Baari Tar Bangla!!!

“A lot can happen over a cup of coffee”- this is quite familiar with people hanging around at CCD. But for very few this line holds good. I am one of those ‘very few’. It was one random day when I was with Anirban Da discussing about Kolkata Bloggers. We were scheduled to meet Kamanasish Da, and that is when and where he told us about the “BAARI TAR BANGLA” bloggers engagement program. We were asked to pick some 20 good bloggers, or rather just say web journalists from the Kolkata Bloggers to be present on the day of the promotional event.

The movie was set to release on the same day when the Lok Sabah Election Results were out.  The reason behind this was the movie being a political satire. Before I go into the details of the event, for those who haven’t yet seen the movie, I’ll tell you the synopsis of the same.

Roopchand Sen, (Saswata Chatterjee) a man of around 40, suddenly discovers that he cannot write anything in Bangla (Bengali language) any more. Desperate to regain his abilities to write in Bangla, he goes to a psychiatrist (Raima Sen). Tests show that he does not seem to have any physiological problems that may cause any disability. It turns out to be a psychological problem. Then how does Roopchand get his ability back to write again? That is all the movie is about. It is a fun filled story with lots of witty one liner that are sure to catch the viewer’s eye.

Now for the best part, it all started with great anticipation, for it was going to be an all new experience for me. Nervousness was also a part of it. But again the environment was quite comfortable and homely till the end. We, the bloggers could ask questions to them. So I managed to ask Saswata and Satrajit few questions.  

Me: Nomoshkar, ami Bob Biswas…..noi!

Saswata: “Bissas koro amio na!! “ [laughs]

Me: Among the three great characters- Bob Biswas, The Doctor in Rang Milanti and Roopchand in Baari Tar Bangla, which do you feel was most challenging and why?

Saswata: “Shob gloi amar nijer shontan. 3te shontan er moddhe konta valo seta bola ta khub chaap er. 3te character e amar kache khub priyo.” (All three are like my children. Choosing the best child, among the three is a very difficult thing to do. All three are very close to my heart.)

Me: We see a lot of Bollywood and Tollywood movies. Some come up with good concepts and some with pure entertainment. But this Movie has both good concept and entertainment. So why don’t we see this kind of movies in big picture. Or when will we see this kind of movies at National level?

Satrajit Sen(of Tripod Entertainment): “When you will go watch the movie and tell your friends to watch it too. Actually amader screening hoi 40 screens e. R Dabbang screen hoi around 6000 screen e.(We screen our movie in 40 places. Whereas Dabbang is screened on 6000 screens) This is the ratio. We still have miles to go but asha kori amra jete parbo. (Hope we can reach there).

All along they went on sharing their experiences on the set, their views on the movie, how they went on here and there to find perfect places, and how ‘matha r ghaam pa-e fele’(worked tirelessly) they completed this project. The Director is gifted with ability to give birth to crazy and hilarious one liner instantly and he explained how Saswata was just the prefect actor to execute them. And then there came the Gorgeous Raima Sen who with her presence had kept me bedazzled till the very end. We even got to know that when Raima has had her solo shoot, Saswata was not allowed in that floor because of his mischievous looks. Everything was just so delightful.

Interacting, receiving autographs, taking solo pictures with them made my day. But the most important was the circle of people I was with the whole evening. I shall forever be indebted to people like Anirban Saha, Kamanasish Roy, Sayon Kumar Saha and many more for this grand evening they gifted me with.

"Baari Tar Bangla, Ki movie koreche pagla" 

Kolkata Bloggers is an attempt to promote blogging and original content creation. The project is still in its infancy. Perhaps our first step was the blogger engagement program conducted by the "Baari Tar Bangla" web team. Do checkout our Facebook page here to discover some wonderful writing and photography from the youth of Kolkata. 

Photo Courtesy: Anirban Saha| www.anirbansaha.com

                          Sayon Kumar Saha| www.sayonkumarsaha.com

Let us #Vote4Children.

Image Courtesy: Anirban Saha| www.anirbansaha.com

‘India is the youngest nation in the world’- the statement itself captures the responsibility, the youth of India has.

India has been on the brink of becoming a major force in the world for some years, but has always fallen short. The reasons behind this are much viz. poverty, corruption, lack of political consensus, lack of good governance, but the most notable encumbrance is illiteracy.

Statistics show that, 4% of Indian children never start school, 58% do not complete primary school and 90% do not complete high school. Agonizingly only 10% of our children go to college. What would become of India, if it boasts of the youngest population but the majority of the youth are uneducated? 

