Tears coming down from the eyes of Jagaddhatri carrying a baby which symbolises as life : Artist themes on Global war

Biswabrata Goswami

Hummingbird News

KRISHNAGAR, 21 NOV: Krishnagar for the first time in its history is celebrating its grandest festival Jagaddhatri puja amidst the Covid-19 outbreak and the celebrations this year is slightly different from the past years.

Each year, pandal hoppers and people from outside Krishnagar manage to catch a glimpse of varied themes of puja pandal along with traditional forms of pujas in various Baroaries. But, this year, among the most sought after themes of Jagaddhatri puja pandals across the town, a puja committee at Chowrastha in Krishnagar has themed their celebration on Global war like situation where Jagaddhatri has been symbolized as Mother (Earth) carrying a baby (life) who is shown very much worried on nuclear war.

The Mother (Jagaddhatri) appeals to all to keep peace failing which life will no longer withstand on the earth. The Mother is also shown holding the earth in her two hands with tears coming down from her eyes, the implication being that if the war-war situation is aggravated, she will be life-less. The artist Debabrata Malakar has modeled the idol with his own innovative ideas.

Prof. David J Gross, Nobel Laureate and Chancellor’s Chair of Theoretical Physics, University of California, had recently told at the IIT-Madras convocation that the world is undergoing rapid change and as the event of the last few months show, no one can predict what will happen next week, much less beyond that. 

On Covid-19 pandemic, he said many scientists predicted that such a pandemic would inevitably arrive and yet their warnings were largely ignored.

“Similarly, many scientists warn of impending disasters of global warming, climate change. Yet, these warnings have not been sufficiently addressed. I take this occasion to warn all of the continuing and indeed worsening danger of nuclear weapons whose use could destroy all life on the planet. We must not ignore it”, he said.

Malakar, who has tried to focus his idea through his model is similar to that of the warning which has already been addressed by the Nobel laureate.  

Jagadhatri Puja is the most important festival celebrated after Durga Puja, Laxmi and Kali Puja in Krishnagar. This year, several restrictions on celebrating puja festivities have been imposed to prevent the spread of Covid infections. Amidst this situation several baroaries and club committees have arranged pujas after keeping Covid protocols in mind.

Police bans traditional Jagaddhatri idol immersion process in Krishnagar to prevent Covid infections

Mr Ghosh also said, “If any puja organizer violates the high court guidelines and covid protocols, we will take legal action against them.”

Biswabrata Goswami

Hummingbird News 

KRISHNAGAR, 20 NOV: Considering the guidelines enacted by the Kolkata High Court over some restrictions on puja festivities to curb the spread of Covid infections, the Krishnagar police district has banned immersion procession with ‘Saang’(a structure made by bamboos to place the idols on it before moving for immersion).

Superintendent of police, Krishnagar PD, Biswajit Ghosh said, “Carrying idols with saang on shoulders of bearers is completely banned as this type of immersion procession will violate the very motive of the High Court guidelines. We cannot allow the puja organizers to conduct such a traditional immersion process for this year only after considering the ongoing pandemic situation.”

Mr Ghosh also said, “If any puja organizer violates the high court guidelines and covid protocols, we will take legal action against them.”

During the Kali puja, same restrictions and covid protocols were imposed while a puja committee of Harijan Palli deliberately violated the guidelines and took out procession carrying idols with saang on the shoulders of the carriers. 

“We have initiated a case against the puja committee and charges under section 188 of Indian Penal Codes for violating court order and government order and sections under epidemic act have been slapped against the committee members”, a senior police officer said.   

This apart, the Krishnagar police district has also imposed some restrictions while conducting Jagaddhatri puja. In this respect, the Krishnagar police district had conducted a meeting with puja organizers and ruling party leaders where Mr Ghosh had clearly mentioned that all puja pandals should be declared as a containment zone. “In case of smaller puja, maximum 20 persons shall be allowed (not more than 15 persons at a time) and in case of big puja pandal, maximum 60 persons shall be allowed (not more than 45 persons at a time)”, Mr Ghosh said.

While informing about immersion related guidelines, Mr Ghosh said, “No carnival programme will be allowed. No procession will be allowed for immersion of idols. Band parties and lighting arrangements will not be allowed on the way to immersion ghat. The shortest possible route from pandal to immersion ghat shall be taken for the purpose of immersion.”

