Kantha & rosogolla on Karachi wish list – Pakistan rowers on city tour

Saris, sweets and science park top the things-to-do list of the 12 rowers from Karachi Boat Club in Calcutta to take part in the ARAE-FEARA Calcutta Regatta 2012, in association with The Telegraph, at Calcutta Rowing Club.

Arif Ikram, captain of boats, Karachi Boat Club, said Indian saris were very popular in Pakistan and anyone visiting India would be flooded with requests to take back saris.

Mahnaz Kamran, whose 16-year-old daughter Manal is a part of the team, has bought several net saris in pink, beige and white with sequin work and embroidery. She has also picked up kantha-stitched salwar kameez and dupatta sets.

For her daughter, who has her school farewell coming up, Mahnaz picked up a sari from Simaaya on Elgin Road. The mother and daughter spent much of Sunday evening shopping at South City Mall, the regatta having ended earlier in the day.

“I also want to visit Mukhtar,” said Mahnaz, who spotted the sari shop at Circus Avenue on her earlier visit to Calcutta. This time, Mahnaz also shopped at Adi Dhakeswari Bastralaya.

The younger girls are eyeing designer labels. “We have been told to visit the Ritu Kumar shop,” said 18-year-old Ushna Khan, a student, who also wants to go to a water park. Ushna, Salma and Manal are all looking forward to visiting Science City. “We went there last time and want to go again,” Manal said.

As for Ikram, if there is one thing he wants to carry home, apart from trophies and memories of bonding with his Calcutta friends, it’s sweets. “The mithai here is awesome. My favourite is, of course, the rosogolla,” he said.

“This is my sixth time in the city. I last came to Calcutta in 2008 to participate in the International Friendship Regatta at CRC in 2008 to celebrate the club’s 150th anniversary. I have many friends here in the rowing fraternity and am familiar with the waters here,” Ikram said.

This visit is special for Ikram as his 13-year-old daughter, Salma, was also in the regatta team. “Salma has been rowing for two years now and made it to the ARAE team this time,” says the proud father. Salma was also part of the quartet that finished second in the finals for the women’s fours race.

Ikram, who himself started to row when he was in school, is happy that his team won the overall champions trophy in the FEARA. “I am happy with the results. Our junior team is also shaping up well,” he said. “The city is very hospitable. And there is a certain camaraderie I share with members here.”

Uniform code for college polls

The government is working on a common college election code to be enforced across the state to curb violence during the campus polls, higher education minister Bratya Basu said on Sunday.

Basu will meet state higher education council chairman Sugata Marjit on Monday to thrash out details of the code, to be modelled on the recommendations of the Lyngdoh committee.

“The common election code is aimed at making the college union polls more disciplined. We hope the code will be ready in a month,” the minister said.

The immediate trigger for the code seems to be the recent attacks on college heads by Trinamul and SFI supporters.

On Thursday, Trinamul supporters had assaulted Dilip Sarkar, the principal of Raiganj College. On Saturday, SFI activists had beaten up Sorojendra Kar, the principal of Sudhir Ranjan Lahiri College in Nadia’s Majdia.

Campuses in the city and elsewhere in the state have often been rocked by violence during student union polls. Souvik Hazra, a student of Asutosh College, had lost his left eye in 2010, while Swapan Koley of Prabhu Jagatbandhu College in Andul, Howrah, had been beaten to death last year.

The 2006 Lyngdoh committee report, routinely ignored in Bengal despite a Supreme Court order for its implementation, had recommended that a candidate be required to have 75 per cent attendance and clear all preceding exams.

It had sought to limit the expenditure for an election to Rs 5,000 and make it mandatory for all candidates to submit expenditure statements within two weeks of a poll.

A candidate should not contest for an office-bearer’s post more than once and outsiders would have to be prevented from taking part in the campaign on the campus.

“Delhi colleges have followed the recommendations and been able to minimise the use of money and muscle-power in the elections. In Bengal we have ignored them and you can see the consequences,” said a higher education department official.

In Janaury 2011, while the Left Front was in power, the state higher education council had suggested that the elections in all colleges in a district be held on a single day to minimise chances of violence and each institution be asked to compile a list of voters to ensure electoral fairness.

