Ramblings of a 70-year old: bangladesh

Showing posts with label bangladesh. Show all posts

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Ganga Vilas cruise, the longest river journey of 50 days, will sail from Varanasi to Dibrugarh

The government of India will launch the world's longest luxury cruise. It will be a 50-day cruise and will sail from Varanasi to Dibrugarh through Bangladesh next year. This is an attempt of the government to push inland water development in the country. In an interview, the Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said that the Ganga Vilas cruise will sail will cover 27 river systems and visit over 50 tourist sites including World Heritage Sites. The tentative date of starting is January 10 from Varanasi. The route will pass-through Kolkata and Dhaka and cover a distance of 4,000 km before reaching Bogibeel in Assam on March 1. This Ganga Vilas cruise will be the single largest river journey by a river ship in the world and will see both India and Bangladesh on the cruise map of the world. Govt to launch world's longest river cruise of 4,000 km from Varanasi next year.

The minister said development of coastal and river shipping, including cruise services, is one of the priorities of the government. He said – “besides promoting passenger traffic on rivers, the development of inland waterway systems would also facilitate trade and cargo services and give a boost to tourism around the areas along its route." The cruise will operate on a PPP model and the operators will decide ticket pricing. The route will cover almost 1,100 km in Bangladesh before re-entering India while sailing via the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route. This route has opened trade and transit channels between India and Bangladesh as it connects the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers.

Monday, October 10, 2022

Fort William restarts heritage walk for civilians

This is an 18th-century building and houses HQ, Eastern Command, Kolkata. There used to be a heritage walk around Fort William but COVID-19 led to its suspension for two years. This suspension is withdrawn. The building has a rich collection of army history starting from the Battle of Plassey. Visitors enjoy seeing parts of the 18th-century history and storing bits and pieces of information. There are various heritage buildings on the campus. These include a chapel-cum-library. It bears a strong resemblance to the chapel of the Trinity Hall in Cambridge, the Kitchener House and its grand dining table. There are also the Dalhousie barracks where Netaji was kept before being shifted to his Elgin House residence. While inaugurating the walk, Chief of Staff Lt Gen. K.K. Repswal, HQ, Eastern Command, said - “We used to have heritage walks in 2019 but because of the pandemic, it was stopped for two years. Today, we are resuming the walk. You will get to see a lot of war history, about life in Fort William and see the heritage structures here.” Heritage walk resumes at Fort William after pandemic break. Calcutta Heritage Collective arranged the inaugural walk. This is a group created to restore, revive and reuse built heritage in the city and the state.

The shape of Fort William is octagonal. Five of its sides face the land while the remaining three face the Hooghly. Moreover, there is a 9m deep and 15m wide moat. Incidentally, there used to be a fort built near where the GPO stands today. The British East India Company built it between 1698 and 1706. They named it after King William III. The current fort, too, gets its name. Anyway, in 1756, the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daulah, attacked the old fort and took over the city. He renamed it Alinagar. Subsequently, the British constructed the new fort in the Maidan area in 1758. It was after the Battle of Plassey and completed in 1781. There are three layers of defense for the fort. These are the rampart walls, the moat (now dry) and a garden called Vatika. Incidentally, the fort has six gates, large enough for elephants to enter. Apart from these, there are nearly 500 cannons made dysfunctional after the British left. The Command Museum, built in 1956 and redesigned in 2010, narrates the story of the Eastern Command, World War II, the Burma Campaign, the Sino-Indian conflict and the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Saturday, August 27, 2022

India and Pakistan meet in Dubai for Asia Cup 2022

It is going to be a memorable Sunday as archrivals India and Pakistan meet in Dubai for Asia Cup 2022. India won the title in 2018 and they are the defending champions. At that time, the men in blue beat Bangladesh in the final. Until now, India won the title 7 times while Sri Lanka won it five times and Pakistan won it twice. The Asia Cup 2022 began in the UAE on August 27. The inaugural match was between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Now, it will be between India and Pakistan on August 28 in Dubai. There are two groups A and B. India and Pakistan are in group A along with the qualifier Hong Kong. Teams in Group B are Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. There will be a total of 13 matches. India vs Pakistan Weather Forecast And Pitch Report of Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai – Asia Cup 2022. Out of 14 games played between India and Pakistan, India won 8 while Pakistan five. The last time both these teams played was in 2021 when Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets.

