North Kolkata Calling !!

I was always curious about pianos. Mr Ludwig was our music teacher and he was the main person responsible for my love in this particular instrument. I could still remember his reddish face with big eyes. His lips - always holding a pipe or a cigarette.   Later (being business minded) the idea somehow came to me that I should try my hand in pianos-I mean to manufacture and market it.    But my hope soon started fading as I was about to know about the manufacturing of the said musical instrument ! Little did I knew that there was a lot of confusion awaiting me. Little by little I came to know that pianos were not manufactured in India by that time. I heard a lot of stories about men who tried but failed. My 10 years old daughter Surela used to take her  piano lessons from a local teacher named Samar Dutta. He was attached with the renowned Calcutta School Of Music where Roshan Chowana was the principal. Mr Dutta used to organize ...

Often night guards in Dooars tea garden face life threatening situations. Recently such an incident happened when three guards were watering tea bushes. They finished the job around midnight and decided to rest on the tent pitched at one end of the tea estate. There was a gorge nearby through which a stream passed. Two of the guards were asleep while the third was still awake. Suddenly Jivan (the 3rd guard) heard the sound of twigs and branches being broken by an approaching elephant herd. He quickly alerted the others and soon realized that they were in between the herd and the deep gorge. At first thought they decided to dodge the elephants but later found it to be too risky. There was every chance that they might be flung aside and trampled upon by the herd. Luckily they had a long rope in the tent which they tied to a bunch of bamboos. The three of them-one after the other-held the rope (their only hope) and dangled as quietly as possible. T...

Probably yes !

From our very childhood days we have been listening to various historical facts about our forefathers. Among them Ramdoolal  Dey (Deb) was perhaps the most notable personality of his time.  He was supposed to build up trade relation with America shortly after it gained independence from the British.  I would, however, like to relate one incident around the year  1821. Ramdoolal was in his 69th year when paralysis overtook him while he was writing. He fully lost control over himself and lay prostrate upon the ground.  Intimation about his condition reached to Messrs. Clark and  Melville the partners of Fairlie & Fergusson & Co. who reached by his bedside with Dr. Nicholson. The doctor took out a phial from his pocket and allowed a drop to fall on the neck of  Ramdoolal. A blister formed and immediately burst. The magical drop helped the patient to sit bolt upright. Thus he regained his v...

Someone told me that there was a time when we ran after music while at present music seems to run after us. Well-it gave me food for thought.  I was really in a fix since it made me loose my precious sleep.  For some moments I reflected   upon  the matter. Yes I agree what is mentioned as ' Golden era of music' but somehow disagree too about the notion that the present era is aiming towards nothingness. With due regards to artists like Md.Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Manna De,Kishore Kumar to our Bengal artists Hemanta Mukherjee, Sandhya Mukherjee, Shyamal Mitra etc. - I would still like to claim the supremacy of Music -even more-during the present era. At times it stunns me to see very little girls and boys performing at levels unthinkable during the said era. Reality Shows in TV, easy access to YouTube etc has given us the freedom to listen to any kind of music anywhere,anytime. It was not always possible during...

'They flash upon that inward eye   Which is the bliss of solitude'                       -William Wordsworth. I thought and thought about today's morning. It was just a  morning like any other mornings. Yet there was something else-something different from all the mornings that I have been witnessing  during my 72 years life. Why was it different thought I.. Yesterday night I couldn't sleep well , neither could my wife. We rose early, discussed about our restlessness and decided to go for a morning walk together. It was after quite sometime  that we went for such a stroll. It would help us to get rid of our  uneasiness, we thought. We went to the nearest river side and watched a fisherman throwing his huge net while a steamer passed by . After loitering there for an hour we decided to return. My wife went to the kitchen to prepare the breakfast while I stood at my b...

She lost it ! Yes my wife lost her mobile-a part and parcel of her life-that is. The revelation came when I was busy watching my favorite show in the TV. I was so absorbed that I failed to notice my wife's  concern for few moments. Of course she often missed things and  hence I was accustomed to it and -sorry to admit-I kept mymyself glued to my TV show. But reality soon awakened me when I came to know about the loss. Finally her concern became mine too and immediately I started enquiring where she last used it, where she went next etc etc. In the meanwhile I started tracing it through my phone. I could hear the mobile ringing away happily -in fact very happily -without anyone bothering to pick it up or respond. Was it in the shop she visited last ? We both -I mean Mr & Mrs Felu Mitter tried our best to locate it through our Feluda instinct. Mrs.Felu Mitter decided to visit the shop and find it out. If she fails the only thing to ...