The evenings during Winter in Bengal

Chhatims don’t come alone. They invite the Shyama Pokas (green leaf hoppers) as well. So the army of Shyama Poka swarms each evening following various illuminating lamps, causing hindrances like itching or disturbing our tiny moments of peace during tea or Adda. But this used to add charm during our evening study time, and the same charm reflects today in the kids as we, now the parents, struggle to make them focus on their books. And why won’t it? After all, the primary combating technique involves switching off the lights for an hour or so!

However, the enticing charm of winter gets sided by the exam pressure, which has been scheduled during these precious months for ages.

Winter Vegetables

Winter in Bengal is the time when we comfort our eyes by visualizing the fresh green seasonal vegetables like Cabbages, Cauliflowers, French Beans, Peas, Spinach, Radish and Radish greens and so on. Although the long, red carrots are the late entrants. Ahh! Goodbye Bhindis and Potols, till the summer comes! It’s the best season for the gourmets when they can savour various cuisines.

While the vegetables get ready to fill our platters, fruits also do not take a seat back. Winter noon and oranges are unbeatable partners. The very smell of oranges in the fruit shops reminds us of the warm winter noons spent with syllabus books before exams & with story books after exams.

Comes out the Warm Clothes

The warm clothes are taken out from their coffins, smelling heavily of naphthalene balls and spread under the sun for a few hours. It’s still some time for the cold to set in, but Bengalis are always prepared with their sweaters, mufflers and monkey caps. But, alas! The monkey caps have yielded their place to balaclavas these days. The ‘image conscious’ Bengalis find them cooler than their predecessors.

The Best Time for Picnics & Sports

The other thing that winter in Bengal is very famous for is Picnics, which are now commonly known as day outings. Be it a school picnic, or parar picninc, the enthusiasm starts from the onset of winter and continues until the D-day arrived. The planning includes gathering friends, collecting money, deciding the venue, and what not! Nowadays, while picnics are not so common, one thing that continues is Sports Day & various other tournaments in different nooks and corners of Kolkata.

Along with these things, another sight had also stayed the same in the case of Bengali winter. That’s the sights of young boys and girls playing badminton inside the parks, corners of the roads, narrow bylanes – almost all over where it’s possible to squeeze in two players, two racquets, a badminton net and a shuttle cork.

And the Dryness of Winter in Bengal

Winter comes with the banes of chapped lips, dried skins, cracked heels and chilblains. Whatever may the skin problem be during the winter, the Bengalis always have one solution – the dark green, humble-looking tube of the Borolin ointment. We guess, almost all the Bongs will swear by Borolin as their one-stop winter skin problem solution and the unforgettable nostalgic aroma of the Lanolin, the principle ingredient used in making Borolin.

Come what may, it seems, these familiar harbingers of Bengali winter will always remain the same. The chhatims, the amateur badminton players, the ritual of sun warming the winter clothes, blankets and quilts, the Borolin, oranges – every single thing, for, the Bengalis, thrive over the nostalgia painted by these Winter Harbingers.

The post Harbingers of Winter for the Bengalis (Winter in Bengal) appeared first on KolkataFusion.

It’s the last Sunday or the last day of Agrahayan (Bengali month falling between November and December) when the womenfolk perform the Itu Pujo in Bengali households. The ritual perfectly intermingles with the mild winter and the heavenly smell of the Payesh (a type of rice pudding sans the egg) of newly harvested jaggery and Gobindobhog Atop rice (perfumed short grain rice locally grown in Bengal) from the kitchens.

The Itu Pujo is a unique Bengali ritual, along with different Shosthis and Bhaiphota, which does not need a Brahmin priest to perform. Instead, the Bengali women, primarily married women, take the initiative to carry the annual Itu Pujo in their respective households. Though the women performs the Itu Pujo ritual, the mantras or the recited hymns ask about Itu’s blessing for their fathers’ and their brothers’ prosperity signifying the prevalence of patriarchy since the old times.

The other thing that this ritual is quintessentially connected with is its famous prasad (offering), Nabanna-  prepared with new fruits and newly harvested ingredients. Before exploring Nabanna, let us understand the essential Itu Pujo ritual and its meaning.

Itu Pujo Ritual:

The word ‘Itu’ comes from ‘Mitu’ or ‘Mitra’, meaning Sun. The Bengali womenfolk worship Itu as the goddess of fertility, representing an incarnation of the Sun. A ritualistic ‘Ghot’ or Pot is placed in an auspicious corner of the house along with different herbs and leafy vegetables like Water Spinach, Mustard greens, and other grain seeds like sesame, barley, paddy etc.

Itu Pujo heralds the time for the harvest of a few crops and the time when short-term crops are sown which would be harvested during Spring or Makar Sankranti. Bengal is endowed with the natural gifts of fertile land and rivers, which results in quite a few sowing and harvesting seasons in a year. Itu Pujo is one ritual where nature is thanked for its natural resources.

The Itu Pujo was initially meant for the preservation of the seeds of the winter crops that would be harvested in the month of Poush (December-January). Before the Pujo starts, an earth-filled bowl and a pot of water is kept along with other household god idols. Earth and Water, both stands important for the cultivation activity.

If we take a look on the Itu Pujo mantras, we can find how almost all the prayers are asking for bountiful agricultural crops and prosperous home.

Itu Pujo Mantra:

“Oshto Chaal, Oshto Durba, Kalashpatra Thuye

Itur Katha shobey pran ekmon hoye

Itu den bor

Dhono-dhanye putre-poutre baruk sansar………….”

