সবাইকে জানাই নববর্ষের প্রীতি ও শুভেচ্ছা!
শুভ নববর্ষ
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Basanta Koomar Roy – The First Indian American Journalist
Basanta Koomar Roy's Publicity Brochure
Sudipta Bhawmik
In 1910, a young Bengali student from Calcutta arrived at the University of Wisconsin to complete his BA degree. His name was Basanta Koomar Roy. In those days, coming to America for higher education was a growing trend. Rabindranath Tagore pioneered the trend by sending his son Rathindranath to USA for studying agriculture for he felt that “It is better to be a farmer from Illinois than to be a gentleman from Oxford!” Basanta Koomar being an ardent fan of Rabindranath, was most likely inspired to come to America for the same reasons. He later mentioned (in his publicity brochure), “… by receiving an American education he would be able to serve his Motherland more efficiently.” And although he did not go back to India, he did serve his Motherland handsomely. Basanta Koomar took up journalism with a mission to bring India closer to America. During the early part of the twentieth century, information about India came to America filtered by the British media. The nationalist uprisings in India, the literary and cultural renaissance taking place Continue reading
New Look
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NY/NJ Bengali Blog now has a new look. After procrastinating for a while, I decided to upgrade my wordpress platform to version 3.3.1, all the way from 2.5.1 – a huge jump. During the upgrade process I had to face some hurdles, for which the site was not live for some time. Thanks for bearing with me. But the upgrade was worth it. Hope to keep adding content more frequently in the coming days.
ECTA Presents: “The Last Flames”
ECTA Presents
“The Last Flames”
April 15, 2012; 3:00pm and 5:30pm
Fahs Theater,
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton
50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton, NJ 08540
Written and directed by Sudipta Bhawmik
Cast: Sankar Ghoshal, Keka Sirkar, Abhijit Neogy
Music: Akaash Deep;
Sound: Dwaipayan Mukherjee, Lights: Subhodev Das
Admission: $15.00
(The event is free for active ECTA Members )
Synopsis: Basanta Koomar Roy, an expatriate journalist from India, has been credited by Tagore researchers as a key person (besides W. B Yeats and Ezra Pound) responsible for popularizing Rabindranath Tagore in USA. But Roy fell from his idol’s grace for reasons that torment many a biographer and journalist even today. “The Last Flames” attempts to re-examine the relationship between Roy and Tagore through a fictional encounter and gives us a peek at the human side of the great Poet’s personality. Samar, a young trainee journalist, comes to interview Basanta Koomar Roy at his apartment in New York city, sometime in 1948. Basanta is excited to share his experience as an Indian nationalist freedom fighter in USA. But Samar tells him that he is interested in knowing about his experience with Rabindranath Tagore, since he was the first to write Tagore’s biography in English for the American people. Basanta refuses to talk about his Gurudev until Samar uses his ultimate weapon that opens the flood gates of memories and emotions of this old admirer of Tagore.
The following obituary of Basanta Koomar Roy was published in The New York Times on June 8, 1949: Basanta Koomar Roy, Indian author and free-lance journalist, who had lived in this country for many years, died on Sunday in St. Luke’s Hospital after a brief illness. His home was at 116 West Eightieth Sreet. Born in Orissa Province, India, and a member of the Brahmin caste, Mr. Roy came to the United States around 1910 and studied at the University of Wisconsin, from which he was graduated and where he was later an extension lecturer. He was instrumental in arranging a lecture at the university in 1916 by the great Indian poet, the late Rabindranath Tagore. Mr. Roy was long a writer and speaker for Indian freedom and has been active in the Friends of Freedom for India. He was the author of a biography of Mr. Tagore and of “Dawn over India”, a book telling of the Indian underground movement against British rule.
Admission: $15.00
Contact: kaudata@yahoo.com
(The event is free for active ECTA Members )
The Golden Age
Recently I watched Woody Allen’s latest film “Midnight in Paris” in which the central character (Gil Pender), during his visit to Paris with his fiance’, manages to slip back in time to the Paris of the early 1920s. There Gil meets the greatest of the worlds literati during the period like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and many others. Gil always thought that the 1920s was the golden age of literature and art and Paris was the center of this world. It was Gil’s dream come true. There in the 1920s Gil falls in love with the beautiful Adriana, Pablo Picasso’s lover. But to Adriana of the twenties, the golden age was “la Belle Epoque”, the European revival during the late 19th century. By a twist in the tale, Gil and Adriana travel back to the “belle Epoque” era to Maxim’s and meet Edward Degas, Toulouse Lautrec and Paul Gauguin, the great artists of the period. But when asked, these great artists say that to them the golden age was the period of Renaissance! Continue reading
Banijye Basate Lakshmi : Trailer
Recently ECTA presented a one man show, “Banijye Basate Lakshmi”, a play written and performed by Sudipta Bhawmik, and directed by Sankar Ghoshal. Gagan Goswami, a motivational speaker, talks to his audience and inspires them to be successful in business. In a ninety minute long speech, Gagan chronicles his colorful journey as a Bengali entrepreneur seeking the answer to the most important question of one’s life – Why?
