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...
In the
increasingly tense geopolitical situation in the Indian subcontinent, I think
it’s time to take some bold Cricket decisions by the BCCI in active consultation
with the ICC and the Government of India, and not dillydallying with the issues
involved nor allowing the overwhelming commercial angle win every time which in
turn leads to absurd hypocritical scenarios as we’d recently witnessed in the
games between India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup-2025 the winner's Trophy of which is still eluding India. In the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2026
we’re set to behold more games in and off the field with Bangladesh being
literally taken over by the radicals and the violent upheaval there leading to
atrocities on the minorities, mostly Indian Hindus. What followed in the most
popular game of cricket in India is obvious: the outrage in the social media crying
hoarse over retaining Mustafizur Rahman in Shahrukh Khan’s KKR franchise for
the IPL-2026 thus pressuring the BCCI to order KKR for Mustafizur’s release. And
what followed in Bangladesh is also obvious: telecast of the IPL matches
completely banned, and more ominously, Bangladesh refusing to travel to India
for the T20 World Cup and asking the ICC fins alternate venues for their matches.
We just cannot afford to witness another edition of the ‘no-handshake’ games
with one more playing nation added. We just cannot go on watching the eternal clash of politics, diplomacy and cricket.
We also cannot
judge what’s right and what’s wrong in such a charged situation. While we
cannot blame the Indian social media outrage or the overall animosity between
the two neighboring nations, we cannot also blame the tit-for-tat by Bangladesh.
Sport is basically a recreation, played mostly between friends or between
friendly rivals in the true spirit of the game. And then look at the situation,
not just in the Indian subcontinent but also across the world—wars that never
seem to end; conflict after conflict; attacks after attacks; and arguably the
most powerful leader of the world who’s been crying pitifully for world peace
all the time suddenly deciding to raid a sovereign nation, overrule its regime
and kidnapping and airlifting its President over for supposed trials. Pray! Why
should we pretend and play on?
If one sees
another nation as a confirmed enemy then cut off all ties, including all kinds
of sports activities—let it be bilateral or multi-nation world tournaments. Therefore,
instead of carrying on with the absurd mock dramas the concerned top controllers
of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh must find a way to stay away from playing the
game of cricket with each other anywhere in the world, till the easing of
animosity, if possible at all in the long term. You must call a spade a spade. Don’t
beat around the bush in search of a chimera of peace and friendship! The history
of the Homo Sapiens over the millennia is all too clear! Anybody listening?
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