The classical Indian dance form Kathak is now quite well known amongst the dance connoisseurs of America. Americans who have some familiarity with classical music and dance of India, know about Kathak – a dance form that truly blends together the various components of Indian music – melody, rhythm and the beauty of the physical form. It is true that many stalwarts of the Kathak dance form like Pandit Birju Maharaj and others have graced the American stage with their amazing performances, but the primary reason for its popularity and sustenance in this country is due to the tremendous efforts put in by several Kathak dance schools and academies run by the immigrant dancers from India who wanted to spread their passion for this art form amongst the next generation. Once such school is Kalamandir of New Jersey led by its director, Malabika Guha.
Kathak in America – The Story of Kalamandir
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I kind of like Gregory House, MD. And who doesn’t? House is one of the most popular TV shows that has catapulted Fox network to lead the popularity ratings (along with 24 and other shows). The quirky, obnoxious and ill mannered medical genius has become everybody’s dream doctor. We the New Jersey viewers specially feel his absence in real life since Gregory House works in this fictitious “Princeton-Plainsboro” hospital and to whom people come crossing the rough seas risking their lives (no pun intended) to get treated. How lucky we would have been to have such a doctor in real life. And a hospital like “Princeton-Plainsboro” where doctors do everything – they serve not only as doctors and surgeons, but they draw blood, they set up IV lines, they give the patients their pills, they feed them, they operate the MRI, CT Scan and other diagnostic machines. There are hardly any nurses or technicians. In real life hospitals, I have seen the doctors come in to visit their patient only with one objective – how soon they can leave. They spend more time in front of the computer screens looking at the charts and filling up their billing codes than with the patient. But in Princeton-Plainsboro, Dr. House’s team is like Scotland Yard, deeply engaged in finding the culprit – in this case the cause of the disease. 
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It is ironic to say the least that just when I was enthusiastically reporting the news of the development of an artificial heart by IIT Kharagpur, a young heart stopped beating in the campus. Rohit Kumar, a third year Electrical Engineering student (LLR Hall) died due to the apparent neglect by the in-campus “B.C.Roy Technology Hospital”. Details about this event can be found in the campus students newspaper “
My alma mater, IIT Kharagpur is once again in the news with a great device – an artifical heart. It’ll be to coronary care what Nano is to cars, say scientists at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, who have devised an an artificial heart that could save lives for just Rs 1 lakh – reports the Times of India. The research team says trials of the prototype lab constructed heart have been successful on small animals and the gadget is being perfected on goats. The institute has applied for permission to conduct human trials. The Total Artificial Heart (TAH) — said to be the first such in the country — has been developed by a team of scientists at IIT-Kgp’s school of medical science and technology. 
Few months ago I wrote about the debut of a new Bengali webzine, Urhalpool.com. The magazine has now reached new heights with the introduction of the first hard copy version at the 2009 Kolkata Book Fair. On Saturday 7th February 2009, at 6PM, the UBI auditorium at the Kolkata Book Fair ground was completely packed with people standing all over. Sunil Gangopadhyay introduced Urhalpool with a short speech which was followed by editor Goutam Datta talking about the vision of the magazine. The Hon’ble consul general of Italy was present on the stage along with Urhalpool’s Italian writer Alessandra Corsini. Several other contributers to the magaine like Alolika Mukherjee, Subodh sarkar, Mallika Sengupta, Pinaki Thakur, Bithi Chattopadhyay and others were present at the event. Urhalpool’s Shakti Chattopadhyay Life Time achievement in Bengali literature award (Rs25,000) was presented to Nabaneeta Dev Sen and Nirmal Chandra Gangopadhyay Sahitya puroskar was awarded (Rs15,000) to Poet Srijato. Poet Shakti Chattopadhyay’s wife Minakhi-di handed over the Shakti Chattopadhyay award and Nupur Lahiri handed over Nirmal Chandra award. The entire program was conducted by Soumitra Mitra.