Kolkata, the City of Bongs that has stood the test of time, has much to offer to anyone who has been or lived there. Just when you enter the place you feel a kind of warmth that you may not have felt anywhere else. This applies to anyone and everyone irrespective of where they come from. If you have an open heart or are trying to open your heart, this is the city where you should be.
Despite the political unrest and slow pacing developments, the City of Joy still attracts almost everyone who visits Bengal or India at large.
One such person is Anubhav Mukherjee, founder of The Kolkata Buzz who came to the city from Chhattisgarh. Though he intended to learn filmmaking, the city’s charisma turned him into a wanderer who would try and capture the bursting streets on his camera and post it on Facebook. He had no idea that people will fall in love with his content and that he would create an entire platform based on Kolkata.
“When I came to Kolkata I was an outsider despite being a Bengali. So, to explore the city, I would often set out on foot and take pictures and videos. I found a lot of subjects to capture that looked ordinary but had a Bong connection. Then I started to post them on Facebook. To my surprise, it was received well by the audience and thus was born, ‘The Kolkata Buzz’ “, shares Anubhav.
In 2016 during Durga Pujo, the page was all over the place and this made Mukherjee pursue a full-time career in digital media. And all that he could do had only one USP – Kolkata and Bengali culture.
“Kolkata has been the soul of all our content. When I started the platform there was no one else who was so focused on Bengalis. So, I always made sure that my content was attractive and connected with what the public loved and I guess that is what has clicked,” explains Mukherjee.
Initially, the page had all original pictures taken by Anubhav but gradually he found and showcased pictures and quotes by several other Bengalis on his page.
“While I was working on my page, I started to spot others who were posting some great content on our theme. Although my growth mattered to me, I wanted to showcase what others tried to narrate in their posts and give them a shout-out,” says the platform’s founder.
Also, Anubhav felt the need to bring some changes to the work culture in Kolkata. Having studied the market, he knew the worth of digital and wished people to join him. So, he started pooling freelancers and professionals who now work under him to make the page even more amazing.
“I wish that Kolkata’s youth is directed towards the new age, shedding the traditional opportunities. There’s a lot to do out there other than what we are taught to aim as kids. Also, the city needs to build its startup culture and professionalism. I am doing my part and also trying to inspire my colleagues,” said Anubhav.
On today’s date, The Kolkata Buzz has 215k Followers on Instagram, and 1 Million + on Facebook. They are also into videos and are starting a website. The page’s success propelled Anubhav to start his agency – Buzzaffair ventures (OPC) Pvt. Ltd. The company is into brands, Influencer marketing, event promotions, and social media management. They have covered 1000+ brands till now.
One little Santhal girl was sent away to the city for a better life. Years later, she returned to her roots, astride air waves.
Shikha Mandi / Courtesy – Shikha Mandi
Shikha Mandi was barely four years old when she came to Calcutta from Jhargram’s Belpahari village. Her parents, both farmers, sent her to the city in the hope that she would get a better education, be safer than in a region routinely in the news for Maoist activity.
“My paternal uncle lived in north Calcutta’s Ariadaha with his family. I was told that my elder sister and I were going for a vacation. I was very eager to see a big city. The next thing I knew was that we would be living with them and not return to the village,” recalls Mandi.
Shifting from a village wasn’t easy, not in the least because of the language switch. Mandi, now 27, grew up in Calcutta among Bengalis but retained a love for her mother language, Santhali. Santhals are the largest tribal community in Bengal and Santhali is spoken by over 70 lakh people across Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar and Assam.
At the city school, Mandi had to speak in Bengali. She says, “In our village we barely knew Bengali. Even in Calcutta, we would speak Santhali at home. But to fit in with the rest I had to prioritise another language over my own.”
But bigger struggles lay ahead. Mandi changed school when she was in Class V. She says, “Nobody wanted to be friends with me at Ariadaha Sarbamangala Balika Vidyalaya. I looked different and I was from a different community. They didn’t know much about Santhals. But they would associate tribals with certain things. They would say, ‘Look at her, even a buffalo is more fair-complexioned in comparison’ or ask ‘Do your people wear clothes made of leaves and eat raw meat?’ I would feel hurt. I kept thinking if only I was like them, I wouldn’t have to face all this.”
