The flavour of Kolkata

The flavour of Kolkata
The city is known for its old alleys. One such is shot by Atanu Pal.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

The preparation









Another look at the preparation for this year's Puja: a detailed capture of the idol-making that's reaching a crescendo. By Shilbhadra Datta, posted on Calcutta Adda n Food, the Facebook group.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Park Street





Some lively images of Park Street, shot by Shilbhadra Datta, a photographer by profession, in the Facebook group Calcutta Adda n Food.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The stellar 'Bangla' show at National Awards

Just came to know this, thanks to friends' updates on Facebook. Thought of putting it up here as a token of pride. Bangla cinema has picked up 6 National Awards! The list goes:

1. Best Director: Rituparno Ghosh for Abohoman.
2. Best Actress: Ananya Chatterjee for Abohoman.
3. Best Playback Singer (Male): Rupam Islam for Mahanagar@Kolkata.
4. Best Playback Singer (Female): Nilanjana Sarkar for Housefull.
5. Best Editor: Arghya Kamal Mitra for Abohoman.
6. Best Bengali Film: Abohoman.

Cheerio, Tollygunge. And what a show by Team Abohoman! Take a bow. Hope Reliance Big Pictures is happy for their second Bangla outing (No matter the box office results), and the association continues.

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Kolkata on Twitter I

Twitter is increasingly becoming a regular interaction platform for the who's who of Kolkata. Just spotted a well-known distributor-exhibitor-actor's tweet to the best known film & TV production and distribution house of the city (Twitter ID in co.'s name, though the partners have their own IDs and tweet regularly) suggesting to shift a well-awaited film by an acclaimed Bengali filmmaker starring a superstar to shift the release date from December '10 to avoid a clash with the Feluda release and a love story (Bengali). Such interactions happen generally on mobile, if not in person.

One also gets to know knows who attended which party, saw which play or movie with who (at home or theatre), who ditched who on a promise etc. Not to mention lots of pleasantries regularly exchanged among the entertainment fraternity of Kolkata in tweets. So you can experience the vibes. A curious development indeed.

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

The superstar on Twitter

It was interesting to see Prosenjit joining Twitter around the middle of August. The microblogging site is really catching up in Tollygunge. Though not very frequent in the beginning, he is tweeting big time in the last few days. It is indeed interesting to have a peek at the world of the superstar of Bangla cinema. His English needs a little help though. With 122 followers at the time of this post, the list includes big names like Koel Mallick, Shrikant Mohta, Mahendra Soni, script-writer NK Salil and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

An unusual 'Bandh' day

The third 'Bandh' (strike) called by CITU (who it seems has little else to do these days other than planning their next strike) in two months. Ventured out after checking on television that trains and metro were running smoothly. Gave the train entering Barrackpore station platform no. 2 a miss even after getting close to it as I had to buy the newspaper. The train was amazingly empty. A Barrackpore local was waiting to start, past its time, at the next platform (No. 1A). Couldn't spot a single newspaper vendor on the platform no. 2, so walked up and down the bridge to the next platform. There wasn't any vendor there too. I had a feel that I still have 2 minutes to me before the train starts. So I walked up and down the bridge twice again for buying the paper from platform no. 1 and catching the train which had just started. It was empty with only a handful of people sitting here and there. Till Dum Dum station not even one person boarded the train from each of the empty stations (6 of them). Got down at Dum Dum and went straight to the metro ticket counter as there wasn't a queue. Then casually walked into the metro after waiting for it (A contrast to a normal day when the seats in the entire metro are filled in a split second after the doors open). Got down at Chandni Chowk and walked down to the office. A dream journey to work.

A colleague who had a similar experience of coming to work wished a 'Bandh' was called everyday. Ha.

Monday, September 06, 2010

Sabir


Am ashamed to admit this. Being a confirmed foodie, I visited Sabir's Hotel (Popularly known as just 'Sabir') for the first time in life only last week though I have had planned to check out its legendary rezala umpteen times, and my new office (Since April 2010) is just minutes away from it. Tried the biriyani. It's good, and a dash better than Aliah's. The rice is good, the potato is decent, so is the piece of mutton (wish it were a little juicy). And the price is honest- Rs 70 (Back home in Barrackpore at the biriyani hotspot 'Dada Boudir Hotel' it has touched Rs 100 in all possibilities). The entire menu is honestly priced. Wish to come back soon.

Photo: Sabir's mutton rezala (Right), with chicken reshmi kebab (Centre) and tandoori roti (Left). Courtesy: Shilbhadra Dutta. Posted on Calcutta Adda n Food on Facebbook.