been running, running, running and now look back to find some of the best years of life gone down the memory lane...
Atypical Bong - a blog on Life and Perspectives
Silent student drive lights up village lives
Anyone who is cynical about today’s youth could draw some inspiration from a silent movement sweeping across colleges and schools in the country.
Working under the aegis of Project Chirag with its origin in Mumbai’s HR college, the initiative has been lighting up lives in the rural hinterland by way of solar technology.
What started out two years ago when five HR college students informally decided to step out and “do something” has today snowballed into a movement involving over 12,000 students across 15 schools of Mumbai. Numerous corporates and benevolent individuals have loosened their purse-strings — allcollectively contributing to bringing light to over 4,000 homes across 106 villages in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, UP and Karnataka.
“When we started out in 2010, we randomly visited a few villages in Wada tehsil of Thane district of Maharashtra. We were shocked to find that some of the villages were plunged in darkness,” recalls 25-year-old Jyotirmoy Chatterji, who co-founded Project Chirag, saying the stark disparity had hit them hard.
Barely a few kilometres from the financial capital, villagers didn’t even have electricity poles and the few who had mobile phones often walked over 10km to the district town to charge them.
The friends started out by snapping lights in their college corridors to sensitise fellow collegians
about living in the dark and doubled it up with a modest fund-raising plea for Rs 10. They raked up an overwhelming Rs 5.5 lakh in the first week itself, motivating them to broaden the canvas of their work. At a budget of Rs 4,000 per home, they involved students in setting up a solar light, solar panels as well as mobile charging facility in over 100 homes in Ujjaini village of Maharashtra. Interestingly, they involved differently abled children to assemble the solar lights.
With their first project a runaway success and enthusiasm scaled, they started approaching schools to involve more under-20-year-olds. Gradually they won the faith of corporates who agreed to fund the solar lights.
“Satisfying,” is how Chatterji describes the journey, saying the best reward was when they re-visited Ujjaini village a year later and found that more students had cleared the Xth standard SSC exam than previous years. “They said the lighting enabled them to study through the night.”
Earth to contact aliens in 12 years!
Humans could make contact with alien life within the next 12 years, says a former official from the British defence ministry's UFO project.
The development of a supersized radio telescope called Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will unleash "new and exciting possibilities" on whether there is life out there in the universe, former UFO Project leader Nick Pope told the Daily Express.
Pope, who studied UFO sightings at the ministry for 21 years, said: "I will be controversial and give you an exact year of when I believe first confirmation of contact will be made - and that is 2024, the year in which if everything goes according to plan (when) the SKA will be fully operational."
The SKA, to be started in 2016, will be the world's largest radio telescope made of thousands of receptors covering around 5,000 square km of the Earth's surface in the Australian outback.
Scientists have said the SKA will be 50 times more sensitive, and will survey the sky 10,000 times faster than any other telescope.
"If there is a civilisation within 100 light years this telescope could find it," Pope said.
The belief in aliens - or euthology - has received worldwide support and a recent poll suggested more people actually believe in aliens than they do in God, the daily said.
Nearly 60 percent of people believe we are not alone in the universe and that alien life forms exist, according to the poll by Opinion Matters.
Another study by the University of Chicago claims that just 37 percent of people believe in God.
The development of a supersized radio telescope called Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will unleash "new and exciting possibilities" on whether there is life out there in the universe, former UFO Project leader Nick Pope told the Daily Express.
Pope, who studied UFO sightings at the ministry for 21 years, said: "I will be controversial and give you an exact year of when I believe first confirmation of contact will be made - and that is 2024, the year in which if everything goes according to plan (when) the SKA will be fully operational."
The SKA, to be started in 2016, will be the world's largest radio telescope made of thousands of receptors covering around 5,000 square km of the Earth's surface in the Australian outback.
Scientists have said the SKA will be 50 times more sensitive, and will survey the sky 10,000 times faster than any other telescope.
"If there is a civilisation within 100 light years this telescope could find it," Pope said.
The belief in aliens - or euthology - has received worldwide support and a recent poll suggested more people actually believe in aliens than they do in God, the daily said.
Nearly 60 percent of people believe we are not alone in the universe and that alien life forms exist, according to the poll by Opinion Matters.
Another study by the University of Chicago claims that just 37 percent of people believe in God.
Ireland govt plans law to legalize abortion
Ireland has finally decided to allow termination of pregnancy in cases where the mother’s life is in danger. The Irish government said that it would bring legislation to allow abortions in hospitals when doctors determine that a mother’s life is at risk.
