They charmed audiences with their histrionics on stage and screen. Men sought their company and women envied their acting and singing skills. They didn’t care for the purdah and dared to defy social norms that prohibited women from stepping out in public. A tribute was paid to 10 actresses of Bengal who have left a lasting impression on the minds of audiences. Titled ‘Songstress’, the programme paid homage to Nati Binodini, Narisundari, Angoorbala, Kanan Debi and Keya Chakraborty among others. The programme weaved in storytelling by popular elocutionist Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee. Songs and dialogues from the plays and films in which they acted were performed.
Commenting on the actresses, an official of 40A Creative Studio that organized the homage said only those who also sang were chosen. Chatterjee also felicitated some prominent actresses of Bengali stage including legendary actress Chitra Sen and veterans like Dolly Basu, Anashua Majumder and Sohag Sen. Actresses Mumtaz Sorcar and Arunima, along with filmmakers Anindya Ghosh and Sekhar Das, were present at the programme.
Students’ tryst with Germany
Students of Birla High Schools Boys and Girls have completed a year-long exchange programme on a project with German partner school Amandus Abendroth Gymnasium in Cuxhaven, Germany. Ten students each from the boys and girls school and 20 from Amandus Adendroth Gymnasium started working on endangered species – mussels in Germany and tigers in India. Each student was hosted by the family of a German student and teachers were hosted by their German counterparts.
All the students worked on the project during school hours apart from attending some classes with their German partners in school. Various educational excursions were organized by the partner school during the stay – Klima Haus, University of Applied Sciences in Bremerhaven, Polar Haus (Alfred Wagner Institute) and Wadden Sea were visited. The entire group visited the mayor’s office where the students had a privilege to meet the mayor of Cuxhaven, Erika Fischer, and interact with her.
Nature in the city captured on lens
Young photographers aged between 16 and 18 years captured glimpses of nature and animals in Kolkata on their lens for a photography exhibition at Harrington Art Gallery. Rashbehari Centre for Ecological Movement (CEMO), an organization that has been spreading awareness on environmental issues for the past few years, held the exhibition on Friday and Saturday.
Students from leading city schools put on display around 40 photographs revolving around the theme ‘Nature-watch in Your Backyard’. The photograph taken by Tiyasa Mal, a student of Shri Shikshayatan School, featuring the flight of three birds in the sky, won the first prize. The second prize went to Kunal De of DPS Newtown for a tiger dragonfly’s photograph. Sweta Karmakar of National High School for Girls bagged the third prize for her excellent snap that featured a squirrel on the hunt for food. Dr Debal Sen, a cardiologist and amateur photographer, inspired the budding shutterbugs to play with light and shadow, striking a balance with their studies. Five members of the host organization exhibited some photographs on wildlife worth between Rs 2,000 and 5,000. “The money raised from the sale of these images will be donated to our organization,” said Purnima Dutt, a member of CEMO.
Show of Bengal tourism
The state tourism department organized a show at Eco Park in Rajarhat New Town to showcase Bengal’s tourism prospects. The venue was the glass house in the Eco island. More than 100 delegates from different parts of the country and also from abroad participated in the show. A presentation was given to the participants on how the tourism department was working towards developing tourism in the state. Hidco authorities handed over a special leaflet and a small souvenir to each of the delegates.
(Contributed by Prithvijit Mitra, Sarthak Ganguly, Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey & Suman Chakraborti. Compiled by Urmi Mukherjee. Photograph by Debobrata Shome)
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / July 07th, 2014