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...
So intense was the media rage about Sachin Tendulkar possibly becoming a politician that other aspects of the same story got sidelined. The Government of India on April 26, 2012 nominated two more personalities apart from Tendulkar to Rajya Sabha (RS)—the upper house of the Indian Parliament. Rekha, the superstar heroine of Hindi Cinema of yesteryear, and Anu Aga, a social worker-writer-businesswoman, got nominated too. Rekha had been the unforgettable actress of the seventies-eighties with loads of glamor and she made waves portraying all kinds of lead roles ranging from sweet next-door girl to roles of tremendous depth and versatility. Tall and attractive, an expert dancer, enriched with a resonant voice and in-born acting skills, Rekha captivated the moviegoers of all age groups in those good old days. From the beginning of the nineties Rekha’s image of a heroine witnessed a declining trend thanks to her refusal to do character roles. Though she started doing select character roles...