The move comes seven weeks after the death of 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar, who was 17 weeks pregnant. She had a miscarriage and died of septicaemia three days after requesting an abortion at Galway hospital which she wasn’t allowed to undergo.
Abortion is banned in Ireland as per a papal diktat. It is one of two European Union countries — the other being Malta — where women cannot have an abortion even when their lives are in danger.
Ireland’s cabinet made the announcement of legalizing abortion after intense public pressure came from secular elements following Halappanavar's death. The bill will be drafted in the New Year and debated by the Irish parliament’s health committee before it is voted upon in the house known as the Dail.
As a doctor I welcome the decision to legalize abortion. People who still argue that a ban on abortion is pro-life, Savita’s case should have made it clear by now that it can often end up taking lives that could have been saved otherwise.
HR Manager, His Assistant, An Old Woman And Her Young Daughter
HR Manager, His Assistant, An Old Woman And Her Young Daughter Are Traveling In A Train And During The Course Of Time Get Themselves Introduced To Each Other And Become Temporary Friends...
The Train Goes Through A Tunnel And It Gets Completely Dark...
Suddenly There Is A Kissing Sound And Then A Slap !!!
... The Train Comes Out Of The Tunnel...
The Women And The Assistant Are Sitting There Looking
Perplexed...
The Manager Is Bending Over Holding His Face, Which Is Red From An Apparent Slap.
All Of Them Remain Diplomatic And Nobody Says Anything...
The Old Woman Is Thinking :
These Managers Are All Crazy After Girls. He Must Have Kissed My Daughter In The Tunnel. Very Proper That She Slapped Him...
The Young Girl Is Thinking :
The Manager Must Have Tried To Kiss Me But Kissed My Mother Instead And Got Slapped...
The Manager Is Thinking :
Damn It... My Assistant Must Have Kissed The Young Girl. She Might Have Thought It Was Me And Slapped Me...
Now Guess What The Assistant Is Thinking...
.
.
Now Hold Your Breath And Read What The Assistant Is Thinking...
If This Train Goes Through Another Tunnel I Will Make Another Kissing Sound And Slap My Manager Again...
The idiot Keeps Harassing Me In The Office...!!
The Train Goes Through A Tunnel And It Gets Completely Dark...
Suddenly There Is A Kissing Sound And Then A Slap !!!
... The Train Comes Out Of The Tunnel...
The Women And The Assistant Are Sitting There Looking
Perplexed...
The Manager Is Bending Over Holding His Face, Which Is Red From An Apparent Slap.
All Of Them Remain Diplomatic And Nobody Says Anything...
The Old Woman Is Thinking :
These Managers Are All Crazy After Girls. He Must Have Kissed My Daughter In The Tunnel. Very Proper That She Slapped Him...
The Young Girl Is Thinking :
The Manager Must Have Tried To Kiss Me But Kissed My Mother Instead And Got Slapped...
The Manager Is Thinking :
Damn It... My Assistant Must Have Kissed The Young Girl. She Might Have Thought It Was Me And Slapped Me...
Now Guess What The Assistant Is Thinking...
.
.
Now Hold Your Breath And Read What The Assistant Is Thinking...
If This Train Goes Through Another Tunnel I Will Make Another Kissing Sound And Slap My Manager Again...
The idiot Keeps Harassing Me In The Office...!!
Being a Successful Man/Woman
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
Remembering Sunil Gangopadhyay
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Sunil
Gangopadhyay (or Sunil Ganguly), the renowned Indian poet and novelist passed
away at 2:05 AM on 23 October 2012 at his South Kolkata residence, following a
massive heart attack. He was suffering from prostate cancer for some time
and had gone to Mumbai for treatment, returned to Kolkata on the day of Mahalaya. Gangopadhyay's
body was cremated day at Keoratola crematorium, Kolkata. The crowd of
mourners to crematorium was lead by West Bengal's Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee.
Indian President Pranab
Mukherjee condoled the death of Gangopadhyay saying– ‘Gangopadhyay had
enriched Bengali literature through his unique style. He was one of the best
intellectuals among his contemporaries. The vacuum created by his death cannot
be filled.’
Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee, the former Chief Minister of West Bengal, who was closely
associated with the writer since 1964, said that Bengali literature would
remain indebted to him.
Born in
Faridpur, Bangladesh, Gangopadhyay obtained his Master's degree in Bengali from
the University of Calcutta. In 1953 he with few of his friends started a
Bengali poetry magazine Krittibas. Later he wrote for many different
publications.
