Monday, June 21, 2010

Bengali's fanatical love for Football

Sonar Bangla to South Africa - by Jaideep Mazumdar

There are football fans. And there are Bengal’s football fans. If you still need to know which of the two stretches the word ‘passion’ into extra time, you need an education... Pradip Dey, Chaitali Chatterjee, Pannalal Chatterjee and Pankaj Ghosh are going to watch World Cup Football 2010 in South Africa.

Hadn’t it been for football, they’d have perhaps never even dreamt of stepping out of India. But such is their craze for the sport, the Fifa World Cup to be specific, that they scrimp and save for four years to fly to distant shores and watch soccer’s mega event. About a hundred soccer enthusiasts from India go to watch the World Cup. The largest group is from Kolkata, and most are of modest means. Some run up huge debts, many take loans, and almost everyone has a ‘World Cup fund’ that they put a portion of their earnings in, because they just live to go to the next World Cup.

Pankaj Ghosh coaches the state junior football team and earns just a few thousand rupees a month. The 58-year-old has gone to the last four Cups and is flying to South Africa later this month. He puts aside more than half his monthly earnings in his ‘Cup fund’. But even that isn’t enough. “I’ve already taken a loan of Rs 73,000 from a bank and have applied for another loan. I can’t live without going to the World Cup,” he says.

Ghosh ascribes it all to his “mental strength and courage”. He went to the Beijing Olympics after taking a loan of Rs 1.8 lakh that he has just finished repaying. His trip to South Africa—he’ll watch seven matches, including the semi-finals and the final—will cost him nearly Rs 3.2 lakh. Apart from his ‘Cup fund’, Ghosh has no savings: “The only future I think of is the next World Cup.”

Pradip Kumar Dey, 47, a petty businessman, makes a few thousand a month from the small businesses he runs with friends and associates. “But I have always saved as much as I can,” he says. “Before the last Cup, a football administrator of Kolkata I knew asked me if I would like to go watch the matches in Germany. He told me it’d cost me about Rs 2 lakh. I rushed home, took out my bank passbook, and saw I could manage it. I had never even dreamt that I would travel by air!” On landing in Germany, though, he discovered he had been cheated by the agency that was to get match tickets. “I returned without watching a single match.” But that acute dismay could not keep him from planning for South Africa this time. He got in touch with Leisure Sports Management, the company that has been taking Kolkatans to international sporting events for decades now. Over the past four years, he has saved Rs 100 everyday for the Cup. He’s also taken a loan. “I’ll work even harder when I return to pay off this loan and start saving for the 2014 World Cup.”

Of all the World Cup travellers in Kolkata, the most well known perhaps is Pannalal Chatterjee, 77, and his wife Chaitali, 67. The couple has been going to all the World Cups since Spain in 1982. “I played football for many clubs. My wife has also been a football fan since childhood. My soccer guru told me in 1980 that if I really wanted to see good football, I should go to the World Cup. Ever since then, my wife and I have been going to all World Cups,” says Pannalal. “We live on my pension and save the rent we receive from our tenants for the Cup,” says Chaitali.

They save whichever way they can, says Pannalal: “I’m a founder member of the Sikkim Football Association and get air fare to go to Gangtok a few times a year. I go by sleeper class in train and save the money for the Cup.” This time, the couple will watch five matches. Rajat Saha, a decorator, tells Open that being a businessman, he can hardly save. “I do try to save for funding my World Cup journeys, but I use it all up for my business. And every time, there’s a last minute scramble for funds before the World Cup. I’m taking a loan this time too,” says the 43-year-old, who has been going since 1994. Prasenjit Banerjee, a paediatrician, has a separate bank account into which he puts money every week. “I was born into a very poor family and I could never dream that one day, I’d be watching World Cup.”

They cut a lot of corners too. “We always put up at guest houses with kitchen facilities where we cook. We go in a group to save costs,” says Banerjee. Many take dry food like puffed and flattened rice, biscuits, tea bags and other foodstuff. “We usually gorge on breakfast, which is complimentary, and make do with inexpensive snacks or the foodstuff we take from home,” says Kansari Kayal, a small-time businessman who’s looking forward to his fourth World Cup. “I mostly have just a meal a day. I don’t need to eat, football fills my appetite,” says Pankaj Ghosh.

