Saturday, April 21, 2007

HISTORY OF AMADER KOLKATA SHOHOR








In 1690, Job Charnok, an agent of the East India Company chose this place for a British trade settlement. The site was carefully selected, being protected by the Hooghly River on the west, a creek to the north, and by salt lakes about two and a half miles to the east. There were three large villages along the east bank of the river Ganges, named, Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata. These three villages were bought by the British from local land lords. The Mughal emperor granted East India Company freedom of trade in return for a yearly payment of 3,000 rupees.
What was Calcutta like before the British came ?
It was just a village, the capital city of Bengal was Murshidabad, around 60 miles north of Calcutta. In 1756, Siraj-ud-daullah, nawab of Bengal, attacked the city and captured the fort. Calcutta was recaptured in 1757 by Robert Clive when the British defeated Siraj-ud-daullah on the battle field of Plassy. In 1772, Calcutta became the capital of British India, and the first Governor General Warren Hastings moved all important offices from Murshidabad to Calcutta. Till 1912, Calcutta was the capital of India, when the British moved the capital city to Delhi. In 1947, when India gained freedom and the country got partitioned between India and Pakistan, Calcutta was included in the Indian part of Bengal, West Bengal. Calcutta became the capital city of the state of West Bengal.

1690 August, Job Charnok, an agent of East India Company (established 1600) settles in Calcutta. A reference to Kolkata was found back in the famous novel of "Manasa Mangal" (Chand Saudagar paid a visit to Kalighat to offer puja to the Goddess Kali).
1693 Charnok died.
1698 East India Co. bought three villages (Sutanuti, Kolkata, Gobindapur ) from local landlord Sabarna Chowdhury.
1699 East India Company started developing Calcutta as a Presidency city.
1707 Mughal Emperor Aurongajeb died.
1715 British people completed building the Old Fort.
1717 The Mughal emperor Farrukh-siyar granted the East India Company freedom of trade in return for a yearly payment of 3,000 rupees.
1727 As per the order of King George I , a civil court was set up. The city corporation was established and Hallwell became the first mayor of the city.
1756 Siraj-ud-daulla attacks Calcutta and conquered. He changed the name of the city to Alinagar.
1757 23rd June, British people ( under the leadership of Clive) defeated Siraj-id-daulla at Plassey (in Nadia district).
1757 British first printed currency bill in Calcutta mint.
1765 Clive took Bengal, Bihar and Orissa from Badsha Alam II ( Delhi) with an agreement of paying excises.
1770 Infamous famine.
1772 Calcutta became the capital of British India when the first governor-general, Warren Hastings, transferred all important offices to the city from Murshidabad.
1775 Nandakumar, a local landlord was hung in a false allegation when he protested against the misdeeds of the British.
1780 James Hicky established a printed press and published first news paper, "The Bengal Gazzette".
1784 The first official news paper , "The Calcutta Gazzette", was published.
1784 Sir William Jones took initiative and established The Asiatic Society.
1801 Fort William College was established.
1804 The Governor House ( presently Raj Bhawan ) was built.
1813 The Town Hall was built.
1818 First Bengali Magazine, "Digdarshan", was published from Sreerampur, with the help of David Hare.
1817 The Hindu College ( presently Presidency College ) was established with efforts from Rammohan Roy, David Hare and Radhakanta Dev. Initially started with 20 students.