Ganguly created
the Bengali fictional character Kakababu and wrote a series of novels
on this character which became legendary in Indian children's literature. In
1982 he received Sahitya Akademi award in 1985 for his novel Those
Days (Sey Samaya). Gangopadhyay used the pen names Nil Lohit, Sanatan
Pathak, and Nil Upadhyay.
Last evening at
a "Swaran Sabha”, thespian Ashok Mukherjee sighed, "It's an
absurd existence without Sunil-da. The Kolkata skyline suddenly looks
incomplete without Sunil-da."
Mukherjee
recalled the youthful days, “We were being herded by Ajitesh Bandopadhyay. The
Sunil-Shakti duo was already an established phenomenon. We found ourselves
joining them and others (including poet Mohit Chattopadhyay) at the United
Coffee House. We would head for our homes when the adda folded up around 11pm.
Sunil-da and Co it would move on to a different venue ... their adda continued
till the wee hours." Not a soul
knew where this enlightened group went. Mukherjee
wondered, "Did Sunil-da go to Dik Shunnyo Pur (the directionless land),
just as Neellohit did?"
It was as if, he
had unwittingly hit upon a heart-rending truth. All those on the dais,
backstage and among the audiences seemed to have launched an inward search,
seeking the Sunil in them. "There was a Sunil in every youth, and a Neera
in every woman. Why, an entire generation took towards bohemianism after
reading Atma Prakash where Sunil-da talks about Indira Gandhi's 'unkissed'
lips," said talk theatre artiste Urmimala Basu. To the audience she read
out one of Sunil's letters which was about him falling head over heels in love
with a "shy girl named Swati". The letter instantly reminded one of
the passionate Nikhilesh. But then, Urmimala would rather think of the lover,
who had turned into a doting husband for Swati Ganguly. "Not very
long ago, someone had asked him about his lady love and he had said resignedly,
'I guess it's Swati. I'm too old (for escapades) now'."
Those who knew
him personally remembered how the poet-novelist loathed being asked "kemon
achho" (how are you). "I am fine, and will always be fine,"
Sunil had been saying for the last decade - to forget the illness that was
slowly consuming him.
Ask his
associates what they missed about him most, this evening. "We are missing
his presence. He would play the perfect host during all social meets organised
by him and Swati-di," said Urmimala.
Sunil
Gangopadhyay's death on Tuesday went unreported in many newspapers in Kolkata,
thanks to the 'Puja vacation' virtually imposed on the print media, but in
Bangladesh, it made front page headlines in nearly every daily. According to
noted Bangladeshi author Belal Chaudhuri, even newspapers with an
extreme-right philosophy covered Gangopadhyay's death. Chaudhuri, who attended
a condolence meeting in Kolkata on Friday evening, brought nearly 30 newspapers
from his country and handed them to Gangopadhyay's secretary.
"There was
widespread grief in Bangladesh when people came to know that Sunil
had passed away. Everybody remembers his contribution to the Liberation War and
his fight to uphold secularism. He was one of the most popular authors in
Bangladesh. There was a time when festival numbers from India were banned in
Bangladesh. If people came to know that Sunil had contributed in one of them,
the books would get smuggled across the border. His novels were regularly
pirated in Bangladesh. Efforts were made to stop this but nothing could be done
due to the demand," Chaudhuri said.
The Bangladeshi
author has been close to Gangopadhyay since 1960 when the two met in Kolkata. "Do you know that we got arrested
together as chicken thieves at Belpahari in East Midnapore? Every year, during
the Pujas, we would go to Belpahari on vacation. It was 1965 and India and
Pakistan were at war. As was our habit, we got off the bus near a village and
entered somebody's house. After having our fill of mahua we went for a bath to
the village pond. When we returned to the house where we had stopped, the
villagers seemed extremely agitated and asked us to leave. We didn't know what
had gone wrong but took shelter in a nearby field. Suddenly, we were surrounded
by armed security personnel," said Chaudhuri. It seems that a youth from
the village named Rashid had crossed over to East Pakistan. "A few days
after his disappearance, Pakistani aircraft strafed the Kalaikunda air base and
everybody suspected that Rashid had provided the necessary bearings. The
security personnel suspected us to be spies." The security men left after
ordering them to return to Kolkata. However, later in the night, villagers led
the police to them all over again, accusing them of stealing chicken. "We
were arrested and locked up in Binpur police station. It was only after the OC
looked at us that we were released and given a royal treatment. His wife seems
to have been reading a novel by Sunil," the Bangladeshi author said.