Atheism 2.0
Recently I watched this wonderful TED talk by Alain de Botton. He was talking about atheism, but unlike many other more radical atheists, he did not reject religion altogether. His philosophy is that, there is a class of people who do not really believe in the existence of god or gods, but they like the other aspects of religion like the rituals, the music, the literature, the art, the myths. Alain says that these aspects of religion, the more popular aspects which enrich us in many positive ways, we don’t have to reject them. I don’t want to go into the details of his talk, you can watch the video and listen for yourself, but this concept which Alain calls Atheism 2.0 rang a bell in me.
I love to attend our Durga Puja festivals, love to hear the mythological stories associated with Durga and Mahishasur although I don’t believe they really exist. I love to listen to the sonorous chanting of the “Chandi” or listen to the ecstatic Kirtan music and feel elated. I love Shyama Sangeet, I like to watch plays and listen to stories of Hindu mythology and the epics, although I don’t feel compelled to believe them as historical truth. And I believe, I am not alone. Many of us who have been sitting on the fence of religion, wondering which side to land on, now have this third option – Atheism 2.0. We refuse to be indoctrinated by religion, refuse to believe that ours is the best and for that matter any religion to be better than any other. But we gladly accept the goodies that these religions offers us and thus enrich ourselves with those aspects.
I would like to know what others think about this.
New Jersey Independent South Asian Cinefest 2011
New Jersey Independent South Asian Cinefest (www.NJISACF.org), 2011 that recently concluded at the Big Cinemas in Edison New Jersey announced the award winners at a special event. The 2011 award winners are:
Best Student Film: Aadmi Ki Aurat Aur Anya Kahaniya (Directed by Amit Dutta and produced by FTII, Pune)
Best Production by a Woman: Sunanda Shetty for Desire Of a Woman
Best Background Score: Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Desire of a Woman)
Best Documentary (feature length): Inshallah Football directed by Ashvin Kumar
Critic’s Choice Award (for a film): Flying Fish directed by Sanjeewa Pushapkumara
Outstanding Debut Feature ( both male & female): Meherjaan directed by Rubaiyat Hossain, produced by Ashique Mustafa
Best Actor (Male): Rajat Kapoor (I am 24) and Adil Hussain (GANGOR)
Best Actor (Female): Priyanka Bose (Gangor) and Humaima Malik (Bol)
Best Directorial Debut By a Woman: Anjali Menon for Lucky Red Seeds
Best Director (feature): Shoaib Mansoor (Bol), Italo Spinelli (Gangor)
Best Director (Female): Rubaiyat Hossain (Meherjaan)
Best Feature: Gangor directed by Italo Spinelli, produced by Niravana Entertainments and Bibi Films (Italy)
A Discourse on the Saree Fetish
By Amitava Sen
Why do we buy things?
Some for immediate consumption, like food, which we need for survival or mere delight of palate.
We buy theatre tickets, for enjoyment and entertainment.
Or, books and arts, to meet our intellectual needs.
We spend money on investment, with expectation for a return in cash or kind.
Also, for long term uses, like houses for shelter. The range of items like homes and cars are not always based on a minimum need; often times they exceed the rational limit. But their uses remain utilitarian nevertheless.
Amongst many others, clothing is an important area we spend our money on, so that we maintain a societal decorum and do not bare us to the world; and for sartorial splendor, of course.
Generally, we acquire thing to meet some kind of needs or perceived needs, material, physical or intellectual.
But there are a few items we get out of sheer obsession of the moments with complete disregard for need or return on investment and we make irrational judgment about the value of the acquisition. Consider for example, saree-buying frenzy of an India born women in our Bengalee community.
A mirror view is satisfying, but principally nice attire helps us look good in others’ eyes. At least that is a reasonable assumption. But observing some Bengalee women here, saree possession seems to have crossed the threshold of reasonableness; it looks like an uncontrollable mania. Continue reading
New Jersey Durga Puja 2011: A Personal Perspective
Yet another Durga Puja festival concluded with great pomp and fan fare. And each year we see the festival transforming itself in different ways. Some people hate change. They feel that tradition is something that should be protected with great care. Others feel, nothing should be cast in stone – rules and traditions should be broken to herald in fresh views and thoughts. I am okay with either school of thought, although I tend to lean towards the latter philosophy. Organizing an event like Durga Puja is not a trivial task, and not all things work according to plan. Besides it is not easy to satisfy everybody. However, I can speak about my experience and what I felt about the festival this year, especially the one celebrated by Kallol of New Jersey. Continue reading