Tag: Calcutta
17 Results
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Innocent conflict
Calcutta 1955. I had passed my inter-science examination with first class. Getting a first class then, was rare, an achievement. For our traditional traders’ family, science biology was an unusual subject. My brothers after graduation in commerce had all started to work. As if to assert my individual identity I decided to opt for medicine …
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April 29, 2018 -
Weird tales told by ‘Granduncle’ Jeremmy Caleb
The East India Company spent Rs 16 lakh over the construction of the Lohe-ka-Pul, built shortly after the old Jamuna Bridge in Agra
April 12, 2018 -
The wooden horse
The large Victorian edifice of my mother’s grandfather was a two-storied building of brick and mortar built in the late 19th century. It had thick walls and wide pillars holding aloft peripheral arches and the central dome. On the outside ancient gargoyles looked out from below the parapet. Large evergreens surrounded the building and had …
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April 1, 2018 -
Away from Court~I
Now that the advocates of the High Court at Calcutta have unanimously decided to continue their cease-work for another two weeks ~ and this is the third and fourth successive week ~ it has become absolutely obligatory for them to justify their decision before the people at large and more particularly to the hapless litigants …
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March 11, 2018 -
Gallery of the flunked
The clock must tick as an index to the “advancement of learning” ~ the motto of the University of Calcutta. Yet the campus authorities have turned the clock back to devise a quick-fix solution to a problem almost unprecedented ~ the flunking of no fewer than 43,000 students across colleges in the general steam of …
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February 12, 2018 -
Statesman Vintage & Classic Car Rally: Some things only get better with age
The 49 edition of the Statesman Vintage Car Rally took place on Sunday involving 203 cars and two wheelers. The 49th edition of the rally that was organised on Sunday saw vehicles participating which once were a prominent sight on the roads of the then Calcutta. The vintage models, including four and two wheelers gathered …
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January 29, 2018 -
Director Arun Roy to make a film on Hiralal
Dadasahab Palkhe has been hailed as the father of the Indian cinema. He was the one to make India’s first silent feature film, Raja Harishchand in 1913. But little is known that there was another filmmaker during that era who was creating films side by side but was unable to showcase his work due to …
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January 11, 2018 -
Calcutta High Court stays removal of central forces from Darjeeling
The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday put on hold the Centre’s decision to withdraw around 1,000 paramilitary personnel deployed in Darjeeling and Kalimpong to maintain law and order during the agitation for a separate Gorkhaland State. The court has put a stay on the Union government’s order till October 27. As per the government’s order, …
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October 17, 2017 -
President Pranab Mukherjee reminisces about The Statesman links
President Pranab Mukherjee recalled his old links with The Statesman newspaper as he good-humouredly said he and the paper had often agreed to disagree with each other. “As a Bengali and as a Calcuttan I grew up with The Statesman like many of my contemporaries,” President Mukherjee said in his address after receiving a photo-essay …
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July 2, 2017 -
Solace for the suffering
The birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, on 12 May 1820 is celebrated as the International Nurses’ Day. Another prominent figure who followed her path was the Scots-Irish Margaret Elizabeth Noble or Sister Nivedita, who catered to the sick in India, driven only by her moral instincts and courage, without any governmental …
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May 10, 2017 -
Around the City of Joy
They say beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder but when you visit West Bengal, beauty is everywhere. From Tagore’s writings to Netaji’s courage and determination, Bengal is an epitome of glorious history and rich culture. The capital of the state got renamed to Kolkata from Calcutta but what remained the same is the …
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February 22, 2017 -
Around the City of Joy
They say beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder but when you visit West Bengal, beauty is everywhere. From Tagore’s writings to Netaji’s courage and determination, Bengal is an epitome of glorious history and rich culture. The capital of the state got renamed to Kolkata from Calcutta but what remained the same is the …
Continue reading "Around the City of Joy"
February 22, 2017 -
Around the City of Joy
They say beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder but when you visit West Bengal, beauty is everywhere. From Tagore’s writings to Netaji’s courage and determination, Bengal is an epitome of glorious history and rich culture. The capital of the state got renamed to Kolkata from Calcutta but what remained the same is the …
Continue reading "Around the City of Joy"
February 22, 2017 -
Tale of my two cities
For me there are two Kolkatas. The Kolkata I lived in thirty years ago and the Kolkata I now visit. In fact, the Kolkata I grew up in had a different name, Calcutta. Thirty years I walked its winding streets, drank its sweet milky tea and breathed its acetic air, happily and with gusto. I …
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February 5, 2017 -
The rarefied world of Calcutta’s sahib logs
I got to know the author when I was doing a post-graduate course in political science in Calcutta University. He was also studying with me but I could see his heart was not in it. Apparently, he had been keen to go to Oxford to do a tripos in modern history and to try to become …
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January 22, 2017 -
The magical charm of a wonderful city
This Christmas, I found myself reminiscing about past years when I celebrated this special day in Calcutta with gusto and gaiety like most Bengalis. I realised once again that most of the elders in my family with whom I celebrated Christmas are no more. Now all I have are fond memories of those precious moments, …
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January 7, 2017 -
Recalling an era of screen
The ushering in of the new millennium marked the end of an era of iconic screen legends who drew audiences to the cinema halls of Calcutta as it then was. In those days under the British, the best of Hollywood films came to the city and set the silver screen on fire. In 1939, Metro …
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December 31, 2016