Milon 2013 review pdf by samyajit

Bengali Association of Singapore MILON 2013

OCTOBER 2013

this issue a magazine for the bengali community in singapore

special feature

qTHE MILON INTERVIEWS 12 q SECONDARY FEATURE 17 q CULINARY SKILLS 33 qLITERARY SHOWCASE 67

Singapore has been celebrating Durga Puja for more than half a century. A look at the Pujas over the years.

the milon team meets with some eminent bengalis, young and old, who can be an inspiration for the society

the milon interviews

society science photography business photography design art fashion lifestyle health cuisine dance theatre

MILON িমলন OCTOBER 2013

contents

featured 07 Pujas in Singapore - 55 years 12 Secondary Article 15 Product Review 22 Interview 33 Design Critique 36 Fashion 42 Technology 56 Awards

32 regular From the Editor 03 Rabindra Nazrul 2013 05 Shopfront 17 QandA 23 Innovations 07 Research & Development 07 Portfolio 07

MILON িমলন OCTOBER 2013

from the editor PUBLISHER Bengali Association of Singapore COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Milon - Ushering in a New Look

orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam libero neque, ultrices placerat venenatis nec, blandit non turpis. Phasellus quis scelerisque nunc. Sed orci tellus, suscipit vitae euismod vel, egestas suscipit tortor. Quisque egestas varius tortor non egestas. Quisque non urna diam, ut volutpat magna. Nam pellentesque ornare sollicitudin. Vestibulum blandit, diam ut pharetra dictum, enim metus dictum felis, vitae aliquet ante dui vel justo. Morbi interdum mattis purus ac malesuada. Fusce turpis ipsum, tempus quis interdum ac, vehicula vitae tellus. Donec sed nunc justo, non vulputate elit. Sed nec justo quis lectus accumsan blandit. In a imperdiet felis. Maecenas diam felis, aliquet quis feugiat quis, volutpat ut ligula. Donec dignissim iaculis tortor, sit amet volutpat diam hendrerit vel. Ut sodales, sapien nec vulputate commodo, dolor nunc blandit lectus, at euismod odio ante quis augue. Nullam ac libero id purus tempor dapibus. Vestibulum rhoncus tincidunt urna sit amet mattis. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Maecenas euismod

ultricies mi, et convallis erat luctus id. In at erat sapien. Mauris risus est, ultricies ut adipiscing sit amet, malesuada ac dui. Aenean molestie justo eu leo mollis nec ultricies elit gravida. Aliquam rutrum, arcu vitae consequat malesuada, sapien augue consectetur massa, quis sagittis tellus ipsum ut nulla. Pellentesque faucibus auctor volutpat. Nullam ut purus dui, nec pellentesque turpis. Sed ac vehicula tortor. Vestibulum lorem metus, placerat a imperdiet at, suscipit id neque. Duis vehicula erat vel purus blandit vulputate. Praesent quis metus urna, at sagittis leo. Vivamus ac sapien a libero hendrerit varius. Vivamus vitae urna mauris, dignissim malesuada est. In dapibus congue elit non rutrum. In in odio vel risus ullamcorper posuere. Suspendisse potenti. Proin nulla sem, sodales id tincidunt pharetra, vehicula nec quam. Donec sed lacinia lorem. Morbi dapibus velit sed urna tempor pharetra. Phasellus mattis eros ac lorem dignissim dictum. Etiam varius molestie nisi, ut posuere libero facilisis non. Ut adipiscing venenatis erat, eget varius ipsum tincidunt eu. Nam convallis ultricies mauris, sit amet egestas ante pellentesque quis. Curabitur ac sem facilisis tellus cursus rhoncus nec a lectus. Fusce condimentum bibendum felis eget viverra. Quisque at nisl nisl. Name Surname Editor, Contemporary Magazine

Nikhilesh Gupta PRESIDENT Debajit Das VICE PRESIDENT Kubalay Ghosh TREASURER Debashish Chakraborty SECRETARY Ambarish Ghosh Soumi Roy Nabayan Roy MEMBERS

ADVERTISING Sales and Marketing: Name Surname Phone: +12 3 456 789 Email: email@address.com Account Manager: Name Surname Mobile: +12 3 456 789 Phone: +12 3 456 789 Fax: +12 3 456 789 Email: email@address.com PHOTOGRAPHY Jaideep Nandi Amit Roy Chaudhuri Mithu Chakrabarty PRINT Printer Company Name GENERAL ENQUIRIES Postal Address SINDA Building 1, Beatty Road Singapore 209943 Phone: +12 3 456 789 Fax: +12 3 456 789 Emai: Website: www.bengaliassoicationsg.com ENVIRONMENTAL Milon Magazine is printed using soy-based vegetable inks which have replaced petroleum based inks. COPYRIGHT All material appearing in Milon Magazine is copyright unless otherwise stated or it may rest with the provider of the supplied material. Milon Magazine takes all care to ensure information is correct at time of printing, but the publisher accepts no responsibility or liability for the accuracy of any information contained in the text or advertisements. Views expressed are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher or the editorial team

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R.N. (Robin) Banerjee 1926-2013