The council also asked the universities to ban banners, festoons and wall graffiti in the elections.

“Unfortunately, the guidelines are largely ignored,” said the vice-chancellor of a university who refused to be named.

“Now that the government is coming up with a common code, we hope it will dig deep into the Lyngdoh report and draw up a comprehensive mechanism to prevent violence.”

Student unions reacted cautiously to the move. “We believe the state government would do everything to protect the interests of student unions,” said Sujit Sam, the state secretary of the Trinamul Chhatra Parishad.

SFI state secretary Koustuv Chatterjee said: “We are against many of the suggestions of the Lyngdoh committee. We hope the opinion of the students would be taken before the code is readied.”

framing the guidelines,” said Koustuv Chatterjee, the state secretary of SFI.

Council also suggested holding students’ union elections in all colleges in the district on a single day in an attempt to minimise chances of campus violence

draft code recommended a ban on poll publicity through banners and wall graffiti but also slogan-shouting during college hours. As per the council draft, the only way a candidate can campaign is by personal interaction and display of posters in fixed zones. The posters would need to be removed after the polls.

Very recently the Calcutta High court stayed the student body election in the Dinabandhu Andrews college, near Garia, after SFI moved the court, alleging that TMCP did not allow it to file nomination. Apprehending trouble, governing body of the Asutosh College, last week postponed the election, scheduled to be held on January 20.

Many of the recommendations made in the report are routinely violated in colleges across Bengal. The report said that only hand made posters can be used for campaigning and can be pasted in places designated by a college authority. Defacement of property was also disallowed.

Mirror, mirror, who’s sweetest? Poll call for sweet stops – City to vote for who makes best mishti with chocolate

Calcutta is set to vote in an election whose outcome, for a change, will be sweet for everyone.

Nine sweetshop chains with 30 outlets across town have signed up for the Cadbury Mishti Shera Shrishti contest, in association with ABP and The Telegraph, to create special items with Cadbury Dairy Milk and vie for the vote of the famous Calcutta sweet tooth.

The nominations have been filed and voting starts on Monday with each of the contestants — Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick, Girish Chandra Dey & Nakur Chandra Nandy, Bhim Chandra Nag, KC Das, Sen Mahasay, Ganguram, Hindusthan Sweets, Jadab Chandra Das and Gupta Brothers — putting their platters on display at their respective outlets for customers to walk in, have a bite and vote.

And while the tasting is underway, there’s no model code of conduct barring the contestants from sweet-talking their customers into voting for them!

To hit the sweet spot, the nine chains have come up with innovative creations that are as much about the uniqueness of the city as about the irresistible lure of chocolate.

Ganguram has created the flavour of the season called Kolaveri Di while Bhim Chandra Nag has made Chocolate Free Kick, fusing two Calcutta passions: sweet and soccer. Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick has put a Mudpie Sandesh on the plate and Hindusthan Sweets has conjured up a Chocogolla.

Nakur’s Rocking Rabri, Jadab Chandra’s Chocolate Mohona, Sen Mahasay’s Anandabury, KC Das’s Choco Kumbha and Cadbury Twister from Gupta Brothers complete the oh-so-sweet line-up.

“We have 15 varieties of chocolate sandesh and 25 kinds of chocolate items like chocolate doi and rosogolla in our range. We will do our best (to win),” said Sudip Mullick of Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick.

Partha Nandy of Nakur said it was exciting to experiment for the contest. “We have been making only sandesh for so many years. For the first time, thanks to this campaign, we are trying our hand at making chocolate-flavoured rabri, doi and sharer naru,” he said.

People can either vote on my.anandabazar.com through tablets kept in the shops or over the phone (a toll-free number has been allotted to each outlet).

“One person can call as many as five times a day,” an organiser said.

The sweetshop chain with the maximum votes at the end of the election — voting closes on February 5 — will be crowned the Shera Cadbury Mishti Shera Shrishti.

Apart from the awards based on public voting from Monday till February 5, there will be a celebrity judging round where the panel will select its favourite Cadbury mishti.

Each shop will have a celebrity campaigning for them over three days, starting next weekend.

