young man had vanished....