North Kolkata Calling !!

I suddenly found myself in a quiet place. It was surrounded by rows of trees and bushes and had a very desolate look. As  far as l could see there was the same desolation. It was a kind of inspiration or rather an encouragement to bring out my inner emotions. In fact a perfect ambiance to practice my most loved passion- my Music ! Soon l  immersed myself in an Alaap in Raag Bairagi.My eyes were closed as the mood demanded. Around 30 minutes later l opened my eyes to find a little boy of ten standing before me. He seemed to be following my Alaap  very attentively. Wherefore did he come? thought l. The little boy requested me not to stop and carry on. For another 10 minutes l continued and the boy stood there with the same interest  and concentration. I stopped the Alaap and asked him whether he could understand my music. To my great surprise he sang the same Raaga in Drut Tentaal. For 15 minutes he sang along with Taans and Sargams including Chakradhar, Tehai etc.  (To be continued)   

Along with our family we decided to have our Saturday breakfast at somewhere else. We pulled up our car near a fashionable restaurant about a kilometre from our home in Hyderabad. We gave the required order and sat around the family table. There were few customers and so we felt comfortable. While awaiting for the food to arrive we got busy chatting among ourselves.  Some commotions  near the entrance drew our attention.We were completely bowled out to find the King Khan at the door!  After few minutes we were at our ease once again. He looked so similar and was an exact duplicate of Shah Rukh Khan, the popular film star. The actual face came out when he removed the dark spectacle.          

An Indian ship named Kamala sank near the shore of America long before the Titanic. The ship belonged to Ramdoolal Dey(Deb) who is also known as the Pioneer of Indo-American Trade Relation. He was also known as the first Bengali millionaire merchant. The American merchants were so  happy with his dealings that they together presented a painting of the then President George Washington. It is said that the President himself gave a sitting to Gilbert Stewart  who was the painter. In fact a vessel  was named after him(Ram Dolloll) which made few journies to India. Merchant  houses from Boston, Philadelphia, Salem, New York during 1790 sent their vessels to Bengal to buy goods. Ramdulal was their main associate.  (To be continued)           

Doctors in Israel has done a remarkable job by reattaching the head of a 12 year old boy to his neck. Ligaments holding the posterior base of the boy's skull were badly damaged. This detached it from the top vertebrae of his spine. All this happened while the boy was riding a bicycle and met with a severe car accident.  Dr Ohad Einav, the orthopedic specialist,with the help of a large team of doctors and paramedics, finally succeeded in completing the complicated surgery! They used new plates & fixations in the damaged area. Suleman Hassan, the name of the boy, was recently discharged and is known to be functioning normally. 

Priceless 10th century idols, stolen from a temple in Uttar Pradesh, were found in UK's garden. The rare deities were stolen in 1970 from a temple in Lokhari in Banda district. The idols were of Chamunda and Yogini Gomukhi. A Mumbai and Rajasthan criminal network were responsible for smuggling many yogins into UK and EU via Switzerland during the 1970s and 1980s. The idols are now in the possession of High Commission of India & London.                   

We have all heard of burglars stealing expensive things. In doing so they apply various innovative methods. Some uses vehicles like cars, motorcycles, vans, taxis etc.  A new and sophisticated manner was applied by 32 yrs old Sampathi Uma Prasad. He was involved in high profile jewellery thefts. He frequently travelled by plane to various places and selects the shops and locked houses. Then he takes the required informations and fixes his timings. He accomplishes the thefts and returnes back by the next flight. Whenever he ran out of money he pledged his booty for his return flight.  He was from Andhrapradesh and was to return to Kerala on 5th July. He was finally caught by the police from the airport.             

There are many types of careers nowadays. How if someone chooses to become a mermaid after leaving a lucrative job? Moss Green aged 33 yrs who lives in England does exactly that. She left her job to become a professional mermaid in Italy. She got the idea when she saw a man dressed as a 'magical merman' coming out of the sea near a beach!