Category Archives: Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Meet The new LSG President — Diya Jaiswal

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders

In addition to our regular programmes, she is introducing a forum for the members and about the members to keep this laughter alive.

Diya Jaiswal Telegraph picture

You are taking over at a difficult time… what are some of your immediate plans?

These are very difficult and unprecedented times and there is no roadmap for a clear path. As a practising life coach, my core mantra remains to not look at any situation as a problem. I look at it as a challenge to find my inner resilience. I had many great plans for this year but this pandemic will not allow many of those to translate into reality. I have regrouped my thoughts and refocused myself, and I am now ready with a number of plans for how we can interact and re-energise ourselves at this difficult time to help our membership and the larger community we are a part of. With the guidance of my elders and seniors and my more-than-capable committee, I will do my best to make the hardest times into the greatest ones.

How did your association with the Ladies Study Group (LSG) begin?

Being based in Calcutta, I have grown up hearing glorious tales about LSG. I have memories of being inspired by dining-table conversations in my childhood, which often veered around names of various luminaries who were gracing the LSG stage for years. It was, therefore, a natural choice for me to become a member as soon as I became a young adult and attend such events to learn, unlearn and relearn life. The attendance in the first decade of my membership was peppered with occasional events as I had my hands full, juggling motherhood, work and home. An old school friend’s mother who was the LSG president a few years ago, asked me to join the committee to help her out. Little did I realise at that point how special that one phone call was going to be, and how it would enrich my life and bring me to this role today. Having close encounters, deep conversations and constant learnings with the very same luminaries I had grown up admiring, have truly been a beautiful gift.

What are the kind of events you’re planning to host?

In many ways we are all writing history together. The theme for my term is ‘Embracing the New Normal’ as it is only once that we accept this period of crisis and transition that we can look ahead at the emerging opportunities it provides to reshape our thinking and embrace what lies ahead.

The committee members and I are committed to our goal of doing our best to fill the calendar with events, interactive workshops and social initiatives. We will begin our sessions with the webinar format as safety is our topmost priority. While this format will not have the physical element of interaction we had earlier, it will now allow for a different type of interaction — one that could perhaps allow for greater engagement and higher levels of attendance. I truly believe that adopting a webinar route is a genuine advantage to reach so many more members, who perhaps have missed some of our events due to travel or time constraints. Another added bonus of this new normal is that this format will also accommodate family members wanting to enjoy our sessions. These opportunities are, therefore, like sunrises and I would like to celebrate the feeling of togetherness that this digital platform will provide us all with.

Tell us a little about yourself…

Like so many women I know, I have worn different hats through my journey so far. I started out as a corporate investment banker with a foreign bank for eight years and had two children during this time. Motherhood comes with its own challenges with respect to time-management, and so I reinvented myself and became an entrepreneur. I set up my own art gallery, championing local artists and had a much better work-life balance. I ran my gallery for nine years and during this phase, I also had my third child.

Life was very full and busy, and yet, I had this yearning to do more, especially for women. The women in my life have always influenced and inspired me, and yet when I look around me even today, the empowerment of women is the most important and unfinished part of our human history. So I decided to educate myself further and went back to studying and learning. It was not easy to go back to studying at my age and stage of life, but I was determined. And so, as my children were doing their various school exams, I did mine, and I successfully completed three different degrees in mental health over a three-year period. Armed with insight and knowledge, I then set up ‘Empowerful’, practising as a life coach and counsellor, with my main objective of being a rainbow in someone’s cloud.

I cannot over-emphasise the importance of my family in my life. Instead of the often-used phrase of “behind every successful individual”, I would instead rephrase it and say “beside every committed individual” is the family, and I would be incomplete without mine, who are my anchors, my biggest cheerleaders and my strongest critics.

What are some of the challenges that you’re anticipating for this year?

The biggest challenge we are all facing today is the absence of personal interaction, which is something we had all taken for granted. At LSG, our members have always been our VIPs and we have made a lot of effort to involve our members in our annual interactive “members’ event”, a day that all of us look forward to every year. In this new normal, however, most of us are going to lead restricted lives over the next few months and being together to have this experience sounds distant. Therefore, we need to innovate to keep our connections thriving and our spirits growing stronger together.

