KolkataMusing, A Kolkata Blog

Tagore's complete works now online

2010-02-04T20:28:00.004+05:30

2 days back the CM inaugurated the online edition of Rabindranath Tagore's complete works at the ongoing Kolkata Book Fair (more on the fair in another post). The site is located here [http://www.rabindra-rachanabali.nltr.org].

About 18000 pages constitute the bard's works. It's however an ongoing project in which the works of stalwarts like Bankim Chandra, Vidyasagar, Mir Mosharraf Hussein and others will also be included in course of time.

Once done, the whole project will not only be a timeless wonder, it will also help every Bengali-knowing person across the globe to use as needed.

The project is being assisted by BESU and IIT, Kgp among others. Here is a small excerpt of a page in the site.

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Sunset at the Indian Navy Camp at Diamond Harbour

2010-01-30T11:45:00.003+05:30

This guest article is penned by Satyajit Bagchi. Read about him at the end of the article. If you wish your article to be published in this blog, please contact at mahanagar.net[@]gmail[.]com with subject as "I Want To Write".

Often I have heard many Kolkatans rue the fact that there are not many beautiful places to visit in and around Kolkata. However, on the Republic Day I went out on a family picnic to a place I am sure not many a people know of. It was a scenic place on the banks of River Ganga near Diamond Harbour. But it was not the picturesque venue that made the place unique. It was a Navy Camp which was functional even a decade back. Courtesy my cousin, who is in the Indian Army, we got a chance to go there.

The place was used to test artillery shells and was an important strategic location during the Indo-Pak war of 1971.The place still has relics from the past-a decrepit 80 feet tall watchtower, bunkers, army residential places and the kaman-ghor. My uncle, who used to study at a school nearby, told, as a child on occasional days, he used to often hear the booming sounds of shells being tested. It was one of his happier days as it translated into the school being called off. The civilian ferries and boats were warned not to enter 3 kilometers within the zone.

Those are now things of the past. Now what remains is a completely abandoned post. The area is gradually being functionally phased out. The camp now serves the purpose of organizing picnics or meets. The well manicured lawns descend to a river bank overlook by an ancient cottage. An abandoned navy boat is reminiscence of the erstwhile active military actions. As the sun gradually sank into the Ganges, I couldn't help comparing the stark contrast of that peaceful evening to the once active and flurrying activities of the Indian Navy forces...

Satyajit is an Economics graduate from Calcutta University. Currently he is an MBA aspirant, hoping to serve a global company as an effective team player. He has 3 wishes in life, one of which is to drive a flaming Ferrari down the busy streets of Kolkata at 150 kmph.

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When Is Google Leaving China?

2010-01-21T21:51:00.013+05:30

On Jan 14 the main frontpage story in The Telegraph ran like this: Google wakes up, sees evil in China. It narrated the events that concerned Google’s threat to leave China should the conditions continue to remain the same that prompted the search giant to issue the threat.

My mother, who turns 80 later this month and who often comes and stands by me watching what all I do on my laptop, was curious. She hears me often talking about how Google has become the heart and soul of many a people’s online world, and so she reasons that Google must be a huge dominating force.

As for China, those who live in the eastern part of India are well aware about China’s gigantic and galloping might. Why, only last November China raised so much hue and cry over Dalai Lama’s visit to Tawang Monastery that it seemed as if the place belonged to it!

No surprise then that my mother wondered what the outcome will be between the clash of the 2 titans, Google and China. To that my first reaction was that just as nothing eventually shattered the earth during the cold war between the US and the then USSR despite several severe posturing, similarly Google and China too will likely mend the common fence between them in their own ways, away from the media’s glare.

The reason is not far to seek. The stake for either is monumentally high to not seek a middle path. So if, we may assume, Google starts showing ‘some’ unfiltered search results, China may silently acquiesce pending deploying the other cards it holds close to the chest for future use as and when the times arise.

But wait, spare a thought: Is the matter that simple?

Bereft of jargons, it doesn’t look so. We will shortly munch that over but first a brief recap.

Setting foot in China 4 years back Google was aware of what it was up to in that country. In a Feb 16, 2006 testimony Google acknowledged that:

The requirements of doing business in China include self-censorship – something that runs counter to Google’s most basic values and commitments as a company. Despite that, we made a decision to launch a new product for China – Google.cn – that respects the content restrictions imposed by Chinese laws and regulations.

