North Kolkata Calling !!

The name of the shoe shop was probably ' Bhattacharya &Co' and it was situated on the important crossing of Hatibagan of North Calcutta. I used to frequently visit the shop for my requirements of foot wears. I was around 38/39 years of age when I had the opportunity to meet the proprietor of the shop who was eagerly showing varieties of shoes according to my choice. Somehow we got down to a casual conversation when I asked him about the age of the shop. I don't remember the actual words that he had spoken but I could still recollect that he suddenly became sentimental. Soon I realized that he was too attached to the shop and went on and on to convince me that it's  old -perhaps the oldest footwear shop in Hatibagan. Finally when he stopped I asked him an impertinent question. " And how long do you expect the shop to last -I mean do you expect the next generation to stick to it ?" He looked exasperated and thought

       "Art is strong wine and it needs a strong head to keep it." I have read the above line somewhere and since then kept it in my inner dictionary-for a long long period- unaware of its  use or relevancy. I often dwelled upon the said line on various phases of my life and wondered what had inspired the Author ( probably it was Maxim Gorky or Fyodor Dostoevsky) to have penned out such a line.  Myself, being somewhat bent towards the Art World, I take this opportunity to relate some facts about a friend of mine. He was a young musician trying to establish himself in the music world. Of course he had all the requirements & trainings to become a successful Harmonium player (both as a soloist and an accomp- anist ) yet the Artist within him gave him no respite from his uncertain & unpredictable mood swing. He went along  the world according to his terms. I could still remember the day when he brought along with him an equally

It was an American or a British car Prefect Ford. And before that it was Austin and God knows what else. The fact was that we were used to cars.   We had several drivers - among them Murari was the one whom I still remember. He used to take us to school & back. He was a  die hard fan of Bade Gulam Ali Khan and loved to play the tabla too.  On occasions our father used to come too. On those occasions we were sure to end up at The Great Eastern Hotel for some titbits.    During those days there were few cars on road in Calcutta and  we were never late to school or wherever we had to go. It was through these drivers that I finally learnt driving at the tender age of 15/16. After the demise of my father (we were merely teenagers then) friends started pouring in- they were all sorts of young men with various motives. Some among them weren't that bad while few others had their own agendas. I still remember the day when our ca

Previously it was mostly carried out by Kabuliwallas who came from Kabul- I mean lending money to the needy. Now however we could find moneylenders from every strata of the society. Balveer Kharol , being a moneylender himself, unfortunately got himself caught in a debt trap. To get rid of his constraints he plotted his own murder so that his family could claim Rs 50 lakh in insurance money. He used to pay an annual premium of Rs 8, 432. He waited for the cooling-off period and finally decided to get himself killed by Sunil and Rajveer -the contract killers! They were paid a sum of Rs80, 000 as advance. On the cursed day they put a polythene bag over his head and tightened the noose. The police however found out the plot from his cellphone details.   The man sold his entire property for Rs 20 lakh and lent out the money to various persons . He could neither get  interest nor a part of the principal amount. Henc he hatched such a plan which failed ri

Yes Ranudi has stirred us all. In fact it was a much awaited idea -a kind of a Great Awakening for the present India if not the World ! Hence we should try to dig deeper and deeper and find out  the cause and consequence of such a thought provoking idea ! At least it has jerked us out of ' The present unthinking  and un aspiring rut'!

 Is the Titanic destined for oblivion in the near future ? The ship that sank on the icy North Atlantic seabed on April 15, 1912 and along with it took 1500 lives- is in its last leg. It is slowly & certainly breathing its last breath-succumbing to corrosive salts, rust etc. The crow's nest from where the  first signal ' Iceberg right ahead !' came literally vanished.  The captain's cabin has collapsed. It was here that the naval officer Edward John Smith was resting when the ship struck the iceberg! One could not but feel sorry for the ongoing circumstances that will soon leave no trace of the historical ship ! (Thanks to TOI for the news )