1828 Sahid Minar (Octorloney Monument) was built.
1829 Rammohan Roy was successful in making 'satidaho' (a Hindu rule) banned by British General Bentinck.
1854 First Railways in India ( from Calcutta to Hooghly ).
Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the last nawab of Awadh came to Calcutta in 1857. He built the town of Metiaburj and died in 1887.
1857 The University of Calcutta was established.
1873 First Tram car ( horse drawn ) in Calcutta.
1875 "The Statesman", leading English Daily newspaper, started.
1875 The Indian Museum was built.
1883 Surendra Nath Banerjee called for a National convention ( which led to the forming of Indian National Congress in 1885 at Bombay ).
1886 Second convention of Indian National Congress at Calcutta.
1888 Indian Football Association established.
1896 First motor car appeared on city's street.
1902 First Electric tram car from Esplanade to Kidderepore.
1905 Lord Curzon, viceroy of India, tried to partition Bengal. There was a strong protest. And finally he failed to do so.
1911 British moved the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi
1911 A local football team, Mohanbagan, defeated British in IFA shield final and created national sensation.
1913 Rabindranath Tagore, the great philosopher, poet and writer received Nobel Prize in literature.
1921 King Edward VIII inaugurated the Victoria Memorial building.
1924 Chittaranjan Das, was elected as the first Indian mayor of the city of Calcutta.
1929 Agnes Goinxha Bejaxhiu (Mother Teresa), came to Calcutta to join Bengal Loreto mission.
1939 The World War II hit Calcutta.
1941 Tagore died.
1941 Subhash Chandra Bose escaped from house arrest by British.
1943 Thousands of people got killed in famine.
1946 Communal riot killed thousands of people in and around the city.
1947 India gained independence. Bengal was divided , Calcutta became the capital city of the state of West Bengal in India. Dr. Prafulla Chandra Ghosh became the first Chief Minister of West Bengal, followed by Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy. Calcutta and surrounding places were flooded with people from East Pakistan ( now Bangladesh ) as a result of the partition.
1952 The National Library was moved to Alipore from Esplanade.
1962 India-China war affected Calcutta.
1971 Tension of India-Pakistan war on freedom of Bangladesh .
1970-71 The Naxalite Movement hit the city resulting arrests of hundreds of youths and creating enormous tension among city dwellers.
1975 First TV transmission started in the city from August 9th.
1977 Left Front led by CPI(M) Party won the state election and came into the power of state Govt.
1977 The world famous football player Pele came and played a football match in the city.
1978 A major flood hit Calcutta.
1979 Mother Teresa, a permanent resident of Calcutta was awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
1984 Metro, the first underground railway in India, started from Tollygunge to Esplanade.
1984 First color TV transmission from TV centre ( DoorDarshan ).
1989 France's highest civilian award, Legion d'Honour was conferred upon Satyajit Ray by President F. Mitterrand in Calcutta.
1992 Satyajit Roy, film director, received prestigious "Life Time Achievement" Oscar award and "Bharat Ratna". He died in the same year.
1995 First cellular phone service starts in the city.
1997 Mother Teresa died in Calcutta.
1998 Amartya Sen (grew up in Shantiniketan and studied at Calcutta) received Nobel Prize in Ecomonics
2001 Calcutta was officially renamed as 'Kolkata' from 1st Januray,