That and only up to that was okay for Google. But now the things have turned serious. Google alleges that in mid-December a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on their corporate infrastructure originated from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.

Out of the 2 main issues it is confronting, Google already adheres to, albeit ‘unwillingly’, the filtering of search results, YouTube videos, etc. – those that are not to China’s likings. The main issue is therefore concerning the theft of intellectual property from Google. And this is the crux of the standoff.

Why is this serious? If Google fails to protect the intellectual property of its users, then it may turn out as catastrophic. Since the search giant – or should it rather be the largest online marketing company – possesses the most invaluable personal information of billions of users, therefore to have them stolen is something that can never ever be imagined even in the worst dreams.

Google is clever. It has roped in 20 other large companies – not named though – in the ambit of those it found ‘affected’. That translates to some onus on these other companies as well to make them feel sufficiently alarmed.

Meanwhile, the news that the US government is also protesting to China over the cyber attacks proves that Google has been able to take the matter to the government-to-government level.

China though continues to remain unfazed. Its Vice Foreign Minister says that Google Inc.'s complaints about cyber attacks and censorship in China should not be "over-interpreted" or linked to Beijing's bilateral relations with the US.

So what will the likely outcome of this great fight be? We can think of some though much of it will be played behind the faceless closed doors.

It can be safely assumed that Google will place the highest premium on the safety of intellectual properties it holds. There can be no compromise on this, come what may.

Else, for any breach in the security of important confidential data, it will be like kissing the online world goodbye. Maybe forever.

[Image courtesy]

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What Jyoti Basu leaves behind

2010-01-18T18:51:00.004+05:30

He leaves behind a legacy of an ideal party loyalist, and what one could, yet couldn’t make Bengal proud because for him the party came first and indeed the last.

Jyoti Basu was a tall leader, widely respected across the country, but that was perhaps more on account of his innate quality of being a good human being, an able administrator, a person who could rise above the narrow confines of caste, creed, and religion.

But a political figure’s – that too as famous as him – legacy cannot and should not be judged by him being just a good person. It is more important to understand what he did and didn’t for his fellow people.

Today’s newspapers are full of interesting analyses of his life, his doings, and his non-doings. They are interesting because they present a vast 7-decade canvas of Indian politics as it transformed from the last days of the British era to what it is today. Just for this reason the history of Jyoti Basu’s life will remain an important reading in long, long time to come.

History unfortunately is also cruel. And so, along with the agrarian reforms and decentralization of power he initiated in his initial days as the chief minister of Bengal, the history will also recall the championing of destructive policies during his tenure.

Many of the ills that plague today’s Bengal can be traced back to his days at the helm of affairs in the state. To mention a few are causing the industries to flee Bengal, stopping teaching of English in the primary classes, losing crucial first-mover advantage with regard to the use of computers, failing to turn Bengal into a famous tourist destination, politicizing education at every level thereby helping it slide to its nadir, and so on.

All of these were Bengal’s bane but what stands out as the most damaging was the patronizing of militant trade unionism. Stopping work at the drop of the hat, sometimes for petty selfish reasons, became the norm. Not surprising then that the word ‘gherao’, popularized earlier by the SUCI minister Subodh Banarjee, got inducted into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2004 owing to its popularity and intensity as a new method of labor action.

Jyoti Basu leaves us at a time when political intolerance has given rise to unprecedented political violence in the rural Bengal. Whether or not there occurs any change in the coming 2011 elections, the dream of a peaceful, prosperous Bengal looks as distant and eluding as ever.

It may sound unpalatable on a day when the great leader lies in state but Bengal owes much of its present-day miseries to the misrules committed during the Basu era.

That’s the reality. That’s how the history of Bengal will visit him time and again, notwithstanding the steady pouring of grief today.

[Image courtesy: Wikipedia]

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How Do We Live In Kolkata?

2010-01-15T18:35:00.003+05:30

Long time no verse, nothing better only worse...that's what I tell myself time to time as I come to terms with my long absence from Kolkata Musing.

"Oh don’t pretend," you may say, "your blog, your baby…yet you say you coming to terms? Are you nuts?" I don't blame you.

It's me to be blamed...rather my lethargy but I have a cause to stay away for awhile, a real cause if you will. It's the overhauling of my bread-n-butter website, 2WebVideo.Com, that teaches how to produce videos for the web.

