India Doot: A Monthly Magazine for Non Resident Bengalees

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Few years ago, I met Partho Ghosh at a Kallol (of New Jersey) general body meeting. Initially I thought him to be a new member of Kallol. I watched him sitting quietly in one of the back seats and observing the proceedings of the meeting. Later, during a break, someone introduced me to Partho as a journalist from the “Pratidin” news paper house in Kolkata. It was then, when Partho disclosed to me his vision of a news paper that can serve as a bridge between us, the non-resident Bengalees (NRB) and our home land. I was a bit skeptic at first. Continue reading →

Poetry Reading by Erica Jong and Yusef Komunyakaa

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UNITED STATES KOLKATA LITERARY EXCHANGE
at JANUARY 2008 KOLKATA BOOK FAIR
USKLE will be bringing a group of 12 to 18 distinguished
poets, writers, screenwriters, publishers, editors, translators
and playwrights to the 2008 Kolkata Book fair
please check USKLE.org

A Benefit dinner and
An evening of poetry reading by

Erica Jong
Yusef Komuniakaa

on Friday December 7th, 7 pm
at Nupur Lahiri’s house (BFA)
4343 Rt 27, Princeton NJ 08540

To sponsor travel expanse for the delegates to Kolkata
suggested donation $100.00 or more

Erica jong, author of eight novels including Fear of Fying, Fanny, Sappho’s Leap,
What do Women Want, A Midlife Memoir, Fear of Fifty and six volumes of poetry.

Yusef Komuniakaa won Pulitzer prize, William Falkner prize, Kingsley Tufts Poetry award
for his poetry and Bronze Star for for his service in Vietnam.
In 1999 he was elected a Chancellor of The Acadamy of American Poets

RSVP Nupur Lahiri 732-821-3949
Krishna Bhattacharya 732-536-6325
Goutam Datta 908-507-5998

IIPA presents Indian Classical Dance and Music Concert

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Indian Institute of Performing Arts (IIPA) presents an evening of classical music and dance featuring

Brinda Guha (Kathak presentation)

Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik(vocal)

Mohan Deshpande(Vocal)

Accompanying musicians for the vocal recitals are Kedar Naphade on harmonium and Amod Dandawate on tabla.
8th December at 7 p.m.

Venue:
The Community Presbyterian Church of the Sand Hills
57 Sand Hills Road
Kendall Park, NJ 08824
Donation: $15.00 per person.
Contact information: (732)-821-8719.
email: suparnaguha@aol.com

ENAD to stage “Ron” in California

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ENAD, a theater group based in the Bay Area in California will be staging “Ron” on December 8, 2007 at Cubberley Theater in Palo Alto. “Ron”, a play written by Sudipta Bhawmik, has been staged earlier in the USA and Kolkata, India by Ethnomedia and has received excellent reviews from the critics and the audience. If you have friends living in the Bay Area, make sure that they don’t miss this play.

3.00pm and 6.30pm

Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 at gate and $30 for VIP

Children under six are not allowed. Parental discretion advised due to adult content.

For tickets, call: Nisar Ahmed (510-708-0741)/Debankur Das (408-406-2184)/Rebanta Mitra (408-249-7633)

Darjeeling Limited : But Where is Darjeeling?

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I recently had the chance of watching Wes Anderson’s “Darjeeling Limited”. I am not an Anderson fan by any sense, but few things drew me to the theater. First, I heard a lot of hoopla about Wes Anderson; second the crew included some familiar names like Lydia Dean Pilcher (the producer) and Cindy Tolan (casting director). And finally the title of the film – “Darjeeling Limited”. Somehow I had the feeling that the film is going to show some parts of the beautiful hill town Darjeeling and the magical “Darjeeling” toy train. But I was disappointed.
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Remaking Charulata

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Charu: UnspokenOnce Satyajit Ray was asked, “Which of your films would you like to remake?” He answered that, if possible, he would have remade all his films except for “Charulata”. It was only “Charulata” that he thought was made “perfectly” and he would like to keep it that way. Well, now an expatriate Bengali film maker, Amitabha Neil Ray, is trying to recreate history. Amitabha is planning on making “Charu: Unspoken”, a modern version of Tagore and Ray’s Charulata set in current day America. To some, it may sound like sacrilege. To remake what most people think as a classic, to try to better one of the best film craftsman of all times, is what only few would like to dare. The stakes are too high, the expectations are sky reaching – almost impossible to meet, and failure seems to be inevitable. But, isn’t that what geniuses strive for? Isn’t the challenge to excel, to better the best, to pursue the dream to the end, what drives artists to create their master pieces? Didn’t Ray himself take the leap to recreate another master creators work and make it even better in many ways? Great works of art always inspires other artists, and that is why Ray’s “Charulata” drives artists like Amitabha Neil Ray to remake his own, “Charu: Unspoken”. Continue reading →

Durga Puja 2007

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Kallol Durga ProtimaDurga Puja 2007 is behind us now. It is time now for wishing “Subho Bijoya”, “Kolakuli” and of course “Mishti mukh”. Durga Puja in New York, New Jersey have now matured to such an extent that people can say things like – “during our times” or “in those days” – just to signify that times have changed. Yes times have changed indeed, even though the Durga idol has not changed that much over the years. I hear people complaining that the Puja’s here have lost the intimate and homely feeling that it used to offer and have now become the real “Baroari Pujas” where people come to have fun, enjoy the entertainment programs and meet friends with an occasional nod at the idol. Managing crowd is a major problem for the organizers and some are thinking about moving to larger venues. Continue reading →

Of Shopping Malls and Toilets

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by Amitava Sen

Public Toilet in Kolkata“Desh is doing wonderful and so much for the better”, declares my friend after his recent trip to Calcutta. I suppose Desh means Calcutta. “People are so prosperous, everything is available at the wonderful shopping complexes; diaper, canned ham” he continues “you name it, they have it”. My friend is all dazed up by the malls and the wonderful shops there. Like Sukumar Roy wrote in his celebrated poem that Borobabu’s moustache made him what really Borobabu was; to my friend the city belonged to its shopping malls and that’s what the Desh was all about.. What else he needs to be impressed about the tremendous leap Calcutta is taking towards progress? He has no doubt in his mind that the country we have left behind is doing wonderfully well. Truthfully I was not that persuaded by his argument, it was only the shopping malls, I thought. What’s the big deal? Continue reading →

Kali Puja at Ananda Mandir

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Ananda Mandir of New Jersey is celebrating Maha Kali Pujo on Friday, November 9, 2007, starting at 6:30 p.m.

If you are interested in sponsoring Kali Pujo, please send your check in the amount of $101 directly to Ananda Mandir at 269 Cedar Grove Lane, Somerset, NJ 08873 before Nov. 5th as Biswabhai will prepare separate “ARGHYAs” for individual families for “HOM” on the Pujo night .

Please remember it is not necesssary to bring fruits, flowers and other items for Kali Pujo, since the temple provides them to the sponsors.

Reality Music Contests on Indian TV Channels

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The other day, while channel surfing, I stumbled upon the Zee-TV SaReGaMaPa “Bishwayudh” grand finals. I have not been following this show, but the community was buzzing with excited fans rooting for the three finalists – Anik, Raja and Amanat. Anik became the champion and being a Bengali it felt good that another Bengali kid has succeeded in keeping up the tradition of excelling in the performing arts. And I think that this partisan and regional feeling, in some sense, carries more weight in deciding who wins. It was impossible to qualitatively judge the three performers since they all were excellent singers. Hence, selecting the champion is nothing but a chance accident on who votes and for whom.
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