How did the city get the name Calcutta ? Different opinions :


Kalikata is derived from the Bengali word Kalikshetra, meaning "Ground of the Goddess Kali."
Some say the city's name derives from the location of its original settlement on the bank of a canal (khal).
Some mach it to the Bengali words for lime (kali) and burnt shell (kata), since the area was noted for the manufacture of shell-lime.
Another opinion is that the name is derived from the Bengali term kilkila (meaning, "flat area"), which is mentioned in the old literature

BANGLA CINEMA- TOLLYWOOD


In 1897, films were shown for the first time in AMADER KOLKATA SHOHOR. Couple of years later, Hiralal Sen from north Calcutta started making films at the Classic Theatres. In 1901, Hiralal Sen set up Royal Bioscope, produced scenes and dance sequences from popular Bengali plays. At Calcutta's Star Theatres, Amritlal Bose screened a package of 'actualities' and 'fakes' along with plays and variety shows. Back in those days, bioscope was an added attraction to popular theatres. In 1898, the multinational Warwick Trading Co. had commissioned 'Panaroma of Calcutta' newsreel. In 1917, Raja Harishchandra, the first feature film in India was made by Dadasaheb Phalke. The first Bengali movie was "Billwamangal" in 1919 which happened to be a silent movie. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was a popular Bengali novelist whose several works were adapted into films, such as, Durgeshnandini, Krishnakanter Will etc. The first popular hero in Bengali film was probably Pramathesh Barua, who was a director himself too. Debaki Bose, Pramathesh Barua gave a new dimension to Indian cinema. Debaki Bose directed Chandidas in 1932; this film is noted for its breakthrough in recording sound. Sound recordist Mukul Bose found out solution to the problem of spacing out dialogue and frequency modulation.
The first Bengali talkie, Dena Paona was released in 1931, directed by Premankur Atarthi and produced by New Theatres. Famous musician Rai Chand Boral composed music for this movie. In 1935, P.C.Barua directed and acted in Saratchandra Chatterjee's popular novel Devdas and this film became a phenomenon in the industry. Bimal Roy directed the Hindi version of the same in 1955. Kanan Devi was the first star actress in the domain if Bengali cinema. The movie, Rajat Jayanti, a popular Bengali comedy probably was the first of its kind. The movie was directed by P.C. Barua starring himself and Pahari Sanyal. Another historical film was 'Biyallis(42)' based on Quit India movement of 1942. The film was banned for political reason. Bikash Roy's performance in this movie is memorable. Also there was a group of talented actors such as Chhabi Biswas, Bikash Roy, Pahari Sanyal, Basanta Choudhury. And there never was any shortage of good stories, as Bengali literature in 21st century was rich with elements all the time. This was accompanied by the musical talents of Bengal. Bengal produced a good flow of film directors, a few to mention - Devaki Basu, Nitin Basu, Ajay Kar, Rajen Tarafdar, Bimal Roy, Tapan Sinha, Saroj Dey, Tarun Mazumder etc. who continuously produced fine quality movies. Some of them moved to Mumbai(Bombay) and made reamrakable contribution to Hindi films.
The real stardom in Bengali films started when films starring Uttamkumar and Suchitra Sen gained extreme popularity. This romantic combination brought golden age of commercial Bengali cinema and the duo acted in a series of box office successes like, Sare Chuattor, Saptapadi, Sapmochan, Harano Sur, Pathe Holo Deri etc. Uttamkumar acted with other heroines such as Supriya, Sabitri, Madhabi, Aparna and others. Suchitra Sen received best actress award in Moscow Film Festival for her role in Saat Paake Badha co-starring Saumitra Chatterjee.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

NOBO BORSHER ABHINANDAN... SHOLO ANAR BANGALI

SHOBAAR AGE AAMI SHOBAI KE NOTUN BOCHHOR ER PRITI O SHUBECHHA JANATE CHAI. AAJKE POILA BOISHAK, MANE BOISHAK MAASHER POILA BA PROTHOM DIN OTHOBA 1414'r PROTHOM DIN. AMRA SHOBAI AAJKE EKTA NOTUN BOCHORE PAA RAAKLAM. ONEK ASHA NIYE.

KICHU TA BHALOBASHA,

KICHU TA MANDOBASHA.

KICHU TA MONE RAKHA,

KICHU TA BHULE JAWA.

KICHU TA FAAKI DAWA,

KICHU TA FAAKE PORA.

EI NIYE HOK NOTUN BOCHHOR SHURU...

SHUBHO NOBO BORSHO.

TOMADER SHOBAR SHAMNE AAMI EKTA PROSHNO RAAKHTE CHAI. SHEI PROSHNO TA HOCHHE AMRA KI SHOBAI SHOLO ANAAR BANGALI? AMRA SHOBAI NIJEDER KE BHABI JE AMRA BANGALI KINTU SHUDHU BOLLE AMRA SHOLO ANAAR BANGALI HOTE PARINA. SHOLO ANAAR BANGALI DER KICHU JINISH ACHE JETA AMADER MODHHE THAAKTE HOBE, TOBEI AMRA SHOLO ANAAR BANGALI HOTE PARBO. JEMON KI NOBO BORSHER DIN SHONDHE BELA BONDHUDER SHONGE SHONAR DOKAAN ER SHAMNE JOMIYE BHAT BOKA AAR ADDA. DURGA AAR KALI PUJOR SHOMOY RAAT JEGE THAKUR DEKHA AAR PROTTEK PANDAL E GIYE ICE CREAM, COLD DRINK AAR PHUCHKA. PARA TE PANDAL E CHA ER BHAR HATE NIYE JOMIYE ADDA AAR GUITAR BAJIYE BANGLA GAAN. SHOLO ANAAR BANGALI SHE HOYE JE BANGALIDER MONER KOTHA BUJHTE PARE. SHOB KHUSHI AAR DUKHHER KARON.