Actresses Parno Mittra, June, Sreelekha Mitra and Arunima Ghosh will be part of the group of star campaigners along with actors Abir Chatterjee, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Rudranil Ghosh and Kanchan Mallick, and singer Rupam Islam.

Not only will the stars campaign for their favourite shops through media spots, they will also hit the campaign trail on January 14, 15 and 22, going from door to door to distribute leaflets and request people to vote.

Hoardings, posters, pamphlets and announcements will also be used in the localities where these chains have outlets.

“I don’t think such a contest had ever been organised in Calcutta before. We will definitely try to be the best,” smiled Sandip Sen of Sen Mahasay.

Flight safety steps remain on paper

The air traffic control (ATC) authorities in Calcutta and Dhaka have been sitting on a five-month-old plan to make flights between the city and the Northeast safer.

Every day, about 7,000 people take the 80-odd flights between the city and the Northeast that cross stretches of airspace where pilots are caught between the two air traffic controls, which often do not communicate directly with each other.

During a three-day meeting last July, the air traffic officials had agreed on some steps to ensure the safety of flights in the sector.

City ATC officials blamed lack of response from Dhaka for the steps not being implemented in five months. However, sources told Metro that the city ATC authorities did not pursue the matter with their Bangladeshi counterparts.

The officials had agreed in July to create a one-way route and a common repetitive flight plan. It was also decided that Dhaka would allow the Calcutta ATC to handle 30 nautical miles or 55.56km of airspace within Bangladesh.

“None of the safety measures has been implemented. Dhaka is yet to hand over the airspace and the other plans could not be implemented as the Bangladesh authorities have not responded to our request,” said a senior official of the Calcutta ATC.

Another official, however, said: “The matter was not followed up with Dhaka to ensure that the officials there delivered on their promises.”

“We were invited by the Indian authorities to attend a meeting regarding flight safety this month. It would not be possible for us to attend the meeting in January but we plan to have talks with the Calcutta ATC officials in February,” Azad Zahirul Islam, the director of ATS and Aerodromes at Dhaka airport, told Metro over the phone.

A Dhaka ATC official said shortage of manpower was the main reason behind the delay in implementing the safety measures.

The plan is to make the Calcutta-Agartala route, the busiest in the region, one-way and create another route for flights in the opposite direction. The Calcutta-Guwahati route, too, might be made one-way. Currently flights move in both directions along the route, sometimes separated only vertically. More than 40 flights, between the city and Agartala, Imphal, Dimapur, Silchar and Lengpui, take the Agartala route now.

Also likely is a repetitive flight plan. Such plans are routinely used for regular scheduled flights that operate on the same route at least once a week. The plans are generated automatically through a software and sent to the airports concerned.

“The plans save time and allow better flight management. Now we have to handle flight schedules manually in the Northeast. In all other sectors, repetitive flight plans are used,” said an ATC official.

Illegal lottery

Police on Saturday raided 12 illegal online lottery outlets in various parts of the city as part of a crackdown on units that opened after licensed outlets suspended business in November to protest the state’s decision to levy an additional tax of Rs 4 lakh per draw.

Twelve people have been arrested and several lottery machines seized. Most of those arrested had been picked up from the Burrabazar, Jorasanko, Taltala and the Park Street areas.

Police sources said the outlets were being run with the licences of those who had suspended their business to protest the move to levy the additional tax.

Sources in the online lottery industry said the Saturday arrests only revealed the tip of the iceberg. “All those who have been arrested are retailers. Stockists who provide technical support to the outlets are yet to be picked up,” said an official of the distributor of a state lottery.

“The raids on illegal online lottery will continue,” said Jawed Shamim, joint commissioner of police, headquarters.

The City Diary

Turtles and gharials rescued

our gharials, about 20 days old, and 394 star turtles were found at a shop in Ashokenagar market, in North 24-Parganas, on Sunday. “Mir Amin, a trader, was raising the critically endangered animals in a reservoir in the backyard of his shop,” a forest official said. min had fled by the time forest officials reached his home. “The trader had probably planned to sell the turtles for meat and the gharials for their skin,” the official added. he skin of a full-grown gharial fetches not less than Rs 3,000 in the grey market and body parts such as claws, teeth and spinal cord are also sold for their supposed medicinal value, said an official. he gharials were released in the Hooghly with the district court’s permission and the turtles sent to an animal rescue centre in Salt Lake.