(We place 8 grains of rice, 8 grass strands on the auspicious water pot and listen about the Itu Goddess. Itu blesses us with a promise of prosperous family.)

Preparation of Nabanna Prasad

Nabanna is a food prepared as the principal offering on the last Sunday of the Itu Pujo. First, the newly harvested Gobindobhog Atop rice is soaked for some time and then grounded coarsely. The pasted rice is then mixed with milk which serves as the base. Next, Notun gur or freshly harvested date palm jaggery is added as a sweetener to the base. Later, all the available fruits like apples, bananas, sugarcane, orange, pear and other dry fruits are chopped and mixed with the rice-milk-jaggery base to be served as Nabanna.

The above preparation details were shared to us by Rakhi Roy Basu, Parna’s sister-in-law. Itu Pujo was performed in her ancestral maternal home during her childhood. As she shared about the Nabanna preparation, she could vividly describe the same taste from her childhood. She described the beautiful aroma of the freshly pounded rice blending well with that of the cut fruits and the new date palm jaggery filling their senses before it fulfilled their appetites.

Significance of Itu Pujo in the Bengali culture

If Saraswati Pujo ushers in the Spring for us Bengalis, Itu Pujo welcomes the winter. Though the latter is not as famous as the former one, it celebrates the nip in the air, the tastes and smells that define the winter of the Bengali countryside which culminates with the Poush Sankranti’s Pithey Parbon. As the days go by, the ritual might also get drowned in the sands of time, but, the celebration of the advent of winter with Nabanna seasoned with Notun gur will keep continuing in some forgotten corners of a few Bengal villages.

(Recommended Read: Joydev Kendulir Mela – The fair that celebrates humanity and music)

The post Itu Pujo, Nabanna and worshipping Sun – the goddess of fertility appeared first on KolkataFusion.

In this article, as we observe the 76^th Independence Day of India, we will take a step back and dig into the Bengali Swadeshi companies. People with different backgrounds started these companies in Kolkata during the British era. Some are common household names, but we never consider when they started or by whom.

Swadeshi Companies Started in West Bengal

1.     Bengal Chemicals

Prafulla Chandra Ray, the father of chemical science in India, established Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (BCPL), formerly Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. (BCPW), in 1901. The Indian Government now owns it. The story of this company started from a rented house in Kolkata to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit among the Bengali youth. Now it has three divisions – Industry Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals & Home Products.

Our regular products like naphthalene balls  & pheneol are some of the products of this brand.

2.     Boroline

Starting from chapped lips to burns & cuts, Boroline has been a one-tube solution for ages. It comes in a green tube with an elephant logo and can be found in most Bengali households from the onset of winter, if not throughout the year. In rural India, it’s also known as the “hatiwala cream”. But who started it? When the Swadeshi movement was at its peak, a Bengali merchant name Gourmohan Dutta launched the product. Today it also owns products like Suthol, Penorub & Eleen. To know more about Boroline and your nostalgia for the product, read our article The World of Boroline.

3.     Sulekha

In Bengali, Su-means good & lekha-means writing. Thus, giving the true meaning to Sulekha, the ink pot – good writing. Just pause, and think of your childhood – when you were first introduced to a pen, it was a fountain pen, not a ball pen. And that ink pen’s partner was no one other than the trusted Sulekha inkpot.

Another by-product of the Swadeshi movement –Sankaracharyya and Nani Gopal Maitra, both freedom fighters, started Sulekha in 1934 in the Rajshahi district. Sulekha suffered when people started choosing ballpoint pens over fountain pens, but now with a renewed interest in owning and writing in fountain pens, Sulekha has made a grand comeback.

Grab a Parker Fountain Pen at a discounted rate.

4.     Calcutta Chemicals Company

Remember the Neem soap Margo & the dark red packaging of the perfumed Aramusk soap? These, along with Chek Detergent & Lavender Dew Powder, are from the house of Calcutta Chemicals. On 28^th September 1916, K.C. Das, B.N. Maitra, and R.N. Sen started the Calcutta Chemicals Company as a pharmaceutical company. It was to make a mark against the British products and encourage the feeling of Indianization among the masses.

5.     C K Sen and Co. Pvt Ltd

The lineage of C K Sen and Co Pvt Ltd goes back to the time of Vaidyas (practitioners of traditional Ayurvedic medicines) when cosmetics didn’t need a special mention of “organic”. They were mostly “trees tales”, without the touch of commercialisation. Chandra Kanta Sen (C.K. Sen), who started this company in 1913, was from one such family of eminent ‘Vaidyas’. His business acumen motivated him to take the family knowledge to ordinary men. He started with Jabakusum hair oil and added other products like Basanta Malati lotion. The products are still available in the market, and the quality is just the same.

To know more, click here.

6.     K.C Das Pvt. Ltd.

Krishna Chandra Das, son of Nobin Chandra Das, who invented Roshogolla, started ‘Krishna Chandra Das Confectioner’ in 1930. He was the first sweet maker who pioneered making canned desserts in India in the pre-independence days. He invented Roshomalai and started selling Roshomalai and Roshogolla in vacuum-packed containers extending their shelf lives.

Craving for rosogollas already? Order from Amazon

Presently, the K.C Das Pvt. Ltd. Is known as K.C Das Grandsons and is regarded as one of the front runners of the Bengali Sweet making industry.

To Conclude

Swadeshi was not just a revolutionary movement; it was an emotion. As we get swayed by the aura of globalisation, at times, we must pause to contemplate the challenging journey of the Bengali Swadeshi Companies and the grit that helped them run their businesses for centuries. And which other time could be better than our Independence Day? If you know of some other products, share them in the comments box.