An online research done by me and my team also shows education as one of the important factors the new Government needs to address.

Source: www.online-research.org

“A child without education is like a bird without wings”- Tibetan Proverb. The importance of education in a child’s life cannot be stressed enough, but is enough being done? In recent times the education for children movement has moved forward with the Right to Education Act being inserted in the constitution in 2002. But still many have fallen behind in the process of learning. The possible steps which can be taken should be a holistic educational environment in which the child can grow. Instilling in them, the sense of learning, is the key. NGO’s should play a vital role. They can increase a child’s willingness to read and learn through activity based studies. For example, letting them play a board game will also help them learn and at the same time, enjoy. Even a few words of inspiration can do magic! 

But again, does education only mean sending a child to school? Take for instance, a 12 year old boy working in a tea stall is the sole earner in his family and also has the responsibility to take care of his ailing mother, is sent to school. The question arises that, who is going to take care of his ailing mother now? Also, how does only bookish knowledge help him in his everyday life? He might prefer working to support his family than study things which he feels are irrelevant. 

The children, who cannot afford not working, should be given small chores like helping the teachers during and after school. They could help teachers to check papers, monitor the library and computer laboratories (if available). The children should get monetary assistance for his work, which would negate the need for them to work in order to support their family.

So, even though child education is of utmost importance, I am of the opinion that education for the sake of education does not have much significance but education for value addition is the way forward.

This post is a part of the #Vote4Children Blog-a-thon on Youth Ki Awaaz. Find out more at: http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/vote4children

11 Google Apps That Has Changed or Will Change Our Lives.

When it comes to education and learning, it is not only the books but also technology that keeps you on apace. So the questions follow- Are we aware of the rapid growth of technologies around us? Do we know how to make most use of these technologies to enhance our skills? Talking beyond college and school, do we know what might be a handy tool for our business to prosper? If these questions have bothered you ever even for once, then getting a picture of Google Apps might be the most organized answer.

For those who want to see their college/school/business life Go Google, here is a list of Google Apps that already has or will definitely change our lives. 

1. Gmail:  Email from anywhere, anytime. It works on computer and mobile devices. Has a storage capacity of 30GB. Not only mails, you can connect to people via voice and video chats too. Update and sync your contacts, see their profile picture, recent updates, shared documents etc. 

2. Drive: Share your files, folders, etc. from your computer to cloud. Updates are automatically saved on your drive. Has a free storage of 30GB. For additional spaces the prices are as low as $4month for 20GB. In Docs you can create documents, equations, graphs, gather inputs, do market research, get valuable customer feedback. In Sheets you can store data, view pie charts, use advanced formulas, pivot tables for detailed and intensive research and analysis.

3. Sites: Build websites without knowing coding. It has many pre-built template which makes is easier for you to give a nice look to your website. It is easy to organize the data. Sharing is even easier in just a click of a button.

4. Google+: Probably the best platform for your business to market. Share your links, posts etc. You can start or join High Definition online meetings on computers and mobile devices from anywhere, share private data with your organization. 

5. AdSense: Want to monetize your site? Put ad banners on your site that are targeted to your content and audience. Earn money on per-click or per-impression basis. 

6. Wallet: Store your credit card, debit card, loyalty cards etc. here! More secure, fast and convenient payment in just a click. Works on most android, IPhone, and tablets. It is even integrated with Gmail which means you can pay through Gmail attachments.

7. Analytics: Get detailed insight of your website/blog traffic, their sources, age, preferences, which customer segment is more valuable, where do they come from, for how long they stay and many more.

8. Quick Office: Create and edit your MS Office files from anywhere. Works on all devices. It is automatically connected to Google Drive so that while you create, edit and share, everything gets stored in your cloud drive.

9. Vault: Lets your retain, archive, search and export your company’s email according to your need. You can place legal holds on users to preserve their emails, chat records and other contents. eDiscovery lets you find relevant data from the archives. You can buy Vault license for $5 per month.

10. Blogger: Create and blog and jot down anything and everything that come across your mind. It is said that bloggers are the 5th pillar of a Democracy. Blogging helps you grow self-confidence, makes you a better writer, helps you find readers and befriend them, connect to various people etc. It even allows earning money by putting AdSense on your blog.

11. Calendar: You can organize your days, week, months and get reminders on your devices. You can even attach the needful to the reminder to help you have them on the day. Create web calendars and let your viewers and customers choose their best time for appointment.