If you have an idea and wish to turn it into a business, dial S for Swayam.
Swayam, a business consultancy cell for new and existing women entrepreneurs, was launched by FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) on Tuesday. Goa governor Mridula Sinha was invited to launch the project as Anuradha Lohia, Presidency University vice-chancellor, chatted with her on the “changing role of women” in front of an audience of around 200 FLO members at Taj Bengal.
Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha (centre) launches Swayam, the business consultancy cell of FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), with Anuradha Lohia, vice-chancellor of Presidency University (left) and Anupama Sureka, chairperson, FLO Calcutta, at Taj Bengal on Tuesday. Picture by B. Halder
“The changing role of women goes hand-in-hand with the changing role of men,” said Sinha, who described herself as a “familist” – as opposed to “feminist” – to emphasise the importance of family support, especially from male members, in a woman’s journey to success.
Eight mentors are part of the Swayam team in Calcutta. “We will step in at places where women need help like writing business propositions, raising funds, getting them familiarised with government policies and marketing,” said mentor Nayantara Palchoudhuri, who was the first woman president of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The mentors have been prepping up in order to deliver their best. “I did a course on motivation because I was going to be part of this motivational team of Swayam members,” said Suksham Singh, who runs Lifeline Foundation, a free tele-helpline service for the depressed and suicidal.
“If a woman wants to get into a particular area of business, she needs to be told the ABC of business. Say, it is food processing. That’s not my area of expertise but I will put her on to experts. The mentors’ job will be to network… we are going to see that she gets all the attention she needs to take her down that path. They can be young or old… I’m looking for someone who’s 65 and wants to start a business!” added Suksham, who also opened the first all-women petrol pump in Alipore in 2004.
“As of now, Swayam is open to all women and students and not restricted to FLO members. Consultancy is available for a nominal fee, charged only so we get serious proposals,” ” said Anupama Sureka, chairperson, FLO Calcutta.
You can reach Swayam in Calcutta at 9163167789 and flokolswayam@gmail.com
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by A Staff Reporter / Wednesday- July 27th, 2016
Garima Poddar plates her dishes at IIHM Young Chef India Schools 2014 at the University of West London
Garima Poddar likes her friends calling her Garry after Gary Mehigan, her favourite judge on Masterchef Australia.
And true to the Masterchef nickname, the Calcutta Girls High School Class XII student won the IIHM Young Chef India Schools 2014 contest at the University of West London on Saturday and retained the crown that Simran Kapur had won for Calcutta last year.
The finals of the inter-school cooking competition — held by the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM), in association with t2 — saw six finalists from six Indian cities (Calcutta, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad) battle it out with their plates and pans to serve up meals to some of the best-known Indian chefs in London.
Wearing the judges’ hat at the London finale were Andy Verma, who owns restaurants Vama and Chakra in the UK, Dipna Anand whose family owns and runs Brilliant restaurant in London’s Southall area largely inhabited by Indians, Romy Gill of Romy’s Kitchen in South Gloucestershire, and closer home t2 columnist Shaun Kenworthy and Sector V IIHM’s chef Sanjay Kak.
How apt it was for the IIHM Young Chef India Schools contest to culminate in London was underlined by Virendra Sharma, MP, Ealing Southall, the chief guest at the evening prize distribution, who pegged the number of Indian restaurants in the UK at 60,000.
But what did Calcutta girl Garima do that the others didn’t? For one, she churned out 10 dishes in a three-hour-long cookout, a number unmatched by any other contestant. “Her biggest challenge was getting all her dishes right because she made so many,” agreed the judges, all of who gave Garima the highest score.
The Southern Avenue resident pinned her win down to two factors — confidence and practice. “I know it sounds cliched but practice does make perfect. I strived to make at least three dishes a day to prepare for the finals. One day, I did a 100 roti challenge just to get that perfect roti shape and all the rotis were given to the needy,” said Garima.
Like Garima, her other five competitors made it past 8,000 students who participated in the Young Chef competition over six months. Two got their visas in the nick of time and reached two hours before the contest kicked off while the Jaipur girl had to give it a miss, cutting down the number of finalists to six from seven.