The post Pre-independence Bengali Swadeshi Companies, still in business appeared first on KolkataFusion.

Special Thanks To

Sayani Ghosh, Gitanjali Nayak and Neha Mittal for sharing their recipes with us and making our post more interesting. A special shout-out to Sayani Ghosh for being our regular supporter and contributor

All-time favourite Pancakes/Uttapam/Hybrid of Uttapam and Gola Ruti, etc.

You must have read about the Pancake recipe shared in our last post. Most of you must be making your own versions. We thought of sharing one more version, just adding to the family of our Bengali Pancakes or Golaruti – a cross/hybrid between the Tamil Rava Uttapam and Bengali vegetarian Gola Ruti.

Ingredients

We would just need one cup of Rava or Fine Suji, ½ cup of curd/yoghurt, salt to taste, sliced onions, tomatoes, Curry Leaves and 4 tsp of maida (all-purpose flour). You can also add your choice of finely chopped vegetables if you want.

Preparation

Mix the Suji with the curd and keep it aside for 20 minutes while you chop the vegetables. Add all the ingredients and prepare a batter. Add the maida and check for consistency. Finally, add some water to reduce the thickness if you need it.

Heat the pan well and grease it. Start putting a ladle full of the batter and spread it with the back of the ladle. Cover the pan with a lid. Let the pancake cook in simmer. Keep checking if the lower side has started browning. Flip it to let the other side cook. When both sides are done, pack it inside the tiffin box.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes to ferment and 5 minutes to prepare the pancakes.

Egg Fried Rice

If you have a bowl of left-over rice, you can use it to make egg-fried rice for tiffin the next day.

Ingredients

You will need an egg or two for a medium bowl of cooked rice, chopped onions, beans, capsicums, carrots, tomato ketchup, soya sauce, salt and a pinch of black pepper if needed.

Preparation

Heat 3 tbsp refined oil, add in the chopped onions and let it fry till it’s transparent. Add in the other chopped vegetables. Add salt to taste. Fry till the veggies become tender. Now break in the eggs in the pan. Fry till done. If you want more giant clumps of fried eggs, just don’t keep stirring. Add in a tbsp of tomato ketchup and a teaspoon of soya sauce. Mix well. Add in the rice. Stir in gently to mix up the rice with the veggies and eggs. Tada!

If veggies are unavailable, onions, eggs, soya sauce, and tomato sauce can do the trick equally well. So, no worries!

Preparation Time: 8-10 minutes

Scrambled Egg/Egg Salad with Toasts

Ingredients

One Egg, one medium-sized potato, onion, salt and pepper.

Preparation

Boil Egg and potato. Cut them into small pieces. In a wok, heat ghee or white oil and add onions. Fry them till brown. Now add the chopped potato and Egg. Add salt and pepper. Mix everything properly and let it fry for a few minutes on medium heat. Serve it with crispy toast.

If you want to make it into a more instant tiffin box recipe – simply make a scrambled egg and add slices of boiled potato, salt and pepper as a variation.

Preparation time: 8-10 minute

Homemade Plum Cakes – All-time Instant Tiffin box recipes

We have shared a simple plum cake recipe in our homemade Christmas cake article – get it here. No, it’s not an instant tiffin box recipe. But cakes have a week’s shelf life if you store them in a cool place. So, prepare it over the weekend and add it to your kid’s tiffin box in the mid-week, when you’re nearly drained out of ideas.

Preparation time: If you cook it over the weekend, then it only requires slicing and packing time – no preparation time!

Cheese Sandwich

Another finger-licking yet instant tiffin box recipe that kids love primarily, thanks to the cheese!

Ingredients

All you need is brown bread, cheese, Parsley seasoning & Barbeque seasoning and butter for grilling.

Preparation

Cut off the sides of the bread, and grate a generous amount of cheese on one of the slices. If you are preparing two sandwiches, use a whole cube. Sprinkle some Barbeque seasoning & Parsley seasoning on it. Put the other bread on top. Grease the griller with butter and put the sandwiches in it—grill as per your kid’s taste.

Preparation time: You can prepare this tasty dish in 10 mins.

Makhana Chaat

The calcium content in makhana strengthens the bones and teeth of kids and growing babies. And with a few tricks, you can make it tasty too.

Ingredients

Half bowl makhana.

Capsicum, mushroom, boiled

Corn (2 tablespoons each)

Onion (Optional – 2 tablespoons)

Tomato & mayonnaise (1 tablespoon each)

Salt, pepper & oregano as per taste

Preparation

Roast the makhanas in a pan for about 5 minutes on low to medium flame and keep it aside. In another pan, or on

Once the makhana is done, toss the veggies in butter for about 40sec.

Put the veggies and the makhana in a bowl. Then, add the taste enhancers (salt, pepper, oregano) and the mayonnaise. Mix them well.

Pack your kid’s tiffin box with the wholesome meal.

Preparation time: 10- 15 minutes. And lesser, if you prepare the veggies the previous night and store them in an air-tight container.

Buy Makhana online

Conclusion

Cooking is an art, and when it comes to preparing school tiffin, this art is put to a real test. We are sure you have some ideas, which all our readers will love to try. And we, the KolkataFusion team, are all ears!

The post 6 More Instant Tiffin Box Recipes appeared first on KolkataFusion.

Special Thanks To

Paramita Mukherjee, Sayani Sarkar & Tannistha Mukherjee for their contributions. This post could not have been possible without the recipes they have shared.        

