Zoom off from New Delhi to Kolkata by Rajdhani Express for Kolkata Boi Mela

My first working level meeting with the Russian delegation was in January 1995.
It was a new experience as well as a bit of a problem for me because I had to also attend the Kolkata Boi Mela and the dates clashed. The Boi Mela usually took place in the last week of January and went on till first week of February and the meeting was in the 2nd week of January.

My transfer had already affected the publication of Naba Nalanda. Moreover, along with my transfer, one of my partners became a patient of diabetes – therefore, our Sunday visits to the industrial hub of Nashik to collect ads took a beating. The publication was a sort of joint enterprise and, with me unable to devote time because of my new assignment and my partner unable to extend support because of restrictions imposed on him by the doctors, we realized that Naba Nalanda would die a natural death.
In spite of that, we had booked a stall in the Boi Mela of 1995 and my partner had gone on ahead to prepare the stalls. I was supposed to meet up with him directly from Delhi after the meeting with the Russian delegation.
Therefore, I took my boss into confidence and booked a ticket to Kolkata by the Rajdhani Express. My boss cautioned me to return back to Nashik at the earliest and, also suggested that I try to stay away from the publication business since it was impractical to devote equal attention to my profession and my hobby. I had to sacrifice one.
I also knew as much and, my participation in the 1995 Kolkata Boi Mela was our last one. (to be continued …)

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There is always light at the end of a dark tunnel

I believe in the well-known age-old maxim: ‘there is always light at the end of the tunnel’. And, another one in the same vein: ‘every cloud has a silver lining’.
I got proof of these yet again because my transfer had its plus points as well as the minuses. On hindsight, I can say with confidence that the pluses far outnumbered the minuses. Yes, the transfer affected my outdoor activities and I had to, ultimately, withdraw from the Naba Nalanda magazine. The patrons and subscribers were disappointed but, I had to choose between my professional and my literary ambitions and the former took precedence.
But, the transfer changed my outlook on life. It gave me new confidence of accepting challenges.

My department was a new one. I had new bosses and the work was challenging because I had to set up the department from scratch. It spoke volumes about my new bosses who had never seen me at work but had already formed so high opinion about me that they did not hesitate to give me the responsibility of setting up a new department.
A room was, therefore, assigned to me, along with four employees and a junior grade officer. And, all these individuals had been transferred because their bosses felt that they would be better off elsewhere – just like me. The task assigned to me was to organize the inventory of material received from Russia against a new project against different contracts. These items would be required at a later date in the factory but, some of the material had already arrived and others were on their way. I had to develop a system to keep tab of physical receipts and subsequent issues.
The best part was that till my transfer, all these activities used to be handled by a Project group but, immediately I was transferred, the officer in-charge of the Project came to meet me. He was all smiles. He shook my hands, congratulated me on my new assignment and said that he would send over whatever documents he held.
Within the hour, a four wheeler arrived and offloaded four steel almirahs full of documents pertaining to various Russian contracts. Also, all packing lists of items received from Russia.
My task was to set up a system to monitor the complete tasks. (to be continued…)

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Making friends and influencing probasi Bengalis

The response we received for our magazine was fairly good - complimentary copy of each issue would be sent by post to new addresses and, new members would keep joining up. But, subscriptions alone cannot meet the financial needs. Hence, our struggle to get regular ads and tap new sources for fresh ads was an ongoing process. And, once we met the requirement for next issue, we would focus our attention to other related subjects.
Like – moving out to local places to make friends with probasi Bengalis. Our mission would be to sell our books, make members for Naba Nalanda and try to identify sources for ads.
That is how we made a trip to Ahmednagar. The journey was tough. We took a night bus and had to remain standing whole night. We reached Ahmednagar early morning and stayed there in a hotel for one day. It was another industrial city and had a reasonable sprinkling of Bengalis.
Later, during the Durga Pujas, we went to Pune. This city was large and had a large population of Bengalis. A number of Durga pujas were held but they were scattered in different corners. We had heard of the Congress Bhavan Durga Puja – it was supposed to be biggest one in Pune and Bengalis flocked to it.

Apart from Bangalore, Ahmednagar and Pune, we had arranged for reps of Naba Nalanda in Bhilai and Raipur. And, all these activities ate into the available time. My domestic life became practically nonexistent and my wife and son had to do most of the shopping and outdoor activities.
My professional life also suffered. I was not able to devote any extra time to my job and my bosses did not like that. I would go for duty at 7am, complete my shift at 3.30pm, take the 3.45pm shift bus to Nashik City to carry out data entry work and return home by the 10pm bus from the city. By the time I reached home, it would be 11pm and I would be famished. (to be continued ...)