In addition to our regular programmes, I am introducing LSG Plus, a forum for our members and about our members to keep this laughter alive. We will have two separate initiatives as part of this forum, both of which will have continuous events through the year and will carefully be structured to include all our members. As I mentioned, my focus in my term is to make each one feel “special”.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> People / by Ananya Sarkar / June 09th, 2020

Bengali filmmaker dons doctor’s hat to treat patients in cyclone-hit Sundarbans

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Science & Technology

Kamaleswar Mukherjee had been a full-time medical practitioner, having worked in state-run and private hospitals, before taking a plunge into the world of cinema in 2011 and directing several critically-acclaimed movies.

Kamaleshwar Mukherjee joined hands with groups like the West Bengal Doctors’ Forum and the Shramajibi Swasthyo Udyog to help the affected people.
Kamaleshwar Mukherjee joined hands with groups like the West Bengal Doctors’ Forum and the Shramajibi Swasthyo Udyog to help the affected people.(Kamaleswar Mukherjee/Twitter)

Bengali filmmaker Kamaleswar Mukherjee, also a qualified doctor, is treating patients in Cyclone Amphan-ravaged Sundarbans region of West Bengal.

He had been a full-time medical practitioner, having worked in state-run and private hospitals, before taking a plunge into the world of cinema in 2011 and directing several critically-acclaimed movies.

The director of movies like ‘Urochithi’, ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’, ‘Chander Pahar’ and ‘Amazon Obhijaan’ said he was moved by the developments of 2019-20, starting with the anti-CAA protests followed by the COVID-19 outbreak and then Cyclone Amphan. The last left behind a trail of devastation in the Sundarbans.

“I was part of a community kitchen organised in Kolkata by students and youth for people hit by the lockdown.

After Cyclone Amphan struck Sundarbans, I decided to put to use my experience as a doctor,” Mukherjee told PTI on Saturday.

He joined hands with groups like the West Bengal Doctors’ Forum and the Shramajibi Swasthyo Udyog to help the affected people.

“I am just a foot soldier. I have been able to attend only a few of the 35 health camps organised by these groups.

From treating patients to ensuring maintenance of social distancing in queues and helping in manual work, we work as a team of health workers in the camps,” he said.

Mukherjee had been to areas in the Sundarbans like Patharpratima and Raidighi and has plans to visit Hasnabad on Sunday.

“We will continue reaching out to people in the worst-affected areas of South and North 24 Parganas districts,” he said.

Mukherjee, who was a student of Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, said he is happy to see voluntary organisations and college students rushing to the aid of the people in distress, both due to the lockdown and Cyclone Amphan.

“In this ‘Krantikal’ (critical juncture), any conscientious person cannot just remain indifferent,” he said.

Mukherjee’s effort has been appreciated by people associated with the Bengali film industry. Filmmaker Anik Dutta wrote on Facebook, “Proud of you Kamal. I am filled with so much pride as I see the work of all these young men and women…”

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Kolkata / by Press Trust of India , Kolkata / June 13th, 2020

Watchman on the waterfront

Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Lives of Others: Story of an activist from a storm-ravaged place

Debashis Chaudhury / Sourced by the correspondent

As a young boy growing up in his uncle’s house in Behrampore in Murshidabad district in the sixties and seventies, Debashis Chaudhury could not help getting caught in a cross-current of ideas. His uncle Soumendra Kumar Gupta, known for his radical views, taught political science at Behrampore Krishnanath College. Naxalbari, which was not far away, had just happened. All around Chaudhury were scholars, writers and activists, dreaming of a new world. Chaudhury would never engage directly with a political movement, but he was baptised by fire.

Today, at 62, he still tries to give shape to those ideas, far from Behrampore and his childhood, in Diamond Harbour. After earning his masters degree in botany from Ballygunge science college, Chaudhury landed up at Diamond Harbour as a teacher of biology and life science at Sarisha High School. Diamond Harbour in South 24-Parganas, once an important harbour town for the Potuguese and the British, now serves as a gateway to the Sunderbans and is a local tourist destination. Here, the Rupnarayan joins the Hooghly to be met by Haldi further down and the three join to run into the sea in the Sunderbans further south.

“I came here and stayed on,” says Chaudhury, a modest man with a smiling face. The town became his mission. He is a Diamond Harbour activist. Just before the lockdown, he was working hard to build a campaign against the CAA and NRC.