In hindsight, she wishes she had made a clean breast of her feelings to someone. She says, “My chacha would tell me we are different from the rest but we should not pay attention to anyone who slanders us. He is a government schoolteacher and he too had his fair share of struggles as a Santhal. Now when I talk about my experiences, I hear others say that they too have gone through similar things in life, because of their tribal identity.”
College was comparatively better, but it was difficult to be comfortable in one’s own skin, especially when compounded with her gender, it became an othering factor. “In the city, people seemed to believe that girls should be pretty and fair only,” says Mandi, and for the first time I hear her soft voice break into a laugh.
When Mandi arrived in Calcutta for the first time, she found a friend in the radio. Over the years this friendship endured. Every evening, there would be a Santhali programme on Akashvani and Mandi listened devoutly. “It had Santhali songs and chat shows. Listening to them was my home away from home. It made me miss my village and parents less,” she says.
“I would wonder what it might be to become someone like those people inside the radio — as I imagined them to be. I didn’t even know how it worked, what one needs to do to be on air, but I knew that I wanted to grow up and talk on the radio,” Mandi says.
After school, while the other kids played ghar-ghar, Mandi would pretend to be a news reader and a radio jockey. She would sing Santhali songs too. Over a call, she hums a song she says was her favourite: Hane biti Ganga gada dak do biti nel me, bai bai bai te, bai bai bai te atu kana. She says the song is by Lal Susant Sorenji from Dumka in Jharkhand. “It is a very old song and I’ve grown up listening to it.”
But when she spoke to her parents about her ambition, it didn’t go well. Mandi continues, “My parents were clear they couldn’t afford to spend much on me and insisted I complete my education and get a government job.”
After her school-leaving exams, Mandi joined an Industrial Training Institute in south Calcutta and after training, started preparing for an apprenticeship exam for Garden Reach Shipbuilding and Engineers Ltd.
And then, the tide turned and her ship changed direction.
Mandi saw an advertisement for a radio jockey for an upcoming community radio station in her hometown, Jhargram. Radio Milan 90.4 was starting a Santhali programme and she put in an application. She says, “My parents were not pleased with my decision.” Yet she appeared for the interview, gave a voice test and finally took up the job in December 2017.
Shikha Mandi thus became one of India’s first tribal radio jockeys, commanding the attention of thousands of listeners through her evening talk show Johar Jhargram.
For Shikha, shifting from a village wasn’t east, not in the least because of the language switch / Courtesy : Shikha Mandi
The programme was all about making Santhals feel connected. Says Mandi, “Everyone wanted to listen to their language on radio and television, it doesn’t happen very often for us. So people were very excited.” But years of living in Calcutta had had its impact on her fluency in Santhali. She adds, “People complained that I used Bengali words.”
Mandi spent the next many months brushing up her Santhali. She learnt the Ol Chiki script, re-acquainted herself with tribal customs, culture, rituals, songs. She started reading up about ground realities of Santhals. She would scour around for socially relevant topics for her show. “Every day I’d choose a new topic that people could relate to. I would invite guests for expert opinions on these topics. I even got Santhali callers on my show from other cities. There were conversations about love, friendship, tragedy, everyday struggles of being a Santhal, it was all about us,” she says. Mandi is soft-spoken, but I sense a firmness in her tone.
Mandi wrote her own script and made playlists. Broad themes were festivals, religion and gender, but everything was in Santhali. There was no place for any other language. If someone called in with a request for a Santhali song but spoke in Bengali, Mandi urged the caller to speak in Santhali, assuring that it was okay not to be entirely fluent. Soon from being a daily hour-long show, her show became so popular that it became a three-hour show.
