Kolkata has been always acknowledged as the theatre capital of India. The rich tradition of modern Bengali theatre that started more than two hundred years ago is still revered by the cultural elite of the country. Hence, an invitation from Ganakrishti (one of the top tier theatre groups of Kolkata) to perform at their seventh annual theatre festival came to me as a major challenge. Continue reading
Recently I had the opportunity to watch Deepa Mehta’s film, “Waterâ€on DVD . Most of you may have already seen this movie as well as its predecessors, “Fire†and “Earthâ€. “Water†is the third segment of Deepa’s elemental trilogy. I am not a film critic by any measure. However, the reason for me to write about this film is because it deals with an issue which has always been a controversial and sensitive one in our culture and religion. Continue reading
Trip to Calcutta: A Chiaroscuro
Amitava Sen
I could hardly see her, behind the pile of sarees stacked on the shop counter; nevertheless, I recognized her and was pleasantly surprised to see Gouri of New Jersey at the Gariahat ladies tailoring shop. I confess that although not a customer, I am a frequent visitor to this place during my not so long stays in Calcutta. My wife always carries a big order of blouses from her friends during our annual trip to Calcutta and then she has her own stuff. That calls for more than a few visits. From logistical considerations we found that we save time and gasoline if we could drop-in at the tailor shop on our way to other destinations. Continue reading
On 26th of March Kallol of NJ, one of the major Bengali social and cultural clubs of this area, will be holding their annual general body meeting. On this day the current executive committee will hand over the reigns of the club to the new committee who will be looking after the club activities for the next two years. In the larger scheme of things, this may not seem to be a matter of any significance. But if we think a bit deeply, few issues may surface and tickle your thoughts. If you come to the Kallol AGM on the 26th, most likely you’ll see the following. Continue reading
Sudipta Bhawmik
(Originally published in AnandaSangbad January 2006 issue.)
We are getting old! We maybe in denial, but the fact remain true. Those of us who belong to the so called baby boomer generation (that is born between 1946 and 1964) are quickly approaching the age about which we need to think and plan about. Yes, financial planning, like IRAs and 401(k)s are important, but I am talking about social and cultural planning. What are we going to do in our “golden years� Did we ever think about it? Continue reading
Sudipta Bhawmik
This week one of our very close friends, Siddharta Dutta, passed away.
Siddharta-da, popularly known as Ashi-da, was one of the most culturally and socially active Bengalees of this region. Many of us have seen him perform on stage, sometimes as an actor, sometimes as a singer and sometimes both. His performances in plays like Chhutir-Phande, Byapika Biday, Antony Phiringi, Tulkalam, Kenaram Becharam will be remembered by many theater lovers. He was a multi-talented person who, besides acting and singing, was also an excellent writer of short stories, essays and plays. His wide knowledge base and refined taste in the arts was always reflected in his work. Continue reading
Amitava Sen
What does the word Biswa-kobi mean? Poet laureate of the world, World-class poet, Universal poet? Bengalees use this honorific or title in referring to Rabindranath Thakur. I have always wondered about it as I have as to why the championship of baseball is called World Series. How does a tournament of game played by less than 5 % of the world population even after keeping other baseball playing nations such as Japan or Cuba out, claim to be a world event? Likewise, the “World†cup for the game of cricket played mostly by a few third world countries raises the same question. Continue reading
Sudipta Bhawmik
The phenomenon of job outsourcing has been the topic of discussion in all circles these days. The high tech and IT sectors are specially affected by the outflow of high paying jobs to India and China. Initially it was only the relatively low paying jobs like call centers, medical transcription services were moving to India. But now highly skilled jobs like IT, semiconductor chip design, accounting and financial analysis jobs are also moving to India. But we all know that this is a natural phenomenon. High cost jobs will move to low cost areas. The laws of physics are equally applicable to economics and finance, at least in this case. It is fruitless to try to resist this flow. My question is how we, the so-called non-resident Indians are or NRIs are reacting this phenomenon? Continue reading
Amitava Sen
If you are not reading or writing in Blogs you are completely out of touch, you are totally un-cool , you are ouside the intellectual landscape; plainly speaking you have forfeited your claim to the membership of “Antel-dom”. Today blogs wield enormous power and influence over politics, society and even literature and publishing, rivalling network news and newspapers. The Blog derives its name from the word Web logs. The word Blog was coined in 1997, where you can post daily scribbings, mostly critiquing anything and expressing any well formulated or stray thoughts. The idea caught on with lightning speed so much so that according to Technorati, the blog tracking site, 70,000 blogs are being launched every day worldwide. Technorati tracks over 20 million active blogs in real time. Most blogs turn out to be servicing specific subjects, specific interests and specific groups, specific may always not be in their contents but in their souls. So what is baring Bengali souls in North America? Continue reading
Sudipta Bhawmik
We Bengalis are fond of bargains. We feel insulted to shop at any store which do not allow bargaining. We are paranoid that the store owners and businesses are always on the lookout for ways to rip us off. And we would like to be on top of them. “Start your negotiation at one third the asking price”, advised our elders who claim to be the greatest negotiators of all time, “and be prepared to walk away, but slowly. The shopkeeper is going to call you back with a better offer!”
You need to be thick skinned too. Some of the savvy sales people will attack your pride and self confidence without any mercy. They will make you feel like a lowlife for having the audacity to make such an outrageous offer. Some, will keep on playing with you your own game and finally both of you will agree on a deal which will appear like a big win for you and a big loss for the sales person. He will whine and cry and ask you for the last two bits that you can spare, like “Dada, aar duto taka diye din; bounir somoy!”, and you will gracefully oblige. After all you are the big winner! You will walk away with your winning smile, and the sales person will start dealing with his next customer, hiding his own laughter. Many of us, the hard bargainers, snobbishly avoid those stores who conspicuously display the “Fixed Price” sign. What is the fun in shopping if we can’t get to play the bargaining game?
Continue reading