Chaudhury points at the river. Cyclone Amphan has breached the embankment on the Hooghly at Matsabandar near Diamond Harbour for about 200 metres. Last year, the main tourist attraction of the town, the promenade on the riverfront that is also part of the main road, had been threatened with collapse by a state government project to build a hanging bridge there.

The project was shelved after protests from Janakalyan Samiti, Diamond Harbour, a civic, social and human rights group that was formed by Chaudhury and others in 2002, which were reported by The Telegraph. Previously Chaudhury was a member and secretary of APDR, a Calcutta-based civil and human rights group.

“But hardly any repair has been done. A disaster may still be waiting,” says Chaudhury about the battered stretch. “Though what the eye can see is very little.”

Diamond Harbour town lies ravaged with its houses roofless and without walls. In the villages the destruction is unbelievable. And Covid is raging. “For so long governments in Bengal had been told to decentralise power more effectively. A strong local government would have helped in people’s participation in health infrastructure. Who even knows about the Gram Samsad now?” asks Chaudhury.

But Diamond Harbour was never really pretty. “I came here in 1981. The town was always in a state of collapse, irrespective of who was in power,” says Chaudhury, who retired from his job in 2018.

One of the first things that he saw was the large spurt of ‘video-halls’ in the early 80s showing blue films. “There were about 20/22 such halls in the town itself and schoolboys were making a beeline for these.” These were closed down, as were some hotels that were being used for prostitution, after intervention from Chaudhury and other activists.

“I was never directly engaged with a political group,” Chaudhury stresses. “But Naxalbari had opened a door. And at that point the science movement was working in a parallel way.” Movements come together. Science, also, is a great agent of change.

In those days Chaudhury would distribute a science journal called Utsa Manush in Diamond Harbour homes.

Wherever he looked, problems had piled up. “Water in Diamond Harbour is undrinkable. It has always been so. Not many here drink the water supplied by municipality,” said Chaudhury. “Just the other day, my wife pointed out snails in the water. So everyone buys 20-litre jars of bottled water, the quality of which can also be questioned in many cases,” said Chaudhury. His wife is a schoolteacher and the couple have two sons.

Chaudhury filed a petition against authorities on the issue of unsafe and unclean drinking water at the high court in 2017, but the case has only had one hearing so far.

For Janakalyan Samitiand Chaudhury, the local bridges are another important issue.

Diamond Harbour is a town of bridges. These, joining parts of town and often entire areas over water bodies that abound in this part of Bengal, are vital to life here. Some go back to the British era. Many of them have collapsed, or are about to.

“Natunpole is the bridge that connects Diamond Harbour with Kakdwip in the Sunderbans. It has been in very bad shape for long, but recently it was ‘repaired’ with only a coat of plaster,” said Chaudhury. Same for Lalpole, a British-era bridge, a little distance from Natunpole. “It has collapsed. But still people are using it, clearing a space on the side. That is another disaster waiting to happen.”

The Mograhat Canal, over which Natunpole was built and which acts as an irrigation canal for a large area around Diamond Harbour, has not been cleaned since 1967, said Chaudhury. He has filed more than a hundred RTIs so far, individually and on behalf of organisations, but has got only about seven or eight satisfactory replies.

Not that he has been rewarded grandly for his efforts in fact the opposite has happened at times. Once he had begun to give extra lessons to students at the higher secondary level. The idea was also to hit at the root of the private tuition racket that flourished there. He was harassed and beleaguered for his effort.

“We have our limitations,” said Chaudhury. “Not all of us can give up our jobs. But one of the things I always remember is if you don’t try to change society around you, society will change you.”

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> Calcutta / by Chamdrima S Bhattacharya / Calcutta – June 01st, 2020

Hand of help from Korean neighbours

Amazing Feats, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Set up in the early 2000s, the association has nearly 100 member families that helped raise the funds

A member of the Korean Association of Kolkata hands over a bag of pulses to a resident of the slums around Ultadanga / Sourced by the Telegraph

Our Korean neighbours have been lending a helping hand in these times of crisis. The Korean Association of Kolkata, with its head quarters in CJ Block, has raised Rs 3 lakh that they used to buy food and distribute in seven areas in and around the city.

