by Amitava Sen

The Bengalees are culture aficionados, big time. We live culture, breathe culture and drink culture to the point of intoxication. No doubt the Bengalees have a richer cultural heritage when compared to the other Indian language speakers. We have Rabi Thakur, don’t we? In our evaluation, this one man is luminous enough to overshadow all other Indian cultural icons put together. And that is basically our passage to the glory and at times reason for disdain for other Indian cultures.

This brings us to the question: Does only the past glory of the gone by era make us cultured? Presently living a cultured life is somewhat different. It refers to an appreciation of literature, music, art and food and it is a full range of human behavioral pattern, all in the present term, as English Anthropologist Edward Taylor wrote:

“Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, law, morals, custom and any other capabilities acquired by men as a member of the society.” Continue reading →

NABC 2012 Opening Ceremony (Photo: Ranajoy Ghoshal)

I had earlier promised to give daily updates on the NABC proceedings from Las Vegas, but I couldn’t and I apologize for that. First of all, I did not have any internet connection from the hotel and secondly, I was too busy to find some time to sit down and type few words. But here I am, reporting all the three days from my perspective which was quite narrow due to my pre-occupation with the literary seminar events. Nevertheless, I would not refrain from giving my opinion about the proceedings. However, before I start writing, let me put forth a disclaimer. My opinions and criticisms (if any) are targeted only to the general organization and event management as a whole and should not be considered as personal. I know, that most people who worked for NABC (committee members, conveners, volunteers etc.) did their jobs for the love of it and for the sake of the community and I applaud their efforts.  Without their tireless efforts an event of this magnitude would never have been possible. So thanks to all of them. Continue reading →

Waiting in Atlanta airport. After arriving from Newark, I tried to catch an early flight, but Delta folks disappointed me.
I am sure the Bengalis in Las Vegas have started their celebrations. Tonight NABC is hosting a special dinner in appreciation of the tireless effort by the volunteers. I won’t be able to attend the dinner but I extend my best wishes to all of them. Signing off for now.

Today I leave for Las Vegas to attend the 32nd North America Bengali Conference. NABC in Las Vegas is quite intriguing, given the fact that Las Vegas is known as Americas Playground, and Bengalis are not really the sporty kind of people. Bengalis like to have their conferences in cozy, isolated places where they can have a great time watching plays, listening to music and having heated discussions. “Adda-baj Bangali” like me prefer to have their “addas” in their own little corners and not amongst hordes of tourists ogling at their expensive kurta-dhoti-saris, as if another Vegas spectacle is on parade.

Nevertheless, Bengalis have started to arrive at the Las Vegas McCarran Airport days before the start of the convention. Facebook newsfeeds have started to clutter the screen with Vegas photo uploads. Some of the performers and celebrities are also in town. Poet Bithi Chatterjee reported from Paris (hotel) – she is well in mood to pen down some Vegas poems. Swapnomoy Chakraborti, the celebrated short story writer, have landed by now and is liket getting inundated with story ideas.

Continue reading →

NABC Exhibition

June and July of every year seems to the season for Indian regional conferences held all around USA.  These conferences, mostly based on regional languages of India, are typically  held during the July 4th weekend and celebrated along with the American independence day.  North America Bengali Conference (NABC) also known as Banga-Sammelan, used to be the only such cultural conference held in major North American cities to celebrate Bengali arts and culture. But these days, multiple such Bengali conferences are held around the same time. Besides NABC, we now have Bangamela and Regional Bengali Conference. Last couple of years we have also seen the famous Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP) group hosting a Bengali festival of their own, in the same model as NABC and others.  This list of course excludes similar such conferences held by Bangladeshi Americans.  While this gives the ever growing Bengali population in America ample options to chose which festival to attend, it kind of dilutes the original motivation behind these conferences – to provide a platform to the expat Bengali to showcase their talents. In reality, these conferences have turned out to be commercial ventures targeted to attract the consumers of pop culture and entertainment. Well, to be fair, the organizers do throw in a couple of classical music performers, or a literary seminar, or arts and crafts exhibition, but these events are neglected both by the audience as well as the organizers.  Unless the audience demands for such events, why would the organizers feel obligated?  Continue reading →

By Amitava Sen

Sorry son!. Your brother has already fulfilled our family hypergamy quota. No more openings left.