But even all the savings and cutting corners would not have taken these enthusiasts to the World Cups had it not been for the Kolkata-based Leisure Sports Management. This travel house takes groups from all parts of India to international sporting events. “But it’s only in Kolkata that we find such enthusiasts. People who don’t have the means of travelling even outside Bengal approach us. We have to help them in whatever way we can,” says Leisure Sports Management’s executive director Soumen Sinha Roy.

And, of course, the entire Kolkata contingent are die-hard fans of Brazil.

{http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/sports/sonar-bangla-to-south-africa}

Couple ready to score 9th World Cup goal

Sumati Yengkhom,TNN | Mar 12, 2014, 05.30 AM IST

KOLKATA: They haven't missed going to a football World Cup since 1982 and now in their twilight years, they are as keen as ever to make it to Brazil. Even if it means going without fish for months - or maybe even going to bed on a half-empty stomach.

Meet Pannalal (81) and Chaitali Chatterjee (70) of Kidderpore. They have already been to eight World Cups and are preparing for their ninth date with it in Brazil this June.

Achieving their World Cup dreams does not come easy for the Chatterjees. With their middle-class means, the couple has to save hard for their tour in the four years between two World Cups. As a retired clerk of Kolkata Port Trust, Pannalal gets a monthly pension of Rs 7,500 (1 Dollar is Rs 60 on 1.5.14. approx). Wife Chaitali is a homemaker. The couple has no children.

"Come what may, we have to be there even if it means having to go without fish for months and spending the least on our food. We have to save for each World Cup," smiled Chaitali.

The couple's tryst with World Cup began in 1982 in Spain. Having played at the club level, passion for the game came naturally to Pannalal. Chaitali, too, grew up in a family of Mohun Bagan supporters. So when the two married, football was a binding force.

Despite having osteoarthritis, Chaitali manages the house mostly on her own to save the money that'd be spent on domestic helps. She also sells saris in her spare time. Pannalal, who also renders voluntary service to Sikkim Football Association, also saves on his own.

"I am often engaged to organize football tournaments in Sikkim. Though I am allotted airfare to travel between Kolkata and Bagdogra, I travel by train in sleeper class to save the rest," said Pannalal, who is also member of the All India Football Federation's technical committee.

Impressed by the couple's passion for football, organizations like Club Seven help them with subsidized air tickets to be paid in instalments. Leather Sports Management has sponsored their match ticket for the quarter finals. After appealing to FIFA, the organization also agreed to allot them free accommodation in Brazil. The trip would cost about Rs 5 lakh for the couple and they are hopeful of being able to raise the amount before leaving for the tour.

"On our previous tours, we'd share a plate of food to cut down on expenses. This time, if we cannot arrange enough funds, we will carry muri, chire and other foodstuff. But come what may, we have to be there at the Mecca of football. Who knows if we'll even live till the next World Cup," said Chaitali.

Whenever the couple feels helpless about funds, they talk to each other about witnessing the 'hand of God' goal by Maradona in 1986 and meeting Pele after the match. Or, they run their eyes over treasures like pictures clicked with Pele and Maradona.

So, who supports which team? "Like any other couple, we also have our share of arguments. But when it comes to football, our opinions always match. This time, both of us will be cheering for Brazil," said Pannalal.

