Raag-Rang Presents Violin Lec-Dem

Date : 5th December, Saturday. Time: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Raag-Rang is presenting a lecture-Demonstration by Arun Rammurthy

(Violin) and Suresh Ramachandran (Mrudangam).

Suchishmita Dutta is going to start the afternoon with her short

rendition of hindustani vocal. Amod Dandawate And Indrani Chakraborty

Khare is going to accompany her on Tabla & Harmonium.

Venue: Upadhyay Residence.

42 Walter Brook Drive, Bridgewater, NJ 08807.

Donation: $ 5.00 for members and $7.00 for non-members.

RSVP will be appreciated as seats are limited.

Contact: (908)-429-1120. (908)-707-8582, (609)-890-4890.

email: bhawmikm@gmail.com, mayuresh.khare@gmail.com

The Green State Dinner

Dr. Manmohan Singh and Pres. Obama at the White House state dinner.On November 24th, 2009, President Barack Obama  hosted the first state dinner, since his inauguration, in honor of Dr. Manmohan Singh, the honorable Prime Minister of India and his wife Mrs. Gursharan Kaur.  State dinners honoring foreign head of states are huge events and are attended by members of the top echelon of the society. The official White House fact sheet says:

The first State Dinner for a foreign head of state was held by President and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant on December 12, 1874 for King David Kalakaua of Hawaii.

Since that first dinner, many traditions have been added to State and Official Visits – yet the common theme of forging friendships, exchanging knowledge and building bridges that last for years to come remain unchanged.

As the world’s two largest democracies, India and the United States share common ideals and strengths, and the United States and India are working together to address a number of global challenges of the 21st Century—from security to the economy to climate change to the health and education of our people. Continue reading

(Un)Availability of Desh Patrika in USA

I have been an ardent reader of “Desh”, the premier Bengali literary magazine since my childhood days. As I moved to the US, I continued my subscription through the “House of Ananda”, a New York based agency of ABP (Ananda Bazar Publications). I could pay my subscription dues using a credit card or via Paypal through their website. I used to get the magazine regularly and in time. However, recently due to some mysterious reasons, the US based distribution ceased to exist and the magazine is now mailed directly from Kolkata. This resulted in two issues.  First, the magazine delivery became irregular and I missed few issues which I guess was lost in the mail. The delivery is also delayed. Secondly, the subscription process has become really complicated and ABP now demands the payment to be sent to their Kolkata office in the form of DD. This is totally unacceptable in current times. Technology has evolved and the days of demand drafts and money orders are long gone in the global market. I recently purchased a book from an Indian distributor who accepted credit card payment through their website and mailed me the book in less than two weeks.  Why can’t a huge publication house like ABP do this? Bengalis now live all over the world, and publishers and book sellers like ABP should cater to their international clientele using modern technology.  An email sent to the ABP office had no positive effect.   Publishers like ABP should learn a lesson or two from their international counter parts. Magazine publishers in USA use all kinds of methods to hold on to their subscribers. They try to make the subscription renewal  process as painless as possible. Where as, publishers like ABP seem to be happy to lose a few customers. To manage the loss of readership, all they can do is reduce the frequency of publication to monthly and then maybe to quarterly. That’s what they did when the reduced the frequency from weekly to fortnightly.

I hope, ABP comes to their senses and reinstates their foreign distribution centers and try to expand their business to the Bengalis living abroad.