Truly Saptarshi

Mahalaya is the traditional six day countdown for Mahasaptami . So nothing else other than pujo is coming to my mind, here is another post on our biggest festival - Durga Pujo. Mahalaya brings with it the frangrance of Pujo and from today there is no stopping, its the very first day of our festival. It marks the agomoni of Durga from her in-laws' house. The Philips radio which lies in a corner the whole year, no one even bothers to look at it becomes the biggest possesion the night before the Mahalaya , after all whats Mahalaya without the 4 A.M. Mahishashurmardini aired by Aakashbaani Kolkata, the enchanting voice of  Birendra Krishna Bhadra is the attraction of this day! The whole pujo is incomplete without ' Bajlo tomar aalor benu... '. I do not think every Bengali has the habit of waking up at 4'o clock in the morning but this day is out of the whole year's routine, we have to wake up and we do wake up without much hesitation and switch on the radio.

Yesterday was a gloomy day for the Bengali film industry, Bibhu Bhattacharya passed away. He may not be a superstar but undoubtedly one of the most loved actors of this film industry. I had not met him in personal but whenever he made some appearances, his simplicity and sweetness always showed very prominently. It made him a genuine human being. I am a huge fan of Feluda and have seen all the films of this franchise,  i can surely say that when it comes to Jatayu, Bibhu is the best. Jatayu is a much loved character and its sense of humour adds colour to Feluda and Bibhu's humour is incomparable, so he is a star by his means. He had started his career as Master Bibhu and had featured in many films as a child artist. he even did television work and also enacted Jatayu in the Feluda television series - 'Feluda 30'. Ever since Sandip Ray selected him as Jatayu, he has given a new life to the character and leaving aside his other works, he will always be remembered as ev

Recently we are seeing a lot of fuss regarding the nude scene of Paoli Dam in ' Chatrak'. But is all this fuss really needed? There can be many justifications - for and against but all these debates are meaningless. And the reason is that every artist has his/her discretion to do what heart wants. No one makes a fuss when Salman or Dev does some weird act then why debate on some normal bed scene? The rumour has it that Indian audience has grown, and so what the hell has changed? Some people who are against are telling that this is against the 'Indian culture'. Indians are the one who spoke about sex in a large scale and that too in a book, in Kamasutra long long back. So is nudity really against the culture? If i at all take that it is against the Indian culture then is item numbers and mini skirt clad actresses not against the culture too. If at all films like 'Bodyguard' , 'Mere Brother ki Dulhann', 'Ready', 'Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahaani'

We wanted rain and nature gave us. But gave us so much that now we are in a state of exhaustion. Recently the monsoon what we saw or rather we are still seeing is something we have never seen in the last decade. We tamper with nature so much and why should nature not do the same with us? We deserve the punishment. maybe this post would look very boring because much is said about caring nature everyday without much result. So, its a small piece from my part if at all i can spread any awareness. The earthquake that we witnessed the day before yesterday was a trailer of the destruction that is yet to come. Maybe we at Durgapur felt it to be very mild but towards north, more than 100 has died and thousands are stranded without a minimum shelter, food or medical treatment. Nature is warning us, not to take panga  with it but it seems like we are as deaf as ever. we can never stand before the might of nature and we have got to see that time and again through severe earthquakes, tsunamis a

Pujo means shiuli phool , pujo means kash phool , pujo means ponds filled with  padma phool  and blue skies filled with white cotton-like clouds. Although dressing well is the major part of pujo but it is much more than that. The fun involves many other things. Starting with Durga Pujo and ending with bhaidwitiya its all about things we do not do the whole year. Bathing early in the morning, getting dressed and off we go to explore the city. Food loving Bengali strike out the word 'dieting' from their dictionary when it comes to high calorie pujor khabaar. And the crowded pandals does not seem to bother us at all, these seem so heavenly.   Sitting in the pujo pandals the whole day does not boar us at the least. Everything seems good. Walking long distances with friends and family to catch the wonderful pandals results in aching legs but no one can stop us. New shoes bother us a lot with the boils but it is too small a factor to stop us during pujo. Pujor prem

Everywhere something or the other was being told about the 9/11 on its 10th year. So, i thought of catering my thoughts to to the people too. So, just a brief post after all the greats of the world has spoken yesterday. People of USA are still mourning for their friends and family who had passed away 10 years back but the world has gone much ahead leaving back those memories behind. But, have we really gone ahead in real terms of the word? We cannot forget this incident, it has been one of the worst massacres the world has seen. And the then president of USA had declared war against terrorism on the 9/20 of the same year. What resulted was massacre of many many more innocent people and torture of many more. At last Saddam was dethroned and hung. but. did the terrorism end here? The world saw another attack at a Bali nightclub killing more than 200 people. There was an attack at a Miss World contest killing more than 100. There were attacks in India, which killed many many more.