Healthy, quick tiffin box recipes

Flattened rice (Poha) Tikki

Packed with iron, fibre, carbohydrates, antioxidants and vitamins, Poha (chire) provides a wholesome meal. And it’s also gluten-free.

A quick look at the ingredients to prepare poha Tikki for tiffin

Poha – a handful for two medium size tikkis, a small potato, seasonal vegetables (most preferably carrot, beans and capsicum), 2-3 tablespoons refined oil, ½ cube cheese or one teaspoon butter, half onion, pepper & salt according to taste

The ratio of poha to potato should be 1:1/2

Poha Tikki recipe

Wash the poha to soften it but ensure it does not become soggy. Mash the hardboiled (not very tender, yet mashable) potato in a bowl and add finely chopped onion, grated vegetables and cheese or butter. Mix well. Add the softened poha. Sprinkle in some salt and pepper. Mix well with your hand. Take small portions from the mixture. Give the portions flat shapes like Tikki or patty. Keep aside. Heat the oil and shallow fry the Tikki or patties till golden.

Preparation time: 10 to 15 mins. You can prepare the veggies the previous night and refrigerate them in a bowl of water or in an air-tight pouch.

Pick it and place it in your child’s tiffin box. As a dip, you can give tomato sauce or mayonnaise. (Try out Hellmann’s Eggless Mayonnaise.)

Pancake/Gola Ruti

This is one of those quick tiffin box recipes which has the widest variance. Different moms make this all-time favourite tiffin food in different ways. The process is the same, it’s only one of the ingredients that differ from mom to mom. 

Ingredients which has a wide options to choose from

An egg, all-purpose flour/semolina/Rava/wheat flour, chopped onion, grated veggies (if available), turmeric (optional), salt, pepper/chillies, oil for greasing the pan so that the batter doesn’t get stuck, a pinch of julienned ginger (optional). You can also add a bit of milk to the batter. It helps to maintain the consistency of the mixture and is healthy but adding is not a must.

Preparation

Preparation time: 10 to 15 mins. You can prepare the veggies the previous night and refrigerate them in a bowl of water or in an air-tight pouch.

Whisk the egg and mix in every ingredient to make a batter. The batter should be neither thick nor watery.

Grease the pan and start putting a ladle full of batter for browning. When one side browns, flip it and let the other side cook in the same way.

If in a dire hurry, you can also make this preparation without veggies and onion. In that case, add half a teaspoon of honey.

You can also add mayonnaise to it. But, in that case, whisk the mayo and then add the egg.

Quick fix Rava/semolina upma

Along with various other benefits, upma helps in digestion and boosts energy (something that all our kids need).

Ingredients

• Half cup Rava/fine blended suji (Semolina)
• Mustard seeds and curry leaves for tempering
• 1/4^th potato
• 1/4^th onion
• A small portion of carrot
• A handful of groundnuts
• 2-3 tablespoons oil or ghee
• Salt according to taste
• A teaspoon of coriander for garnishing (optional)

Preparation

• Finely chop all the vegetables
• Add oil/ghee to a deep-bottomed pan
• Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves to splutter. Then, add the veggies to it.
• Stir fir them until mildly cooked.
• Add the Rava and keep frying. Sprinkle some water on and off.
• Add the salt.
• Once the rava turns golden brown, take it off the pan, and garnish it with coriander.

Preparation time: 10 mins. You can prepare the veggies the previous night and refrigerate them in a bowl of water or in an air-tight pouch.

Lemon Rice

Like pancakes, lemon rice is also a prevalent tiffin food which our friends from Southern India swear by. Lemon rice is straightforward to make and lengthens the shelf life of rice. During humid days, when our kids cannot digest fried food easily, you can prepare lemon rice to cool the gut.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of pre-cooked rice (tastes better with short-grained gobindobhog atop chaal/rice)
• A handful of groundnuts
• A sprig of curry leaves
• A pinch of mustard seeds, chana daal (Bengal gram), urad daal for tempering
• ½ tsp of turmeric powder
• Salt and Sugar according to taste
• ½ slice of lemon
• 2 tbsp refined oil

Preparation:

• Heat the oil in the pan
• Fry the groundnuts and keep them aside.
• Now, put the mustard seeds, urad and chana dal in the same oil.
• As they start spluttering, add the curry leaves and immediately add the pre-cooked rice
• Stir in. Add the fried groundnuts, turmeric powder, salt and sugar. Mix well.
• Meanwhile, take the juice from the lemon slice and mix it with 1 ½ tbsp of water.
• Turn off the flame after mixing the rice well with the other ingredients.
• Add the lemon juice and water mix. Mix well. Once you see the colour of the mixed rice changing to faded yellow, you know it’s done.
• Preparation time: If you use a cooker, the rice hardly takes 15mins to cook. And once that’s ready, the rest is a matter of just 10 mins more. To quicken the process, you can use last night’s pre-cooked rice.
• Serve in the tiffin box after a standing time of 5 minutes.

Kabuli Chana Chaat (Chick Pea Salad)

The Chick Pea or Kabuli Chana has high protein content, which is required for nourishment in children.

Preparation that’ll make your Mondays happier

1. Boil overnight soaked Kabuli chana (Chick Pea), or use pre-boiled chana. The quantity depends on the kid’s appetite.

2. Mix chopped onion, cucumber, tomato, chilli and Kabuli chana in a bowl. Add a dash of lemon juice and black salt before packing the tiffin.

Preparation time: This is one of the best quick tiffin box recipes. It hardly takes 8 mins to prepare this delicious recipe. And can be used as a great evening snack too.

