An Open Letter from Amitava Sen

Bengali Babu Holding Hookah

Dear Sudipta,
A few weeks ago, I attended and enjoyed your one-act monologue play Banijye Basate Lakhhi, a script about Bengali absence, by and large from the world of business and commerce. It may not have had much dramatic impact on audience because of its format and contents- probably it was not intended to; but enlivened by your natural and easy acting, was interesting indeed and set the Bengali viewers on to soul searching. In that aspect it was quite effective. The subject of your play is topical and in that respect my comments although late in coming, may not have timed out or turned stale. You touched on the maladies that inflict us, discouraging us from launching a venture, aversion to risk taking, reluctance to work hard, and absence of desire to set our spirit free. All these are so very true and have triggered some thoughts in my mind.
No matter what we do in our professional lives, the primary objective of most of us is to earn a living; assuring us that there will be an adequate remuneration guaranteeing a survival in whatever we pursue. Bengalis are not sure that a business plan meets that need, because such images are few in our homes or in our surroundings; in other words examples and role models are rare, if any. I think this mind set has a relatively recent historical background to it.
The British settled in Calcutta and its vicinity and ran their administration, and trade and commerce from there. . They needed an army of bureaucrats as much as they needed a military one to rule. They found a fertile ground in Bengal and in Bengali psyche.
They created schools and universities to train the cadre. The Bengalis, mostly the Hindu Bengalis joined in force. For us, the British were more civil and better masters than the Muslim rulers of that time and that working for them was an easier way to make a living than the other options available. Our rulers created a whole army of clerks and middle order supervisors. The Bengali middle class joined the force in droves and spread over other parts of India, particularly the neighboring states and northern part of the country. And that created a vacuum in Bengal in manufacturing and trading sector and opened up the domain to people from other states, Rajasthan, for example. The new entrepreneurs from outside the state also found a mighty pen wielding work force ready to serve a new batch of masters.
In addition, from among those who served them subserviently and faithfully the British created a new class of mini-lords to do their dirty work of keeping the masses on leash. They gave this selected group the ownership of land, power to collect revenues and also titles and salutations to go with it. Zemindary system was already in existance from Mogul times; the British finessed it and created a class of aristocracy dependent on them. Actually they were the moneyed group of potential investors. But these affluent landowners chose not to invest in mundane enterprises like cotton mills, jute mills or steel mills; those tasks were left to people from Rajasthan, instead they spent it on building palaces, trips to Europe, jewelries as well as patronage of arts and culture. Bengali entrepreneurship never took off the ground.
In your play you spoke about the risk element of business. In order to take a risk one has to have faith that things are more likely to come out favorably than not. With faith, comes religiosity, a belief in supernatural power. By no account the Bengalis can be accused of abundance of religious faith. In our heart we do not really believe with certainty that someone is there to save us from the pitfall and that entity will do your bidding in exchange of five varieties of fruits offering; therefore we are reluctant to take a chance. We Bengalis probably do not believe that a huge edifice like a Birla temple at Gariahat Road can wash away our perceived sins acquired from the contemporary business practices of mixing stone chips with rice or cheating on taxes or killing babies by marketing spurious drugs, That is no way to hint that the Bengalis are overly ethical or conscientious; just that they are not sure of the fall back positions or an exit strategy in case anything goes wrong.
Your narrative makes sense, just look around us. This country we now live in has the most favorable environment in the world for free enterprise and it is really many fold times easier to start and succeed in a business here compared to other places. Our compatriots from other regions of India have taken advantage of this much more than we Bengalis have. Sadly we have carried our bugs of business-averse genes to a new world where environment is favorable for us to have shaken off our old propensity and started anew.
Talking of propensity; is Bengali mind too analytical? Is the Bengali institution of “Adda” which is endless analysis, discourse and inconclusive argument about nothing is a manifestation of our risk-averse nature, of not being able to make a decision and then avoid an action? Another aspect of this conundrum is perhaps our obsessive love of culture; a softer side of human mind, which makes us dreamers and the dreams have no consequences, no risk attached.
Am I blaming over-feeding on culture, spending too much of our time in poetries, songs, dances and dramas and our self-professed intellectual bend of mind for our reluctance to come down from the cloud nine and face the real harsh world? I will be less than honest if I say that this thought does not cross my mind.
Keep on doing good work, Sudipta.
Amitavada

NY/NJ BENGALI

Vishwamohan Bhatt

Mrittika, Inc. – A South Asian Center for Language and Heritage will celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of its founding with a musical program on Sunday, May 19, 2013 4:00pm-8:00pm at the auditorium of the Marlboro Middle School located at 355 County Route 520 in Marlboro, New Jersey.