In the two days they all spent in London before the finals, food was the only thing on Garima’s mind. Ask the Lebanese hairdresser at Eli’s Hair & Beauty on Kew Bridge Road who was unexpectedly pulled into a casual conversation on tahini, babaganoush and shawarma as she settled down for a wash-and-blow dry! Or the Kadai Chicken that was sampled at a local restaurant down the road from the hotel.
“In fact, it was for this competition that I started having non-veg,” said the spunky Marwari girl. “Non-veg is not cooked at home but we eat it outside. Initially, I would nibble on chicken; now I can eat a whole chicken meal!”
Which is why chicken featured on what the judges called her “buffet”. There was Chicken Garam Masala Roast, Nageese Kofta (egg wrapped in chicken keema) “learnt from my mom’s friend”, Kheera Ka Kachoree “learnt from dadi”, Bhaap Tashtari, Fish-E-Hariyaali, Lemon Rice, Gobi Dahi Ki Sabji and a fusion dessert Gajar Ka Halwa with Lemon Cheesecake. She also made an Amuse Gueule called Salata (frozen salad) and an Assamese dish called Narasingha Paator Maas “inspired by a YouTube video of Gordon Ramsay cooking Assamese food in Assam”.
The commerce student who loves economics also made all the right calculations and moves. Like when she used micro-greens to garnish her dishes, an idea picked up from Shaun’s cooking demonstration the previous day. Or when “I decided not to make rotis because they would have to be made last and would eat into my plating time”, she said.
Her future plans? “It’s either economics or cooking and after this contest, the scales are tilting more in favour of the latter,” she signed off, clutching in her hands the winning trophy, a cheque for Rs 5 lakh and a placard that read ‘Garry’s Kitchen’, which she had proudly displayed on her table.
What is your message for Garima? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by Karo Christine Kumar in London / Monday – October 20th, 2014
A laundry service launched at Kolkata’s Pavlov Hospital, ‘Dhobi Ghar’ is being called a laundry with a difference.
The service will be run by people who have suffered stigma and often been abandoned by their families due to mental illness and aims to provide them an opportunity to a live a life of dignity.
Health and Family Welfare Minister of West Bengal Shashi Panja told NDTV, “This is the first of its kind project taking off in West Bengal. This laundry project empowers these individuals who are going to work here who have been through mental illness and recovered. It is about empowerment, self-respect and hygiene.”
The West Bengal government says it wants to improve conditions at hospitals for persons with mental illness. The government says they will work with NGOs and private players to create more such opportunities to integrate them into the work force.
The laundry project was set up by Anjali in collaboration with state government’s health and family welfare department. It has Sparsh Foundation as a technical partner and is enabled by The Hans Foundation.
Executive Director of The Hans Foundation Dr G V Rao told NDTV, “We are going to continue to see how we can replicate this and take it to the next level in order to increase the numbers.”
Those who have found work at the laundry say they want to be independent. Gita Kundu, who is undergoing treatment at Pavlov Hospital, told NDTV, “We feel nice doing this work. I am ironing these days. I feel better.”
“If we can do what we have been told to do here, then I can call myself successful as being able to earn and live independently is a man’s first responsibility,” added Ratan Nandi.
It is often said that a successful start-up is like a love affair: demanding, but has its own prize. The story of Kultprit is like that, but with a twist. It all started when Salt Lake boy Saumya Jain, with a background in mining, went to London for a cousin’s wedding. He had no clue how his life was going to change.
Saumya always had a passion for fashion. Though he never had any formal training, he followed fashion trends and dreamt of starting a fashion start-up in Kolkata. But the fear of moving out of the mainstream always bothered him. In London, during a ride in the underground, he met Olena, a young Ukrainian girl. They had an instant connection, and love blossomed. Olena was mad about fashion and was working in the fashion industry in London, and Saumya always dreamt of the perfect partner with whom he could share his life and passion. Kultprit was born out of their love.
