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Showing posts from December, 2014

Special Feature!

Kumartuli—The Workshop Of The God Makers In Kolkata! And Durga Puja!

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...

Indian Cricket: A Tale Of The Tails That Nails MS Dhoni!

When Team India loses half of its batsmen in a particular test match it is always all over. The Indian tail never manages to wag—meaning the tail-enders invariably fail to take the score on leading to a batting collapse and more often than not surrendering the match from a possible winning position. And when Team India manages to grab half of the opposition batsmen in a particular test match it only gives the charge back to the opposition thus more often than not surrendering the match. When these two lethal syndromes combine there is always a largely one-sided verdict against India. These ‘tail’-oriented maladies are responsible for most of the away defeats and six consecutive Test Series losses abroad suffered by India since 2011 including two white washes at the hands of England and Australia. This is responsible for the most successful ever Indian cricket captain to finally step down from Test cricket. A captain who gave India No.1 position in ICC’s Test rankings in 2009 for the f...

Travel: From Shillong With Khublei!

From Shillong Peak Shillong---a city of the North Eastern India we have grown up with. Because, this beautiful hill station had been the capital of Assam till January, 1972 when Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state. And because the music legend of Assam, Bhupen Hazarika composed beautiful songs on Shillong and Meghalaya during the 50s, 60s and 70s. These songs have been our great favorites from our childhood days. So it hardly mattered that I visited the city only twice—once in my childhood days with memories getting blurred and one very brief visit in the 90s. When Shillong suddenly became my workplace I went there with all familiarity and with an unspoken bond of love. Ward's Lake I must mention the three evergreen Assamese numbers by Bhupen Hazarika on Shillong that always haunted me. ‘ Shillongore Godhuli’ (Evening in Shillong), ‘ Shillongore Monalisa Lyngdoh ’ (‘Hello, Monalisa Lyngdoh from Shillong’ with Jayanta Hazarika) and his Assamese-Khasi movie ‘ Pra...