Says Mandi, “I didn’t just want to become a radio jockey to indulge some personal aspiration, I wanted to do something for my people, keep the Santhali language and culture alive among the youth. The pride for the language is fading among people of my generation and those younger to me. When they move to the city, they pretend they don’t know the language and don’t speak it even if they do know it. I wanted to change that.”
When Shikha arrived in Calcutta for the first time, she found a friend in the radio… After school, while the other kids played ghar-ghar, she would pretend to be a newsreader and radio jockey–
Sometime during the pandemic, Mandi quit her job of a radio jockey. She seems to think that the channel had strayed from its initial commitment. She says, “It wasn’t doing what actual community radio centres do — work with the locals.” These days, Mandi runs her own podcast on Tumdah, an app to discover, stream and share Santhali music.
But from the sound of it, radio continues to be the love of her life. She cannot stop talking about her radio jockey days. She tells me, “I used to love the fact that I could connect with so many people through this medium… I couldn’t reduce anyone’s pain in life but I could always say two words of hope.”
She is sure that this is not the end of RJ Shikha Mandi. She says, “I want to start my own community radio centre where we will involve more tribal people and I am working towards it.”
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> Culture / by Manasi Shah / April 25th, 2021
The moa is a popped-rice ball held together with fresh date-palm jaggery that is extracted during the winter months. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The famous GI tag holders tie up with Kolkata shops to check imitations.
The makers of the famous Joynagar moa are, for the first time, tying up directly with popular sweet shops in and around Kolkata in a bid to check imitations that cash in on their name.
The moa is a popped-rice ball held together with fresh date-palm jaggery that is extracted during the winter months, and its manufacture is so synonymous with the town of Joynagar near Kolkata that it earned the Geographical Indication (GI) tag of Joynagar Moa in 2015.
The moa, even though highly popular, is said to have made its appearance as recently as in 1904, becoming synonymous with Joynagar over the decades. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Also because of the synonymy, almost every moa sold in Kolkata is palmed off to the customer as Joynagar moa — and that is what the manufacturers’ association in Joynagar wants to prevent by reaching out directly to popular shops and confectionery chains.
“If a customer buys moa believing it is made in Joynagar when that’s actually not the case, not only is he deprived of the real taste of Joynagar moa but he also forms a bad impression of us. This is what we want to check,” Ashok Kumar Kayal, founding secretary of the Joynagar Moa Nirmankari Society, told The Hindu.
The society earned the GI tag and a logo from the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry in March 2015, and so far 26 of the 46 manufacturers registered with the society have received the certificate to make Joynagar moa — the remaining 20 applications are still under process.
It is these manufacturers with certificates that will send their moas to shops in and around Kolkata, packaged in boxes that will display the logo and nutritional facts. “There’s plenty of fake Joynagar moa in the market. The real moa is available only during the winter, for about two and a half months, when you get jaggery. If someone sells you moa outside of these months, it’s fake,” Mr. Kayal said.
The moa, even though highly popular, is said to have made its appearance as recently as in 1904, becoming synonymous with Joynagar over the decades, even though many other adjoining settlements specialise in it. The sweetmeat is made of aromatic khoi — popped rice — mixed with jaggery, sugar, cashew nuts and raisins. Today it is an organised business; the manufacturers’ society even has a constantly-updated website that lists the shops offering the authentic moa.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by Bishwanath Ghosh / Kolkata – December 07th, 2020
Manufacturers create product adhering to original recipe with distinctive aroma, feel and taste.
Joynagar’s Moa / Telegraph picture
Joynagar Moa has managed to get for itself a logo that signifies its unique local identity and a recipe that defines what moa is supposed to be all about.
Six years back, in November 2014, the delicate sweet made of khoi (popped rice) had bagged a geographical indication tag for its uniqueness that would be only found across two blocks of Joynagar in South 24-Parganas.
Over the last few years a section of moa manufacturers have managed to do what rasogolla manufacturers are still struggling with the “Banglar Rasogolla” GI tag — create a product adhering to the original recipe that would offer a distinctive aroma and mouthfeel.
With these manufacturers finally ready with their produce, a unique brand of Joy-nagar’s Moa would sell this winter.
