Parting Shot

“I LEFT SANTINIKETAN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRST SPATE OF JAPANESE AIR RAIDS OVER CALCUTTA IN THE WINTER OF 1942. SIX MONTHS AFTER MY RETURN HOME I GOT A JOB AS A VISUALISER IN A BRITISH OWNED AGENCY…” After college and graduation, I went to Santiniketan for a course in Fine Arts. I had …

SARAT CHANDRA CHATTERJEE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST NOVELLISTS IN INDIAN LITERATURE TO HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT CONTEMPORARY WOMEN. HIS WOMEN WERE OUTSPOKEN AT A TIME WHEN THEY WERE NOT ALLOWED OUT OF THEIR HOMES, EVEN AS WEST BENGAL WAS SEEING A GREATER PUSH FOR WOMEN’S REMARRIAGE, EDUCATION, AND INDEPENDENCE. Some of his iconic female characters …

KNOWN AS THE “BARD OF BENGAL”, RABINDRANATH TAGORE WAS A WRITER, POET, PLAYWRIGHT, COMPOSER, PAINTER, PHILOSOPHER, AND SOCIAL REFORMER. HE RESHAPED BENGALI MUSIC AND LITERATURE, AND INDIAN ART, DURING THE LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES. HE WAS THE FIRST NON-EUROPEAN TO BE AWARDED THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE, FOR HIS SEMINAL WORK “GITANJALI”. The …

EXTRAORDINARY AND UNCONVENTIONAL, RAJMATA GAYATRI DEVI WAS ONE OF THE MOST INDEPENDENT, MODERN, AND CHIC MAHARANIS OF INDIA – AT ONE TIME EVEN VOGUE’S TEN MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN OF THE WORLD. SHE WAS BORN INTO WEALTH WHICH SHE CHOSE TO USE TO HELP THE NEEDY. FOLLOWING INDEPENDENCE, AND THE ABOLITION OF THE PRINCELY STATES, SHE …

BY DOMINIQUE LAPIERRE DOMINIQUE LAPIERRE WAS BORN IN FRANCE.  AT THE AGE OF 13, HE TRAVELLED TO AMERICA WITH HIS FATHER WHO WAS A DIPLOMAT. HIS NOVEL, THE CITY OF JOY, IS ABOUT THE UNSUNG HEROES OF THE PILKHANA SLUM IN KOLKATA. THE 1992 FILM ADAPTION WAS DIRECTED BY ROLAND JOFFÉ STARRING PATRICK SWAYZE, OM …

THE FIRST THEISTIC CHURCH OF THE ADI BRAHMO SAMAJ WAS OPENED TO THE PUBLIC ON JANUARY 23, 1830. AS A NEW SECT, THE BRAHMO SAMAJ – ESTABLISHED TWO YEARS EARLIER IN 1828 BY RAMMOHUN ROY – OPPOSED CONSERVATIVE HINDU DOGMAS AND ATTRACTED PEOPLE FROM EDUCATED FAMILIES The worshippers who assembled every week in the church …

“THERE IS THING YOU CAN DO BUT I CAN NOT AND THERE IS THING I CAN BUT YOU CAN NOT; SO LET US – TOGETHER – MAKE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL FOR GOD.” God always provides. He provides for the flowers and the birds, for everything in the world He has created. There can never be enough. …

BORN ON AUGUST 28, 1855, SWARNAKUMARI DEVI, FOURTH AMONGST THE DAUGHTERS OF DEBENDRANATH TAGORE AND SARADA DEVI, WAS AN ACCOMPLISHED POET, NOVELLIST, MUSICIAN AND SOCIAL WORKER. SHE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST WOMEN WRITERS IN BENGALI TO GAIN PROMINENCE AND WENT ON TO PUBLISH SOME OF HER WRITINGS IN ENGLAND Swarnakumari was always an imaginative …

NAWAB WAJID ALI SHAH (1822-1887) BELONGED TO THE PRINCELY KINGDOM OF AWADH IN UTTAR PRADESH, SUCCEEDING HIS FATHER NAWAB AMJAD ALI SHAH, TO BECOME THE PROVINCEʼS TENTH AND LAST NAWAB After his kingdom was annexed by the British in 1856, the Nawab was exiled to Calcutta where he lived the rest of his life on …