So, here are a few handpicked quick tiffin recipes, and we have a storehouse full of more tiffin ideas. So, please write to us in the comment section if you want more quick tiffin ideas from us. And if you have some other ideas, which will make the tiffing times more joyful for the kids without burning us, the moms, please share with us.

Related Articles: Hugely Popular Bengali Breakfast Dishes

The post Quick Tiffin Box Recipes appeared first on KolkataFusion.

Subhadra Sengupta was an Indian writer based in Delhi. She was born in June 1959 and had a master’s degree in history. She was the winner of Sahitya’s Akademi’s 2015 Bal Sahitya Puraskar. Of the many books, she wrote, I have read only a few. And have thoroughly enjoyed them. One of her books, Mystery of the House of Pigeons, was adapted into a television series for Doordarshan as Khoj Khazana Khojer. Most of her books are genres of historical fiction and non-fiction. But she also wrote travelogues, comic strips and detective stories. She lost her battle against Covid19 in the year 2021.

A few books I have read are Let’s Go Time Travelling, Let’s Go Time Travelling Again, Kings and Queens, A Flag, A Song and A Pinch of Salt and Mostly Ghostly Stories.

Let’s go Time Travelling

The book Let’s go Time Travelling describes the lifestyle of people from the Harappan Civilization to the British era. Its sequel, Let’s Go Time Travelling Again, gives us a broad picture of the various occupations of ancient India. I loved these two books as they had a lot of information about ancient civilizations depicted humorously.

To buy the Let’s Go Time Travelling, Click. And to buy Let’s Go Time Travelling Again, Click here

Kings and Queens

Kings and Queens is a book about famous and mighty emperors and empresses, like Chandragupta Maurya, the ruler of Magadha, was the founder of the Mauryan Dynasty. And Razia Sultan was an empress of the Slave Dynasty. Although she was a woman, that didn’t stop her from becoming a great ruler. Krishnadeva Raya of the Tuluva Dynasty was a powerful king of Vijayanagar. He was a fierce fighter, a book lover and even wrote poetry. Noor Jahan was the youngest of all the wives of Jahangir. But with sheer willpower, personality, courage & political skill, she gradually became the centre of power.

To buy Kings and Queens by lesser-known Children’s Writer – Subhadra Sengupta, Click here

A Flag, A Song and A Pinch

A Flag, A Song and A Pinch of Salt tell us about the lives and achievements of famous freedom fighters like Ambedkar, Abul Kalam Azad, Annie Besant, Sarojini Naidu and many more. I learnt a lot about many freedom fighters I didn’t know previously.    

Buy the book online     

Mostly Ghostly Stories

However, Mostly Ghostly Stories is a very different book. It contains spooky and mysterious stories and elements of suspense, fun and courage.

Buy Mostly Ghostly Stories online

To read about Edaan’s Safari expereince, follow the link : MY FIRST JUNGLE SAFARI EXPERIENCE

I would like to read more books written by Subhadra Sengupta in future. If she had been alive, I would have interacted with her and thanked her for the good reads about historical events and other subjects.

Edaan Ghosh

Edaan Ghosh, a class IV student of Bhavan’s Gangabaux Kanoria Vidyamandir, Kolkata, is a passionate reader and loves to prod into the history of India. He has an extensive interest in the people, culture, religion and occupation of ancient India and also the world. While searching for books on the history of India for young readers, he and his mother stumbled upon the books by Subhadra Sengupta. Thus, a small tribute to his beloved writer on her Birth as well as Death Anniversary.

The post Tribute to lesser-known Children’s Writer – Subhadra Sengupta appeared first on KolkataFusion.

The digital world and progressions in technology have altered the way of life. Undoubtedly, it has made students’ life more competitive and full of anxiety and restlessness. To calm the mind, children’s imagination needs to be aroused. It should be channelised towards more comforting and simple things like the chatter of a stream, chirping of birds, various scents coming out of house kitchens and bazaars. Children need to know how to respect nature as well as relationships with fellow humans. Lockdown due to the pandemic has enhanced the stress of school children who are going through a virtual school life, where they keep on studying without physically meeting their friends during recess and after school. That warmth is undoubtedly missing in the current scenario. On the other hand, this is the right time to get back to reading and re-living that warmth that is genuinely missing in today’s world. 

Reading is a habit – how to encourage your child to read?

Eight Ruskin Bond Books for children

One author who is widely read and widely loved all across the nation is Ruskin Bond. So, here are eight books by India’s favourite oldest child Ruskin Bond, that can help school children to tranquilise their mind for a while and befriend some crazy, roguish and imaginative children.

Getting Granny’s Glasses

There are some feel-good stuff, places and moments in everyone’s life. This book lets you live this feeling. The children can experience different colours of nature and learn to observe simple things around them that usually go unnoticed. Aren’t kids and old-aged persons alike? The joy of savouring the magnificence of nature has been best portrayed by Mr. Bond through Granny’s eyes. The book offers visual descriptions of life in hills and shows the simplicity and caring nature of humble hill folks amidst the harsh conditions in the hills.

The Eyes of the Eagle

How responsible and strong hill people are! They have to adapt themselves according to harsh climatic and high-altitude conditions. Their never-give-up attitude is the backdrop of this story. This book is set in the Tung valley, where Shiva resides in his highest abode, Tunganath temple.  It narrates the story of a boy Jai, his dog Motu, a few of his people, and their intrepid endeavors to save their herd of sheep from the evil claws of a golden eagle and its mate.