Mike Steward loved to share my Indian lunch and I did not mind spending a part of my lunch break with him occasionally. Mike had a sense of humor and a ready wit. He mostly did the talking and he talked about his family often. His mother’s idiosyncratic personality was the butt of his jokes.  He made no bones about his blue-collar background. His father was an electrician in an auto assembly plant in New Jersey and his mother was an aide in a local Knights of Columbus house. And according to Mike the so-called lower middle class American families have so many old-fashioned ideas and quirks that their worldview some times sounds hilarious. I enjoyed tales about his family, their sometimes-strange relationships, strange and at times funny to me.

One morning as soon as I walked into the office he came straight to my desk. “Big news” he said excitedly “My sister is marrying an Indian guy. And my mother said yes. I will tell you everything later” I of course, was a little intrigued and curious. Mike was of Italian descent. To his mother the world was all about “us” and “them;” It was quite understandable if she was a little leery about getting into the situation. Continue reading →

Cassandra or Maybe a Chair's Tale

Three months of gruelling rehearsals are over. Now comes the show time. This week, the cast and crew of “Cassandra or Maybe a Chair’s Tale” have been working in building the sets, transporting the furniture and props, setting up the lights and measuring their steps on the stage. Most theater groups like ours do not have the opportunity to rehearse extensively on the stage. We rehearse at one place and perform in another.  We then need to scale our moves to the new environment and in three dimensions – length, breadth and height.  And then on the show day, we put on our make-up and costumes, and get ready to step onto the stage under the limelight in front of a expectant audience – an audience who does not care how hard you have worked or what sacrifices you have made to reach to this stage. They expect perfection and they want to hear no excuses.  They want to be entertained, they want to get their moneys worth. And for this, all components of this complex machinery, of which the audience is also an integral part,  should work in perfect harmony. Only then, theater is created – art happens in front of our eyes, and we feel enriched – the audience as well as the performers. That’s why we toil for days and nights to create art.

This weekend, the cast and crew of “Cassandra…” will give their best to create theater – to create art.  I welcome you to come to Edison Valley Playhouse this weekend and join us to become a part of this exciting process.

It’s showtime folks!

For details, visit ECTA Website.

Cassandra or Maybe a Chair's Tale

That’s the name of my new play when translated to English from Bengali.  So what’s the connection between Cassandra and a Chair’s Tale, you may ask! But I’ll have to disappoint you here, because I’d like you – the audience – to figure that out on June 9th and 10th, 2012. What I can tell you, is what motivated me to write this play. Or in other words, why I wrote this play.

I am kind of a person, whom some one may consider to be a pack-rat.  I  find it hard to throw away stuff.  I tend to keep old and apparently useless stuff with the hope that maybe someday they’ll be of some use. Old magazines, gadgets, electronic components, furnitures – I have  them all.  My storage spaces in and around the house keep filling up with many such paraphernalia that I hardly use anymore. I find it difficult to throw away a perfectly functional chair just because it has gone out of fashion or has some nicks and cuts here and there. But I have also come to realize that I am not alone. There are many people like me who also develop a strong bond with their possessions. To throw away a piece of equipment that has served them for years, is like letting go a dear family member.  Continue reading →

Cassandra or Maybe a Chair's Tale

Producing a play involves a lot of work. But the most important job is to set up a team of cast and crew members who would take the production from conception to stage.  The team should be in love with the project, and only then a successful production can happen.  When the audience sees a play unfold in front of their eyes –  with the actors performing in perfect rhythm, the lights and sounds all playing together in perfect harmony,  the emotions and feelings on stage touch your hearts – it becomes difficult to appreciate how much hard work has gone into developing this final product. A ninety minute play to an audience member means ninety days of toil and labor for a dedicated team of performers.  Most of the performers who commit themselves to such an arduous task, are not professionals. Theatre does not provide them their daily bread.  Even in professional theater, most performers have another day job that helps them pay their bills. And in community theater like ours, getting paid is not only out of the question, rather in most cases the team members have to spend from their pockets to meet their incidental expenses. Then why do they do this? Why do they go through this enormous amount of personal sacrifice  just to be on the stage for ninety minutes or so?  And then everybody doesn’t go up on the stage either. They keep the cogs of the production running from behind the stage. What is their motivation? Continue reading →