Christmas

Christmas – The Kolkata Way

BY DR KAUSTAV BHATTACHARYYA The onset of the second week of December makes one reflect and ponder about Christmas festivities. Having spent a few Christmases in cooler climes of Western Europe one feels nostalgic about the ‘snowy’ Christmas termed as the ‘white’ Christmas though more often it was the chilly cold one. The entire ambiance gets imbued with a festive spirit with the streets lit … Continue reading Christmas – The Kolkata Way

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Film

King of Bollywood

BY ANDREW MOODY “Shah Rukh Khan is the face of a glittering new India. He is a modern-day god. On streets in India, his posters are sold alongside those of religious deities. Shrines have been erected in his name. For Indians and the varied non-Indian lover of popular Hindi cinema, Shah Rukh is bigger than Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt combined. Over fifteen years and … Continue reading King of Bollywood

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Anglosphere

How Anglo-Indian Education has Shaped English Learning

BY DR KAUSTAV BHATTACHARYYA For my generation who grew up in ‘Calcutta’ as opposed to Kolkata, there is a certain sense of pride and belonging to the world of English ‘lettres’ (using the word in the French sense where it includes all written words in different forms like verse, prose and essays, i.e. the literary world of English language). We read and devoured English poets … Continue reading How Anglo-Indian Education has Shaped English Learning

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Anglosphere

Neil

BY DR KAUSTAV BHATTACHARYYA The tragic news of demise of Mr. Neil O’Brien was received with disbelief when I first read on the social media feed and then a pall gloom of grief and nostalgia descended. Media went to town with his obituary describing him as icon of Indian quizzing and tributes started pouring in, but for my generation of Kolkata schoolgoers Mr. Neil O’Brien … Continue reading Neil

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Thoughts

Better the Devil You Know

BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Brit-bashing in India is on the rise. Well, let’s say we deserve it. For years us Brits hammered you Indians. As Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in The Discovery of India, the ransacking of India the British would come to call trade was in fact “plunder”. Nehru describes how the “Pagoda Tree”—or the tree of money—”was shaken again and again until the most terrible famines … Continue reading Better the Devil You Know

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Politics

On Anglo-Bengali Cosmopolitanism

BY DR KAUSTAV BHATTACHARYYA The 2019 electoral results from Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections sent tremors through the entire intellectual establishment in the state. The state’s earlier ideology-based Leftist-Marxist politics has given way to a new era of identity-based politics. Incidentally, it would be prudent to mention that the European elections that followed closely on the heels of the Indian elections, voted along identity … Continue reading On Anglo-Bengali Cosmopolitanism

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Cocktails

Cardamom Cocktail

INGREDIENTS 1 ½ oz. vodka ½ oz. honey cardamom simple syrup (see below) ½ oz. lemon juice 1 egg white 1-2 drops Angostura bitters 1 star anise Ice FOR HONEY CARDAMOM SIMPLE SYRUP ½ cup water ½ cup honey 4-5 cardamom pods, lightly crushed FOR HONEY CARDAMOM SIMPLE SYRUP In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, honey, and cardamom pods. Heat, stirring occasionally, … Continue reading Cardamom Cocktail

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Cars

Rolls Royce Roadsweepers?

BY DAV SINGH When Queen Victoria accepted the additional title of Empress of India in 1876, she made a rare appearance at Parliament, opening it in person as part of the announcement on the 1st of January in 1877 of her change in title. The British had imposed themselves on the subcontinent for a generation by then. It was a relationship that enriched England greatly, … Continue reading Rolls Royce Roadsweepers?

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