Angry River  

In this story, there’s one river, an island, a girl, her grandparents, a boy and a tree. That’s all. Fighting for the necessities and against all the odds of nature is the essence of this book. So, the thing that keeps the readers hooked to the book is the aloofness of the setting, away from the crowd, noise and modernisation. The story reveals how impertinent nature can be. But what may come, the spirit of these people never let them give up.

Though the story is about the flooding of the island and its nearby villages, it profoundly tells the struggle of people residing in these kinds of areas where bare necessities of life are hard to earn and present challenges in keeping life on a move. The book is about the courage that these people exhibit in hard times and always start afresh after any kind of natural distress.

The Road to the Bazaar 

This book is packed with lively scenes of a small hill town in Northern India. It lets the children experience the simple but exuberant life of a hill town. Some joyous children indulge in such mischievous and inventive activities that make life pleasant. You’re going to experience an unusual zoo made in the backyard of a house; watch the race of some atypical animals (ahem! insects); some gossip full of laughter; music of the flute; a day spent on an old tree; and many more.

This book is everything that a child can imagine. So, are you, fed up with the humdrum of city life? Have no time to perceive the primitiveness of life? Go grab this book.

The Blue Umbrella  

It is a delightful and fascinating story that teaches the virtues of benevolence, sacrifice, and letting go. It is tough to let go of what you love with passion, but keeping human relations above material fancies is what matters most. This is what Binya, the pretty and brave girl discovers at the end of the story. Her life was full of adventures after she gets her most dear possession, the blue umbrella. The way the beauty of the blue umbrella and everyone’s longing for it is described shows the exceptional art of storytelling of Mr. Bond.

A Long Walk for Bina

Through the story, Ruskin Bond has introduced the children to the flora and fauna of Garhwal hills and the changing landscape through human intervention. The controversial issue of the Tehri Dam is dealt with thoughtfully. So, children will be compelled to think about the effects of such kinds of interventions in the natural landscape.

Is development more important or the conservation of nature in its original form? This book highlights the effects of such kinds of invasions on not only wild animals but also on the residents of that particular area. This story with beautiful visual vocabulary is certain to make you happy and considerate of your surroundings.

Friends in Wild Places 

The book celebrates Mr. Bond’s unusual friendships. Befriending everyone he meets is an exceptional quality of Ruskin Bond. But the unusual point is that he befriends not only human beings but also plants, animals, birds and insects. This is the reason that his stories always have something related to wildlife.

This book commemorates Mr. Bond’s unique friendships and encounters with some unusual wild creatures. This book is the best way to let children know about wildlife through some captivating stories.

When I Was A Boy

Living in the magic of the world, conceived by Ruskin Bond, while reading the timeless tales penned down by him, sometimes there’s an urge to know about the life incidents that turned him into a marvelous storyteller. Here is the book with a comprehensive account of his childhood days and a concise description of his living in a room on the roof before moving to England. This astonishing book is attractively embellished.

You get to see the chubby little Ruskin tucking in cookies in his mouth. The little boy Ruskin looking through the windows of many colours while strolling through the ruins of a Jamnagar palace. And a growing young Ruskin doing his first dance at a ball in Dehra.

To Conclude

I can write so much more about the beauty of the literature under the name of Mr. Bond, but I think these books are good enough to start with. These books will give comfort, warmth, and pleasure to our young readers. It will help them to nurture that imagination which is very important in every stage of life. So, pick up any of the above books, go to a comfortable place, and dive into the world of Mr. Ruskin Bond.

About Ekta Kubba

Ekta is a Science teacher in a Punjab-based government school, but her heart ponders for literature. She is an avid reader and an ardent fan of Ruskin Bond, she is administering a fan group on Facebook, entitled ‘Ruskin, the Radiant Bond’. Staying at home during the 2020 lockdown enabled her to realize her long-cherished dream to pen down her thoughts. Her writings can be read on her Facebook page ‘The Writing Nerd’.

The group, Ruskin, the Radiant Bond can be reached here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/925991211175469/

Her page, The Writing Nerd, can be reached here: https://www.facebook.com/The-Writing-Nerd-111755207220177/

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The Ray Family

Each member of the Ray Chowdhury (they deleted Chowdhury from their surname later on) family contributed in some way or the other to the world of the Bengali children. Most of them were born writers, namely Leela Majumdar, daughter of Upendrakishore’s younger brother, Sukhalata Rao and Punyalata Chakraborty, both the daughters of Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury. While reading the memoirs written by Leela Majumdar, Punyalata Chakraborty and Satyajit Ray, we can gather that Upendrakishore passively encouraged his offsprings to write for children. He led the way by practicing – by writing for the Bengali kids himself. 

Bengali Literature

During the later half of the 19^th Century when the Bengali Renaissance period was underway, Upendrakishore realized the void in the Bengali children’s literature. Apart from the Bengali primer, Barnaparichay by Vidyasagar, the then Bengali children had no age-appropriate storybooks to read in their pastimes. As a result, the hobby of reading was neglected. 

He took up the cause and started writing epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata in simple Bengali, which the children could easily understand. However, after a print of his ‘Chheleder Ramayana’ was released, he was not happy with the printed copy. He felt that the illustrations could have been made far more detailed and attractive. Thus, he started learning about line blocks in printing by bringing books and equipment from Britain. 

After a lot of research, Upendrakishore introduced modern blockmaking. He used colour blocks and halftone blocks to add more clarity to the printed copies, becoming a pioneer in this technology all over South Asia. Later, he set up a printing press in his own house on Gorpar Road, Kolkata. Thereafter, from the printing press, gems of juvenile literature started getting published along with other books. 