Meanwhile, a considerable number of Krishnagar people want to conduct their ‘traditional way of immersion process’ i.e. carrying idols with saang on shoulders of carriers. Most of the puja committees had appealed to the SP, Mr Ghosh. In this regard, the ruling party leaders who are patronizing several baroari and club pujas are in trouble as this ‘saang issue’ has become a sentimental issue before them ahead of the assembly polls. The BJP leaders have kept close watch on this matter and they are looking for how the ruling party leaders manage the issue.   

Stinking menace during the pandemic in Midnapore town 

Biswabrata Goswami

Hummingbird News 

MIDNAPORE, 18 NOV: The official website of Midnapore municipality is a classic example of hypocrisy and duplicity as regards the waste and garbage disposal of the town by its sanitation and conservancy department.

The condition of the sludge deposited drains by the side of the narrow lanes and bye-lanes, huge dumps of garbage and flying plastic wastes almost all around the town show how the department responsible for the clearance and disposal of garbage let alone recycling of wastes, is functioning.

In the website of the municipality it is proudly stated: “Main objective of the sanitary department is to clean and clear the municipal area…. Clean the roads and the drainage system, maintain drainage systems and proper disposal of garbage. The department of sanitation directs all activities related to garbage collection, disposal, recycling, and street cleaning, including registration of new garbage and recycling cans.”

After stating its laudable objectives, the services to be rendered by the department to the citizens are listed, and in point no.4, it is stated “Disposal of the garbage outside the town” is one of the services, which the municipality has to provide to the taxpayers.

One one has to visit ward no.24, on the southwestern part of the town and walk along the historic Dak Bungalow Road towards the Kasai river to watch the double standard of this hundred year old civic body presently being headed by the sub-divisional officer (SDO) and waiting for the election.

Huge dumps of garbage containing hazardous solid wastes, like plastic bags form small hillocks with grazing cattle in daytime. These hillocks of garbage are lying just by the side of a DAV school right within a residential area named Saratpally.

“Mounds of biodegradable and non-biodegradable wet and dry garbage are being dumped indiscriminately almost on a daily basis at this vacant site for months, and during the rains  turn into a stinking menace for the local  residents, and morning and evening walkers towards the riverside”, said Abhijit Guha a former professor of Vidyasagar university and a resident of Saratpally.

Professor Guha further asked, “I wonder how during the Covid 19 pandemic the municipality could allow such indiscriminate dumping of garbage right within a residential area by the side of a school and a number of government offices including the state water resources and investigation department?”

When asked, Subhashish Ghosh, secretary of Nagarik Samity said, “We have several times lodged complaints with the SDO, Sadar and Municipal Supervisor, but no steps have been taken yet”.   

Soumitra Chatterjee : Legendary actor, people's superstar and cultural icon passes away at 85

Biswabrata Goswami

Hummingbird News

KRISHNAGAR, 15 NOV: Legendary Indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee, famed for his work with Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray, has died from Covid complications.

The 85-year-old actor was admitted to hospital in Kolkata city on 6 October after he tested positive for the virus.

He was mourned by fans and critics who avidly followed his six-decade-long career in Bengali language films.

Chatterjee, who starred in more than 300 movies, was also an accomplished playwright, theatre actor and poet.

He tested negative a few weeks after he was admitted to hospital but his condition soon deteriorated and he was put on a ventilator in the last week of October. He died on Sunday morning.

With deep grief I must inform you that my beloved father … my Bapi left us this morning. As a family, we are devastated. Please say a prayer for his soul,” Chatterjee’s daughter, Poulami Bose, informed.

“I humbly and earnestly request you all please do not come over to our place right now. My mother and my sons health is fragile at best. Please do not put them at risk. PLEASE KEEP THE PANDEMIC IN MIND AND PRAY FROM THE SAFETY OF YOUR HOMES. If you all are truly concerned please respect what my father would have wanted.

“Please do not call me or text me. I will speak to everyone when I’m ready. Please give me the space and the privacy that I so desperately need right now. If anyone wishes to meet my mother or my brother please call them. Please please dont contact me now,” she added.

It was Covid-19 encephalopathy that had made his brain weak before eventually turning it unresponsive, leading to a multi-organ failure.