Let me however admit that real or not, a prolonged absence does more harm to a blog than good. It's obvious. It's like letting dust collect on your favorite showpiece allowing it to lose its luster.

Okay, enough of my ranting! Now that I'm wielding my pen (hope it lasts..!) for my sake and for the sake of this blog's committed readers, let me come to a favorite subject of mine. It's about the quality of life we the Kolkattans live.

An editorial in today’s Telegraph sums it up well. Here have a read.

When a fire destroys homes of some 450 people, only in Calcutta do people’s leaders stop fire tenders from reaching the site. When an ambulance is desperate to reach a hospital with a dying man in it, only in Calcutta, political activists stop it and think nothing of letting the sick man suffer or even die. The cruellest part of the story is that such ugly, inhuman acts are hailed as signs of a vibrant political culture. On two consecutive days, bandhs and blockades by political parties showed how little Bengal’s political class has changed. The bandh organized by the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) in South 24 Parganas also suggested that the comrades, humiliated in one election after another since last year’s Lok Sabha polls, are incapable of learning any lessons whatsoever. In rejecting the Marxists in these polls, the people had expressed their anger not only at their government’s many failures but also at their politics. The trouble is that the alternative— offered by Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress — is proving to be more of the same. Ms Banerjee’s loyalists apparently think that the surest way to beat the Marxists is to imitate their politics of bandhs and street battles.

Governments never learn, says an old adage, only the people do. If Bengal’s political class will not learn, the people must. It is time that the people stood up and told the politicians to learn. Everyone now agrees that bandhs solve no problems. They have long ceased to be of any importance in terms of political symbolism. Worse, even the political parties know that bandhs and other forms of hold-ups are all a matter of flexing muscles. But, if the civil society is to raise its voice, it must steer clear of the partisan argument. It must draw a clear line between political loyalties and disruptive politics. It will not do to choose between the CPI(M) and the TMC in condemning the politics of bandhs. After all, such politics violates the basic freedoms of citizens. Political pluralism is an essential part of democracy, but it is time the people rose above their party preferences in order to condemn the attack on their freedoms and rights by self-seeking politicians. There are now signs that the political scene in Bengal may change at last. But a change of government will mean nothing unless it comes with a change in the political culture. Bengal needs a people’s revolt to save itself from its politicians.

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China's Grand Parade

2009-10-04T19:45:00.005+05:30

Last year people all over the globe looked in awe as the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics unfolded on the TV screen.

Those who were lucky enough to be present at the venue were left dumbfounded at the impossibly impressive performance by thousands of participants. The fact that China later got for itself a record number of medals in the games is another story.

China’s 60th National Day Parade on October 1 that passed by the 'historic' Tiananmen Square brought back the memory of the Olympics opening ceremony.

I got to see only brief glimpses of it on the TV, but the moment I came across this video below I decided I must have it here to share with my readers.

The video is partially in time-lapse mode, and partially in slow motion giving a touch of class to it. I'm sure you'll like both – the immaculateness of the parade especially those in uniform, and the video.

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Creativity, the cornerstone of Kolkata’s Durga Puja

2009-09-26T22:53:00.002+05:30

Often the dilemma pops up in mind. What makes your Kolkata unique?

Those who are in early stages of adult life will never fail to sing paeans to the city mainly because their fond memories of adolescent days are still fresh in their minds.

But I’ve seen people who have crossed 40s and have been living in and out of the city for a long time will often feel that Kolkata has precious little to offer that is pleasantly unique.

Among that precious little is the city’s own way of celebrating Durga Puja. No, I’m not talking of the fun and frolic you engage in on those 4 days. That part is essentially the same whether your puja is in Lokhandwala, Baltimore, or in Pocket 40 of Chittaranjan Park.

What is unique to Kolkata’s Durga Puja is the quest for creativity, the insatiable urge to create something new. And it is for this reason that I will always feel that Kolkata’s Durga Puja can perhaps never be paralleled.

Let me present a small slideshow of a few community pujas, among which is that of Suruchi Sangha, what with the stunning show of environment friendly theme.

May the tribe of Suruchi Sangha live long.

Let me wish all KM readers a warm sarodiya subhechchha.

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Shashi Tharoor’s faux pas

2009-09-18T12:44:00.003+05:30

Behind the mild smiling demeanor is a razor sharp mind. For Shashi Tharoor is just not another minister in the central cabinet.