The merchandising brand has a website that deals in clothes and accessories. It has slowly carved a niche in the international circuit. “Kultprit was born in July 2014. We just got married, came back to Kolkata and wanted to do something different. So we decided to unite our passion for fashion and form a brand that represents the spirit of youth,” says Saumya.
The brand employs eight permanent designers and several freelancers from all around the world. “Designers and doodlers from India, Brazil, the UK, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine, the Czech Republic regularly contribute for us. Though Kultprit is our brainchild, it is also a stage for the amazingly talented young designers around the world to showcase their talent,” Olena says.
Speaking on the brands sustainability and future Olena said, “Kultprit is not only a fashion label. We support lot of fashion influencers around the world. Musicians, bloggers, actors and artists all over the world who give out strong messages to the youth are our fashion influencers. They are not our brand promoters but we are inspired by their work and in turn promote them though our designs,”
Colours used to intrigue Ranodeep Das since childhood. When teachers demonstrated algebra problems, he was busy scribbling and sketching a bird’s nest he could see outside the window. Since childhood, almost like every 90s kid, he was in love with Batman and Superman. And as he grew up, the idea of designing these characters and their merchandise came to him. And he gradually realized that the young generation was increasingly getting addicted towards customizable products.
When all his friends were busy hunting for mainstream careers, this young entrepreneur chose to have his own start-up: Rare Planet. On being asked how he dreamt up such an idea, Ronodeep says: “Everybody loves celebrity merchandise, customizable and designer products. And that is how I thought of the idea of Rare Planet.” Rare Planet designs superhero-themed earthen pots, kettles and wall art. Among the various products that Rare Planet has, the best are the colourful busts of Hellboy, Bane and the Joker. It also makes customized masks and movie memorabilia.
For Ekta Bhattacharya , it all started when she saw a poster of Satyajit Ray’s ‘Gupi Gayen Bagha Bayen’ at Nandan. She fell in love with the illustration. Since then, the girl from Barrackpore looked up to the other side of Ray — the illustrator — for inspiration. “I always loved painting, but Ray’s illustrations gave me direction,” she recalls. “Though I was never interested in a mainstream career, I was not sure of becoming a poster artist either. It happened by chance. A friend of mine, a short-film maker, asked me to design a poster for his film. He suggested I paint it, as it is rarely done nowadays. I always wanted to do a poster like that and readily agreed. It got lots of praise. I then realized this is what I am actually good at. I realized that that was who I am — a designer,” Ekta says. She launched her company — Ekta’s — in 2015, and leads a team of seven designers.
Her painted posters were hugely appreciated by artists like Soumitra Chattopadhay, Anupam Kher and Mahesh Bhatt. Ekta even painted a poster for Mahesh Bhatt’s last production ‘Hamari Adhuri Kahani’. “Money has never been the driving factor. It is the creative satisfaction that I derive working for my clients. Each one of them is a challenge,” she says.
From a very young age, Sharmila Dutta never liked looking at things devoid of colour. When kids of her age were busy playing, she choose to scribble and paint the walls of her room. Sharmila took this love forward and formed Colorblot , her start-up for those seeking customized walls an interior designing.
Her company aims to design and customize rooms according to customers’ needs. “I have painted a lot of walls in people’s homes. Getting your wall painted is like getting a tattoo done. The art becomes a part of your existence,” she feels.
Sukanya Majumder never thought she would someday form a brand that would style some of the biggest Tollywood actors. The Behala girl was always into dancing and play-acting in her school days. But when she went to college, she saw herself in a new light. Her fondness for mingling metal and art became her calling.
“It was in college that I first met Neha Panda, who was a well-known stylist then. I was intrigued by her work. I thought about creating jewellery differently for people to wear it at work and play. Why not create something that is a statement and becomes part of one’s identity? It is then that I formed Sukanya’s, in end-2014,” she recalls.