Over 20 such manufacturers from different parts of Joynagar — who have bagged the “authorised user certificate” — have come together and tied up with almost all the best selling mishti shops across Calcutta to sell Joynagar Moa, the authentic one.
“Anyone can challenge the manufacturer for the authenticity of the moa that will be sold in packs of six, 10 and 12 pieces,” said Ashok Kumar Kayal of Joynagar Moa Nirmankari Society, the one that had pitched for the GI tag with the Union ministry of commerce and industry. “It’s not easy producing this moa abiding by all the norms that have been laid down by the GI council. It’s a strict mix of human skill and hygiene while following the prescribed flow-chart.”
A moa to be truly of Joynagar has to be between 50 and 75 gram in dry weight and must be made from Kanakchur khoi and should have at least seven ingredients including nolen gur , ghee, cardamom, khoya kheer, sugar, dry grape and cashew nut.
“Anything else that sells as Joynagar Moa is not the one that has been certified by the GI council,” said Dhiman Das, director of KC Das Private Limited. “Some sweet-shop owners have come together to save this product in its original form and hence, this initiative to sell original moa.”
Dhiman was among the many who had fought for the “Banglar Rasogolla” GI tag certification that came in 2017 and has now created a platform of sweet sellers known
as Mishti Udyog, who would sell the branded moa from their outlets in Calcutta and beyond.
Just like the uniqueness of “Banglar Rasogolla” lies in being spongy, fluffy and its smooth texture “with less chewiness”, the speciality of Joynagar Moa is the Kanakchur khoi.
Kanakchur variety has a slender grain and is scented, short and bold, everything that makes it particularly suited for the uniqueness of Joynagar Moa.
The origin of Joynagar Moa dates back more than a century. The year 2004 was the centennial year of ‘Moa of Joynagar’.
Ashutosh Das, a resident of Das Para of Sreepur village in Joynagar had first started the moa industry in the Bengali in 1904. His son, Jawaharlal Das, used to visit the house of Rani Rashmoni at Janbazar carrying moa.
Over the years, moa found acceptance as a delicate sweet and gained popularity across the globe.
But the moa that would be sold across Calcutta or Bengal would not rarely meet the standards that were set down some six years back.
Why? Primarily because of the detailed process that would be involved in preparing an original moa was missing. Here is how the process goes.
Ten litres of nolen gur, for instance, would have to be boiled to get a litre of pure gur. Then comes preparing the khoi. There are male and female khoi. Female khoi, which are bigger in size, is not preferred for moa. They are separated out. Good male khoi are only mixed with hot nolen gur in a big iron pan.
Next the khoi has to be immersed in nolen gur. The stirring has to be done with a wooden ladle. It’s a long and tedious process.
Artisans would allow the mix to cool before using their cleaned hands to give the shape after smearing their palms with pure ghee.
Finally, flavouring agents are added. That would in-clude sugar, cashew nuts, cardamom, ghee and dry grapes. Average weight of each moa would be between 50 and 75 gram.
Know your sweet
Area: The area of production of Joynagar Moa lies between Joynagar Block I and Joynagar Block II of the Joynagar-Mazilpur municipal area, which is around 53km south of Calcutta in South 24-Parganas
Raw materials required: Khoi of Kanakchur paddy, nolen gur, ghee, cardamom, khoya kheer, sugar, dry grapes and cashew nuts.
Colour: Light yellowish.
Weight: Average weight of each Moa is between 50 and 75 gram.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> West Bengal> Calcutta / by Kinsuk Basu / Calcutta / November 29th, 2020
A Calcutta brand launches an apparel line that is based on sustainable practices, made of handloom and has pockets
Model : Meghna Bose /Hair & make-up : Baban Islam / Oindrila Bhol / Photograph courtesy Folk
Folk from Calcutta is a brand with a point of view. As a socially conscious enterprise, it believes fast-fashion is wasteful and destructive, and is in favour of eco-friendly and sustainable patterns of consumption.
