A Tale of Two Cows
A Tale of Two Cows infographic by kylatomdesign.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Jalpesh Temple

Image
The Jalpaiguri district links the body of West Bengal to the North East. It lies north of Bangladesh, stretching from the foothills of the Bhutan Hills to the former princely state of Cooch Behar and then to Assam. The district town, Jalpaiguri lies on the East bank of the Teesta. Crossing the Teesta, the scenery is typically that of Bengal. Green paddy fields, ponds and large trees. Just to the north of the road to Cooch Behar lie the jungles of the Terai, home to the one horned Indian Rhinoceros. But here all is bucolic Bengal. The road to the Bangladesh border goes of at right angles from the Jalpaiguri Cooch Behar road and about 7 kilometers distant is the Jalpesh temple. The story of this temple begins in mythology. The Rangpur district, now in Bangladesh, was part of the kingdom of Kamrup in the days of the Mahabharata. The king of these parts, Baghadatta one of the Barman kings, sided with the losers in the battle of Kurukshetra and lost his life to the third Pandava, Arjun .Ho...
Read more

The Uttar Banga Anath Ashram ( North Bengal Orphanage)

Image
Uma Mallick looks like an ordinary Bengali Housewife. She wears a standard cotton sari, vermillion on her forehead and travels clinging to her husband’s motorcycle as he whizzes past in Siliguri’s notorious lanes. However she is anything but that. Uma is the founder and the livewire of the Uttar Banga Anath Ashram (North Bengal Orphanage). Lest that makes you conjure up an image of a gleaming building full of well dressed children being looked after by an army of attendants, let me disillusion you. Her orphanage looks after girl children (she only takes in girls), and they are housed in a tiny postage stamp sized piece of land that was donated to her by a kind soul. Or perhaps not so kind soul, because the land was already occupied by a group of Mastaans, ( local goons) who could only be induced to vacate by a long and desperate struggle, involving a hunger strike by the children, and the help of local well-wishers. The house is basically a brick structure covered by a tin roof. There ...
Read more

Mahalaya and Mahisasurmardini

Image
Mahalaya always brings with it the promise of the Durga Puja to follow less than a week away. There are many religious connotations to this day. It is the day given over for prayers for ancestors and there are many who crowd the Hooghly in Calcutta to bathe and offer the necessary prayers. However for us, in our younger days, Mahalaya meant the onset of the Pujas. And this was always heralded by the early morning Mahisasurmardini programme in All India Radio. There are many programmes that have the signature of AIR Calcutta, but this particular one is one that is perhaps the most popular and has lasted the longest. I am told that the programme originated in 1932. In the first few decades it was a live programme that was anchored by the legendary Birendra Krishna Bhadra. When we were kids it was rumoured that Birendra Krishna used to bathe in the Hooghly at 3 AM and then walk to the AIR studios to start the programme at 4.00 AM. Ever since I can remember, my father used to switch on...
Read more