Saraswati Puja at my sister’s place. The sun shone brightly despite the forecast of a gloomy day. Maa Saraswati was welcomed with an eye on spending the day in high spirits. To the thousands of schoolchildren and ex-schoolchildren these were reasons enough to rejoice and come out in droves in special dresses. After all, rare […]
Book fair checkmated
In an impromptu talkathon organized by Star Ananda last evening and telecast in that channel, sparks flew over the righteousness of High Court’s decision to cancel this year’s Book Fair at the Park Circus Maidan. It was amusing to see that the same court that only last week was hailed for rejecting petitions challenging the […]
Padma Vibhusan
This year’s recipients of the prestigious award include 3 of my favorites – Pranab Mukherjee, Ratan Tata, and Asha Bhonsle. All of them are luminaries in their respective fields, and have left deep impressions in my mind. Asha is a performing artist, a singer equal to none. For her to constantly remain under public scrutiny […]
Moral policing? No need.
The Kolkata of 50s and much of 60s had cabaret dancers holding the center-stage in renowned restaurants and hotels in the evenings till wee hours. Industrialists, patrons of various hues, and those who had money to spare would throng the venues to enjoy and let enjoy their dues. Liquor flowed like water in the Hooghly. […]
Feast of holidays
I can easily bet you haven’t noticed something like this before. It is the trap of too many holidays. Caught off guard? Here is the story. We all know when the December comes, the entire salaried class, especially those in the government and the public sector, awaits the coming year’s holiday list with bated breath. […]
Durga Puja – An animated video
Here is a beautiful animated video on Durga Puja made by Rajesh Chakraborty. A friend of mine informed me of this YouTube clip. Enjoy. Like this blog? Get daily posts by email.
Mahalaya
Early morning tomorrow is when Uma with her grown-up children will seek blessings from Mahadev before embarking on the once-in-a-year sojourn to the world of humans. And so will commence debi-paksha, one of the most auspicious periods in the Bengali Hindu calendar. Men will take dips in the ‘holy’ ghats of the Ganges, aka Hooghly, […]
Osur (Demon) Contest
Durga Puja, the grand autumn carnival is gradually coming closer. The shopping frenzy is picking up, so is pandal decoration. And keeping pace are the various puja contests – those for big budget ones, the smaller ones in housing colonies, and myriad others in between. In all cases the contest is for categories like best […]
India@60 in New York
Haven’t been to The Big Apple, but here is an account of how India@60 is unfolding there. For the uninitiated, India@60 is high-decibel campaign in New York City organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with active support from India’s Ministry of Tourism. The 4-day Sun-Thurs extravaganza was flagged off yesterday by Foreign Minister […]
Viswakarma Puja
In my living memory this is perhaps the first time that Viswakarma, the God of creation, is being worshipped not on Sep 17. It appears that the 2 consecutive Bengali months, Ashar and Srabon, had 32 days this year, which meant that the last day of the ‘inauspicious’ Bhadro on which the Viswakarma Puja is […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- …
- 13
- Next Page »