PS: I am taking this couple to Brazil in 2014 !

click here for the link

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Shale gas transforms geopolitics, energy

Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar
The Indian government remains asleep to the revolutionary potential of shale gas, which promises to revolutionise both the world energy scene and global geopolitics. Russia, Iran and Opec are going to be greatly weakened, while the US, Europe and China will be greatly strengthened. India can be a major beneficiary. First, shale is a common sedimentary rock found in most countries, so shale gas can hugely reduce the dependence of most countries (including India) on imported energy. Second, the geopolitical clout of major gas exporters — Russia , Iran, Algeria, Bolivia — will fall dramatically . Third, some countries may start converting their transport fleets into gas-based ones, hitting the demand for and prices of petrol and diesel. Fourth, converting gas into oil will become economic. Shale has long been known to contain natural gas, but this was not worth extracting with conventional technology. Now a new technology, ‘fracking' , plus horizontal drilling, have greatly increased shale gas productivity, so extraction is now viable at $3-4 /mmbtu. The new technology has been pioneered in the US so successfully that the US has overtaken Russia as the world's biggest gas producer. US gas reserves have increased from 30 years consumption to 100 years consumption. Port terminals to import LNG (liquefied natural gas) into the US will instead export LNG to Japan. The US dream of energy independence remains fanciful, but its dependence can indeed fall dramatically. Historically , the price of gas was linked to that of oil: gas cost one-sixth to oneseventh the price of oil. That equation has been smashed in the US, where oil costs $72/barrel but gas costs one-eighteenth as much ($4/mmbtu). Poland and Ukraine, totally dependent on Russian gas, are rushing to find shale gas and free themselves from Moscow. Georgia, another Russian dependent , also seeks energy freedom. Russia has an iron grip on its ‘near abroad' , countries that used to be part of the USSR. But that grip will loosen dramatically if shale gas is found in large quantities in Eastern Europe. Many Western European countries are rushing to acquire shale gas technology . Exxon Mobil is the front-runner in European exploration, but Shell is following suit. This dismays Algeria, a major supplier to Western Europe, which wants to create a gas cartel like Opec. The chances of this are zero. Indeed , LNG facilities created in the Persian Gulf to supply the US are becoming redundant, so supplies will have to be dumped on Europe and Asia. India must take advantage of this. Gazprom, the Russian gas monopolist , admits that it has been forced to delink 15% of its supplies from the price of oil, and instead accept links
to spot gas prices at trading hubs like Louisiana's Henry Hub, which sets the US benchmark price. Holland has a gas hub at Zeebrugge and Britain at National Balancing Point, and a new hub is coming up in Germany. At these hubs the spot price is determined by the interaction of multiple buyers and sellers, replacing the old prices linked to oil. The Financial Timesreports that half the gas contracts in Western Europe are now linked to spot prices. Petrochina estimates that China may have 45,000 billion cubic metres of shale gas, more than Russia's proven conventional gas reserves. China used to be an oil exporter but in recent decades has become a major importer of oil and LNG. Chinese demand helped push oil to $150/barrel in 2008. In the next 10 years, shale gas may significantly reduce China's import demand. World oil prices may keep rising for another five years, but could plateau or fall after that. China is also exploiting its coal-bed methane reserves of 170 billion cubic metres. Gas can readily substitute fuel oil in industry and power generation, and kerosene in cooking. But the bulk of oil consumption is in transport. Compressed natural gas (CNG) is powering buses and three-wheelers in Delhi and other cities. However, setting up CNG facilities across countries and converting vehicles to run on CNG remains a major challenge. It may never happen in the US. Authoritarian China, however , will surely push through such a change. This may be phased over a decade or more, but the price impact will start showing up earlier. India has large shale deposits, with good prospects in the Gangetic plain, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat. Tamil Nadu , Andhra and the north-east . India must get cracking on seismic surveys followed by allotment of exploratory blocks. Companies should be able to acquire blocks any time based on a predetermined revenue-sharing formula. Mukesh Ambani will probably be the first to start exploration, but others will follow quickly, including Anil Ambani (who is already in unconventional gas through coal-bed methane). Large shale gas discoveries should embolden India to convert transport fleets in all cities from petrol and diesel to CNG. That will reduce not only energy dependence but pollution too. Reliance has considered converting some KG gas into oil. Now that gas has become cheap relative to oil, it should go ahead. Other refiners — Essar, IOC, BPCL and HPCL — should consider this option too. For decades India has kowtowed to Gulf countries, notably Iran. It can now afford to act much tougher. Iran supported Pakistan in Indo-Pak wars, and blasted India for Pokharan-II , and demanded that India sign the NPT. Iran nationalised the Rostam and Raksh oilfields in which the ONGC had a stake. It reneged on a contract to supply cheap LNG top India after Ahmedinejad came to power. Despite this India has been deferential to this potentially powerful energy supplier. That must now change. India must tell all Gulf producers that it will pay gas prices linked not to oil but to the Henry Hub price. The best starting point is not Iran but Qatar, which has just completed a gigantic expansion to become the world's largest LNG supplier. This is now in surplus. Qatar wants $10/ mmbtu. India must offer just $4. Once Qatar gives way, so will other LNG exporters, including Australia.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Bengali Magazine from US