Yes he is an accomplished writer, has studied at St. Xaviers in Kolkata and St. Stephens in Delhi, has earned 2 masters and a doctorate from Tufts University, Massachusetts, is an avid cricket fan having got his latest book launched by none other than Sachin Tendulkar last month, and so much more.

But he is a much taller person than maybe many of his colleagues in the corridors of power in New Delhi. But for US’ disinclination, Shashi Tharoor would have been the Secretary General at the United Nations instead of the incumbent Ban Ki-moon after Kofi Annan’s term expired in 2007.

That he is close to the Congress party was evident when he got that party’s nomination for the prestigious Trivandrum seat in the last elections. But given his high profile and international repute, it remains a mystery how he could agree to slip into a much smaller shoe of a minister of state.

The latest faux pas that Tharoor committed in his Twitter remarks is amusing, but he is clever enough to have pictures of his travelling in ‘cattle class’ shown on the TV immediately thereafter.

The matter may die down eventually but not without leaving him with a bitter taste. Shashi Tharoor ought to know what goes and what doesn’t in Indian polity.

As for the larger question of whether or not to use Twitter by prominent persona like him…well the field is wide open for answers. The point is there may be occasions when there will be slipups like the present one by Tharoor, and by sheer chance if any secret gets leaked completely inadvertently that may be a real danger.

To Tharoor’s defense it must be said that even US President Barack Obama twits, but then it is likely that each of his tweets is screened lest there be any mistake. Is there any similar setup in the Indian government? If not, then perhaps twitting may not be a good idea for Shashi Tharoor.

Which perhaps is why Nandan Nilekani abandoned Twitter after assuming the office of chairmanship of the Unique Identity Development Authority of India (UIDAI). Food for thought, if you may.

[Image source]

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What makes you happy?

2009-09-12T16:38:00.006+05:30

There is no easy answer to this. Maybe that's because there is no single factor that contributes a wholesome happiness. Holy men say the more your expectation, the more distant is happiness - or real happiness (if you will) according to how they look at the so-called 'vices', like money, fame, power, and so on.

But are holy men happy? Not really. If you happen to visit places of pilgrimage it is not difficult to see that there are conflicts of interest even among them. That however doesn't stop us from not realizing that people who are not happy themselves cannot possibly give you happiness.

An eternal question such as this would have remained unanswered in my mind but for today's essay by Khushwant Singh in The Telegraph. It's very aptly titled '8 Clues To Happiness'. If you want to know who Khushwant Singh is, you may refer to a previous article of his in this blog in June, 2008.

Let me produce his article below:

8 Clues To Happiness

Having lived a reasonably contented life, I was musing over what a person should strive for to achieve happiness. I drew up a list of a few essentials which I put forward for the readers’ appraisal.

First and foremost is good health. If you do not enjoy good health you can never be happy. Any ailment, however trivial, will deduct from your happiness.

Second, a healthy bank balance. It need not run into crores but should be enough to provide for creature comforts and something to spare for recreation, like eating out, going to the pictures, travelling or going on holidays on the hills or by the sea. Shortage of money can be only demoralizing. Living on credit or borrowing is demeaning and lowers one in one’s own eyes.

Third, a home of your own. Rented premises can never give you the snug feeling of a nest which is yours for keeps that a home provides: if it has a garden space, all the better. Plant your own trees and flowers, see them grow and blossom, cultivate a sense of kinship with them.

Fourth, an understanding companion, be it your spouse or a friend. If there are too many misunderstandings, they will rob you of your peace of mind. It is better to be divorced than to bicker all the time.

Fifth, lack of envy towards those who have done better than you in life — risen higher, made more money, or earned more fame. Envy can be very corroding; avoid comparing yourself with others.

Sixth, do not allow other people to descend on you for gup-shup. By the time you get rid of them, you will feel exhausted and poisoned by their gossip-mongering.

Seventh, cultivate some hobbies which can bring you a sense of fulfilment, such as gardening, reading, writing, painting, playing or listening to music. Going to clubs or parties to get free drinks or to meet celebrities is criminal waste of time.

Eighth, every morning and evening, devote 15 minutes to introspection. In the morning, 10 minutes should be spent on stilling the mind and then five in listing things you have to do that day. In the evening, five minutes to still the mind again, and ten to go over what you had undertaken to do.