Set up in the early 2000s, the association has nearly 100 member families that helped raise the funds. “But due to social distancing protocols, very few of us went over to distribute the rice, pulses, biscuits etc,” said president of the body, Daehun Moon. They held the relief camps at Ultadanga, Sealdah, Dhapa, Bashirhat, Jodthbhim in Rajarhat, Paschim Chowbaga near Science City and a centre for the homeless in Beliaghata.

The final leg was on Monday, at Dhapa, where they handed over 2,500kg of grains to 500 migrant workers. “We identified the seven spots based on reports from the news, friends and our own members who have business there,” said Moon. “In each place, we contacted local leaders who helped us with the distribution.”

For group secretary Seong Kuk Jeong, this was the first time he visited these areas but he received positive vibes from the residents. “We spoke to them a little, in a mixture of Bangla, Hindi and English. I asked them “Bhalo achho?” and they replied “Bhalo achhi,” smiles Jeong, who runs a taekwondo training centre in CJ Block.

When Covid-19 broke out, some member families returned to their motherland. “Korea is handling the crisis well but still, as residents of Calcutta, we wanted to help out here. Our association mostly works on cultural exchange but even when the Vivekananda Road flyover collapsed we had helped out financially,” says Moon.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> Calcutta / by Brinda Sarkar / May 01st, 2020

British officer with Calcutta ties raises £15m

Amazing Feats, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, World Opinion

‘You’ve all got to remember that we will get through it in the end’

Captain Tom Moore at his home in Marston Moretaine, England, on Thursday after he completed 100 laps of his garden and raised £15 million for the NHS.(AP)

Captain Tom Moore, a former British army officer who served in Calcutta during World War II, had intended to raise £1,000 for the NHS by marking his 100th birthday on April 30 by doing 100 laps of the 25-metre loop in the garden of his home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, in 10-lap segments.

But by the time Moore, aided by his walking frame, had completed his mission on Thursday morning, donations from 620,000 people in 53 countries had taken the total on his fundraising page to over £15m — a record for a single campaign on “JustGiving”.

It is all a long time since his days in India. Moore was conscripted into the British Army in June 1940 when he was 20, and began his military career in Otley, West Yorkshire, where he joined the 8th Battalion, the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment under Lieutenant Lord George Saville.

This might explain why, when donations hit £10 million late on Wednesday night, Moore tweeted “Virtutis Fortuna Comes” — the Latin motto of the Duke of Wellington which means “fortune is the companion of virtue”.

In October 1941, his unit was posted to Bombay, with the sea voyage, via Cape Town, taking six weeks. He took a train to Poona and joined the 50th Indian Tank Brigade, where he was asked by his commander to start a motorcycling course for the Brigade because of his expertise in the sport.

He was next ordered to move to his base in Calcutta — the journey during the monsoons took three weeks — and later took part in two exercises in the Arakan before moving to Rangoon.

After all in his background, he probably thought his walk in England, even at 99, was a bit of a doddle.

Still, among those who applauded his fundraising achievement was Ben Stokes, Wisden’s cricketer of the year, who said: “The funds you have raised for the real heroes (in the NHS) are just sensational.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said Moore’s “extraordinary” efforts “goes to show the British spirit is as strong as it’s ever been”, while the health secretary Matt Hancock remarked, “This is an awful crisis, but there are some little shafts of light…. He’s served his country in the past and he’s serving his country now, both raising that money for the NHS, but also cheering us all up.”

From his home, Michael Ball, a well-known singer, offered a rousing rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone.

As the sprightly dressed 99-year-old, with his medals gleaming in the spring sunshine, finished his mission, there were TV cameras and journalists to record the occasion plus four soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment to give him a ceremonial salute.

An emotional Captain Moore, then revealed that he had postponed his 100th birthday party and that after a short rest he would resume his walk.

He added an uplifting message to people in Britain and beyond: “You’ve all got to remember that we will get through it in the end, it will all be right but it might take time. All the people are finding it difficult at the moment, but the sun will shine again and the clouds will go away.”

He said that NHS workers on the frontline “deserve everything we can give them”, and that “I’ve always been one for having a future, I always think things will be good. We’ve fought so many battles and we’ve always won and we’re going to win again.”

www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> World / by Amit Roy in London / April 17th, 2020

Forgotten hero of a forgotten battle

Amazing Feats, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

A 36-year old schoolmaster and his disciples, challenged the tyranny of the British Raj, and for a few glorious days, threw off the yoke of imperial servitude.