This is a link to an interesting Bengali magazine published from US. My friend's sister is one the editors.

http://www.bascweb.org/news/201007/NL201007.pdf

http://www.bascweb.org/news/2011_Feb/

Friday, April 30, 2010

King of Indian Classical Insturments

Next generation saves Ganga - The Telegraph (February 4, 2010)

The master is no more but his sons have ensured that the sweet sounds from the Ganga flow again. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s beloved instrument, which was damaged by Air India handlers while being flown from Ahmedabad to Mumbai last month, has been given a new lease of life by Calcutta’s Sen brothers whose father Hemen Chandra had made the sarod 34 years ago.A delighted Amjad Ali told The Telegraph: “It took around 10 days to repair. I am very happy with its sound. In fact, the sound has become better than before. The concert at Dover Lane Music Conference (on January 25) was the first event at which I performed with the Sarod. I performed for nearly four hours, from 3am to 7am that day.”The maestro has since criss-crossed the country regaling audiences with the sounds emanating from his beloved Ganga.“I performed in Delhi on January 29, in Mumbai on January 30, and Bangalore on January 31. God is great,” he said.The Sarod was damaged on the Air India flight despite being neatly packed in a hard box with several “fragile” stickers pasted on it. The maestro did not check the instrument immediately on landing in Mumbai on the morning of January 14.Later that evening, minutes before a concert in memory of vocalist Pandit C.R Vyas, he was shocked to discover that the sarod had suffered a damaged drum and its skin had torn off.The incident occurred barely two weeks after Hemen Sen died at the age of 87 at his south Calcutta residence on January 2.

The 19-stringed instrument, made of the finest Burma Teak, was the first the ustad had acquired from Hemen & Co.’s tiny Deshapriya Park shop in Calcutta.“Our father wouldn’t let us touch the instruments of any of the maestros,” said elder son Ratan Kumar, who learnt the craft from Hemenbabu along with his younger brother Tapan. “He would just let us watch as he repaired or fine-tuned these instruments.”This time around, the sons had to take on the task of repairing the ustad’s beloved Ganga. “He sent us the sarod the very next day, on January 15, and told us that it would be the one he would play at the Dover Lane music festival on January 25,” said Tapan.At the Hemen & Co. workshop, Ganga was rebuilt step by step, from the bare basics. In nine days, the brothers offered a sarod to the maestro that looked and sounded the same as the original Ganga.

“We built a new drum to be fitted with the headstalk — it had to be a seamless fit — and put on new keys, new skin and new strings on the instrument,” said Ratan.The task was a huge challenge, given the scarcity of the material used for the ustad’s specific design. “Burma Teak is not only expensive, it is quite a rare breed of wood. And then, it has to be seasoned wood, at least four decades old. People often have to wait for six months before a sarod made of this wood could be completed. Fortunately, we managed to acquire both the wood and the goatskin used as the playing face,” said Tapan.Even the goatskin has its specifications — it has to be of an animal that has been sacrificed at the Kalighat temple. The reason? The skin of an older animal wouldn’t do and the temple sacrifices only younger ones.Typically, Amjad Ali’s sarods are 19-stringed instruments, comprising six main strings, two chikari strings and 11 sympathetic strings. He also uses either a chrome or nickel-plated cast steel fingerboard.While the shop puts on Roslau strings from Germany on all their instruments, Khansahab usually makes changes to the strings according to his needs.