The small room
still remains in Amgram at Purba Maichpara in the Faridpur where Sunil was born
and 'Sunil Mela' is held there every year.
Dhananjoy Boyra,
private secretary to Sunil Gangopadhyay remembers, "Dada would never
bow his head or join his hands in prayer at any temple but Boudi is a devout
Hindu. Not a day goes by without her offering prayers to the household deities.
But this never led to any tension. Dada never tried to impose his views on
others. Even recently, on our way back from Santiniketan, Boudi got off to pray
at a temple but Dada stayed in the car."
Boyra has been
with the Gangopadhyays for nearly 35 years. Originally from West Midnapore, he
was barely 12 when a relative brought him to the writer's house. Initially, he
was a playmate of Souvik's and later tried his hand at household chores. As a
young man, Gangopadhyay started treating him as a secretary and confidante.
Boyra would even manage the late author's finances.
"I have met many great people over the years. People like Samaresh Basu, ….. To me, Dada was like God. I started off with a salary of Rs 50 in 1977. Every year, there would be an increment. I never even had to ask for it. Later, he got me a plot at Bosepukur and even built me a house there. Boudi got me married," Boyra said, fighting back tears.
Such was the bond between the Gangopadhyays and him that they couldn't tolerate any discomfort he faced. "Dada had got me a job at a printing press once. I used to work till late and return home covered in ink. Dada and Boudi would have none of this. They got me to quit. There have been many incidents like this. The moment of pride came in Boyra's life when Gangopadhyay had a knee surgery. There was need for blood and many people queued up but their blood groups wouldn't match. Finally, Boyra got his blood group tested and it was a perfect match. "I was the proudest man that day," he reminisced.
"I have met many great people over the years. People like Samaresh Basu, ….. To me, Dada was like God. I started off with a salary of Rs 50 in 1977. Every year, there would be an increment. I never even had to ask for it. Later, he got me a plot at Bosepukur and even built me a house there. Boudi got me married," Boyra said, fighting back tears.
Such was the bond between the Gangopadhyays and him that they couldn't tolerate any discomfort he faced. "Dada had got me a job at a printing press once. I used to work till late and return home covered in ink. Dada and Boudi would have none of this. They got me to quit. There have been many incidents like this. The moment of pride came in Boyra's life when Gangopadhyay had a knee surgery. There was need for blood and many people queued up but their blood groups wouldn't match. Finally, Boyra got his blood group tested and it was a perfect match. "I was the proudest man that day," he reminisced.
"He would
never get angry at anybody. He had no sorrow. Only once, when his son left for Boston,
did I notice some grief on his and Boudi's faces. He would never call anybody
'tui', not even his son. This has left a lasting influence on me. I even call
my daughters 'tumi'," Boyra said.
After Sunil
Gangopadhyay's passing, his family has started the near-Herculean task of
collating and preserving his legacy. Lines scribbled here and tucked away
there. A gem of a story printed on flimsy paper, held together by staples and
forgotten. A sheaf of short stories handled carelessly by a publisher... His
wife and son plan to catalogue all his works - published and unpublished.
The work will
start soon after Gangopadhyay's son Souvik, an IT professional in Boston,
returns to the US with mother Swati. Souvik will also build a team of his
father's writer friends to decide how to publish the treasure trove. "We
will have to look into the legal aspects and find out if my father had
agreements with publishers. The team that we plan to set up will be in charge
of cataloguing the works. They will also decide which firm should publish which
category of writings. For the moment, we aren't allowing many people to enter
the room where his works are kept. Several manuscripts are lying there. Some of
them are in pen and paper, others digitized. There are some that haven't been
published. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. We will get to it when
we are in a better state of mind," Souvik said.
Sunil
Gangopadhyay, undoubtedly, was a great writer. The way he looked at things
around him, manifested his inner feelings, his choice of words and
expressions - all carry the hallmarks of a profound thinker. He will
forever remain as a shining star of Bengali Literature.
References:
·
[Online].
[cited 2012. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Nikhileshs-letters-and-Coffee-House-adda/articleshow/16975719.cms.
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·
[Online].
[cited 2012. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Bangladesh-remembers-pen-wielding-Liberation-warrior/articleshow/16975720.cms.
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·
[Online].
[cited 2012. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/He-had-no-sorrow-except-for-once-Secy/articleshow/16975721.cms.
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·
[Online].
[cited 2012. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Family-takes-up-task-to-preserve-Sunil-Gangopadhyays-works/articleshow/16975881.cms.
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