This is the field where woman may have been sidelined but from time to time they have proved themselves to be really sporty. India has seen tough girls coming to the foreground and taking sports to a new level every time. So, this post is a tribute to some of those prominent sports women. P.T. Usha is considered one of the greatest athletes India has ever produced. and is often called 'Queen of Indian track and field' and is nicknamed 'Payyoli Express' after the name of her village in Kerala. In the 1982 New Delhi Asiad she got noticed when she got silver medal in the 100 m and the 200 m. At the Asian Track and Field  Championship she took gold in 400 m and even made a new Asian record. Between 1983-89 she garnered 13 medals at the ATF meets. And this journey seemed like a never ending dream run. She has won 101 medals so far and has been conferred with the Padma Shri and Arjuna awards. She runs the Usha School of  Athletics in Kerala. The most sort after wome

Yes, you heard it right. This year the world's population will reach a new milestone and to feed those billions of mouth we are in real need of science. Water is very scarce and it really needs attention. However, scientists also believe that if the rate of meat consumption goes up in this rate then it will also become scarce very soon. So the idea of synthetic meat has arrived. Although they have not gone very far with the experiment but they are considering it very seriously. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that the annual meat production needs to double to 463 million tonnes by 2050. The rise is particularly very high in China. Right now the future of meat is just a small white blob in a Petri dish but the experiment is progressing very fast. Scientists are now being able to grow edible muscles in the lab. However after DNA culture and development of edible muscle, the real obstacle is the flavour. if the flavour is not like that of real meat then p

Irom Sharmila Chanu has been fasting for 11 long years. However, unlike Anna Hazare, she has not been told to end her fast by millions of people. Her cause also remains almost unknown outside her state. She is seeking the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from north-east. Known as the 'Iron Lady of Manipur', she started her fast in 2000 after witnessing the massacre of 10 innocent people by Assam Rifles jawan at the bus stop. And there was no reason to kill them except some odd doubt that they are terrorists. In a country like India where terrorists like Kasab cannot be hanged even after the order has been given, when the Government spends millions in the well being of terrorists in the jail and in a country which houses the most dangerous terrorists in the name of ministers how dare so many people are killed on just doubt? She is a greater fighter than Anna but the Government seems to be just as silent as ever. Dr. Manmohan Singh  had promised to loo

The festival season is here and we are in the mood to buy almost anything that comes our way. Recently it was the most celebrated Islamic festival - Eid and the sales were really high and the shopping festival started with full energy. And we have only one month in hand for our biggest festival , Durga Puja. The most awaited five days of the year when we all are just at our best. But, to be at our best we need to get ready for it, so its the shopping season for all of us. And i will not highlight on any such bad side of shopping, else everyone will think that 'this Saptarshi always finds something in everything'. We will get to see tremendous crowds in shops and road jams are very common. Everyone cannot afford to spend thousands of rupees on garments and accessories but everyone gets the best for their family and self. The shops which do not get much of customers whole year also get customers. This is a way of God to make everyone happy before she arrives. We spend a

She recently completed 100 days as the chief minister of Paschim Banga and from the time she has been sworn in as the chief minister, she made it a point to win the heart of the mass through her work and even through her talks. She visited hospitals without any prior information and indeed created a turmoil in the corrupted hospitals and among the corrupted doctors. She made it a point to remove pass-fail till class 8 in government schools, although this won her the hearts of many students but actually she destroyed their future. but winning hearts is her aim. The hills and the jungle mahal were highly disturbed and even after many trials these places could not be cooled down. However within a few days of her ministry with a few meetings both this centers of terror became absolutely peaceful, as if she did some magic. Atleast what we are seeing, these places are peaceful now, rest we do not need to know. She has even promised 10000 jobs to the people of the jungle mahal alone. Of