In celebration of Women’s History Month.
Epic Actors’ Workshop n collaboration with Bengali Students Association of Rutgers University
presents a one-woman show
“The Breast Chronicle”
featuring Gargi Mukherjee
Based on Mahasweta Devi’s story
Adapted and directed by Sakti Sengupta
Multipurpose Room, Busch Campus Center of Rutgers University on March 30, Sunday from 6:00 to 7:30 pm
Recently, the members of the esteemed organization Cultural Association of Bengal (CAB) has been flooded with letters, emails and phone calls regarding the upcoming election of its executive committee members. CAB is one of the oldest Bengali Associations in USA and its primary contribution to all of us Bengalis living in North America (as well as those in other countries including India and Bangladesh) is the annual North America Bengali Conference (NABC) held every year in one of the major cities of USA or Canada. Although the conference each year is hosted by a local organization who work quite autonomously, CAB own the franchise rights and maintains some degree of control over the proceedings. This activity alone has given CAB a national (as well as international) visibility that brings with it some greater opportunities as well as responsibilities. Continue reading
Actors’ Theatre Workshop, 145 West 28th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10001 (between 6th and 7th avenues).
April 18th*, 8.00 p.m.
* please note the change of date from April 11th
Ist Half
Ms. Deepal Chaudhury – Santoor
Pratik Devasthale – Tabla accompaniment
2nd Half
Steve Gorn – Bansuri (Indian bamboo flute)
Dibyarka Chatterjee – Tabla accompaniment
Ticket and artist information : http://www.tabla.org/events.html or http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/chhandayan/cal
Actors’ Theatre Workshop, 145 West 28th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10001 (between 6th and 7th avenues).
March 21st, 8.00 p.m.
Ist Half
Kedar Naphade – Harmonium solo
Amod Dandawate – Tabla accompaniment
2nd Half
Ms. Mitali Banerjee Bhowmik – Vocal
Samir Chatterjee – Tabla accompaniment
Kedar Naphade – Harmonium accompaniment
Ticket and artist information : http://www.tabla.org/events.html or http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/chhandayan/cal
March 14, 2008, 8.00pm
Featuring INDRANI CHAKRABORTY and SUCHISMITA DUTTA LAL
Artists of the month
INDRANI CHAKRABORTY
Indrani has been learning Hindustani Classical music from Mitali banerjee Bhawmik for the past several years. She is the recipient of the Folk Arts Apprenticeship award from “New Jersey State Council on the Arts” in 2003 and 2005 for Hindustani Classical music. She has performed in various prestigious musical events in New York, New Jersey, and Atlanta.
In her earlier days in India, Indrani has learned various forms of Bengali music (Rabindra Sangeet, Atul Prasad, Nazrul Geeti, Bhatiali, etc.) under the tutelage of Mrs. Shukla Dam, and had completed her “Visharad” degree. She performed for Guwahati Doordarshan in Assam, and for All India Radio Shillong. Indrani is a software engineer by profession.
SUCHISMITA DUTTA LAL
Suchismita started learning music from Smt. Renuka Sen when she was 5 years old. She completed Sangeet Prabhakar in Hindustani Classical Vocal from Prayag Sangeet Samiti and during this period also performed at the local radio station. She is currently receiving additional training from Mitali Bhawmik.
Suchismita is a Research Assistant at Rutgers University, working on her Ph.D. in Structural Biology.
Tabla accompaniment by Sri Amod Dandawate
Harmonium accompaniment by
Young Master Neil Nadkarni
Please come and share this fabulous musical evening.
As usual, the ANANDA SANDHYA concert is FREE, Children come free. However, your kind donation is always graciously accepted.
Ananda Mandir is located on Cedar Grove Lane off Easton Avenue in Somerset, NJ.
For info, call Arun Bhowmik at 908-672-1452.
Visit
Ananda Mandir will be celebrating Shiva Ratri on Thursday, March 6, 2008. You are cordially invited to participate in the celebration of this event.
The Nirghanto is as follows:
a) Temple will open……….10:00 a.m.
b) Rajbesh & Hima Chandana Arati………..8:00 p.m.
c) Pushpanjali and Prasad Distribution…….8:45 p.m.
d) Temple will close…………………………….9:00 p.m.
The Temple will remain closed temporarily from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Drama – ABU HOSSEN
Directed by Subhasis Das
Presented By Sreesthi
Saturday 9 th Feb 2008 at 7:30 pm
VFW Hall at Edison
1970 woodbridge ave
Edison NJ – 08817
Moglai Porota (or maybe Mughlai Parantha) is one of the most sublime Bengali comfort foods that I know of. I don’t know if the Mughals ever ate this tasty flaky fried dough interleaved with eggs, onions, green chilli and minced meat (keema). Whatever may be the source of this food, it has become a Bengali favorite of all times. I don’t recall I have seen Moglai Porota in a menu of any restaurant outside Bengal (except the Bengali ones of course). Hence I am going to call it Mogali Porota, just the way Bengali’s love to call it. Several restaurants (and hotels as we prefer to call these eateries in India) have earned their name to fame by serving their world famous Mogali Porotas to their clientèle. Anadi Cabin, Das cabin and many other names come to my mind. But not too many though, since making a good Moglai Porota is no easy task for any chef. Crafting the thin crepe from a heavily leavened flour dough requires a skill that can be mastered by very few. I have heard many tales of tricks and techniques used by the great Moglai chefs – some tossed the dough in air (like they do for pizza or rumali roti) twirling it in the air and allowing the centrifugal force to thin the dough out. Some thrashed the dough against a well oiled flat piece of granite or marble till the dough becomes thin, almost semi transparent. Some have used the simple roller pin with such dexterity that the dough flattened out like a thin paper in no time. Continue reading
From amongst a small but distinguished crowd of novelists of Indian origin in this country, Pronoy Chatterjee may not be a name that stands out in the public eye. The more famous authors like Jhumpa Lahiri, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Amitav Ghosh and others have enjoyed the limelight more than some of the less famous writers like Pronoy who write for the love of writing, who write to express their deepest feelings for humanity – in the little time they can extract out from the busy daily life of a well renowned professional. But, it is the authors like Pronoy, who can sometimes tell us the tales that we have lived though all our lives, the tales that bring back memories of a past that we long for, bring in hopes for a future that we all dream about.
“A Living Memory” is Pronoy’s second novel (published by Author House) where he tries to “capture the complexities of desire and conflict in a small village in colonial India”.
I have not read the book as yet, but the story line (given below) has attracted me enough to get a copy for myself to read. Continue reading
Theater is one of the oldest forms of performing art. From the stone ages, men and women have been telling stories by enacting them when even no language existed. Ancient Greek theater still inspires us and they continue to be staged in all languages of the world. The ancient Hindu scriptures regard the text of the theory of performing arts (Natya Shashtra) as the fifth Veda (Pancham Veda). And just like the Greek theater, ancient Indian Sanskrit theater were also highly developed. Continue reading