The maestro lavished praise on the Sens. “Though Hemenbabu is no more, his two sons Ratan and Tapan are equally competent. There are many sarod makers in Mumbai, Delhi, and Calcutta, but they (the Sens) understand the right kind of sound or swar. Sarod ki atma ko yahi log samajhte hain aur swar hi ishwar hain,” Khansahab told The Telegraph while taking an evening walk.The ustad, whose two sons Amaan and Ayaan are seventh generation sarod players of the Senia-Bangash gharana, said he owns nine instruments, all manufactured by the Sens.“I have named the sarods after different Indian rivers like Ganga, Godavari, Janhavi, Jamuna etc. Like air, which creates sound, water is also one of nature’s elements. Nature is important, and the last day of Dover Lane Music Conference was dedicated to environment,” he said.

Outllok Magazine (July , 2009)

People from New York have come to acquire a sitar from Hemen & Company, because stories of his unrivalled craftsmanship have travelled across the seven seas. Says Sen with justifiable pride: “Many people come from across the world looking for me. Sometimes they come with a map, but they look at the shop and go away. Then they return, confused, because they were expecting something grand, not this little hole in the wall. Then they look at me,” he chuckles, “and think this cannot possibly be the man they are looking for.”

According to Hemen Sen, the quality of a musical instrument depends not just on carefully selecting and fashioning the wood (which is usually toon or teak) and the gourd (which is specially grown for its size and shape), or attaching the strings in a particular way, but also on the maker’s understanding of music. “It’s as much about being able to tune it, for which you need to have a gift for music,” he says. At 13, Hemen came to Calcutta from Kumillah, East Bengal (now Bangladesh), and became the disciple of sitar player Ustad Ali Ahmed Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan’s uncle. On Ali Ahmed’s suggestion, he started making musical instruments to make a living. Soon, orders came flooding in through Ali Ahmed and his disciples. His first sitar sold for as little as Rs 6; today a piece starts at Rs 15,000 and can go up to Rs 70,000 depending on wood quality, string quality, workmanship and special features the buyer may demand. Sarods, in which he specialises, start at Rs 26,000 and go up to Rs 65,000. Today, he gets regular orders from the Ali Akbar College of Music in California, and says that the recently deceased maestro himself would visit the shop whenever he happened to be in town.

My input

They are my neighbours. I once bought a small string (Hemen was alive then) from thier shop in 2005 for Tukuda when I was in Siliguri, for his Sitar. In 2010 I went to his shop with Anindya and saw that 0ne Sarod is being made for Aman Ali Khan. Only 20% has been completed.However if somebody wants cheaper variety, of course one can buy it from shops near Lalbazar (Calcutta Police Head quarter) for even 5,000-6,000/-

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Holi at Purulia

26/02/2010

On 26/02 night we(Isabella,Vidyut and me) left for Adra,Purulia to spend our holi/Dol at Purulia (Chelyama,Bandhar Deul). Vidyut joined us at Howrah station. It is an overnight journey.

HOW TO GO THERE?

Train to Adra — Adra Chakradharpur or Rupasi Bangla or Purulia Express — from Howrah.

We went by Adra Chakradharpur express to reach Adra station, early in the morning on 27.02.2010. The journey takes around 5-and-a-half hours.

Dol or Holi is celebrated in a unique way in some parts of Purulia, at Chelyama in Raghunathpur-II .

27/02/2010

Our stay was arranged by a local organisation, Manbhum Sanskriti Kendra in colloboration with Banglanatak.com. During Holi/Dol, they organise car pick-ups from the station. A 45 minutes drive later, we arrived at our destination, Chelyama.

We were thrilled that we would be staying in tents pitched amid tall Palash trees. The tents turned out to be bit too hot, complete with mattresses, blankets and pillows.

The beauty of the place lies in the fact, that there is forest all around that place. Isabella was scared of Vidyut's snoring, so we managed to get her a separate tent. Vidyut and I shared a tent with an employee of Banglnatak.com - Bikashda. In the morning we wandered around the place through the forest and went to the villages.

