STRAY DOGS-THE UNWANTED MEMBERS OF OUR SOCIETY

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” - Josh Billings

It is no wonder then that dogs are the most preferred choice of pet. In many homes they are treated just like a family member. They have their own towels, bowls, toys and even Facebook and twitter accounts. Dogs have been the sidekick and the star of many memorable films and cartoons. They’ve also been given the title of ‘man’s best friend’.

Though according to WHO, there are more than 200 million stray dogs worldwide. In Kolkata itself there are about 40,000 stray dogs, starving and diseased. For them every day is a fight for survival. They are kicked around with nowhere to go. They eat whatever they find rummaging through the garbage. They are almost never loved. They don’t even make it to the list of desired breed of pet dogs.

Most people would rather splurge on a fancy breed than spare some to feed the neighbourhood dogs. Many such ‘dog lovers’, who buy pure breds wouldn’t welcome a street dog into their homes let alone their hearts. Such double standards exist at all levels in our society. Therefore it leaves us with a situation. A situation, where thousands of dogs roam the streets with no proper food, shelter or vaccination. Thus the problem of rabies crop up. Rabies kills about 20,000 people in India annually. It is usually the street children who adopt the strays as pets thus exposing themselves to the virus.

There aren’t enough animal shelters to take in all or even most of them. These shelters, most of them run by NGOs, lack financial backing and not many people can spare their time for such a cause. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) being the local authority should be responsible for taking care of this situation. They, on the flip side, allegedly ill treat them.

A major part of the money allotted for this cause is pocketed by corrupt officials. The dog pounds remain unhygienic and ill equipped. Sometimes the dogs are left to fight amongst themselves for their share of food. They are neglected and sometimes also refused vaccination in the pounds.

Then there is the “stray dogs are a menace” notion. The strays sometimes unknowingly wander in other dogs’ territories and fights ensue. This results in passers by getting bitten or chased. They create a lot of ruckus and scare off pet dogs. They overturn garbage bins. Thus, most citizens want them eradicated. But killing is not the solution. Firstly, dogs also have a right to live. Secondly, if once the dogs in an area are killed, the dogs from other areas will come and make it their territory. So we are back to square one.

Christopher Hitchens said that if we provide a dog with food, shelter and affection they will think we are gods. Small communities or groups could collectively adopt dogs.

Each member could assume partial responsibility in caring for them. People could put together whatever food they can spare and feed them. They can also pool in their resources and make temporary shelters for them. Every college, school and local club should adopt stray dogs. Children should be taught to be compassionate towards them. This is an issue that requires sensitivity. We must accept the fact that they’re a part of our society and must treat them well.

 

Soumika Das

UG-BMS

3rd Semester

Momo: A street food star is born.

Biting into hot steamy Momos, with lip smacking, spicy chutney, in the lap of the majestic mountains are the stuffs dreams are made of. Momos are dumplings native to Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Himalayan states of India.

These are tasty dumplings made in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options... Momo are made with simple flour and water doughier and sometimes a little yeast or baking soda is added to give a more doughy texture to the finished product. There are varieties of Momo are available in several mixtures.

These have, of late, become the latest fancy of Kolkata residents. From birthday to cocktail parties, Momo are among the favorites of the Kolkata middle class... Every housing complex and office areas & market places has a Momo selling vendor. Few years back Momo was not properly introduced among the people... they use to prefer having other fast foods like phucka, rolls etc...

There are many reasons behind the “Momo madness” in Kolkata residents

Easy to cook food, Momo can be easily made in a short time. With less expense it brings huge income and it attracts lot of customers’. There was a time when chowmein, phucka – were very famous street food. But with time the love for phucka has given way for easy to eat dish – Momo.

Momo has hassle free to eat, and are very easy on the pocket... It was in the late 90s that the city witnessed a growing interest towards Momo, before that, Momo wee not a readily dish in Kolkata... These were confined to the food menus of Chinese restaurants & star-rated hotels only. From one Momo joint to another, gradually the number of such small outlets grew across the city.. From busy streets of shyambazar to a cafe shop everybody prefer having Momo as its cheap, easily available & less fat.

 

Somali Bhowal

UG-BMS

3rd Semester

LANGUAGE NOT A BARRIER.

The squatter settlements/ Bastis, whose general term is slum almost, acquire the one-third of Kolkata’s population. The Slum-dwellers are living without adequate basic amenities in over-crowded and unsanitary conditions. Keeping an eye to the challenges of counting undocumented squatters and the sprawling Bastis of residents, we will know how language has become one of the major reasons of slum.

Language and religion are the strong factors than caste diversity, which helps in determining slums’ social and economic characteristics.