Tuntunir Golpo

Read more about Children’s books

Upendrakishore pioneered in collecting the famous folklores of Bengal and compiling them in his own language in a book called ‘Tuntunir Boi.’ Until then, these stories remained oral heritage, passed down from one generation to another and told by grandmothers and mothers to their children during bedtime.

If we read the stories, we will come to know how prudently presented they were. The stories stressed the power of wisdom over the power of muscle. With a humble symbol like a small sunbird or Tuntuni as the protagonist of the Tuntuni’s stories, he showed how anyone with wisdom can win over any odds life brings to him/her. 

Buy Tuntunir Boi from Amazon

Invariably, his numerous ‘Bagher Golpo’ anthology’s tiger characters were naïve ones that other witty animals and humans could fool. Which, again, symbolized the power of brains over brawns.   

During the early years when mythology and epics were limited to fat books meant for adults, Upendrakishore single-handedly popularized the stories of Ramayana, Mahabharata, and other mythological characters among the children. He used simple sentences to narrate the stories. All of his stories had moral lessons. He chose to strengthen the conscience of the children through his engaging stories. 

Not only epics and folklores, but Upendrakishore Roy Chowdhury also wrote about geological and scientific topics for children. In those short essays, the scientific terms and concepts were lucidly explained so that the kids with a scientific bent of mind can relate and be inspired for their future scientific pursuits. 

Birth of Sandesh magazine

His literary contribution was not limited to publishing books. He founded a one-of-its-kind children’s magazine – ‘Sandesh,’ probably the first-ever children’s magazine in Bengali. Many eminent writers of that time, including his children, wrote stories and articles for children in the successive issues of ‘Sandesh.’ Unfortunately, he could not live to see the success of ‘Sandesh’ magazine. After his death, his worthy son, Sukumar Ray, his niece, Leela Majumdar, and his grandson, Satyajit Ray, took Sandesh to new heights and popularity. 

Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury was one of the eminent contributors to the Bengali Renaissance. He had interest in different forms of art and music. Along with stories, he also wrote two books on music. With his halftone block printing technology and use of the same while printing the books for the children, he had set a supreme standard of the Bengali juvenile literature which inspired many creative pursuits in our times and still continues to drift away our imaginations to a magical make-believe world.

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a chilly breeze indicates that Christmas is in the air and it’s time for some rock and roll with a platter of multi-cuisine delicacies followed by some rich fruit cake as dessert.

Park Street, Kolkata, with tons of famous restaurants, cafes, pubs, hawkers, becomes the central hub during Christmas. While one set of crowd gathers at Bow Barracks, the other rush to Park Street during Christmas time. And, undoubtedly, with Christmas bells lingering in the air and twinkling stars, both these places attract Christmas lovers from far and wide.

Read : Christmas Celebrations at Bow Barracks forever reminds of the traditional British celebrations in Kolkata

Christmas at Park Street

Christmas and Park Street are synonymous with each other. People from different communities, irrespective of their religion, come here to enjoy the Christmas carnival at Park Street. Our city of joy is all decked up with beautiful decorations during that time. And everyone in Park Street is dressed up in a party outfit wearing a Santa cap.

The street comes to life with glittering party lights, food stalls with lip-licking platters, fresh aroma of pastries and fruit cakes, Christmas songs, Christmas trees, rock music, gifts and presents.

Carols, Celebrations and Lighting   

Every inch of Park Street, starting from Russell Street to the end of Allen Park, is illuminated with thematic lighting, hanging overhead baubles, mini Santas, mistletoes and stars for the Christmas carnival.

A beautiful Christmas tree magnificently decorated with baubles, snowflakes, lights and stars is set up in Allen Park. It’s indeed a delightful sight to watch. In addition, Santa Claus distributes surprise presents to everyone to make their evening memorable. Besides, lots of fun activities are organized for the children. It’s heaven for the selfie-lovers!   

Gastronomic Exuberance

The Christmas carnival at Park Street is meagrely ten years old. But the gastronomic exuberance is a significant part of the celebration. The exceptional food of the renowned restaurants attracts food lovers from far and wide.

A meal in Kolkata is incomplete without fish. So, whole roasted bhetki with lemon butter sauce is common for all the mecho- Bengalis. Besides, roasted peking duck, roasted lamb shank, and stuffed apple pork are specialties available during Christmas.

If you have experienced queues outside the heritage restaurants and pubs like Peter Cat, Mocambo, Bar-B-Q, Trincas, and have thought, Oh My God! Visit Park Street on Christmas eve to meet the most enthusiastic and lively crowd standing in queues. You’ll get special Christmas buffets, including turkey and duck roasts, wine, fresh bread, fruit and plum cakes, at various places.

Christmas celebration at Park Street is incomplete without experiencing the flavour of mouth-watering dishes. The footpaths and lanes are full of food stalls serving multi-cuisine platters of all varieties to satisfy everybody’s taste buds. So along with mouth-licking delicacies, you can also have a wide variety of homemade foods, baked items and yummy snacks.  

Streets Crowded By Hawkers

On the occasion of Christmas, the hawkers come up with totally different items selling Christmas goodies like glitter hats, Christmas caps, laser lights, party shades and other things at reasonable rates.

Kids eye for the ideal treetop, Santas, reindeers and stars to take home. And the bustling shopkeepers fight for the best deals.