It has produced bags and other accessories earlier. “But we had been thinking about an apparel line that was functional, cost-effective, high on quality and design, and made with handloom,” says Manjir Chatterjee, founder, Folk.
“The pandemic has hit handloom weavers badly. The Folk apparel project aims at helping the weavers at this point,” says Chatterjee. The entire process of making the clothes, from dyeing the yarns to placing the end product on the shelves, follows sustainable practices.
Manjir Chatterjee, founder, Folk / Photograph courtesy Folk
The designs are simple, functional, minimalistic and monochromatic, and can be worn at social events, brunches, and at business meetings and events.
“Since we believe that clothing should be comfortable and also soothing to the skin, we use pure linen, silks and cotton. The ‘USP’ of our garments is the fully functional ‘pockets’ in all of the outfits,” Chatterjee adds proudly.
Folk also refuses to follow the Autumn-Winter and Spring-Summer classifications. “It has its own style of continuing through all seasons,” says Chatterjee.
Surojit Rout of Kolkata now delivers food to COVID-19 patients who need simple, healthy meals
The lockdown forced by COVID-19 pushed nearly everybody in the restaurant business — particularly in a food-loving city like Kolkata — into a corner from where they could see only two possibilities: sink or swim.
While many did sink, downing their shutters for good, many others stayed afloat by home-delivering the same food that once attracted customers to their establishments. But a few, like Surojit Rout, chose to reinvent themselves: by delivering food to patients recovering at home.
It was in August 2018 that Mr. Rout, a London-returned former solutions architect, started a restaurant called Ekdalia Rd — named after the neighbourhood, Ekdalia — in south Kolkata’s Ballygunge area. It was just about beginning to gain popularity when the virus struck and it never reopened after the imposition of lockdown.
Once the restrictions were eased, he began getting requests from friends and clients across the world who wanted home-like food to be delivered to their elderly parents and relatives living in Kolkata. That’s when he realised that there was an increasing demand for simple healthy meals and also that the demand was going to last for a long time to come.
So a month ago, he — along with a friend Ipshita Banerjee Bhandary, an ad professional and a home cook — started Dietfixx, with the purpose of delivering diabetic-friendly food to those unwell (including COVID-19 patients) and also to the elderly and working professionals.
“We have been around for only four weeks but the response has been encouraging. Of the total number of daily orders, five to six are for COVID-19 patients. Our clients also include quite a few cancer patients,” said Mr. Rout.
“My idea was to create an ecosystem that benefited everybody. The food is prepared by home cooks based in different areas of the city — it’s a sustainable model for them at a time when they themselves or their spouses might have lost their job or faced a pay cut,” he said.
Mr. Rout’s new business is indicative of two things: that more and more people in Kolkata are using their personal kitchen for supplementing their income; and that it is no longer considered unusual for a COVID-19 patient to get treated at home.
“So far we must have served nearly 100 families with a COVID-19 patient or patients in their midst. These are early days and we are still evolving. But I must say that the entire team, including the home cooks, are working round the clock to ensure seamless delivery of food,” Mr. Rout said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by Bishwanath Ghosh / Kolkata – November 04th, 2020
Lives of others | Koyal can be considered a minor landmark, literally
Tapas Kumar Koyal at his bookstall at Golpark / Subhendu Chaki
You have seen him perched on his stool for the last 30 years or more, like patience on a monument, not exactly smiling at grief, but slightly frowning perhaps and looking contemplatively at the unending stream of humanity that is Gariahat Road.
If you are walking from Golpark to Gariahat, along the right footpath, Tapas Kumar Koyal’s is the first old books stall that you come across as you cross the first lane on your left. The cluster of second-hand books stalls here is south Calcutta’s answer to College Street’s purono boi para; smaller it is, but no less significant.