The schedule in the group stage is each team will play one match against the teams in their group. At the next stage, the top 2 teams from both groups will qualify for the super four round. During this round, each team will play one match against the other. Subsequently, the top two teams will qualify for the final. This will be on September 11 in Dubai. Incidentally, Dubai has played host to 74 ODIs. Teams batting first won 14 of these while teams batting second won 34. The captains would keep this in mind at the time of the toss.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Bengalis and the hawkers’ corners in Kolkata

It was at some point of time in the mid-1950s that the first ever hawker’s corner came up in North Kolkata at Shyambazar. It was located in the area of cinema halls and the famous Hatibagan bazar. As the name suggests, it was meant exclusively for hawkers who were allotted one unit of space in which the owner could set up shop and sell his wares.
It was a sprawling covered space and the shops were mostly of clothes, sarees, blouses, handicrafts, artificial jewelry, toys etcetera. And, the advantage of having it in an area frequented by people was good for business. There were no overheads as such and usually, the owners were jack-of-all-trades from being the salesman to the helper boy.

At times they were assisted by their wives or sisters because the clientele was usually women and girls.
Later, more hawkers’ corners were set up in Kalighat and in the Maidan. The concept was to rehabilitate the refugees who had come over from Bangladesh and the government of the day rose to the occasion to set up these hawkers’ corners.
However, in South Kolkata, the picture was different. Here also refugees had settled in the suburbs and they also wanted to find out methods of earning their livelihood. Most of them put up cottages on forcibly acquired land and took up hawking goods from footpaths. And, over a period of time, they joined hands, formed groups, obtained the blessings of political parties and began to set up shops on the footpaths of the busy crossing at Gariahat.
Right now, it is impossible for pedestrians to use the footpath due to the encroachment.
The bottom line is that these hawkers are officially categorized as unemployed, their names ae registered in the employment exchanges but the amount of money that the take home at the end of the day can never be imagined. It is all tax-free. (to be continued…)

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Monday, August 31, 2015

A look at the fish crazy Bengalis

It is a well-known fact that Bengalis are crazy about fish but, somewhere down the line, they have had to change their tastes from the small size tasty fish to larger fish that do have their values but do not taste like the ones fifty years back.
The main problem with the small size fish was its preparation prior to frying and cooking. These fishes had plenty of scales and getting rid of these annoying externals was a major headache for the mothers of yore. Usually the task would be assigned to elderly women in the family who had plenty of spare time or to the maid servants. It was the days prior to the arrival of LPGs on the scene and when the ovens would be coal fired. The ash that was left over at the end of the day would be carefully preserved and would be used in descaling the fish.

Yes, the women had a tact – they would hold the fish in between the fingers, dip it in the ash and then proceed to remove the scales. After that was doe, they would clean the internals and pick up the next one. Obviously, it was a time consuming affair but, once these small size fish went through the cleaning process and was coked and served, the dish would leave its taste in the mouth long after the meal was over.
Unfortunately, such women are nowhere around. They have vanished like the coal fired ovens and fish lovers have to now depend on the fish seller to clean and cut the fish to size. As a result, the attraction of small size fish have been lost. The craze is now for large size fish like rohu, katla, bhetki, prawns etcetera – these are easy to handle. Same goes for the ones that do not have the annoying scales – fish like pabda or tangra.
Of course, exceptions will always be there – and, the exception is the hilsa. It has scales but no one is much bothered because, beneath those scales lies a fish that tastes divine. It may be sourced from the Padma River in Bangladesh or from our very own River Ganges but, it is certainly the Lord of the Rings. (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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