The highlight of the program will be Indian classical and fusion music performance by the Grammy award winner musician, Pandit Viswamohan Bhatt. The maestro is going to play his enchanting Mohan Veena (modified slide guitar) for us. It would be a privilege for us and especially our next generation to see him in person and hear him perform on this unique instrument. Pandit Bhatt will be accompanied on tabla by the Tabla wizard, Pandit Subhen Chatterjee.Time permitting, there may be a Q&A session with the celebrity artists.The feature performance will be preceded by music created by three rising stars of the local Indian classical music scene, who would pay tribute to Panditji through their own musical talents: Abhik Mukherjee on Sitar, Jay Gandhi on Flute and Shivalik Ghoshal on Tabla.

The entire program will have a ceremonial opening with an INAUGURAL, where after a brief lighting ceremony, the Mrittika Language school students and guest youth artists will sing Tagore songs(Rabindrasangeet) celebrating the annual seasonal changes. It will be followed by the viewing of a short documentary on the history of Mrittika.

The program will run from 4 PM to 8 PM with two brief intermissions, during which the audience may examine a couple of stalls and buy light refreshment from a food vendor.

About Mrittika:

MRITTIKA began as Bengali Language and Heritage Center, a language school that was founded in 1989, and incorporated in 1991. One of its primary functions, ever since inception, has been to teach students Bengali-the fifth largest spoken language in the world. The organization formally changed its name to “MRITTIKA, Inc. – A South Asian Center for Language and Heritage” in 1996. Since its founding, MRITTIKA has taught Bengali to some 100+students, ranging in age from 4 to 24years. Classes at three levels — Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced — are taught without pay by Dhriti Bagchi and volunteers from the immigrant Bengali community. Students are charged a nominal sum every academic year to buy supplies and teaching materials. The school currently holds two sessions on alternate weekends in two branches-One session is held at MRITTIKA’s office at 10 Dartmoor Drive in Manalapan, NJ. And the other at the Ananda Mandir-the first Bengali Community Center cum Mandir in NJ. At 269 Cedar Grove Lane in Franklin Township, to cover a larger radius.

MRITTIKA has continued to grow in recent years as a center for cultural heritage. In that capacity, it educates its students in cultural matters through a variety of means, for example dramas, recitations, topical discussions, folklores, storytelling, music, dance, rhythmic exercises, puppetry, and audiovisual materials such as slides, films and documentaries. MRITTIKA stages student productions of dramas and puppet shows in local schools, libraries and museums. MRITTIKA was invited to Brampton, Ontario, Canada to participate in their International Festival, “CARABRAM.” There, MRITTIKA presented an Exhibition on the Dying Art Forms and Puppets of India, organized a workshop on puppetry, and sponsored a creative dance composition by one of our ex-students. MRITTIKA views these activities as an integral part of its mission to teach language and heritage to its student body and bring awareness into the mainstream.

Finally, MRITTIKA carries out its cultural instructions through the medium of arts and artworks, especially those related to native forms of artistic expression in South Asia. MRITTIKA aims to make its students familiar with folk art forms of the Indian subcontinent, such as narrative scroll painting, decorative floor painting called “alpana,” and the making of terra cotta and “shola” (pith) art objects. In pursuit of this goal, students actively participate in creative art forms, and their output, along with original artifacts sometimes brought from India, are combined in exhibitions that MRITTIKA puts up from time to time in schools and libraries.

NY/NJ BENGALI

EBC Drama Club: Episode 3

Kulraaj Anand

“Voice is something that not only an actor needs to develop, anybody who wants to communicate effectively must learn how to develop and use his or her voice”, says Kulraaj Anand, the popular host of EBC Radio. In this episode of EBC drama club, I chat with Kulraaj who talks about how one can go about developing their voice and why. He also demonstrates voice exercises and presents an improvisational piece for the audience. Enjoy the show.

Note: You may subscribe to this and other podcasts through itunes for free.

NY/NJ BENGALI

Anandamandir is  pleased to invite nominations for the 2013 Gayatri Memorial Awards for Literary Excellence. These awards were established by Jerry GaMarsh in 2010 to honor his late wife, Gayatri GaMarsh, who was a highly talented author, artist and sculptor and a warmly regarded member of the Ananda Mandir community in NJ. Two awards are given every year, and each winner receives $500 in cash and a commemorative plaque.