When surveyed about how the slum dwellers divided themselves into different areas?

è One of the slum dweller of the Tangra slum (Hindi speaking area) says, “A slum might contain both Hindu and Muslim but after the partition took place the refugees from East Pakistan were all Hindu and they shared the Bengali language .”

Bengalis and Hindi-speakers self-segregate themselves according to their knowledge of the local language and migratory patterns, which in turn shapes employ options and social integration in the city. The Paikpara basti population consists mostly of permanent-migrant Bengalis from Bangladesh and rural West Bengal. Most Bengalis are vendors or hawkers whose occupations are likely easier for them than the Hindi-speakers.

The particular language and culture that have isolated them in a Bengali city is the Tangra slum population, which has mostly Hindi- speakers. Vending for Hindi speaking migrants was less suitable than Industrial labor jobs because less communication in Bengali was required on the job. Ability to speak in Bengali is not required for a self-employed slum dweller. The emphasis placed on education, about the potential for cultural value differences among them, consciously maintaining cultural traditions and the Hindi-speakers maintain close contact with their rural homes, sending back frequent remittances.

Thus language and religion have more pronounced influences than caste on the social life of slum dwellers.

The case studies on the effects of caste on slum life are extremely limited. Thus, it cannot be summarized that the entire caste system, or even just the sub castes of the Dalits, affects the social life of the Chamars. These distinctions have differences on migration patterns and family life. Bengalis integrates themselves into Kolkata’s Bengali social environment much more easily than the Hindi-speakers.

Languages and religion also reverberate more consistently than caste in the life of the slums economy. In fact, in the cases of the Tangra and Paikpara slums, the members of other castes selects their occupation based on the factors which are not related to caste.

With caste, linguistic, and religious diversity is the similar structure of slums that segregation in common. The different castes in the Hindi speakers and Bengalis slums do not require specific housing structures.

Magdalena nock says about the slum that- ‘Globalization has increased the movement of people, products, goods, information, services, news, and money, and thereby the presence of urban characteristics in rural areas and of rural traits in urban centers.’ Thus, there must be new policies considering into the ethnic diversity, disparate occupational skills, and political and social structures that have proven critical to the survival of slums and their inhabitants (slum dwellers). Despite of all problems language is no more a barrier to sustain the life style of the slums and they work and live together without any questions and demands.

è “A tendency to self-segregate whenever possible remains both within a slum and between slums. Therefore, self-segregation has proved out to be community strength.” Says 38 year old, Uma Bhanj, Tangra working slum.

 

Snehadipta Pyne

UG-BMS

3rd Semester

Street Food in the City of Joy

Kolkata, the city of joy has definitely got something special that attracts people to the extreme level and compels them to simply love them. “Yuuuuuuummmmmm “ the street foods. Street foods are something that are enjoyed by people of all age groups. Well..,definitely.., these are the best ways to change the tastes of the taste buds of our tongue which sometimes really get disgusted with the regular simple “healthy” foods. I guess people do love to have spicy “chatpata” “unhealthy” street foods sometimes leaving those boring healthy foods behind. Well personally one thing i have noticed that we find all unhealthy things much more tastier than the healthy foods. Chowmins and rolls are the most common category of street foods that we find in huge number all over Kolkata, like outside office buildings u will get a few roll chowmin centres, in market places u will get abundant number of ,so many that sometimes I stand and choose one of them on the basis of the crowd each one is having. Nice big parathas with delicious juicy spicy stuffings of chicken sheek kabab with a number of sauces like tomato sauce, chilly sauce, chilly garlic sauce with a little squeeze of lemon juice really makes my mouth start watering.

Now, the best thing of Kolkata that makes it unique among all the street foods all over India is “phuchka”. I simply relish the chatpata Khatta taste of it...and not only me most of the people of Kolkata simple go crazy for that jhal and khatta roadside phuchkas. Small rounded bodies with potato stuffings, a paste of boiled potatoes chat masala mircha imli(tamarind) and chanas are simply yumm. From laughing and frolicking small school going children to aged serious aunties, every body has a special soft corner for the phuchkas.

You know sometimes I bought the dry phuchka packets from the market and prepared the stuffings at home with almost the same ingredients used, but trust me that flavour that essence did not come which is so there in the street phuchka s. When I was a child I used to get 2 phuchkas in a rupee, but now we get 4 to maximum 5 phuchkas at ten rupees. Still the craze of phuchkas is too high.

I have visited almost all big and small cities of Kolkata, but one thing I admit that nowhere around the country serves phuchkas and roadside egg rolls better than Kolkata… Kolkata rocks in street foods….simply… “Yuuuummmmm”.

