Blogs
Geetashri . Geeta . My Chotopishima
Facebook on November 25, 2020
This is my youngest aunt. She turned 82 recently. She celebrated it with her grandson, Soutrik and his beautiful wife Upamita bringing a cake and having her to cut it, which gave her immense joy, particularly being quite alone, due to the pandemic and lockdown.
SOUMITRA CHATTERJEE and Passion Play
Facebook on November 17, 2020
Soumitra Chatterjee rarely visited my father’s library. It was not necessary. He was not a collector of rare books .
Moreover, as a co-founder and one time editor of the literary little magazine, Ekkhon, having their office at the floor of the bookshop, Subarnarekha, housed in College Street, there was no need. He had all the books he wanted in his beck and call
RAMAKRISHNA The Mystic Saint
Facebook on November 3, 2020
As shared with you I have been travelling to Belur once every week to teach at the Ramakrishna Vidyamandir. This has now stopped with the pandemic.
Lakṣmī puja is the most neglected and taken for granted puja in the Hindu Almanac. Since she has just visited us accompanying her mother in the Sharadotsav and coming back on the fifth day after returning to Kailash, her position is somewhat eroded like the married daughter coming home too early.
Saktinath Mukhopadhyay
Facebook on February 9, 2020
Suddenly an image of Saktinath Mukhopadhyay in Supreme Court, with Reshmi Rea Sinha standing by his side, popped up in facebook timeline. I felt elated. I have always respected him deeply from the bottom of my heart for his triumph of effective advocacy backed by brilliant erudition.
Living inside a MUSEUM
Facebook on February 5, 2020
Dilip Banerjee the photographer came home recently to discuss a photo essay that he is planning on Calcutta. Whilst home he said that one of the attractions was to see the many paintings and artifacts and in awe inside the house shared: this is like living inside a museum.
Professor Gouranga Chattopadhya
Facebook on November 1, 2019
Gouranga Chattopadhyay was my Professor of Behavioral Science at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Gouranga da, taught the subject differently. The skill to understand, predict, and change human behaviour is essential for professional success. He made us understand that organisations in the private and public sector have turned to behavioural science insights to increase the effectiveness.
MRINAL S E N : Sen and Sensibilities
Facebook on December 31, 2018
Bengalis are parochial by nature. They are either Ghoti, residents of West Bengal or Bangal refugees coming from erstwhile East Bengal. Bangals like Ilish (Hilsa) and Ghotis like Chingri (Prawn). Bangals support East Bengal, Ghotis support Mohan Bagan.
Worship of RAM
Facebook on March 31, 2018
In my youth the worship of Ram was not so popular in Bengal. It was the Biharis who worshipped Ram in Ram Navami near my ancestral home in Taltala in a place called Janbazar.
The Assassination of INDIRA GANDHI
Facebook on October 31, 2017
It was 31 October 1984; I was then working in ABP Group. I first got the news around 10.00 from my friend Sergio Scapagnini from Rome, Italy. I first thought he was asking a question, then it dawned that he was informing me. I did not believe him. I told him there was no such news. Being in a large publication group I assured him that we would have got the news.
Creating Green Building and Sustainable Habitat
Academia on July 17, 2017
To me architecture is the use of space. Architecture is not made with brain. It is made with emotion. The secret of architectural excellence is to translate the proportions of space into bricks and mortar. Architecture has to blend with the Environ.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Academia on July 17, 2017
Gokhale being too rational and far-sighted did not arouse those deep, compelling and divisive passions essential to mobilise people and to keep narrow versions of nationalism alive.
Commemoration in any form an appropriate moment to relate the past to the present and to reinterpret history. The 75 Years of the Gokhale Memorial School is good as any to remember the long-forgotten Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
WORK in PROGRESS
Facebook on March 16, 2017
Life is a work in Progress. If you view it this way you will be continually busy, continuously learning, continually constructing yourself. It will be okay. It may not seem like it right now, but it is going to be fine. I know it’s scary, but don’t be afraid. You are who you are, and you should love the process and I don’t want anyone to have to go through their life afraid to accept this.
Bob DYLAN : the Poet
Academia on January 30, 2017
It seems that the Bengalis are much more happy with Bob Dylan being named the surprise winner of the Nobel prize in literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.
Sociology of Culture
Academia on March 29, 2016
Claude Lévi-Strauss argued that the "savage" mind had the same structures as the "civilized" mind and that human characteristics are the same everywhere. These observations culminated in his famous book Tristes Tropiques that established his position as one of the central figures in the structuralist school of thought. Culture is the entire way of life of a society as well as all its products. Society is then composed of individuals who share a culture.