The winners of 2011 awards were Gouri Datta of Massachusetts (for her creative writings in Bengali) and Tathagata Ghosh of New Jersey (for his creative writings in English). In 2012, the awards were given to Eva Khashnobish of Delhi, India (Bengali) and Bakul Banerjee of Illinois (English) and Kooheli Chatterji (English).

Authors who have published creative writings in periodicals (and websites) published in North America are encouraged to submit nominations per the guidelines given below. Third-party nominations are welcome but concurrence of the nominated authors must be obtained in advance.

An author may nominate himself/herself — or may be nominated by third parties. The nomination must be supported by photocopies of two (and only two) essays, poems, short stories or plays published in North America-based Bengali or English magazines. The two supporting publications can be of the same type or of different types (e.g.., one poem and one short story). Unpublished works of literature will not be accepted. Full publication references must be submitted for the articles submitted with each nomination. Articles published in magazines outside of North America will not be considered.

Nominated authors must be 18 years or older. Each of their published articles (prose or poems), submitted with their nominations, should be relatively short (no more than 5 or 6 printed pages in length).

Nominations should include short biographies of the authors. Judging, however, will be based primarily on the two supporting publications. Judges’ decisions will be final.

Members of the Awards & Recognition Subcommittee and the judges cannot submit nominations for themselves nor can they be nominated by third parties.

Deadline for nominations (with supporting documents) for the 2013 awards: July 31, 2013. Awards will be announced and presented in the Fall of 2013.

Please send nominations (with supporting documents) to
Debajyoti Chatterji
77 Mackenzie Lane South
Denville, NJ 07834

In case of questions, please email Debajyoti Chatterji (debsmee572@gmail.com) or
Guru Chakravarty (guruchakravarty@yahoo.com).

NY/NJ BENGALI

Raag-Rang is celebrating completion of it’s 5th year
with a concert dedicated to the memory of Pt. V.G.Jog and Pt Ravi Shankar.
Date and time: Sunday, 9th June 4 pm sharp
Venue: Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, Channing Hall, 50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton, NJ 08540.

Featured musicians are :

Raag Rang Concert

Pt Barun Kumar Pal – Hansa Veena, a modified slide guitar
Ragas, Talas and compositions created by Ravi Shankar; rendered by one of the senior-most disciples of Ravi Shankar. Hansa Veena is the only instrument named and launched by Ravi Shankar. He will accompanied on the tabla by Samir Chatterjee.

Samir Chatterjee – Tabla Solo
A frequent accompanist of Ravi Shankar, Samir Chatterjee will offer us a unique experience of the music of tabla – an obvious, yet new creative approach to one of the most popular percussion of the world. He will be accompanied by Shree Kedar Naphade on the harmonium.

Shree Indradeep Ghosh – violin
Groomed by Pt. V. G. Jog and Smt. Sisirkana Dhar Chowdhury as an exponent of the Seni-Maihar gharana, Indradeep has cut a niche for himself in the world of Indian music through his unique blend of the raga and tala to a wholesome experience of music. Indradeep will be accompanied on tabla by Shree Amod Dandawate.

Amod Dandawate has been primarily trained in the Farrukhabad style under the discipleship of Pt. Samir Chatterjee. He was initiated into Tabla by his father Dr. Vasantrao Dandawate at a very young age but started his serious pursuit of the art form only after completing his bachelors degree in Engineering. He received initial guidance and encouragement from Shafaat Khan while performing as an accompanist and then spent some time taking lessons from Ust. Zakir Hussain. Having settled in New Jersey since 1997 he has been receiving advanced training from Pt. Samir Chatterjee.

Concert will start with Pt Ravi Shankar’s compositions presented by talented music students from the community.

Admission: $15.00 for raag-rang members and students. $20.00 for non-members.
There will be food for purchase in the church lobby.
RSVP will be appreciated.
Contact details– raagrang07@gmail.com

NY/NJ BENGALI

Man of The Heart

In the second part of the conversation, Sudipto talks about the impact of colonialism on Lalon Phokir’s philosophy and music, about his working relationship with director Sumon Mukhopadhyay and his future projects. Please listen to the first part of the conversation from our previous post. A brief biography of Sudipto Chatterjee is also given there.