“We declare with heavy heart that Shri Soumitra Chattopadhyay breathed his last at 12-15 pm at Belle Vue Clinic today (15 November 2020). We pay our homage to his soul,” the hospital said in a statement.

Chatterjee had tested positive for coronavirus on October 5 and got admitted to the hospital the very next morning.

He was shooting for a documentary titled ‘Abhijan’ directed by actor Parambrata Chattopadhyay. He last attended shooting at the Bharatlaxmi Studio on October 1. The next shooting schedule was fixed for October 7.

Chatterjee was perhaps best-known for his work with Ray, one of the world's most influential directors and maker of the much-feted Apu Trilogy. The series followed the life of a man who grew up in a Bengali village. The films garnered critical acclaim, winning many awards worldwide, and put Indian cinema on the global map.

The third movie of the trilogy, Apur Sansar, which released in 1959, was also Chatterjee's debut film. He would go on to star as the lead actor in 14 of Ray's films.

Pauline Kael, one of America's most influential and respected film critics, called Chatterjee Ray's "one-man stock company" who moved "so differently in the different roles he plays that he is almost unrecognisable".

Chatterjee was awarded the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest honour in Indian cinema, in 2012 and in 2018, he was given France's highest award, the Legion of Honour.

He began acting when he was in school, where he starred in several plays. He was in college when a friend introduced him to Ray - it was a chance meeting, but it eventually led to Chatterjee's film debut.

"I didn't know what to do when Mr Ray first asked me. I didn't know what was the real difference between stage and screen acting. I was afraid I'd overact," he told Marie Seton, film critic and biographer, in an interview.

Chatterjee's roles in more than a dozen films made by the auteur spanned a wide range.

He played a Sherlock Holmes-like detective in Sonar Kella, an effete bridegroom in Devi, a hot-tempered north Indian taxi driver in Abhijan, a city slicker in Aranyer Din Ratri, and a mild-mannered village priest in Ashani Sanket. He also played what Seton called a "thinly veiled portrait" of Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore in Charulata, one of Ray's most admired films.

"His chief asset was the natural sensitivity of his appearance," Seton wrote of the actor.

Ray, who died in 1992, had said that Chatterjee was an intelligent actor and "given bad material, he turns out a bad performance".

"Not a day passed when I do not think of Ray or discuss him or miss him. He is a constant presence in my life, if not for anything else but for the inspiration I derive when I think about him," Chatterjee told an interviewer.

Chatterjee also played the romantic lead in popular Bengali films, but his appeal, say critics, was more limited than the reigning star, Uttam Kumar.

Over the years, Chatterjee worked with leading directors like Tapan Sinha, Mrinal Sen, Asit Sen, Ajoy Kar, Rituparno Ghosh and Aparna Sen. In 1988, he worked with John Hurt and Hugh Grant in The Bengali Night, a film set in Kolkata.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan, one of India's greatest filmmakers, said that on screen, Chatterjee "became the quintessential Bengali - intellectually inclined, of middle-class orientation, sensitive and likeable".

Courtesy: Info/Images from BBC, Front Line, The Wire and The Statesman.

 

Few people visiting after 13 years : Suvendu takes dig at TMC

“After 13 years, a few people are now coming here as the elections are approaching. I want to tell them if they are coming before polls, they will have to come after elections too”.

Biswabrata Goswami

Hummingbird News 

NANDIGRAM, 10 NOV: With the rumour of his future political strategy moving around across the state, Suvendu Adhikari, one of the pillars within Trinamul Congress, today, indirectly hit his own party leadership for organizing simultaneous rally to mark Nandigram Diwas.

Adhikari, one of the main architects of Nandigram anti-land acquisition movement, held a mass rally under the banner of Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) to pay respects to the martyrs, who died on this day in 2007 during anti-land acquisition movement, as like as previous years and said, “A few people are visiting the area after 13 years as the assembly elections are approaching.”

He said, “Nandigram movement was a spontaneous mass movement and it was not of any particular individual. I have been with the people of Nandigram. I used to come alone those days and stood by the people. So, I have never used this BUPC platform as a political platform.”

Adhikari said, “After 13 years, a few people are now coming here as the elections are approaching. I want to tell them if they are coming before polls, they will have to come after elections too”.