Traffickers held: Five traffickers were arrested during raids in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, following a complaint by Afroza Bibi from South 24-Parganas that she had been forced into prostitution in Delhi after being promised a job.

Metro suicide bid: Metro Railway services were disrupted on Sunday after a 40-year-old woman jumped in front of a train at Central station at 5.19pm. The driver applied emergency brakes just in time to save the woman.

Belur Math special: Eastern Railway will run three pairs of special local trains between Howrah and Belur Math on January 12 and 15 to tackle passenger rush on the occasion of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary. The trains will leave Howrah at 6.10am, 11.55am and 1.10pm, respectively and, Belur Math station at 6.50am, 12.30pm and 3.10pm.

Infant found: An infant was found in a vat in Narkeldanga on Sunday. Police said a man had informed them about the child over the phone around 4.20pm. The baby was taken to NRS Hospital and then handed over to an NGO.

Abandoned baby found in vat

KOLKATA: A month-old male baby was found in a vat in the divisional railway manager’s (DRM) office complex near Sealdah station on Sunday.

According to Narkeldanga police station sources, the duty officer received a call in the evening from an unidentified person, who said that a baby was lying in a vat inside the DRM office complex.

Immediately, a police team, led by sub-inspector R Singh, went to the DRM office. They found the baby covered only with a blanket.

It was sent to non-government organisation CINI Asha. “Since they have the expertise in handling such babies, we sent him to them instead of keeping him in the police station any longer. The evening was pretty cold and windy and the baby was shivering,” said an officer.

Police suspect that the anonymous caller himself is the father of the baby. With the help of the caller line identification (CLI) gadget, police zeroed in on a number. But it was found to be of a public phone booth.

Shibpur family preserves Swamiji’s relics

HOWRAH: Even before he created Belur Math, the headquarter of the internationally famous Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Vivekananda founded a temple dedicated to Ramakrishna Paramhansa, in a centuries-old house at Howrah’s Shibpur. The house was frequented by Sarada Ma and its owner Nabagopal Ghosh was one of the closest non-monastic disciples of Sri Ramkrishna.

After Paramhansa’s death, Nabagopal Ghosh requested his ‘gurubhai’ to set up this temple in his house, to which Swamiji readily agreed. Those days, Vivekananda and 15 other monks of the newly-formed RKM, used to reside at a math (monastery) at Baranagar. It is but natural for this house, which has a large number of Swamiji’s memorabilia, to commemorate Swamiji’s 150th birth anniversary on January 12 in a special way. Swamiji returned from Chicago in 1897 and it was on February 6, 1898 that he founded the temple at Nabagopal’s house. While in Berlin, Swamiji got three porcelain etchings of his guru done and the first of these he set up as the reigning deity of this temple. Needless to say that the second one is in Belur Math, away from public view, and the third at the RKM’s Dhaka math.

At the time of founding of the temple, when monks asked Swamiji the mantra for worship, he instantly coined ‘Om Sthapakayacha Dharmasya Sarvadharma Swarupine….Avatar Barishthaya Ramakrishnay Namah’ which later became the prayer of the entire RKM order.

Swamiji later offered the silk pagdi that he wore during the Chicago address and a crystal statue of himself, gifted by Sister Nivedita and made by Lalique, the famous French crystal artifact maker, to Nabagopal and his wife, Nistarini Devi, as his “most precious” possessions.

Curiously, there was no trace of the Lalique crystal for long. Senior monks of the RKM order, who are close to the Ghosh family, often asked them to search for it. “Recently, while rummaging through the unopened wooden chests in the house, I found it neatly wrapped and kept with other objects of worship. We were thrilled. We have informed the RKM also about it,” said S Ghosh, present scion of the Ghosh family, who is also a faculty member of Presidency University.

On Sunday afternoon, as one walked into this house that is steeped in memories of Swamiji, one could smell the strong herbs and insect repellants that have just been sprayed to preserve these and other objects that Swamiji and Sarada Ma used during their stay in this house.

