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...
It is said in almost every part of this world that too much greed is not good. An Assamese proverb says that when the lazy tiger kills its 100 th cow, its end is near. The nationwide greed of politicians and middlemen or rather dalals for the windfall out of the artificially-made-scarce onions has just become unprecedented, brazen and extremely unscrupulous. For nearly two months they have been making tonnes of bucks by selling a mass cooking item at a price more than 400 percent higher than normal. Same scenario prevails with only onion prices varying from 60 to 110 rupees per kg all over India. Few days back in Mumbai prices started to fall to 60-50 rupees per kg, but now rising again without any rhyme or reason to 70-90 rupees. With food inflation raging Diwali this time is going to be a dampened affair indeed. This is what should ideally happen to the enemies of the masses. Common people including high middle classes have already drastically cut down their onion consumption. The...