Suresh Chandra Dey

Chennai :

A 36-year old schoolmaster and his disciples, challenged the tyranny of the British Raj, and for a few glorious days, threw off the yoke of imperial servitude. They paid a heavy price. But a tinder had been struck, and a group of young Bengali men and women had briefly managed to attack and capture British strongholds. I am referring to the little-known saga of the Chittagong Armoury Raid and the ensuing Battle of Jalalabad Hills, led by ‘Masterda’ Surya Kumar Sen, former president of the Indian National Congress’ Chittagong branch.

My grandfather Suresh Chandra Dey was one of the 65 members of the Chittangong branch of the Indian Republic Army, who raided the local armoury and cut off the communication systems to isolate the important port city. A few days later, a regiment of more than 20,000 British troops struck back. During this fierce battle, my grandfather was shot. He managed to survive the injury and was helped by his comrade Shanti Nag, who carried him down the hill to safety.

Dey was eventually arrested and jailed without a trial, incarcerated as a political prisoner. When his tormentors could not extract information from him through coercion and torture, they tried bribing him, offering to send him to England and fund his higher studies as a barrister.

He did not give in and was eventually released and placed under house arrest. So much so, when my grandfather wed my grandmother Kironmoyee Dey, it was in the presence of British soldiers. He then made his way westward, and eventually founded a the first Sreeleathers store in Jamshedpur in 1952.

My grandfather had chosen to dedicate his life to the idea of an independent India. But the pocket of earth on which he and his comrades bled into was cleaved away at partition, first as East Pakistan and then as Bangladesh.

It falls upon all of us to remember our forebears, and cherish the country that was founded on the blood sacrifice of so many forgotten heroes.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Rijuta Dey Bera / Express News Service / April 23rd, 2020

IIT Kharagpur builds disinfection tunnel for campus visitors in coronavirus time

Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

While passing through the tunnel, a visitor is sprayed with a disinfectant solution coming out of a high-pressure air compressor.

IIT Kharagpur. (Mint file)
IIT Kharagpur. (Mint file)

The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur has set up a disinfection tunnel for sanitizing visitors to the campus during the ongoing lockdown triggered by the coronavirus outbreak, an official said on Saturday.

The tunnel has been installed at the sole entry point of the campus for essential services staff such those involved in cleaning operations and once the lockdown is lifted, it can be of use to screen visitors until the threat of COVID-19 is gone, he said.

While passing through the tunnel, a visitor is sprayed with a disinfectant solution coming out of a high-pressure air compressor.

The system to automate the process of disinfecting visitors was developed by Prof Mihir Sarangi, Associate Professor Mechanical Engineering, along with faculty and staff members from various departments.

“The output material is like mist and highly effective as it covers a larger surface area unlike liquid disinfectant.

Also, it does not need any drainage,” Sarangi said, This mechanism is, however, a supplement for hand washing or the need to wear face masks in public. Hand wash stations have been placed just outside the disinfection tunnel, he said.

The product prototype has been built indigenously at the IIT Kharagpur in less than a week while the campus is under lockdown.

The prototype is now fully operational at IIT Kharagpur and is used for all people entering the campus.

The commercial model for the product has been estimated to be available for Rs 4 Lakh.

IIT KGP Director Prof Virendra K Tewari said such technologies can be quickly built and employed at any location which has a daily influx of essential service providers.

“Our campus is like a mini township which, in the current situation, requires automation of hygiene and safety protocols for essential service providers who are coming out of their homes every day to serve at the campus and also the campus community who are interacting with these visitors,” he said.

Tewari said more such innovations to assist Indias fight against COVID-19 are underway. PTI SUS NN NN

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Education / by Press Trust of India, Kolkata / April 18th, 2020

Feed the Need: This group of friends in Kolkata has fed over 1000 families amid lockdown

Amazing Feats, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

In Kolkata, a group of six friends have come together to feed villagers in the state.

Ration distribution in South 24 paraganas village.

Kolkata :

The unprecedented lockdown in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus in India, has given rise to a humanitarian crisis, where thousands are going to sleep every night without a morsel of food in their stomach. Amidst the crisis, several good samaritans have come forward to do their bit to help the starving souls.

