Bindeu Bisarga | Public’s friend Police

Odia daily Nirbhaya, 29.8.22

 

Pathe Prantare | 21.8.22

Samaya, 21.8.22

 

Window Seat | 28.8.22

Sikkim Exxpress, 28.8.22

 

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 28.8.22

Kumartuli and the Fading Art of Clay Idol Making

Durga Puja is the grandest festival of Bengal and among the Bengalis living across the world. The epicenter of the festival is Kolkata.  In 2021 The UNESCO accorded heritage status to Kolkata's Durga Puja festival.

On the centre stage sits the idols of Goddess Durga, usually made of clay and straw, which are made at a place of Kumartuli in the northern part of Kolkata ,once known as Sutanuti. These artisans have been making the idols for over three centuries now. However, despite the appreciation they receive from across the world-the art is facing problems, mainly of sustenance.

My journalist turned academician friend  Mrityunjay Chatterjee  has written on it in his  social media platform.

 

All does not seem well for the "celestial colony", on the bank of river Hoogly. The priceless art of clay modelling is fast moving towards oblivion for a variety of reasons coupled with government apathy. The new generation is opting out of the trade of their ancestors and choosing newer avenues of making a living, terming the trade as highly “labour- oriented, unremunerative and unenterprising”.Besides, the galloping prices of ingredients, lack of patronage, paucity of funds as loans from banks and financial organizations, the debt trap of crafty money lenders and the advent of the much cheaper dice-made images have all added to the fast decay of the profession. 

“It takes months of painstaking labour and finely tuned artistic acumen before beauty takes shape and assume the final form, be it goddess Durga or Kali, says famed artisan Nepal Pal. “No one is willing to take such pain. Our children are getting educated and opting out for more profitable, less labour-oriented professions”.

A member of the new generation, Arup Pal is a graduate from an art college. He has specialized in carpentry. He, like many of his age, has taken up a job with a private company. “Why opt for the ancestral profession when there is no money, no future. Clinging to soft sentiments does not help or yield two square meals a day. I have a job and security in life”. 

“We are an endangered class”, says Narayan Pal  regretfully. “We carry on as we are artists and when the idols travel to different pandals---there is   deep satisfaction  within. The appreciation of the people eases the relentless pain. We again look forward to the next year.”

Most of the workshops do not have a proper roof over their head.” The government had in 2009 promised a permanent colony—with workshops and housing besides an art gallery. Only two blocks out of four were built.

 

"We have approached almost everyone for help. Most of us live from hand to mouth since we have to deal with the vagaries of the weather with tarpaulin sheets covering our workshops. But nothing has so far been done”, says Pal. 

The trade is seasonal, says Babu Pal and “even after engaging every available hand in the family, including women and children,we can barely survive. The income generated out of the image-making takes us through six months of the year. For the rest of the period, we work in different trades, even as labourers to survive.”

When banks and other financial organizations deny them loan for lack of  collaterals, these artisans are forced to borrow from the crafty money lenders who charge high interest rates. ”We know we are being cheated. But what is the alternative?” he rues. 

The artisans are trying out different alternative ways to tide over the lean period. They are taking up work in terracotta and ceramic industries. 

As Kolkata prepares to celebrate  this year’s Durga Puja and the artisans work round the clock to give shape to the goddess and her children, one big   question looms large over Kumartuli--- will its art survive? 

The artisans helplessly look for an answer, for a light at the end the tunnel. 

Lal Singh Chaddha

I watched Lal Singh Chaddha (LSC) even as the protest against it and call for its boycott singed social media- for two reasons: one, because there was a call for a boycott (I had to see for myself what was there in the film that warranted a boycott) and two, because it was an official remake of Forrest Gump (1994), a film I had watched long back and liked.

Though Lal Singh Chaddha was little stretched towards the end, I liked it. So did my mother, who is in her early eighties and my wife, who is in mid-fifties. My son, who just turned thirty, said Amir Khan has turned self-obsessed, otherwise it could have been a better movie. He should have given Mona Singh (in the role of his mother) and Kareena (heroine) more screen space.