Nathaniel Cotton (1721-1788) summed up my views on the subject in one verse:

If solid happiness we prize,/ Within our breast this jewel lies;/ And they are fools who roam:/ The world has nothing to bestow;/ From our own selves our joys must flow/

And that dear hut, — our home.

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Some glitters of Kolkata That Remain

2009-09-05T16:23:00.002+05:30

For all we know, Kolkata is a pale shadow of its former self. Once it was a formidable city with a vibrant, throbbing life, the best destination east of Suez.

Now, with myriad problems choking its soul, aided and abetted by the callous powers-that-be, the city is hardly the destination of people with brains.

That the city’s landmark icons have more or less remained the same over the past several decades is a roundabout indication of the city’s decay that amounts to its failure to build new.

Yet, those who love the city cannot but feel nostalgic when they happen to see some of these landmarks in images as they dot the virtual world.

Here are a few of them collected from the Wikipedia as I sit gloomily, staring out at the running of clouds in the distant sky on this windy, rainy Saturday.

Salt Lake Stadium [Pic by Lovedimpy; Image source]

National LIbrary Pic by Avrajyoti Mitra; Image source]

IIM, Joka [Pic by Varun Singh; Image source]

Calcutta High Court [Pic by Avrajyoti Mitra; Image source]

Cognizant, Salt Lake [Pic by seaview99, Jonoiko Bangali; Image source]

Vidyasagar Setu [Pic by Prateek (greatestprateek@gmail.com); Image source]

St Paul's Cathedral [Pic by Michael Janich; Image source]

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India's first Green Party

2009-08-28T11:26:00.003+05:30

Out of more than 900 posts in Kolkata Musing, the one most commented on is about the environment crusader, Subhas Dutta.

People have left their postal address, email address, and even cell numbers in the comments. It sort of surprises me that people would be so naive as to leave their personal details here for all to see.

Thinking about it a little differently I believe that the comment-makers feel so near to the environment causes that the last thing they need to bother is sharing their personal details. If you read the comments you'll see I'm not off the mark.

Subhas Dutta is a real crusader. By fighting incessantly to stop the abuse of environment he is exposing the powerful lobby of vested interests including those engaged in political doublespeak.

Not surprising then that Subhas Dutta will take initiative to float a political outfit, but with a difference.

As the Times of India reports:

Environment crusader Subhas Datta is set to launch India’s first green party on the lines of political formations in Germany, the United Kingdom, the US and Australia that have environment protection, sustainable growth and inclusive development at their core.

Dutta has definite plans for the future. "Our party will be launched next year and we will fight the 2011 Assembly elections in West Bengal," he confirms in the report.

I'm sure many like me will wish him and his effort a resounding success in the days to come.

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Is Kolkata a focal point in the trade with China?

2009-08-22T14:24:00.002+05:30

2 of the world’s most populous countries are located side by side. Each country has insatiable demand for growth. Bereft of any conflict, nothing could be more conducive to the 2 countries growing rich at each other’s expense.

For India and China that is not to be. Reports like ‘China Plans Balkanisation of India’ and China’s reported push for establishing presence in Gwadar (Pakistan), Myanmar controlled Coco Island in East Indian Ocean, and Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka are too real and threatening for India to harbor any hope of goodwill towards the northern neighbor.

For India though the machinations to weaken the country are not new. One recalls the Nov 27, 2000 article in the Guardian, India feels threat of Balkanisation that painted a grim picture of situations in India.

Today, 9 years hence, India has not only not broken up, but instead successfully dealt with those problems.

The challenge to contain Chinese threat is immense, if only because that country is more powerful and wealthy than India. But one feels reasonably sure that in another ‘9 years’ from today India will find itself on firm footing for anyone to even dare write any ‘plan to balkanise’ the country.

With the above in perspective, let me take you to this interesting article, West Bengal Trade With Guangdong Set To Boom, by Chris Devonshire-Ellis.

Readers may like to post their thoughts on the matter.

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Kolkata's old is gold for Christie

2009-08-21T11:17:00.004+05:30

As reported in the ET, Ms Deepanjana Klein, a graduate of Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan, and now a specialist head of sale and assistant vice-president of South Asian Modern & Contemporary art of Christie in New York, is in Kolkata along with Dr Hugo K. Weihe, another top functionary from the famed auction house.