“We have to be extremely careful with these priceless memorabilia. There’s always a danger of losing them to damp, insects and attack from other micro organisms. They are maintained by experts,” Ghosh said.

There’s a room beside the temple, atop the house, where Swamiji lived during his visits to the house. The bed on which he slept, the harmonium that he used while singing, the ground floor room in which the piano and the organ are kept, have all been treated as the house expects a large number of visitors on January 12.The Swami Vivekananda Janmotsav Udjapan Committee, has also kept the house as part of its celebration circuit.

Swami Purnabrahmananda, a senior monk of the RKM order corroborated the importance of the temple at Shibpur’s Ghosh family. “Swami Vivekananda reached the nearest ferry ghat on boat carrying the image of Paramhansa Ramkrishna. All the monks were with him. From the ghat they sang devotional songs and walked in a procession to the house of Nabagopal Ghosh. He founded the temple and also composed our prayer song sitting in the temple. The house is of great historical and spiritual importance,” he said.

Ex-student Bratya steals hearts at Taki school

KOLKATA: He came, he spoke and he conquered the hearts of many young souls. From the serious author, dramatist, actor and education minister, Bratya Basu in an instant seemed to be completely at ease on being addressed as Bratya-da and Bratya-Sir by the students of Taki Government Boys’ High School.

For an hour and a half on Sunday, the minister interacted with the students, giving them suggestions, sharing his childhood dreams, narrating anecdotes, inspiring them and even passing on some naughty ideas. Basu was a student in this school for two months before he moved to study in a college, which he had thought “would have lesser restrictions than school” .

While one boy asked him to solve a puzzle, some others wanted to share his views on the state of education in West Bengal with a concern for future. Basu, nostalgic about his school days, said it had been the best time of his life. He urged parents to encourage children to study literature even when their world revolved around computers and comic books.

He admitted that it was much easier to resolve the problems of a decaying education system in reel life, than to find quick fix solutions in real life. “It is difficult to suggest immediate remedies to improve the system. Many people wish to bring about changes, but I believe it is more important to bring a complete transformation than a small change,” he said.

Remembering his teachers, Basu said: “With some I developed such intimate bond that they have become a part of me and who I am.”

Some thoughtful little ones asked him which role he found more close to his heart – that of a minister or what he played on stage. And pat came the reply: “Even though I am a minister, I would like you to think me as one of your own.”

When Suprakash Chanda of Class XII asked if it was true that being good in studies would ensure a good income, Basu gently said: “There is a relation between the two. But money should not be the sole deciding factor in life.”

Clearing confusion looming large over the Common Medical Entrance Test, continuing examinations in schools but doing away with detention in classes and introducing new optional subjects, Basu said that the CMET would possibly be held from next year.

When a student of Class III complained that bullies from senior classes did not allow him and his friends to play, Basu smilingly assured him that he would take it up with the principal and ensure that they could play without being harassed by anyone.

Making a triumphant gesture, the student announced: “Head-sir er sir ke complain kore diyechi, ebar kheltey parbo!”

Emerging from the session, Basu said: “Hridoy chhunye geche” (the interaction touched my heart).

AMRI fire: A tale of three heroes

KOLKATA/KOTTAYAM: All three of them are aged around 22; their sense of responsibility had prompted them to risk their own lives and save others; and each one hails from a very poor family. And that is where the similarities end.

While Keralite nurses Vineeta P K and Ramya Rajappan died unable to survive the soot and carbon which blackened their lungs, Panchanantala resident Shankar Maity pulled through after battling for life for 15 days. But, as honour and financial help keep pouring in for the two nurses, Shankar has to be content with a medal, 5,000 in cash and a yet-to-be-fulfilled promise of a job.

Accolades, blessings and felicitation has poured in for this undergraduate youth – one from his own Lake View High School which he cherishes the most – but nothing that has changed the drudgery of his life. A government reward of 5,000 and an NGO that came forward to help his family didn’t make much difference. The only difference : Shankar used to wash cars earlier; now his failing health doesn’t even permit him to do that.

Shankar’s father Sashadhar, 50, is a railway hawker who struggles to make ends meet. Shankar’s elder sister Saraswati – a cost accountancy student – remains the only hope for the family. Shankar had to stop studying after two years in college due to lack of money.