Sukanya’s makes all kinds of daily wearable jewellery, from anklets to arty jhumkas and Rastafarian headgear. Everything she does is customizable. “I try to make my creations in a way that reflects the identity of my customers. Whatever one wants to wear, I try to make,” Sukanya says.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Sayan Mazumder & Abhro Banerjee / May 28th, 2016
– College students from hills make up first all-girl team of NCC to conquer the highest peak
Trishala Gurung (left) and Sulaxchana Tamang. File picture
Darjeeling :
The first all-girl team of the National Cadet Corps to Mount Everest, which included two college students from Darjeeling, has successfully climbed the world’s tallest peak.
Trishala Gurung and Sulaxchana Tamang, who study at Southfield College and Ghoom Degree College in Darjeeling, respectively, were among the 10 girls to be selected from across the country to be part of the NCC team to scale the highest peak.
Speaking over the phone from Delhi, Lt. Col. Umang Kohli, additional director publicity, NCC (headquarters), said: “It is confirmed that the first all-girl team of the NCC has successfully climbed Mount Everest. They were part of a 19-member group which reached the summit. The NCC team has done us proud.”
The expedition team consisted of 10 NCC girls selected from across the country and 15 officers. Of the total 25 members, five, including the team doctor, were to stay at the base camp. “Of the 20 members, who were to climb the peak, 19, including 11 girls, have succeeded,” said Lt. Col. Kohli.
Only one NCC team member could not reach the top.
Om Prakash Tamang, father of Sulaxchana, 21, said: “My daughter called me around 7am today. She had just returned to the base camp. She said the team had successfully climbed Mount Everest. We are very happy.”
According to Om Prakash, Sulaxchana was part of the first batch to climb the summit.
Ganesh Gurung, father of Trishala, 22, said she had called him this evening to confirm the success of the team.
Lt. Col. Kohli said the team had climbed the peak in two batches on May 21 and 22.
Preparation for the expedition by the NCC team had started more than a year back. In November 2014, 100 girls from across the country had been selected for training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling.
After completing a nearly one-month training, 40 girls were shortlisted in February 2015. “The 40 girls were then taken to climb Mount Deo Tibba (19,688ft) in Himachal Pradesh. After the 41-day expedition, 15 girls were selected for another expedition,” said Ganesh.
Between August and October 2015, the 15 girls were taken to an expedition to Mount Trishul (23,353ft) in Uttarakhand. After 50 days of that expedition, 10 girls were selected to scale Mount Everest.
The team led by Col. Gaurav Karki was flagged off in Delhi on March 9.
Mountaineer in Siliguri hospital
Chetna Sahu from Calcutta, who developed frostbites while descending from the summit of Mount Everest, has been admitted to a private nursing home in Siliguri. She climbed the peak, along with her husband Pradip.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> North Bengal> Story / Vivek Chhetri / Wednesday – May 25th, 2016
For 30 years, Flower Silliman lived abroad, keenly observing and recording Jewish life in the Middle East, Europe and the US.
Now, the 86-year-old is back in the city she was born taking the community count up by one. And, she has taken upon herself the onerous task of keeping the authentic Jewish flavours alive for her nine-member strong community. Yes, you read it right: nine.
Demographers put the strength of the Jewish community in the city at less than 20, but the members are rather strict about who they call “pure”. Those that have married “outside” the community are strictly not “pure” Jews.
“I have come back to the city because this is where the Jews have lived most safe and free, but unfortunately , this is where our numbers have dwindled the most…but I am keeping the flame alive,” she says.
Silliman also happens to be among the last keepers of the community’s ancient recipes and has decided to chronicle the unique tastes for posterity.
“Even the food that Jews here have today is not what we are permitted by our religion. There’s so much of mix and match that most of the authentic cuisine that is over 5,000 years old and has its roots in the Middle East, is lost. I am trying to keep the tradition alive by documenting the recipes and rustling up dishes for feasts,” says Silliman.
Jewish food is special because Jews just can’t eat cause Jews just can’t eat anything and everything, Silliman says.
Their food -kosher -has to abide by strict dietary laws which not only lay down what is forbidden but also the process of cooking, the ingredients and the kitchen specifications. Kosher, for example, does not permit meat to be mixed with milk or milk products.So, neither can you mix the two while cooking, nor can you consume milk or milk products after having meat.