They are on a major exploratory research of Bengal School art and the state’s arts heritage. This is what Dr Weihe said to the ET:

Calcutta is where it all started. This is a city which has some of the oldest galleries and also the Bengal School which played a critical role in what we know as Modern Indian art and Modernism. We are featuring Bengal School art in quite a big way in our forthcoming sale in New York in September. So, it’s important for us to explore this sphere. Calcutta, so long, has been neglected in the bigger picture.

This development is welcome for the sake of Bengal art, but then the question is how long the 'interest' will sustain.

From what understands with a little interest in the subject, Bengal art is relatively cheaper and maybe - as Christie feels - unexplored to a large extent.

This inevitably means there is money to be had in course of time as the world economy gradually stages a comeback from the severe slump over the past year and a half.

Commercial ventures however rarely leave blank trails. They are followed by more commercial ventures, and then more, which in the end is a good tiding for the city and its community that are starved of meaningful activities for a long, long time.

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Bolt now eyes 9.4 seconds

2009-08-17T20:50:00.003+05:30

[Image source]

You can’t blame him for aiming something improbable. Because Usain Bolt, for all his superhuman effort, was like a man possessed as he ran the fastest 100m ever.

He broke his own Beijing record a year back with a scorching 9.58 seconds for the dash. And he says maybe one day he will do it at 9.4 seconds.

Just how fast was Bolt? A Biomechanics Project tracked the race every 20 meters, and here are the findings.

Bolt got off very well and shot into lead in the first 20 meters itself. He maintained that and in fact covered 80 meters at 7.92 seconds while all others were over 8 seconds.

Tyson Gay, coming second at 9.71 seconds, ran the fastest by an American, yet as he says, "I ran the best I could but it was not enough."

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Is Kolkata changing?

2009-08-14T13:25:00.003+05:30

Kolikata achche kolikata-tei.

Roughly translated, this Bengali sentence means Kolkata continues to be in Kolkata. To me it means that change is something alien to the city.

Is it therefore that the city is not changing at all? Oh yes, it is. Like one or 2 new roads that have come up, so have some flyovers, some malls, some plexes, and of course the embracing of facebooks and orkuts by the city’s gen-next.

If those are indeed real changes, they are hardly discernible…which is why it may not be wrong to say that the more she changes, the more she remains the same.

All changes though may not be as clear as daylight but may – just may (in Kolkata the outcome of any public effort is rarely positive) – in the long run prove significant for the city’s betterment.

A couple of such changes come to mind. One is the cleaning of 141-year old brick sewers laid during the British era in much of the north of the city. [Image source]

No attempt was ever made to clean some 180km long sewers in the city after they were laid in 1878 until now. This meant the rubbish inside the large diameter sewer tunnels – between 10ft to 20ft – had metamorphosed into solid rock that is now requiring hammering and drilling to clear.

A total of Rs.402 crore is budgeted for cleaning just 25km of 88km, 10ft wide sewer. The total cost, money for which is not available yet, for cleaning all the brick sewers, replacing the century-old pumping stations, and cleaning the major canals is pegged at a whopping Rs.2200 crore.

If this money is judiciously spent and the jobs are efficiently done can the city hope for lasting cleanliness and no water logging during heavy monsoon.

This post is aggregated from today’s article in Anandabazar Patrika.

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Fish is not fishy

2009-08-10T12:28:00.004+05:30

I remember reading somewhere about the many advantages of fish. There is no doubt about its nutrient value – people in the know will vouch for that.

What is however less known and appreciated – I read there – is that fish brings peace in mind. And pray how that is possible?

Researchers have observed that the scene of fish swimming in water has a tranquilizing effect on those who are close by. I use the word ‘scene’ because not only the fish in aquarium brings in calm and happiness, but so does the fish moving about in computer screensaver.

My love for fish is spontaneous though I haven’t much liked the sea-water variety, enjoying instead the fresh sweet-water ones more.

I’m prompted to recount my stories after I received an email from a friend who chooses to dwell on fish in that. Here goes his account:

Isaac Walton was born in a village near Stafford, England on this day in 1593. He was a successful businessman who turned to literature after the English Civil War in the 1640s. His most famous book, The Compleat Angler, has been printed in over 300 editions, more often than any English-language work save two: the Bible and the Complete Works of William Shakespeare.