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Naba Nalanda spreads its wings after Kolkata Boi Mela

After the success of our participation in the 1992 Kolkata Boi Mela, we wanted to spread our wings and tap the untapped potentials of probasi Bengalis – probasi or those who live outside West Bengal.
Once upon a time probasi meant those who live out of India. That meaning has changed over a period of time because plenty of Bengalis have had to leave their homeland in search of jobs and sacrifice the addas in the tea shops of the localities. They have settled in other corners of the country. And, not only the Bengali men but Bengali women also who have got married and moved out of Bengal.
Anyway, to make a beginning, I selected Bangalore as first base to tackle.
The reason of selecting Bangalore was twofold – firstly, it was where our Corporate Office was located and where I would have to go once in a while to undergo training programs. And, secondly, I had taken a decision to visit Lord Balaji at his abode in Tirupati. I had gone once when I was on training in the HAL Staff College and had fallen in love with not just the Lord himself but the temple and the journey.

Incidentally, I had taken a tourist package – the cost in those days was Rs 30 only. The luxury bus would leave Bangalore at 9pm, travel all through the night and land in a hotel in Tirupati early morning 4am. In the hotel, the visitors would be put up for half an hour to freshen up, have a bath etcetera.
Since I was alone, I had to share the room with an aged gentleman. We got to talking and I learnt that he stayed in the United States but would come down every year to pay his respects to Lord Balaji.
That set me thinking. If an old man could come all the way from the US to meet the Lord, why can’t I from Nashik? Therefore, I took a mental pledge to undertake the journey for 12-years, without break.
During one of these journeys, I looked around for a Bengali Association of sorts in Bangalore, the Garden City. It was not too difficult a task and, I came in contact with a lady who agreed to become our rep in Bangalore. (to be continued …)

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‘Papri’ and ‘Barood’ - collection of Bengali short stories published from Nashik

Encouraged by the success of the first issue of Naba Nalanda and the feedback we received through the feedback forms, we took a couple of important steps to boost our presence. One of these was to identify individuals in areas like Bangalore, Bhilai, Raipur, Pune and Jabalpur and request them to be our local representatives. We were fortunate to induct such persons into our fold.
Another project we undertook was to print a collection of short stories. Since we wanted to make a start, we decided to feature our own short stories in the first volume. We named it ‘Papri’ (Petals) and the book, with five stories, ran into around 100 pages.

In the case of books, data entry was smoother as compared to the magazine. There was no question of inserting ads or images or change the layout to accommodate poems.
However, once the data entry was completed, the next problem was funds – the revenue we generated through ads and from subscription of members went towards printing of the magazine. That was a continuous and repetitive process. Therefore, in order to finance the books, we decided to contribute our own funds.
Our publisher friend agreed to get the paper through his sources, the printing of the pages would be by photo offset method and the covers would be printed by screen printing.
By the time our first book ‘Papri’ was ready, our magazine was already into its 3rd issue. It was late 1991 and, we suddenly decided to participate in the Kolkata Book Fair. So, we wrote to the Publishers and Booksellers Guild for the necessary forms.
And, took up data entry on topmost priority of our second book ‘Barood’ (Explosive) to get it published before the Book Fair to be held in January 1992. It would be a collection of crime stories.
We were confident of getting a stall allotted to us because we would be showcasing magazines and books printed outside West Bengal to the Bengalis of Kolkata who love anything out of the ordinary. (to be continued …)

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The first issue of Naba Nalanda leaves Nashik by post

It was in 1991 that the first issue of our Bengali magazine Naba Nalanda was dispatched by post to a couple of hundred addresses in various parts of India – these were complimentary copies and we were certain that this novel attempt of ours would pay dividends.
We had managed to obtain some ads to cover various elements of cost but, still, we had to invest our labor and time. It was a combined challenge because we had to not only go ad hunting but also sit at the computer to do data entry of the matter that would go into the issues.

In order to do this, we had to get acquainted with the Bengali keyboard and learn various DTP procedures regarding layout of pages, insertion of texts and images.
There were three of us in the project and while two of us were employed in HAL and stayed in township, our third friend ran his own publishing business and stayed in Nashik – his setup was nothing very hi-fi but it was useful for minor works like data entry of address labels, printing of leaflets, printing pocket calendar etcetera.
As to data entry of magazines, our drug-addict friend had, by then, become an asset for us. He would sandwich our work in between his own regular work. Of course, he would pack up by 6pm and at that time, we would take over. The understanding with the ad agency was that we would do our work from 6pm to 9pm on weekdays. On Sundays we would use his facilities based on our convenience.
Obviously, time for us was at a premium because our day began at 6am and, by the time we returned home, it was around 10pm. We would go to Nashik for data entry – it was a distance of 30-Km up and down daily. And, on Sundays, if we did not go ad hunting, we would sit at the computer for half the day. My friend and I had divided the work – if he went in the morning, I would go in the evening. (to be continued …)

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