For the last few months, Adhikari is maintaining distance with the party and party leaderships and todays’ rally had gathered the attention of the political experts as many thought that Adhikari would finally break silence about his sour relations with TMC.

While speaking to the Nandigram residents, Adhikari, however, clearly mentioned, “I know the media is waiting to know what I have in mind. They’re willing to know what Suvendu will do. Yes, I’ll speak. Where did I stumble in politics, where is my path filled with obstructions, where do I lack comfort. I’ll speak about everything. But not today. Not from this apolitical BUPC platform.”

He added, “I will speak from a political platform. See you again.”

But, what he concluded by saying was “Jay Bharat Mata”, which has triggered a fresh speculation to the political experts whether he has hinted any about switching to saffron camp.

In Nandigram, there were three rallies to mark Nandigram Diwas today. The second rally was held under the banner of Trinamul Congress where TMC leader Firad Hakim addressed a rally and the third one was arranged by Suvendu's brother Dibyendu to ‘counter Hakim’.

Suvendu’s rally was held at Gokulnagar High School ground, while Firad’s rally was held at Hazrakata to pay respect to Rezaul Karim, one of the martyrs who was killed at this place. As Rezaul was resident near Chowringhee Bazar, Dibyendu arranged the rally to pay respect to him here.

Speaking at the rally, Firad said, “Nandigram movement was held under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee. No one can deny it.”   

Australia-India Water Center inaugurated virtually

The Water Centre will be led by University of Western Sydney from Australia and IIT Guwahati from India along with 21 other partners from India and Australia 

Biswabrata Goswami

Hummingbird News 

KRISHNAGAR, 9 NOV: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati in collaboration with the University of Western Sydney from Australia and 21 other partners from both countries virtually inaugurated the Australia-India Water Centre (AIWC) on Friday.

The MoU signed between the parties will include collaboration in water research, a joint Master’s level programme in water futures, student and staff exchanges, workshops and conferences and provide short-term training in the water sector to government agencies and other participants.

The MoU, signed for a duration of five years will develop longer-term collaboration in water research, capacity building and knowledge and technology transfer, particularly focusing on water and food security, safe drinking water supplies, river health, water-energy-food nexus, water for liveable cities and other related aspects of mutual benefit to Australia and India.

The center was inaugurated virtually through a Webinar, in view of the pandemic situation.

Mr. Dan Tehan, Minister for Education - Government of Australia, Mr Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Jal Shakti - Government of India, Mr B. C. Patil, Minister of Agriculture - Government of Karnataka, Mr A. Gitesh Sarma, Indian High Commissioner to Australia, Mr Barry O’Farrell AO, Australian High Commissioner to India, Prof T. G. Sitharam, Director – IIT Guwahati, and Directors, Vice Chancellors, Deans of all the partner institutions and many other dignitaries were virtually present on this occasion.

The Water Centre is led by University of Western Sydney from Australia and IIT Guwahati from India along with 21 other partners from India and Australia.

The water issues and challenges of India and Australia share many common elements, including natural extremes of floods and droughts, increasing competition for water between urban, peri-urban and rural sectors and increased threats to water security from climate change.

There are also pressures due to the over-exploitation and water quality degradation of surface and groundwater resources.

The recent joint declaration at the virtual summit of the Prime Ministers of Australia and India, in June 2020 stated that “Water security is a critical challenge for both countries, and it was jointly decided to deepen policy and technical cooperation on mutually agreed activities to improve water management and sustainable economic development.” 

With this in view, a number of universities, research organisations and business partners from Australia and India have committed to establish the Australia India Water Centre (AIWC).

Speaking at the webinar organized on this occasion, Mr Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Government of India, said, “I am delighted to inaugurate the Australia India Water Center (AIWC) to promote water related research, teaching and training between the two countries in the presence of officials and experts from the water sector of India and Australia. My wishes for making this collaboration towards water sustainability successful!”

Highlighting the benefits of this partnership, Prof. T. G. Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, said, “Water is likely to play a key economic and strategic role in the future. This Centre will focus on collaboration in transdisciplinary research, capacity building and knowledge and technology transfer, particularly on aspects of water and food security, safe drinking water supplies, river health, water-energy-food nexus, water for liveable cities and other related facets of mutual benefits to Australia and India”  

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