Flower Silliman says: “Judaism has a great similarity with Hinduism so far as its antiquity and dietary specifications go.
It’s another matter that most followers of both religions have drifted away from these guidelines… perhaps because they have often found it difficult to cope with such restrictions. I am not saying this by way of criticism, but the fact is that cuisines, and even cultures, become extinct because of such interpolation.”
A traditional sit-down Jewish feast on Friday night can ideally start with beet khatta with koobah (beet soup with chicken or vegetable balls), followed by Jewish roast chicken, which is different from the European roast in the kind of marinades and spices used. “The authentic Jewish roast will be far milder, both in flavour and sharpness, compared to the European roast,” Silliman says.
Kosher allows Jews to only have fish that have scales, and not those with shells (prawns, crabs or lobsters). “So you have items like fish shoofta, which is minced fish skewers. Vegetable lovers have choices like vegetable mahashas, which is stuffed tomatoes and capsicum.But the magic is in the recipe for the stuffing. The authenticity of the dish is heightened when served with aloo makalla (a special potato fry), hulba (a sort of fenugreek, mint and coriander chutney) and cucum ber zalata. Another speciality is mutton or vegetable ingree -a layered meat dish baked with brinjals, tomatoes and potatoes -not unlike the Greek moussaka, but without dairy to keep within kosher limits,” Silliman explains with the lucidity of an expert.
And why not? While abroad, Silliman served as a souschef at the Plaza in Jerusalem and launched the world’s only kosher Jewish restaurant, Maharaja.
She taught cooking and ran masterchef shows in US and London and authored two books. “I have come back to Kolkata because this is where the Jews have lived most safe and free, but unfortunately , this is where our numbers have dwindled the most… but I am keeping the flame alive.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey / TNN / April 29th, 2016
“She must be a visitor.” That’s the murmur she heard when Annie Sinha Roy walked into the construction site of Delhi Metro on the first day of her job. “There were about 100 men, most of them labourers and a few engineers. They thought I would not last long. There were no toilets, no place to sit and debris all around,” the country’s first and only woman tunnel engineer recalls.
“After a couple of hours, I was standing in front of a huge machine that had to break the ground but it was stuck. A German engineer and my boss asked me to get inside it and open a nut. Even before I realized what I was doing, my face was gushed by hydraulic oil. The colleague said my face would glow for the rest of my life. Today tunnelling is my life,” says Annie, 35, ahead of the inauguration of South India’s first underground Metro rail on Friday.
In Bengaluru, she alone steered Godavari, the tunnelboring machine that recently finished boring underground from Sampige Road to Majestic. She calls it her tunnel because the machine had got damaged just when she joined as assistant engineer in Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) in May 2015. After that, she used to spend eight hours in the tunnel every day. “Sometimes when people see me with the helmet and jacket and learn that I work for Namma Metro, they would only ask when the work will get over,” she says. Recalling her long journey, she said she wanted to pursue her masters after completing degree in mechanical engineering from Nagpur University.
“But I lost my father and I had to get a job to bail out my family from financial crisis. I got a job offer from Senbo, a contractor with Delhi Metro, and took it up in October 2007,” says Annie, who hails from a middle class family in north Kolkata.
In 2009, she joined Chennai Metro. And then went to Doha for six months in 2014. “My visa application was rejected thrice by Qatar because they do now allow unmarried women to go and work there. But the fourth time, I fought it out with them,” she laughs.
Annie is proud of her work in the tough male world around her, which has helped her “not bother about what is going to happen tomorrow”.
She wants women to break stereotypes and work in the male-dominated professions. “I want women to drive a tunnel boring machine. I want them to work in the tunnel,” said Annie who lives in HSR Layout with her husband, a techie.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Bangalore / by Aparjita Ray, TNN / April 29th, 2016
Around 500 families of a Terai tea garden who had been living without electricity for the past 13 years got power supply in February following the State Legal Services Authority’s instruction to the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited .
