Truly Saptarshi

One of the most popular festivals of India, it is the festival of lights. It is the day to drive away the spirit of the dark, its a day to fight against the bad and the winner is the good. Maa Kali is worshipped on this day and she is the symbol of power. In many parts of India, Lakshmi Puja is carried out today, to make the Goddess of wealth happy and ask her for prosperity. The lights and fireworks make up the added attraction of this day. The world seems much more colourful and everything seems so wonderful. But, the sad thing is that many forget that this is a festival of lights, not of sound. However, i am happy that this year the policemen have taken extra care to stop the sound fireworks to some extend. With all these by the side, enjoy to the most and let others enjoy too, do not make your enjoyment the cause of sorrow for someone else. And try to light up the day with diya s and candles as much as you can and use less of electric light, its much more beautiful...

Regardless of the ambiguity that shrouded the eruption of the Libyan popular uprising, regardless of the various conspiracy theories that tried – and still are –to somehow find a hidden foreign agenda behind this armed revolution, regardless of the many apologists for the Gaddafi’s regime who elaborated on his good deeds and achievements for the Libyans during the last four decades … one simple and utterly painful truth remains, that Muammar Gaddafi held nothing for the Libyan people but sheer contempt. On his first speech that followed the start of the Libyan uprising last February and as he was threatening to turn Libya into a bloodbath Gaddafi defiantly disparaged the rebels as he shouted “who are you, anyway?” With the assistance of oil revenues, Libya’s small population has enjoyed one of the continent’s high rates of economic growth and social welfare and medical services but still the Libyans remained politically and educationally impoverished as the colonel alway...

He deserves the tag line that i have given to him. Although i am not a fan of Chetan Bhagat and do not like his style of writing but could not resist myself from finding out what makes him so popular among the Indian mass. And this IIT and IIM passout has become more of an youth icon than an author. He has earned himself the tag of 'The biggest selling English language novelist in India's history'. All the four novels he has written so far has created waves and has went on to become bestsellers. His just released, fifth novel 'Revolution 2020' is also no exception. So is his aura that Time magazine had named him as one of the hundred most influential people of the world. But, is his aura really something worth of so much appreciation? We have some of the finest Indian authors in Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth, Anita Desai, R.K. Narayan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Arundhati Roy to name a few and is he really worthy of more appreciation than these names that i just told? He is ...

I came across these two news articles, maybe many of you have heard about them but i came to know recently and they really disturbed my mind. One is a recent incident and the other is a incident which took place long back. Both show the torture that took place and is still taking place on women.  Coming to a recent incident in Iran which shows the unruliness of the Governing body of that nation. This incident is that of Marzieh Vafamehr.  The Iranian opposition website Kalaemeh.com says the Iranian court has sentenced actress Marzieh Vafamehr to 1 year imprisonment and 90 lashes for portraying social alienation, artistic repression and drug use in the country in an Australian-made film.  The 2009 film portrayed a Tehran actress who has been banned from theater by the authorities. The character was then forced to join Tehran’s cultural underground in order to express herself artistically, then started to craft a plan to leave Iran for exile abroad.  Vafamehr report...

Three women were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their nonviolent struggle for safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from Liberia is a 72 year old and was Africa's first elected female head of state in January 2006. She has earned lots of applauds for her work of rebuilding Liberia and is still working very hard to convince people of the change. She would also contest the presidential polls of 2011. Leymah Gbowee is yet another lady from Liberia who won this honour. She mobilised and organised women across ethnic and religious divides to help bring an end to war in Liberia and to ensure women's participation in elections. Following the 2003 peace treaty, she was instrumental in the victory of Johnson-Sirleaf. She is a commisioner on Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation panel. Tawakul Karman from Yemen is a 32 year old journalist. Both before and during the Arab Spring, she has ...

Five days have passed since this iconic public figure, Steven Paul Jobs has passed away but the vacant place felt behind is being felt more and more with every passing day. Undoubtedly one of the finest entrepreneurs and a wonder inventor who changed the way world looked at computers. He could always take the risk to come up with something new and every other new thing he brought to the market became the talk of the town. His Apple has always shown a direction when it came to technology. He co-founded 'Apple' in the late 1970s along with Steve Wozniak and Steve Markkula and others. Apple went on to make Macintosh and it created a huge market. Jobs left Apple in 1985 to build his own company, Next, which was again later acquired by Apple and he went back to Apple as interim CEO from 1997. Jobs also spun up the Pixar Animation Studio in 1986 and was its 50.1% shareholder till in 2006 it was acquired by The walt Disney Company making him the largest individua...

Firstly, i wish all my readers a very warm ' Subho Bijaya '. May the days ahead be even more prosperous and glorious! Its the time to have lots of sweets and mouth watering bengali edibles. Maa Durga has gone back to her house in heaven and now we are to go back to our regular routine too. After dashami the whole thing around seems so gloomy and its another 360 days wait for these 5 days. Among all these lights and sounds, somewhere we are lost and everything around seems to be so wonderful. Even the regular things look special. We go deeper and deeper into this magical days but then suddenly its over. And when this magic is over we are into an extended festive mood because we never want it to end. But, life is not all about festivals. It has more to it. The routined life is all the same and these 5 days seem like a blessing for everyone with end with the bisharjan.  The studies, the work are all too messy but they have to be done. So, with a heavy heart we are back to...

'the prince amongst painters... the painter amongst princes...' These two lines from the biographical film 'Rang Rasiya', based on his life seem to be very appropriate for this painter. He was born in a aristocratic family of Travancore on Aril 29, 1848. Ravi Varma was a child prodigy and got recognised for his inherent talent at a young age in China and recieved the patronage of king Ayilyam Thirunal of Travancore. He came across many Indian and European painters and learned to use water colour and oil paints. In 1873 he got the Governor's gold medal at Vienna Art Exhibition and was awarded the title of 'Raja' by king Ayilyam Thirunal.  He soon became famous for his portrayal of Indian and British royals. He had an unique style of painting, making an amalgamation of classic Indian style with European realism. he left for Bombay after the death of Ayilyam Thirunal. He expanded his horizon as he became more and more popular. He was t...

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 ra...

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 reme...

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, tsunam...

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. ...

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 ...

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 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 jun...