After watching LSC, I watched Forrest Gump (FG) again on OTT. It is available on Prime Video. And guess what- I liked LSC more than FG. The character of the mother and the heroine was better structured and chiseled in LSC. The director took care to remake the film factoring our cultural and aesthetic sensibilities.

Watch it if not for Amir Khan, but for the message it tries to give very subtly and for Mona Singh in the role of a gritty mother. What a power packed performance! And a quick Bharat darshan - from the cold desert of Ladakh to sand dunes of Rajasthan, from Kanyakumari to the North East to the gullies of Kolkata.

To conclude, I tried to find some valid reasons for the troll and call for boycott; found none whatsoever. May God grant the trolls some sense and sanity.

Page moves to the pages of history

Tim Page, the 'fearless' British-Australian photographer known for his war photographs, especially of Vietnam - died on 24 August of liver cancer. He was 78.

A jajabar (nomad could be the nearest English word in translation) since his birth- he even did not know who was her real mother- he wondered through out his life- from one place to the other. His father was a British soldier, who was killed in WW II. He was adopted very early in his childhood. At 17 he left home to wonder around. Somehow he landed into photo journalism and spent decades covering one battle field after the other- from Vietnam to Laos to the jungles of Africa. He covered Indo-China war. He also covered many other wars in his time, from Israel to Bosnia and Afghanistan, as well as the aftermath of war in places like East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

He was wounded several times during war coverage. He loved the art and glamour of photography. He also said “the only good war photograph is an anti-war photograph”. Page’s persona bounced between these realms for the rest of his life; one part rock’n’roll war photographer, one part peace ambassador decrying war and suffering.

His books include NAM, The Mindful Moment, Page After Page, Derailed in Uncle Ho’s Victory Garden and the forthcoming Nam contacts. 

Tail piece: Translation

Red Lion Climbing.

Could not understand a thing?

That is ‘Lal Singh Chadda’ in machine translation.

Lesson learnt: Don’t trust machine when it comes to translation.

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Journalist turned media academician Mrinal Chatterjee lives in Dhenkanal, Odisha. He also writes fiction and plays.

mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com

 

Issue: Development. My article in Odia. 15.8.2

Nirbhaya, 15.8.2

 

Window Seat | Weekly column in English | 14.8.22

 

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 14.8.22

75 Years of Independence

As we celebrate ‘Azadi ke Amrut Mahotsav’ along with putting up triranga in every household- we should be discussing about the vision for a nation which has recorded history going back to over 5000 years and a present mired with several problems and pressing issues. 

Contrary to conventional belief, vision is not a gift with which a select few are endowed. Neither does it entail an aha moment that comes out of the blue. It comes about as the result of the focused thinking – sometimes stretching to several years – that goes into searching for a solution to a serious challenge.

Having a vision is like looking at the present from the future’s standpoint – putting one’s mind in the future, imagining it, and then looking back to the present to see how to get there. This “time-forward thinking” is not easy as it may seem because of the way we are wired -  seeking comfort in the “familiar present” while dreading the unknown future. One needs to be bold to explore new horizons and a new reality. It is also important to fight off “anti-visionary” forces, external as well as internal, such as ego, negativity, lack of confidence, shortsightedness, looking for immediate transitory gain and so on.

A carefully crafted vision demands compelling communication too – in  language that is clear and simple so that everyone understands. That is  when it becomes a collective property and generates shared passion and commitment. It is then the leader’s responsibility to maintain the team’s focus.

A powerful vision, then, becomes a magnet and pulls everyone towards it. It becomes a unifying force for those who subscribe to it.

We are waiting for that vision- which would take the country forward. We have got a glimpse of the goal thanks to the immortal line of Rabindranath Tagore- but we need a road-map to reach there.

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake”

Prajatantra@75

Prajatantra, which used to be one of the front ranking newspapers of Odisha turned 75 on August 8.  It not only played an active role in the freedom struggle, it also worked as a training ground for many journalists and broadened the scope of journalism in Odisha. 