You can't hit a home run unless you step up to the plate. You can't catch a fish unless you put your line in the water. You can't reach your goals if you don't try.
- Kathy Seligman

If you give a man a fish, he will have a single meal. If you teach him how to fish, he will eat all his life.
- Kwan-Tzu

Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.
- Ovid, 43 BC - AD 17

Autumn comes to the sea with a fresh blaze of phosphorescence, when every wave crest is aflame. Here and there the whole surface may glow with sheets of cold fire, while below schools of fish pour though the water like molten metal.
- Rachel Carson, 1907 - 1964

The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storms terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.
- Vincent van Gogh, 1853 - 1890

Somebody just back of you while you are fishing is as bad as someone looking over your shoulder while you write a letter to your girl.
- Ernest Hemingway, 1899 - 1961

A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium, seen swimming among schools of other fish

[Image source]

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Buy gold, get illish free

2009-08-08T16:02:00.004+05:30

The first indication of Maa Durga’s forthcoming homecoming has today come to the fore. It’s almost always the spate of advertisements in newspapers – some running full-page like those of the footwear brands – that marks the beginning of the autumn festivals.

If you argue the conditions are not ripe this year for enjoying festivals, you’ll not be off the mark. Things are indeed harsh, the prices of commodities scaling new highs even as money in your pocket is drying up before you’ve met half of your needs you did awhile back at the same expense.

Yet Durga Puja is that occasion that many await with great expectation. It’s now that commerce peaks. It’s now that thousands of artisans, craftspeople, small merchants, and the like expect to make some money trading their wares, their skill, and above all their hard labor they had put up for this once-a-year grand festival.

For all that is going to unfold over the next few months, today marks the beginning with those enticing ads. And what could be more appropriate than the one below that promises free hilsa fish when you buy gold from them!

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A journey through Greenland

2009-08-07T12:21:00.003+05:30

Very few things perhaps please you more than the beauty of nature. Sitting at my works, hunching on my laptop I'm at once transported to the vast whitish expanse of Greenland as I see the video below.

We cannot be to all the places we dream to go but a video like this one can meet our yearning to a large extent. Thanks to icescapes.tv for the video.

The video though is not recent. To quote from icescapes.tv, this is..

..a special episode with spectacular scenes from the Ilulissat ice fjord and the Greenland ice cap. These images were filmed during the 2006 Climate Change College, during which 6 students from the UK and the Netherlands ventured into the arctic wilderness to be trained as climate change ambassadors.

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Google brand is worth $100 billion

2009-08-06T19:34:00.003+05:30

How much of Google involves me in my daily chores? An overwhelmingly lot, I've to say.

Let me count some. This blog is run by Blogger, a Google property. So is Chrome, the browser I use to write this article, and Gmail, my emailing lifeline, not to mention my dependence on AdSense, AdWords, Google Analytics, and of course the mainly only Google search engine I use. And yet there is a lot more.

There isn't doubt that Google sort of controls the online lifestyle of most web-connected people, as is - I'm sure you'll say - Microsoft with Windows OS, the lifeline of perhaps all desktop users.

No surprise then that Google as a brand is found to be worth $100 billion as against $76.2 billion valuation of Microsoft. Here is a small catch.

The news article in The Washington Post says:

Note that this is the value of the brand and not the company, and we mustn't forget Google tends to put its name in all its products so would conceivably get more exposure as Microsoft, which markets far more brands than just one (Windows, Bing, etc.). Then again, Microsoft has been around a heck of a lot longer than Google, as has Coca-Cola which came in third with a brand valuation of $67.6 billion.

How much are the other brands worth?

After Coca Cola comes IBM ($66.6 B), and the list seems to slip back to technology companies as the top 'brand owners'.

Some examples are Apple ($66.1 B), Vodafone ($53.7 B), Nokia ($35.1 B), Blackberry ($27.4 B), HP ($26.7 B), SAP ($23.6 B), Intel ($22.8 B) and Oracle ($21.4 B).

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Killer Lightning

2009-08-05T13:59:00.003+05:30

A story in today’s Telegraph informs that a single bolt of lightning killed 9 people in a village in Burdwan, 135km from Kolkata. They were part of a gathering that in fact assembled to mourn the death of a person.

As a cruel twist of fate, the son and daughter-in-law of the man in whose memory they had gathered were among the dead.

According to The Telegraph, this casualty is possibly the highest ever to have occurred in a single stroke in Bengal.

Violent storms accompanied by lightning are common in Bengal during the Norwester season and monsoon.

Experts say lightning can have as high temperature as 10000 degrees Celsius when touching ground.