In Kolkata, a group of six friends have come together to feed villagers in the state. The group has so far raised more than Rs 4,000,00 through donations from their friends and colleagues and fed 1200 families in West Bengal.

Ritambar Das, Arijit Roy Chowdhury, Preetom Bhattacharya, Abhijit Sarkar, Sukanya Dutta and Rovers Chatterjee with the help of their friends from other cities in India, US and UK have been delivering ration to families in four villages which are completely cut off from the cities amid lockdown.

Three kilograms of rice, one kilogram of potato and some lentils go into a bag that is then distributed among the villagers. So far the group has managed to help people in Mallickpur, Joytola, Piyali and Betberia. From procuring the ration to distribution, these six people have been doing it all on their own with the help of local police.

“We decided to take this initiative after one of Rritambar’s employees asked for financial support for the people of his village. But for him, it was not possible to take the responsibility of the entire village. So he pitched the idea to some of us and we decided pool money and help them,” said one of the members of the team.

This group of young professionals have also started a Facebook page ‘Feed the Need- by willing souls’ to spread the word and collect funds. The members of the group added that it’s a close circuit network but they are deliberating the option of crowdfunding.

“We initially had a target to collect Rs 15,000 so that we could feed at least 150 families.Our friends passed on the information to their friends who started donating. We coordinate everything through a WhatsApp group. We add every donor to the group to keep them updated,” he added.

The group recently held a ‘thanksgiving’ event in South Kolkata for the essential service providers(police, delivery agents, et al) where they were given snacks and energy drinks.

“We have been distributing these rations on our own with the support from the local police. However, we have decided to engage daily wage labourers in distributing work so that we can pay them a fee to sustain themselves,” a member added.

We are not doing any religion-based distribution, the group maintains adding that it is imperative to look beyond such petty issues and help everyone who is less fortunate.

The group is scheduled to distribute more rations among the families of three more villages in South 24 Parganas district.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Alisha Rahman Sarkar / Online Desk / April 19th, 2020

What a win: Sourav Ganguly remembers 2001 Kolkata Test

Amazing Feats, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

In 2001, India, under Ganguly’s leadership, became only the third team in the history of Test cricket to win the match after being forced to follow-on.

BCCI President and former India captain Sourav Ganguly (Photo | PTI)

New Delhi :

Board of Control for Cricket in India president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday reminisced the famous win over Australia in the 2001 Kolkata Test. Ganguly retweeted a video of the Indian team at the time celebrating in the dressing room.

“What a win…” Ganguly said in his tweet.

In 2001, India, under Ganguly’s leadership, became only the third team in the history of Test cricket to win the match after being forced to follow-on.

India were all out for 171 in reply to Australia’s first innings score of 445 at the Eden Gardens. Steve Waugh enforced the follow-on and India ended up declaring on 657/7 in their second innings, largely thanks to an extraordinary 372-run stand between Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.

Harbhajan Singh, who had become the first Indian to take a hat-trick in Test cricket in the first innings, led the way once again with the ball. He took six wickets as Australia were all out for 212 and India ended up winning the Test by 171 runs.

The match is regarded as one of the greatest Test matches ever and one of the most significant in the recent history of Indian cricket. The Australian team of the time was regarded as one of the greatest teams of all time and Waugh had termed winning a Test series in India as the “final frontier”. While they were unsuccessful in doing it that year, they went on to finally break the 35-year jinx when they came to India in 2004.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sport> Cricket / by IANS / April 15th, 2020

Tactician, motivator, visionary: Indian football legend PK Banerjee’s pupils recall his greatness

Amazing Feats, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Subhash Bhowmick, Gautam Sarkar, Subrata Bhattacharya and Shyam Thapa, some of the best players in the 1970s were coached by the legendary Banerjee.

File image of PK Banerjee | Indian Football/ Twitter

Subhash Bhowmick, a robust and lethal forward in Indian football in the 1970s, was down in the dumps with no visible light at the end of the tunnel until Pradip Kumar Banerjee gave his career a new lease of life, something he is grateful to this date.