After having our lunch we went for sightseeing @ Rs 150/- per head. We went to see some dilapidated temples and the river Damodar.We were told that number of Rekh Deuls (Orissa school of temple architecture) were submerged under water after the Dam was erected by DVC. Even today some of the Rekh Deuls are under water. For the first time I saw/understood the problem caused by those dams.

We saw the villagers ferrying illegal coal from mines, nearby.

Terracota temples

In the evening the whole area was lighted by halogen lamps wonderfully.

We saw some cultural programmes. I was particularly impressed by Natua dance. We saw tribal bonfire too! The night is quite cold there.

Chhau dance- folk dance of Purulia by Bina Dhar Kumar's troupe - Amitabh Bachchan of Chhau dance

28/02/2010

The next morning, waking up to the sound of birds and the rustle of leaves, I stepped out of our tent to be greeted by a crisp sun and baul singer Sasthi Baul strumming his ektara and singing: “Bhenge mor ghorer chabi, niye jabi ke amare!” It was a moment to cherish.

The Holi/Dol festival is organised around a magnificent temple dating back to the 8th century — Bandhar Deul. Villagers say the deity was stolen many years back and no one now knows which God the temple was dedicated to. In the morning we started playing with abir to the tune of baul songs and drumbeats.

Isabella and Sasthi Das Baul

Sasthi das Baul wasted no time in flirting with Isabella - whom Isa referred to her boyfriend! Subhas Roy at the background.

Famous Baul Sasthi Das Baul with 'heavenly' looks after drinking Mohua

This is what happens to ordinary mortals after drinking Mohua

There were around 250 visitors from Calcutta and beyond, and we all enjoyed the festival together. Famous singer Anasuya came to see the festival. Smeared in colours of every hue, we sang and danced throughout the morning.

A group from "Sappho for Equality" also came to enjoy Holi.

We sat beneath a tree to listen some Baul song. I also took 2 glasses of "Mohua" - famous local brew ! Fiery red Palash trees added to the festive feel.

The organisers had thankfully set up a dozen temporary bathrooms and in the afternoon we put them to good use, scrubbing away the day’s work! After lunch we brought our bed sheet and settled beneath a tree,beside a pond (since the tent was very hot) and Isa,Vid and I chatted till it became dark. It was really enjoyable and refreshingly cool.

In the evenings, we enjoyed chhau, jhumur and various other folk dances and baul fakiri songs. The bauls had come all the way from Asan-nagar in Nadia district. About 10,000 people from nearby villages came to watch the evening performances, giving the place the feel of a huge mela.

A Calcutta-based organisation, banglanatak dot com, founded by Amitava Bhattacharya, has helped the local people develop a community-led heritage folk tourism during Holi.
Set amid beautiful landscape, Chelyama also has terracotta and Jain temples dating back to 6th-8th century.

1/03/2010 (Monday)

In the morning we heard some Bauls song around the Rekh Deul.

Baul Nikhil and Prafulla Biswas

In the morning we wandered around the place through the forest and went to the villages.

Many people left for Calcutta. In the morning there was Kabi sammelan - "poetry get-together" - local people reading out their self composed poetry.

In the evening we saw some programme and left for Adra station around 9 p.m.

The tents were organised by Manbhum Sanskriti Kendra, Subhas Roy (9932780094).He is an authority of this region and doing his Phd based on local theme. One can also contact Siddhanjan (9831 38 26 72) of Banglanatak.com. The organisers provide very good food (veg/non-veg) and mineral water. The food is not at all oily and it is obvious special care is taken about it.

Every year this Basanta Utsav is being organized . I strongly recommend it, instead of Holi at Santiniketan. They charge only Rs 1000/- per person. For pick up and drop service from the station they charge only Rs 300 - which is reasonable considering the distance.

We reached Calcutta on 02/03/2010 early in the morning. It was an amazing experience.

To see the pictures click

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/bomadg/PuruliaBandharDeulRaghunathpurWestBengalFebruary27282010#

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

James Randi - father of rationalism movement in US

James Randi is the father of rationalism movement in USA. I had the good fortune to interact with him once ! I am giving various links to what he said about different subjects and also by other rationalists.