Amir Sarkar, the general secretary of the Darjeeling District Legal Aid Forum (DDLAF), a voluntary organisation, said the residents of Girja Line in Gayaganga Tea Estate, 20km from here, had been facing hardships for a long time.
“The information came to us from Dhumkuriya Legal Aid Clinic, Dagapur, which is a unit of the DDLAF, in 2011. We took up the matter with the Sub-Divisional Legal Services Committee here in Siliguri,” Sarkar said.
It was followed by a visit of a team from the committee and some representatives of the DDLAF.
“It was found that even though the WBSEDCL had installed meters in the houses, there was no electric supply,” the DDLAF secretary said.
After the visit, the residents submitted a mass petition demanding power supply to the DDLAF, which took it up with the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) and the West Bengal Human Rights Commission in Calcutta.
Representatives of the DDLAF and local people appeared before the commission and the SLSA where the case was heard.
“We also pursued the case in a circuit bench of the state human rights commission in Siliguri. Around 100 residents of Girja Line were present at the hearing,” Sarkar said.
Both the bodies ordered the chairman of the WBSEDCL to extend electricity supply to the affected families.
“Although the direction was given back in 2011, the WBSEDCL took time in executing it. We had to take up the matter again. Finally, the residents of Girja Line got electricity in February this year,” Sarkar said.
On April 10, the residents organised a programme.
“They celebrated the occasion. They had invited members of the subdivisional judiciary and also the DDLAF. All those present were felicitated by the residents of the garden,” Sarkar said.
Ajay Kumar Das, the additional district and sessions judge (first court) of Siliguri and chairperson of the subdivisional legal services committee and Sridhan Su, civil judge (senior division), Siliguri, attended the programme with others.
The judges spoke on the free legal assistance process and justice accessibility programme and apprised the tea garden workers and their families as to how to get justice through the alternative dispute redressal mechanism, Sarkar said.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> North Bengal> Story / by The Telegraph Correspondent / Saturday – April 23rd, 2016
Kashi Nath Naskar reads a Tagore poem in his CK Market shop. Picture by Shubham Paul
Kobida’s shop?” That’s the response you will get from anyone in CK Market if you ask for directions to the local cycle repair shop.
An ageing man sits at the edge of the market all smeared in grease, tightening the bolts of a cycle. He answers to the name “Kobi” too. It’s neither his name nor surname but a title he has earned.
“My real name is Kashi Nath Naskar but since I’m always talking poetry everyone calls me Kobi (poet),” smiles the man. Naskar breathes poetry. He knows most poems in Tagore’s Gitanjali and Naibedya by heart and quotes British Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Urdu poet Daagh Dehlvi with equal felicity. And all this while oiling cycles.
Of fishing net and black robe Naskar is the first graduate in his family. “…in my village,” he corrects. He was born in Mahisbathan, behind what is now Sector V, in 1948. His mother was unlettered, his father had studied till Class III or IV and he has four brothers. “We are fisherfolk and milkmen but I loved studying and completed my B.Com from Maharaja Srish Chandra College, Shyambazar,” he says.
It was in college that Naskar borrowed Gitanjali from an acquaintance and fell in love with it. “Since then, I started reading whatever I could lay my hands on. I also started writing poetry.”
Naskar wanted to study law thereafter or join the West Bengal Civil Service but couldn’t afford the courses. “The rich people in our village wanted to pull me down as I was getting more educated than them. They lobbied against my family and made it difficult for us to sell our products. For the next 15 or so years, I tried to form a co-operative of us poor fishermen and fight the rich in court. It didn’t work out. I had to give up my dream of working in an office,” says Naskar, his bespectacled eyes blinking away tears. “I was almost suicidal at that point but poetry kept me alive,” he says, beginning to recite Tagore’s Kothay Alo but getting interrupted by a customer walking in with a punctured tyre.
Wherever he did the rounds for government paperwork, he discovered libraries — at Writers’ Buildings, Commercial Library in Dalhousie Square, National Library in Alipore, Asiatic Society library… “We could barely afford food those days so there was no question of buying books. It is at libraries that I got to read the entire works of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and many works of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Sunil Ganguly. My favourite novel is Tagore’s Shesher Kobita.
Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay’s Saptapadi was also great but not its film version,” he says.
Part of a poem, titled Sathi, by Naskar.
Wrench to Gitanjali In the 80s, Naskar helped his brother start the sweet shop Panchanan Mistanna Bhander, that still stands in CK Market. His cycle repair shop came up a few years later.
“In the beginning, I was a fish out of water,” he recalls. “Wrenches were thrust into hands that only knew how to hold the pen. I had to learn everything from my employees.”
Even today a pocket-sized Gitanjali and Naibedya find pride of place amid his nuts and bolts. “I read them when I get tired of working,” he smiles. He knows the poems by heart.
Naskar writes poetry too. “My favourite subjects are god and peace although I also adapt Tagore’s poems such as Sathi and Duhswapna,” he says. “But since I work all day there’s not much time or energy to write these days,” says the 68-year-old.
Many of Naskar’s original writings got lost when he was shifting home a few years back but he’s not upset. “Dil gaya, tum ne liya/ Hum kya kare/ Jane wali cheez/ Ka gham kya kare,” he says, quoting a couplet by Urdu poet Daag Dehalvi.
Naskar got married some 25 years back and though his wife isn’t into poetry, his daughter is. “I don’t force it on her. She has done her graduation in geography and is studying animation now,” says the proud father.
His poetry books amid his repair kit. (Shubham Paul)
Everyman’s poet Naskar’s reputation has spread far and wide and residents come to chat with him about poetry or hear him recite.
“My husband Arnab and I come to CK Market for tea after our evening walk,” says Seemanti Dutta of AN Block in Sector V. “But truth be told, the tea is just an excuse to hear Kobida recite. He knows even long poems like Tagore’s Borsho Shesh by heart!”
Chittaranjan Bera, of Karunamoyee G Block, appreciates Naskar so much that he bought him the copies of Gitanjali and Naibedya that are his most prized possessions today. “I am a retired librarian from Konnogor College, so I encourage anyone who loves books,” he smiles. “His interest and talent are both extraordinary.”
Govinda Chatterjee of AL Block believes it is from poetry that Naskar draws his energy. “I am so impressed with Kobi that I had even invited him to come recite at our block’s Holi programme but he could not make it,” he says.
Not everyone admires Naskar’s talent. “Sometimes people get annoyed with my recitation and ask me to stop,” Naskar confesses.
“The other day someone said Tagore was overrated and that he was a bourgeois poet. I got livid and defended him. Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth, Byron are all great. I myself count Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner among my favourites,” he says taking a moment to recite the famous “Water, water, everywhere” line from the poem. “But have any of these poets been as prolific as Tagore? Have any of them contributed as much to literature?”
If he could, Naskar says he would read and write poetry all day. “But I have to work,” he says. “If you are a poet at heart then no matter what profession circumstances force you to choose, the poet in you will emerge.”
What is your message for Naskar? Write to saltlake@abpmail.com
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> Salt Lake> Story / Brinda Sarkar / April 15th, 2016
The IIT-Kharagpur has won an award from the Indian government for being the top academic institute for patents in 2016.
IIT-Kharagpur director Partha Pratim Chakraborty said they have received a letter from the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which said that the institute has been awarded the prize for ‘Top Academic Institute for Patents 2016’. PTI
The award will be given on April 26 in Delhi by Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman at a function jointly organised for the celebration of World IP Day by the Indian Intellectual Property office.
The Indian Intellectual property office confers national intellectual property awards on outstanding innovators, organisations and companies in the fields of patents, designs, trademarks, and geographical indications on the occasion of World IP Day every year.
The National IP Award carries an amount of Rs 1,00,000, a citation and a memento.
To simplify the process of patent filing by students as well as professors who have done some substantial research within the institute, the IIT has been running an IP Portal.
Prof Goutam Saha of the institute said patents help them in getting consultancy work and other projects / PTI
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / April 10th, 2016