NY/NJ BENGALI

Man of The Heart

During our second broadcast of the EBC Radio Club on EBC Radio, we had a long telephone chat with Sudipto Chatterjee, a distinguished theatre person who teaches Drama at the Loughborough University in UK. In this part of the show, Sudipto talks about how he conceived and planned his highly acclaimed one person docudrama, “Man of the Heart”, which was directed by Sumon Mukhopadhyay.  The podcast of the first part of the show is given below.

Following is a brief biography of Sudipto Chatterjee:

With a PhD in Performance Studies from New York University, Sudipto is a scholar/playwright/performer/director from Calcutta, India. His book on nineteenth century Bengali theatre history, The Colonial Staged, was published in 2007 by Seagull Publishers (Calcutta, London and New York). His academic work has been published in several international anthologies as well as journals like The Drama Review, Theatre Survey and Theater Journal. The author of sixteen plays in Bengali and English, he has directed several plays including Nuraldeen’s Lifetime (by Syed Shamsul Haq) in New York and Calcutta, Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana, Badal Sircar’s Bhoma and J. M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World (all in Boston) and its Bengali adaptation Birpurus (in Calcutta). His first anthology of Bengali plays, Abhiropan, was published in 2005. In 2006, he directed Manjula Padmanabhan’s Harvest at the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, University of California Berkeley, where he was an Assistant Professor. Chatterjee has also made two documentaries, one of them, Free To Sing, on the singer-songmaker and politician Kabir Suman. After several years in the USA, Chatterjee is currently Senior Lecturer of Drama at the Department of English & Drama in Loughborough University, UK. He is currently working on two new plays, Othello’s Occupation and Chisel. In 2009, he directed Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and Iranian playwright, Bahram Beyzaei’s Death of Yazdgerd in 2010. Along with Suman Mukhopadhyay, Chatterjee launched the Man of the Heart Project, a performance-cum-research undertaking on the life and work of Lalon Shah Phokir, in 2005 at the University of California, Berkeley. Since then, the project has toured the USA and various European venues. In 2011-12, Chatterjee received the “Interweaving Performance Cultures” Fellowship from the Free University of Berlin, which enabled him to develop the Man of the Heart Project further (www.lalon.org). In 2013, Man of the Heart tours India.

NY/NJ BENGALI

Satinath Mukhopadhyay

Now enjoy the second part of Satyameva, performed by Satinath Mukhopadhyay and written by Sudipta Bhawmik.

NY/NJ BENGALI

Satinath Mukhopadhyay

Couple of years ago Satinath Mukhopadhyay, the famous radio artiste read my play “Satyameva” on one of the FM radio channels in Kolkata. The play was read in two parts. Here is the podcast of the first part.

Satyameva is one of my more popular plays. This play was first produced by ECTA in Kolkata at the Sujata Sadan and was performed on stage by Sankar Ghoshal and Indranil Mukherjee. Later in USA the play was staged again and this time Pinaki Datta and I was on the stage. In Kolkata the play was produced by Theater Workshop and directed by Ashok Mukhopadhyay and was performed by Ashok  Mukhopadyay and Krishnagati Chattopadhyay. Theater Workshop produced the play as “Jodiyo Golpo”. I’ll post the second part soon.

NY/NJ BENGALI

Recently, I was invited by Kulraaj Anand of EBC Radio to initiate a drama club for the radio.  Since my childhood days, I was always fascinated by radio drama. Growing up in a small town, we didn’t have much of live stage theater available to us easily. Radio drama was one of the greatest source of entertainment and nourishment for my imagination. I loved radio drama so much, that I would never miss a single broadcast, for whatever reason. So, this opportunity gave me a chance to get up close and personal with radio drama. On March 30th we had the premiere broadcast of the show, and in the podcast below you’ll get a chance to listen to the show if you missed the chance of tuning in at 12:00noon last Saturday to 1170 AM. This was our first attempt and we had made a few mistakes. But that’s what happens in a live show. We’ll try to minimize the mistakes in our future shows.

We plan to continue this show every other week. The show will not only feature radio dramas, but also story readings, discussions, reviews and previews of local theatre, interviews with actors/directors/producers etc.  If you have any comments or suggestions  please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Part 1: (Opening remarks, World Theater Day, Play Reading by Nupur Lahiri)

Part 2: (Call-in, Story reading by Sudipta Bhawmik)

NY/NJ BENGALI