That fateful day, Shankar had braved smoke and fire to singlehandedly rescue 25 patients from the AMRI annexe buildings. Many of them and their families paid him a visit at the Ramkrishna Mission Seva Prathisthan where he was being treated all this while, to bless him and pray for him.

For the poor families of Vineeta and Ramya in Kerala, the story has been somewhat different. The KR Narayanan Memorial Super Specialty Hospital, which is under construction in Uzhavoor – the hometown of former President K R Narayanan – will have two blocks named after the heroic nurses who saved eight patients on December 9, 2011. Ramya hails from Uzhavoor.

In Kothanalloor, the home town of Vineeta, the local administration will name a road after her. Financial aid, too, has poured in – even from Keralites based abroad. Both families are expected to get around 20 lakh. Both families received a cheque for 5 lakh from AMRI Hospitals and another 5 lakh from the Kerala government . Apart from that, the respective panchayats had sanctioned an amount of 75,000 for the families under the Indira Awas Yoyana. Two days ago, an organisation of Malayalis based in London handed over an amount of 40,000 each to both families. “Apart from these, there are many others who have helped us financially. On Saturday, members of two local wealthy families handed over some money to us,” said Vineetha’s father Kunjumon.

In another instance, an individual from Thrissur district, who did not want his identity disclosed, gave Ramya’s family 25,000. The chief minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, said the government will provide job for a family member of both Ramya and Vineetha. The government has also recommended the names of both nurses for National Bravery Awards. Aid has come from Kolkata too – nurses at RIICTS had given 51,600 to each family.

On Monday in Thiruvananthapuram , the Indian Nursing Council will hand over cheques worth Rs 1 lakh to each family, said Kunjumon. Rajesh, Ramya’s brother, told TOI that the West Bengal government has offered to give them 5 lakh. “We got a cheque for 5 lakh from the Kolkata hospital and another 5 lakh from the Kerala government. Bengal will give us another 5 lakh. The police verification regarding this was done the other day,” he said.

And what does Shankar have to speak about? The youth, somewhat reticent for his age, mentions that Ramkrishna Mission Seva Prathisthan didn’t take a single paisa for his treatment. “They took good care of me. Without the Ramakrishna Mission Maharajas, I wouldn’t be talking to you today,” he said. When asked about AMRI’s promise to pay them 10,000 and the state government’s offer for jobs, Shankar doesn’t have an answer. He smiles and says: “We don’t know where to apply for either. An NGO took my bio-data . Someone else had also met me with a job promise, but didn’t commit. A job will make a lot of difference to me and my family.”

Even after a month, the events of that fateful day refuse to let him alone, Shankar says. “Whenever I’m alone or I close my eyes, those images come back to haunt me. People clinging to me desperately, begging to take them out, helpless and weak. I did what I could. I dragged 25 people out and lowered them through the window to the fire ladders with hospital bedsheets,” he says.

He kept at it till he could take no more smoke, he said. He says he would have collapsed, till the OC of Lake police station called out to him forced him to have a cup of tea and a few bananas, which he still feels stopped him from collapsing. “Even now when I look out of my window at the hospital building, those images of people shouting and breaking window panes return. That day when we entered the hospital scaling the boundary walls, we didn’t realise the implications. Now when people and clubs invite me to speak, I realise that I have perhaps done something good,” he says.

But doesn’t he feel bad that in spite of the promises, his life still remains the way it is? Shankar says: “I only hope that somehow I get a job. I can’t perhaps do physically strenuous jobs like I could have done before, but I need to help my father as the only son to meet the family requirements. At this age, he leaves home early and returns late only for us. But even in this hardship, he often tells me that he couldn’t have been more proud of me.”

Forum for justice

KOLKATA: The families of AMRI fire victims have come together to fight for justice. The Human Health Right Forum (HHRF), formed by around 20 families, met on Sunday to chalk out its future plan of action. Apart from seeking justice and cooperating with the government, they also plan to move court regarding the compensation that the AMRI authorities promised.

“We want a case to be registered under Section 302 of the IPC against the AMRI authority,” said HHRF secretary Subhasis Chakraborty, who lost his wife Munmun in the inferno.