Also Read: This Christmas let’s take a tour around the heritage bakeries of my city Kolkata

Christmas Bakes and Cakes

Christmas celebration at Park Street seems incomplete without a taste of Flurys, the nostalgia in the city of Joy. The all-time favourite cake shop awaits with its bouquet of the authentic and unique collection of fruit cakes, plum and Dundee cakes; not to forget the Yule logs and pastries to satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth. They also serve new dishes like Norwegian Salmon, surf n turf dishes!

St.Paul’s Cathedral

St.Paul’s Cathedral on Cathedral Road, the largest church in Kolkata and Asia’s first Anglican cathedral, is beautifully decorated to celebrate the auspicious occasion. Adorned with a Christmas tree, wreaths, silver bells and streamers, trinkets and lights, it holds the midnight mass with Christmas carols and music by children.  

Jingle All The Way

Christmas parties are a must at Christmas time. Several clubs and pubs are host grand parties throughout the night. Some of the most renowned performers hit the stage with their rocking performances for the listeners. Different youth bands and church groups charm the ambiance with their rocking performance. Everybody is ready to rock the dance floor and sway to the music.

2021 Christmas at Park Street

Kolkata is planning to celebrate this year’s Christmas safely by maintaining Covid protocols. The festivity at Allen Park, was set outside last year and drew a colossal crowd. However, this year it’ll be brought inside to ensure no mob. Several cops will be present at the entrance and exit points to manage the excessive public.

Only 300 seats will be provided inside the park to witness the Christmas program. In addition, the administration will not allow any food stalls at Park Street except for only three stalls inside the park.  

Christmas in Kolkata is unimaginable without Park Street. Although the celebration is just for one day, the festivities and decorations last until the new year.

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We always want to give the best to our children, but being a parent is not an easy job. Amidst this Covid-19 pandemic, we have noticed that our kids are becoming stubborn and rigid, losing temper at short intervals, and behaving in a very noncooperating manner. We are eagerly waiting for the time when their golden and most cherished school days will be back, which they are missing profoundly. We guess the scenario is almost the same for most of the children in each and every household.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

School is the first place where a child socializes himself or herself. Here, they interact with teachers and same-aged children and develop habits, which are treasured throughout their lives. The influence of school is much more symbolic than that of a family because school accompanies an individual from childhood to adult age. Through games and functions, the school imparts positive relationships like friendship, cooperation.

BROADENING  PROSPECTS

In school,  children become friends with each other, irrespective of any caste, creed, religion and economic differences which widen their horizons and way of thinking.

Current Scenraio: Schools Reopening in West Bengal POst COVID

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Personality development and academic achievement go hand in hand within school premises. It’s not only a place to acquire knowledge on various educational fields like geography, history, mathematics, politics and other subjects. But is also responsible for inculcating the values like love, care, sharing, respect, sincerity and kindness towards others.

Read: What Happens When The Child Goes Missing?

LEARNING UNIQUE STUFFS

Children are very creative and they love to learn new things and activities from their friends, classmates and teachers. A school provides the ideal environment for developing these types of unique and positive skills. In school, learning is an unending process.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Schools give children the scope to participate in various sports and extra-curricular activities, which help them channelize their energy & efficiency.

HOW TO SAFEGUARD THE GOOD SCHOOL MANNERS  AT HOME

Parents also play a vital role by nurturing and maintaining the good school manners that a child develops. Raising a happy and healthy child is one of the tough challenges that parents are facing in recent times. As parents, we understand that balancing everything is not just easy but impossible at times. But, for the long-term benefit of our kids, we’ll have to put ourselves in a school’s shoes.

• During school days, children usually follow a proper daily routine. But at present scenario, all their day to day routines are hampered. As parents, we should try not to break the chain and maintain their healthy eating habits and  proper time to go to sleep. As children are now very much addicted to junk foods, we should avoid keeping such foods at home. They also should not remain awake very late at night which might have an adverse affect on their fitness.
• Try inculcating a routine for their study & physical activities, something similar to their previous routine. Thus, they won’t be out of their regular habits.
• Try to encourage them in reading story books and doing some constructive works which will keep them engage. And also reduce their boredom.    
• Talk to your children about their daily activities like what is taught in the online classes or their assignments. This will encourage them in doing their daily lessons.
• We should monitor screen time. With no schools, TV & mobile has become readily accesable to them. And most parents complain about their kids getting addicted to TV & mobile games. Just think – are they solely responisble for it?
• We can assign small household tasks to our kids like cleaning or cooking in order to make them responsible.

When I was down with covid during this pandemic, my young girl used to prepare breakfast for me. As a result, I have noticed that she has developed a sense of responsibility and engages herself in many household works.

HOW TO KEEP THE CHILD MOTIVATED DURING COVID – 19 PANDEMIC

The children are having a tough time due to the outbreak of Covid 19.  The schools being closed for the last one and a half year, children are becoming very lonely and depressed because they are missing their friends, the classroom and  their teachers who are very affectionate towards them. Education has changed dramatically from copies and blackboards to e-learning primarily based on laptops and mobiles.

• As most of the parents are working from home, it has become a hectic job for them to attend their youngsters all the time . But inspite of one’s busy schedule , parents have to give a quality time to their child. If the child is not in the mood of doing studies , you can do your own office work sitting next to them so as to encourage them.
• Try to boost your child mentally and engage them in doing different creative and craft activities or by playing indoor games.

None of us can be an alternate to a school. But as long as this pandemic continues, we have to keep our hopes high and boost our children by assuring them that the schools will open soon and they will again meet their friends, classmates and loving teachers with everybody gathering together at the school assembly hall for another morning school prayer.  

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