Prajatantra first started publication as a weekly from Balasore on October 2, 1923. Dr. Harekrushna Mahatab (Nov. 21, 1899-Jan. 2, 1987), freedom fighter, author, historian and politician published the weekly from Town Press with twin objective of portraying the condition of people and to carry on the campaign against British imperialism. Its publication was planned at the Swaraj Ashram, Cuttack, which was one of the centers of freedom movement. Jatiya Kavi Birakishore Das was associated with Prajatantra from the planning stage. Prajatantra started publishing form its own printing press from January 27, 1926. It was priced at 2 paisa. It stopped publication on December 28, 1930 in protest against the Press Ordinance of British government. The printing press was seized on 1932.

However, after one and a half decade, it reappeared on August 8, 1947 as a daily with renewed vigor and strength under the fostering care of Dr. Harekrushna Mahatab, the first premier of the State on the eve of the transfer of power who became Chief Minister of Odisha after independence. Besides Dr. Mahtab as the editor, it had the services of Jatiya Kavi Birakishore Das, Gopabandhu Choudhury, Niranjan Pattanayak and Kulamani Samantray.

Prajatantra played an important role during the crucial period of the integration of the princely states of Odisha with the province under the guidance of Dr. Mahatab. Besides being an influential newspaper, Prajatantra was also the training centre for journalism for aspiring journalists. It was one of the first Odia newspapers to have emphasized on feature writing and investigative reporting. It introduced contents for different segments of readers. It had a page for children titled Meenabazar, a page for women titled Narijagata. It introduced contents on entertainment, business, science and sports. It tried to provide the readers a wholesome editorial content.  Dr. Mahtab’s column ‘Gaon Majlish’ was a trend setter in column writing. It won him Sahitya Academy award in 1983.

Prajatantra was also a training centre for statecraft for many journalists who later occupied important positions in public life and politics. Janaki Ballav Pattnaik (January 3, 1927- April 21, 2015), who started his career as a journalist with Prajatantra went on to become Chief Minister of Odisha for two terms in 1981 and 1985. He became the Governor of Assam from 2009-2014. In fact, Dr. Mahatab brought journalism and body politic- closer. In many people’s opinion, it was too close… at times even indistinguishable. This aspect of Odia journalism - a very close relationship between politics and media- is one of its unique features. It has been discussed at length in my book History of Journalism in Odisha (Sephali, 2013).

 After Dr. Harekrushna Mahtab, Bhairab Chandra Mohanty, Chintamani Panigrahi, Nilamani Routray, Janaki Ballav Pattnaik, Sriharsha Mishra, and Chandrasekhar Mohapatra were the editors.  After Chandrasekhar Mahapatra, Dr. Mahtab’s adopted son Bhartuhari Mahtab became the editor. He is continuing except for a short period when Biswambhar Parida and Mahasweta Mahtab were the editors. Bhatruhari Mahtab is a five time MP from the ruling BJD party.

How much land does a man need?

My friend Samir Ranjan Das is a banker by profession. But his long time fascination and love for the writings of writer-philosopher Manoj Das has turned him into quasi-philosopher. Presently he is in Gujarat. And this is what he wrote on his social media platform:

“Today throughout the day I was in a Sub Registrar office in Ahmedabad for some official work. People after putting thumb impression on land documents rub their fingure in this pillar. As if this pillar is made for that purpose! I was thinking someone should paste the story "How much land does a man need?" by Leo Tolstoy in all Sub Registrar offices where people go to sale and purchase land.”

Photo: Samir Ranjan Das

Photo: Samir Ranjan Das

To know more about Manoj Das see this: http://www.worldofmanojdas.in

To read the story by Tolstoy surf:

https://www.academia.edu/25613577/How_Much_Land_Does_a_Man_Need

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The columnist a journalist turned media academician lives at Dhenkanal, a central Odisha town. He also writes fiction and translates poetry. mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com

 

 

Pathe Prantare | Weekly column in Odia | 14.8.22

Samay, 14.8.22

 

Window Seat | 7.8.22

Sikkim Express, 7.8.22

 

Pathe Prantare

Samay, 7.8.22