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...
Self promoters are a fast breeding species of modern times prying on your creative wealth. Like parasites they take away all credit for your creative work. When they team up for mutual promotion they are the most potently dangerous one. A friend of mine told me such a story. My friend was assigned a job recently by his boss. Inspired by the trust he made a proposal and did everything possible on earth to make it a grand success. He chose his team taking colleagues with proven talent and the execution went off very fine and fulfilling. But when my friend presented the final product for approval his boss refused to comment on it and instead looked for his team colleagues and praised them unequivocally. My friend persisted in his efforts to elicit a comment and on his third try the boss while turning away said it was very nice. He was very hurt and perplexed. ‘Very Nice’ comment was not meant for him—the creative energy behind the project. Why? But, my friend being a simple sincere guy ...