Koyal, 52, can be considered a minor landmark, literally. As he presides over his collection, arranged neatly according to demand, he grabs the passer-by in whose eyes he sees the slightest flicker of interest, and with practised ease quickly takes the potential buyer through a tour of his titles, starting at Amish, the blockbuster, then hopping on to Shashi Tharoor, Chetan Bhagat and then to Murakami. But if this pecking order fails to produce the desired effect, Koyal takes you to his other stuff, kind of hidden among the pile that is hidden behind the Amishes and the Bhagats. And there, in those columns made of books, you might find that one book that can change your life, slightly or more — an old copy of George Meredith’s The Egoist in surprisingly good condition or Voices from Chernobyl, long before its author became more than an unpronounceable name in these parts of the world.
Koyal has no idea how many lives he has changed.
He is surprised that anyone would want to interview him at all. He started work at the bookstall when he was about 12, having to leave school midway. The stall he now looks after belonged to his father.
Originally residents of Sarisha, Diamond Harbour, in South 24-Parganas, Koyal, as a child, had come over with his other family members to Calcutta, to join his father. They used to live in a room in Purna Das Road. Koyal was enrolled at Lake View School. He still lives in that room. His wife and children live in their family home in Sarisha.
“I had to give up school after Class VIII,” says Koyal. By that time his two other brothers were already helping their father, who would eventually own three stalls, two on the footpath and one a shop on the ground floor of a building on the other side of the lane. Their father has passed away. The three brothers now manage the business. Between them they have the stall where Koyal sits and two others, the old shop in the building and another in the same building.
The three stalls hold thousands of books together.
From the time Koyal has been at the stall, the city has changed much. And so has Gariahat. “I saw the Meghamallar building (one of the oldest highrises in the area) come up.” He was struck down by Operation Sunshine, like other hawkers in the city. Slowly, like his neighbours in Gariahat, he came back. “But previously I had a proper stall, with doors, like they have in College Street. This stall is only benches and my stool,” he says.
He saw the Gariahat boulevard getting razed and the Gariahat flyover springing up. He misses the boulevard, but considers the flyover a good idea.
And he has felt the onslaught of the availability of books online. “Book sales have gone down about 50 per cent compared to 20 years ago,” he said. And Indian writers writing in English have replaced foreign writers.
“Earlier people wanted Ludlum, Sidney Sheldon, Harold Robins and Jeffrey Archer. Now it is Amish. All his books do well.” And of course Bhagat and Tharoor. And the occasional foreigner like Michelle Obama, whose autobiography is doing well here too, he said.
All available at less than half the market price or less at his stall.
Old favourites, however, have not been abandoned, insists Koyal. “Ludlum, Sidney Sheldon, Harold Robbins and Jeffrey Archer are still popular,” he said, pointing at rows of these writers at one of the shops in the building. He points to another, longer row, filled with another eternal: Mills and Boons.
Once the M&Bs here were the lifeline for many pre-millennial young women: for as little as Rs 10 as deposit and Rs 5 as reading fees, one title could be borrowed for a month. The old book stalls functioned as lending libraries too. They still do.
“The deposit is Rs 100, the reading charges Rs 30 per month,” he said. One wonders if the readers remain the same in number.
The supply of old books was never interrupted, though. “We have a network. Those who buy newspapers from houses are often sold old books. If there are collections, the owner sends me a word through them,” Koyal said.
Many of them come from old houses where old families live. These days when old buildings are being brought down and replaced by multi-storeyeds, especially in the areas around Golpark, many families tend to sell their old collections.
The collections range from Encyclopaedia Britannica to finely produced art books to collections on photography. But who buys them in this age, especially encyclopaedias? “People do, sometimes only to decorate their houses,” Koyal said. Are his children interested in joining his business? “Why should they?” asks Koyal. “They are getting educated.” His daughter is in college and his son is still in school.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> West Bengal> Calcutta / by Chandrima S Bhattacharya / November 02nd, 2020
Union minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated the Phoolbagan metro station of Kolkata East-West Corridor earlier this month
The Union Cabinet earlier approved the revised cost of East-West Metro Corridor Project for Kolkata
Phoolbagan is the first underground station to become operational in the East West Metro corridor
With “world-class passenger amenities and elegant interiors” the newly opened Phoolbagan Metro station is Durga Puja gift for commuters in Kolkata. Union minister Piyush Goyal unveiled the Phoolbagan metro station of Kolkata East-West Corridor earlier this month. The 16.6 km long Corridor will connect Howrah on the West bank of the river Hooghly with Salt Lake City on its east bank.