No wonder then that the bodies of the people who died were completely charred in the above incident.

This post is rather prompted to keep readers aware of the dangers of lightning. On the left are some cautionary Dos’ and Don’ts when lightning happens (taken from the news article).

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August 1, 2009 - A red-letter day & how!

2009-08-02T14:00:00.003+05:30

Imagine what the city's top news item today would be. No prize for guessing right though because the brouhaha over vehicle pollution has been all over us for quite some time.

What makes the occasion memorable is that this is the first time in the state in a long, long time that the rule of law that seeks to improve the plight of millions will prevail over the rule of muscle power that hitherto helped only a few thousands.

There are many more miles to trudge with pain and suffering before Kolkata's quality of life can be said to be decent enough to enable people dream for a more decent future.

Meanwhile, here are a few of many similar headlines that marked August 1, 2009 to be remembered as a red-letter day in the history of Kolkata.

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Broadband speed to nearly double in Kolkata

2009-08-01T10:55:00.003+05:30

The time is upon us when many people cannot imagine life without the Internet. I'm not talking about the gen-next who are anyway hooked onto their online lives come sun or rain.

But a majority of the older populace have embraced the net because of one big motivation, which is the ability to earn money.

Yet, for all that matters, Kolkata has not been the superfast communicating city save the Saltlec businesses that have their own high-speed links.

Things are slated to change this October as BSNL, the largest communication provider, is set to increase its broadband backbone from the present ADSL system to VDSL which will allow maximum speed up to 26 Mbps in its internet highway. Read the story here.

The news story also informs that BSNL will partner with PC maker, Novatium Solutions to make available PCs at Rs 7,000 with basic configuration. Consumers need to pay Rs 315 per month for broadband, PC maintenance and a host of value-added services.

Not bad that, but then you need to see the details before they really look attractive.

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74,000 and perhaps still growing!

2009-07-30T14:01:00.002+05:30

This one statistic has a strong potential. It conveys the impression that India is a highly literate country. The truth is however vastly different.

What's the stat anyway...! Well here it is.

Mohan Jatua, the MoS for I&B, informs, "More than 74,000 newspapers are registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI)."

But wait, there are surprises. The first 2 places belong to UP and Delhi with 11,789 and 10,066 newspapers respectively. Now, why surprise?

Because UP is one of those so-called BIMARU states that are more poor than the others. And because literacy can only come after the stomach is filled.

Delhi is also a surprise if only because the state is tiny compared to much bigger states like say Maharashtra that comes third with 9,127.

For more refer to this article.

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Goodbye to double deckers

2009-07-30T13:31:00.002+05:30

Since when the double-decker buses plied in the city? The Statesman informs us that the British brought them to Kolkata way back in 1926.

83 years have passed since. Many Kolkattans will have nostalgic memories about riding in these buses. And now the double-deckers can be seen on city roads for 2 more days in keeping with High Court's order to not ply 15-year old commercial vehicles from August 1.

Does this mean double-decker buses have no future in the city? Not necessarily because they do ply in many cities of the world. Those that ply in various Japanese cities are nicely designed - both exterior and interior - unlike the rickety conditions of Kolkata double-deckers.

Here is the picture of a double-decker that runs in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada from 2000 for the public transit system.

Double Decker in Victoria, Canada [Image source]

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Bollywood is king, Nollywood is queen

2009-07-29T11:49:00.004+05:30

It's hardly a surprise that Bollywood makes more than what Hollywood makes in a year. But if the 'more' is nearly double, then one needs to sit up and take note.

I said 'nearly', because according to the figures by Times Insight Group, India with prime producing centers at Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad made 1132 films in 2007 compared to 520 from US, 418 from Japan, and 400 from China. So the less-than-half Hollywood production doesn't strictly compare with Bollywood's output.

Over 3 billion people in India saw films in theaters in the same period compared to a little over 1.3 billion in the US. The figures for Japan and China are dismally low at 161 million and 196 million respectively.

Let me now share a surprise. This ClickAfrique report says that in 2006 Nollywood - the Nigerian film industry - produced 872 motion pictures compared to Bollywood's 1091, and Hollywood's 485.

However, despite apparent numerical strength, the ClickAfrique report reveals that the US movies continue to dominate cinema admissions around the world. All of the top 10 films seen in Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Namibia, Romania and Slovenia in 2006 were US made.

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