 

Sneha Kanrar

UG-BMS

3rd Semester

Writers Buildings

The Writers buildings also known as Mahakaran in bengali is situated in the heart of the city Kolkata addressing itself at Brabourne Rd, B B D Bagh, Kolkata.The writers buildings is the headquarters for the State government of West Bengal. The respected Chief minister of west Bengal holds her office in the Writers buildings.

This massive structure was designed by Thomas Lyon in 1777, it originally served as the office for the British government in Bengal and the writers of East India Company. Since then it has gone through several extensions over the years. The stretch of the building is 150 meter long and it covers the entire northern stretch of the a water body locally called Lal Dighi. Various departments of the West Bengal government are situated in this building. This building holds great importance to every people of the state as it is a great evidence of Indian Independence Movement and political significance.

For the first time in history the West Bengal Government will have to move to a new address which is another side of river hoogly. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that on 7^th of August that the relocation would take place as the historic structure, which she said had turned into a “tinderbox,” needed to be renovated and restored. Few days later more than thousands of state government employees along with most of the ministers shifted to Howrah Bridge Commissioners (HRBC) Building a 14-storied building situated on the banks of river hoogly. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee named the HRBC building as Nabanna which in bengali means new crops of paddy.

The renovation and restoration of the century old building which was constructed earlier in the 18^th century is estimated to cost around 200 crore. The HRBC Building, which was conceived and set up during the time of Left Front government, was to have housed a garment park and now instead it will be the new seat of power of the State government.

Historian P.T. Nair said the reddish, customised emulsion that forms Buildings’s exterior was used to bind the red bricks during its construction. That gave the structure, both Gothic and Regal, its trademark red colour.The department of architecture of the two best universities Jadavpur University and Bengal Engineering and Science university have given the responsibility of preparing a detailed report of the reconstruction process of the Writers’ buildings.

Siladitya Dam

UG-BMS

3rd Semester

DURGA PUJA CELEBRATION

The Durga Puja festival marks the triumph of good over evil. It commemorates the victory of goddess Durga over the evil demon, Mahishasura.

Durga Puja is a five day festival honouring the Goddess Durga, considered as one of the biggest festival in among Bengalis residing in West Bengal. Durga Puja is not only celebrated in West Bengal but also widely celebrated in Bangladesh and places where Bengali people reside.

Normally Durga Puja held in October every year and it is Kolkata’s most important festival. It is an occasion for glamorous celebrations. People of all works of life participate in the celebration of the Durga Puja festival. The best part of Durga Puja in West Bengal is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian and people of all religion participate in this celebration.

Durga Puja is one of the most important festivals in India. Durga Puja is more than a festival. It is a celebration of life, culture, popular customs and traditions. It is a time of reunion and rejuvenation to love, to share and to care. Nostalgia, memories, food and Durga Puja festivities are inseparable. Wearing a new dress to the Pujobari, pandal-hopping like there is no tomorrow, and not even complaining about the shoe bite from which one’s feet are painfully aching now.

Raja Kangshanarayan of Taherpur or Bhabananda Mazumdar of Nadia organized the first Sharadiya or Autumn Durga Puja in Bengal in 1606 and from then onwards it spread in all parts of Bengal and led people from different parts connect with each other to celebrate this festival in a grand way.

Durga Puja is a reminder where happiness finds its way home every year. Every woman looks stunning on Dashami after a vermillion bath. If you touch the feet of elders on Bijoya, you get a plateful of mishti, narkel nadu, tok-jhal dalmut and ghugni.

Shibangee Dhar

UG-BMS

3rd Semester

Return of Light

 

This 5 day long Hindu festival is celebrated all over the world with great enthusiasm. Diwali or deepavali is the festival suggesting the victory of good against evil, commemorating the return of Lord Rama along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman from his long exile after defeating the demon-king Ravana. The people of Ayodhya, lighted up the kingdom with oil lamps and burst crackers to welcome their king.
Mythology says, Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, was incarnated on the new moon day of the Kartik month during the churning of the ocean, so Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped on this day. In Bengal, Diwali festival is dedicated to the worship of Goddess Kali.
On the dawn of new moon in the month Kartik the glittering diyas rangolis are done to decorate the houses to capture the festive mood. The first day is celebrated as Dhanteras, women buy some gold, silver or utensils. There is a popular belief that whoever will gamble on Diwali night would remain prosperous. The second day is Choti Diwali. Third day or the main Diwali is celebrated with a lot of fireworks, diyas and candles and crackers. The festivity ends on its fifth day, with Bhai Duj, a custom for brother and sisters of showing respect and love to each other.

Sharod Subhra Khan

UG-BMS

3rd Semester