Phoolbagan is the first underground station to become operational in the East West Metro corridor, which travels both below the surface and on elevated tracks, and also through underwater tunnels below River Hooghly. MG Road in the north-south main line of Kolkata Metro was the last underground station to be commissioned back in September 1995. All metro stations to become functional after that are either elevated or at grade level.
The start of Metro services at Phoolbagan Station is a “Durga Puja gift by the Railways for Kolkatans”, the minister said. “The estimates are that this line (East West Metro corridor) will be used by nearly 10 lakh people by 2035. That itself will be a huge service to the people of Kolkata,” he added.
The new line is expected to carry about 900,000 people daily
“The metro corridor will ease traffic congestion, enhance urban connectivity and provide a cleaner mobility solution to lakhs of daily commuters,” the minister said.
The new line is expected to take less than a minute to cross a 520-meter underwater tunnel. Depending on the time of day, it takes some 20 minutes to use the ferry and anywhere upward of an hour to cross the Howrah bridge.
“Since this corridor connects three most important parts of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area i.e. Howrah, Business area of Kolkata and New Settlements in Salt Lake it is going to revolutionise the mass rapid transport in Kolkata and adjoining Howrah and Bidhanangar. This will connect important landmarks like Howrah, Sealdah, Esplanade and Salt Lake Sector-V which is an IT hub,” the official statement mentioned.
The Union Cabinet earlier approved the revised cost of East-West Metro Corridor Project for Kolkata, Union minister Piyush Goyal said. The completion cost of the project estimated at ₹8,575 crore, Goyal added. The project is likely to be completed by December, 2021. “This will give a boost to mass transit system,” said Union minister Piyush Goyal.
source: http://www.livemint.com / Mint / Home> News> India / by Staff Writer / October 20th, 2020
With his deep knowledge in stones and affable nature, he soon earned a nationwide reputation as an estate jeweller
The Thakorlal Hiralal showroom in Dalhousie / file picture / Sambit Saha / Calcutta
A trader dealing in precious stones saw a business opportunity soon after India’s Independence. The princely states were being merged into the republic of India and the zamindari system was being abolished.
Suddenly many of them were in market to sell a part of family jewels, for ostensible reasons. Simultaneously, a new class of rich was on the rise — businessmen mostly belonging to the Marwari community.
Jayantibhai Thakorlal Mehta was at the right time and at the right place in history. With his deep knowledge in stones and affable nature, he soon earned a nationwide reputation as an estate jeweller, buying from princely states and zamindars and selling it to the new moneyed class.
Mehta, who passed away in Calcutta earlier this week at the age of 103, moved to this city at an early age when his father Thakorlal settled down here. Jayantibhai’s uncle then ran a small diamond trading shop at Chorbagan. Being close to Rangoon also made sense as a part of the extended Mehta family was exporting rubies and emeralds from Burma to India.
When a part of that same extended family moved to Antwerp, the diamond capital of the world, Mehta’s trade and business received a further fillip as it straddled India, Burma and Belgium.
Hailing from Palanpur in Gujarat — the ancestral home to many of India’s top diamantaires — Mehta and his two brothers also saw an opportunity to up the game. There were not many jewellers dealing in diamonds apart from Hamilton & Co in Calcutta. Mehta saw a void which can be filled in the years after Independence.
The showroom at Stephen House in Dalhousie, set up in 1930, grew to become one of the top names in diamond post-Independence.
“I would say the way he handled the client, at a deeply personal level, and the trust he earned were behind the success of Thakorlal Hiralal,” Pranay Mehta, grandson of Jayantibhai and the force behind the TH brand today, said from Mumbai.