Bhowmick, who later became an accomplished coach, owes his stardom to Banerjee’s skills as a coach that brought out the best in him. Similarly, Gautam Sarkar, an absolute feisty character who would send those pin-point passes to Bhowmick playing for Mohun Bagan also benefited from Banerjee’s astute coaching.

Thus, as the 83-year-old veteran lost his battle against prolonged illness, his students, who were stars of Kolkata maidan in the 1970s, an era that was a witness to some of the best matches in Kolkata football, celebrated the accomplished life by narrating several anecdotes from their time with their beloved “Pradip Da”.

“I was kicked out of Mohun Bagan after we lost the Durand Cup final to East Bengal (in 1972),” Bhowmick said, as he went down the memory lane in an interaction with PTI.

“He was the person who picked me up from ‘gutter’ and told me ‘you’re the best player in India, come and play for ‘East Bengal’,” he added.

Bhowmick was one of the key figures in East Bengal’s famous 5-0 demolition of Mohun Bagan on that fateful IFA Shield final on September 29, 1975.

The ‘vocal tonic’

Known for his vocal tonic, Banerjee spurred Bhowmick on by recalling the insults hurled towards him by Mohun Bagan officials. The rest, as they say, is history as Bhowmick played like a tiger on the prowl handing Bagan supporters a day that they have lived on to regret even after 45 years.

Bhowmick did not find his name on the score sheet in that great win but was instrumental in setting up the first two goals scored by Surajit Sengupta and Shyam Thapa.

“Death is always sad. His demise has left all of us sad,” Bhowmick said.

“But the way he was suffering, he did not deserve this pain. For me, Pradip da was dead since the day he left talking about football with me,” he added.

Ahead of his times

Banerjee also fashioned memorable treble for Mohun Bagan two years later in 1977 and this time it was Subrata Bhattacharya, who was the star of the show after three quiet years.

The Mohun Bagan captain was a big let-down in the 1977 Calcutta Football League derby, that the team 0-2 in front of a packed Eden Gardens and was a reason for unhappiness among the fans.

“The fans would not let us enter the field in protest… Such was the atmosphere,” Bhattacharya said.

“The practice would begin at 7.30 am at the Eden Gardens but he (Banerjee) would come one hour before and pay extra attention to me, he made him do some different pieces of training.” he added.

“We went on to defeat East Bengal thrice that season and won the Shield, Rovers and Durand. Nobody dreamt of such a turnaround. Only Pradip Da could do it. He was ahead of his time and crystal clear in his thinking.” Bhattacharya said.

A great motivator

Banerjee’s rivalry with another great coach Amal Datta was well known in Maidan circles but Bhattacharya reckoned that the former knew how to deal with stars and adapt to situations.

“Amal da may have been a great coach and hugely respected for his tactical and aggressive football, But Pradip da had the horses-for-courses policy. He was sharp and was quick to adapt. It showed in his results. I won 37 of my 58 titles under him,” he said.

Former midfielder Sarkar recalled yet another famous win for Mohun Bagan under Banerjee in the 1978 Calcutta Football League.

In his prime, Sarkar was dropped for three-four matches, a decision that caused quite a lot of chatter. He was suffering from giardia, an acute stomach bug that was prevalent in the 70s in Kolkata especially among the lower middle class that didn’t have access to clean drinking water.

“I panicked, everyone was asking why Gautam Sarkar was not playing. I was indispensable then. But he kept quiet,” Sarkar said.

It was just on the eve, Banerjee met Sarkar at the entrance of the club tent.

“He told me that he had kept me for next day’s match as I was a big-match player. He called the kind of the big games,” Sarkar said.

“I again felt that spark, the fire inside me, despite lying low due to my stomach illness. It was as if I was transmitted some supernatural power,” he said recalling how his crucial saves played a huge role in their 1-0 win where Shyam Thapa scored the winner.

Thapa also remembered how Banerjee played a key role in Mohun Bagan’s famous 2-2 draw against Pele’s New York Cosmos team.

“I was given an extra responsibility to stop Pele. The whole team put up a vibrant show. He would sit and plan with us with a board. He was way ahead of his time,” he said.

With Banerjee’s passing, a huge void has been left on the Kolkata maidan, but his legacy in the form of the impact he made on the football there lives on.

source: http://www.scroll.in / Scroll.in / Home> Indian Football / by Press Trust of India / March 20th, 2020