Jayantibhai Thakorlal Mehta / File picture
Jayantibhai, who used to love classical music and playing cards, stayed back in the city even after the business moved to Mumbai. After operating for 50 years, the Dalhousie showroom closed down in 1980 in the aftermath of a massive tax raid. The business was confined to a workshop and office on Elgin Road-SP Mukherjee Road crossing.
The office was shut down in 2010 when his son Satishbhai died and grandson Pranay decided to focus on Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, which is also close to Surat, the diamond cutting capital of the world.
“Even though he spent at least six months with us in Mumbai, after one or two months he would miss Calcutta and want to go back,” Pranay said from the Horniman Circle showroom at Fort, South Mumbai.
Pankaj Parekh, former vice-chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, recalled the splendour of the showroom at Stephen House. “In those times, trust was the biggest currency when one buys diamonds as there was no standardisation like today. When you bought diamond — and diamonds were usually bought by the HNIs and the ultra rich in those days — they had implicit trust in Jayantibhai and TH,” Parkeh, 76, said.
The rise of TH also in a way mirrored the rise of India as the destination for cutting and polishing diamonds. The Jews, who controlled the diamond trade, were not interested in dealing in small-sized stones as they thought it was not worth the effort, price wise. Indians, especially Palanpuri Gujaratis, saw an opportunity in cutting and polishing those stones, which were otherwise destined to be crushed and used to lay airport runway tarmac.
Several top industry families were loyal clients of TH and many of them continue to be today. Travelling abroad was not as frequent as it used to be today. “A wealthy patron may be often walking into Cartier, Tiffany or Harry Winston now but it was not that frequent in the 50s or 60s. For them, it used to be TH,” Raja Shah, whose father Viharilal Shah, was a friend of Jayantibhai, said.
“TH was a well known brand out of Calcutta. Jayantibhai was a respected figure in the business. We, at Satramdas Dhalamal, used to compete with them but also did business together at times,” recalled couture jeweller Raj Mahtani.
Although a diamantiere by passion, Jayantibhai worked closely with Laxmi Niwas Jhunjhunwala of Bhilwara Group and set up HEG Ltd and Rajasthan Spinning & Weaving Mills.
“My grandfather never left the city which gave him everything. Calcutta was very much a part of him,” Pranay signed off.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> West Bengal> Calcutta / by Sambit Saha / Calcutta – October 23rd, 2020
Help in increasing the supply to areas south of Bhowanipore that receive potable water from the Garden Reach plantTh
The plant can produce 185 million gallons of water every day, but there is only one 29 million gallon capacity reservoir to stock water / Representational images from Shutterstock
A 10 million gallon water reservoir was inaugurated adjacent to the Garden Reach waterworks on Wednesday.
The reservoir will help increase the supply to areas south of Bhowanipore that receive potable water from the Garden Reach plant.
The plant can produce 185 million gallons of water every day, but there is only one 29 million gallon capacity reservoir to stock water. The new reservoir will start functioning from Thursday; it will increase the storage capacity, a civic engineer said.
Rashbehari Avenue, Gariahat, Golpark, Ballygunge, and parts of Kasba and Jadavpur receive potable water from the Garden Reach waterworks. All these places will benefit, the engineer said. “We can now supply water more efficiently. The demand changes with season… the demand is more in the mornings. The additional water in the reservoir can be diverted to areas where demand is more.”
A reservoir is required to store the water that is produced during lean periods when the demand is less. “The demand is always less at night. But if we have more storage capacity, we can go on producing water at night that can then be thrust into the supply network in the morning. This will increase the pressure of the flow and take water to pockets that face water shortage now,” the engineer said.
Mainak Mukherjee, the chief engineer of the CMC’s water supply department, said the operation of the new reservoir would be completely automated. “There will be minimal human interference. Chances of errors will reduce because of automation. The system will give alerts in case there is any abnormality in any component and this will help address the problem faster.”
Firhad Hakim, the chairperson of CMC’s board of administrators, inaugurated the reservoir.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online /Home> West Bengal> Calcutta / by Subhajoy Roy / Calcutta / October 15th, 2020