TEXT GAUTAM BANERJEE

MILON িমলন OCTOBER 2013

I lost my father on 16 February 2013 and given my parents’ long association with Singapore and the Bengali Association dating back to 1970 I have written a summary of my father’s remarkable life for his many friends and well wishers. My father was born in Kolkata on 15 August 1926.His early childhood was rich in diversity and experience as my grand-father, K.N. Banerjee, was a senior officer in the Indian Railways and moved around different towns in Eastern India. My father was the eldest in a family of eight and one of his most memorable experiences as a child was the great earthquake in Jamalpur which he experienced with his beloved aunt, Pishima, and two of his younger siblings, Minoo and Dilip. Khoka to his parents, he was a brilliant student with a keen intellect and enquiring mind. After completing his BSc at the age of 18 from Lucknow University, he graduated as a civil engineer from Bengal Engineering College with a high distinction. He won a scholarship to study and work in England and qualified as a Chartered Engineer. Before leaving for London he married Shanti (Sunanda) Mukherjee, daughter of Uma Prasanna Mukherjee of Suri. Their’s was a unique partnership of mutual love and interdependence that spanned over 63 years. They were each other’s best friends and companions through thick and thin and their lives were truly intertwined. My father had a distinguished and successful career starting with Gammon India, where he rose to be Chief Engineer and a member of the company’s Board of Directors. In the early sixties he won a Colombo plan Scholarship to Canada for specialist training. While still in Gammon, he forged a special relationship with a Canadian Consulting company, C D Howe, and its India representative Steve

Roessler. Howe possessed special know how for construction of deep sea ports and helped Gammon win and execute large contracts such as the port in Marmagoa and the iron ore project in Kudremukh to name just a couple. 1970 was an inflection point in my father’s career when he took the bold step of moving to Singapore to join Gammon South-East Asia. Among the first Indian expatriates in Singapore, he served as Secretary and then President of The Bengali Association of Singapore. Together with my mother, who was active in cultural events, our house in Malcolm Road hosted many get-togethers and rehearsals for the Association. My parents’ many friends in the Bengali community remember those “ good ole days “ with great fondness. After Gammon was acquired by Bovis in 1973, my father left to help Howe international set up Howe South East Asia and became its first Managing Director. The next two decades were a golden period in my father’s career even though he had already turned 50. In 1975 he moved to Kuwait to become the CEO of a newly formed Joint Venture contracting company between Howe and WJ Towell, an established Kuwaiti Trading and Agency Company. He spent well over a decade in Kuwait and managed large projects in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Even though my parents moved to Kuwait in 1975 they continued to maintain close ties with their many friends in Singapore. When Basabi and I chose to make Singapore our home in 1982 my parents renewed their ties with Singapore to spend time with us and our two children Ishani and Rishi Raj. By this time though my father was already in his sixties, retirement was far from his mind and in 1990 at the age of 64 he decided to join his old friend and colleague, Steve Roessler, in Canada. The next four years saw my parents set up home in Ottawa with my father

working as special adviser to Steve Roessler, who by then was Chairman of CD Howe International. For my parents their four years in Canada was their “ Indian Summer “. They set up home from scratch and made new friends as they embarked on a journey of self-discovery in their silver years. Ultimately the distance from Kolkata and Singapore and the cold Canadian winters were instrumental in them moving back to Kolkata to stay in the beautiful house they had built in Salt Lake. My parents’ zest for life remained unabated as they spent the next ten years travelling the globe from Alaska to Peru to New Zealand to China. But it would be remiss of me not to talk about one important aspect of my father’s character: his generosity. He touched the lives of many both within and outside our extended family. Whether it was financial assistance, or mentoring and guidance to family members, colleagues or friends, he was truly generous never seeking anything in return. The fact that he had a positive impact and influence on many lives over many years was clear to me when I received the many calls, letters, messages and visits after his passing. In his later years he made significant financial contributions to his old alma mater now known as Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) and a number of medical institutions in India. In fact one regret that we in the family have is that my father was not able to receive a special Distinguished Alumni award from the President of India at the BESU convocation in January this year. Age and ill health had finally caught up, and my father made his final trip to Singapore in 2010. The last two years were a struggle, as one ailment after another plagued him. But he was forever the optimist and fought bravely to the end with a smile on his face and the refrain, “I am fine!”

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Life Positive

BY ANANYA MUKHERJEE

ishima, in reality is actually not my aunt. She’s my Dad’s favourite aunt, my grandfather’s youngest sister. Married when she was barely eleven to a man twice her age, five miscarriages by the time she was eighteen, abandoned at twenty and widowed at twenty six, her life would have read like a melancholic elegy, if Pishima were not the kind of person that she was. Despite destiny’s cruel tribulations, Pishima was always warm, affectionate and smiling.

grew up visiting her ancestral home during every vacation, eating home-made sweet coconut balls (naaru) out of her hands, tugging along her as she supervised the mango and lychee orchards, sitting with her to dry mango pickles out in the sun, listening to her melodious kirtans as she prayed every evening to a thousand and one deities in the family prayer room, waiting for the five little nakuldana prasad out of a little silver bowl, loving the smell of the rose petal zarda in her mouth, and hearing bed time stories from her past life before falling asleep on her huge four-poster bed. In short, I was in awe of her little frame and her timeless beauty in her simple white cotton sarees that was further highlighted by her heart warming smile and loving gestures. To me, as a kid, everything about Pishima was perfect, except for her Hindi.

umors of her horrendous experiences with the national language reached far and wide across the family tree. Otherwise diabetic, when it came to communicating in Hindi, Pishima would always have a Rasogulla or maybe two in her mouth, the joke ran. Directly translating her thoughts from Bangla

to Hindi, she was said to drop an extra “o” between all her words, making it sound like a poor imitation of Ashit Sen (from reel life) in real life. Her sense of gender was another thing. Thoroughly confused how a chair could be a feminine and why a tree should be a masculine gender, Pishima had given up on all such discriminatory grammar and had decided to follow a single uniformity; everything was a feminine gender. In hindsight, I see its deeper embedded significance—women’s liberation. For those from the genre of bra-burning, or the much more “liberated” sorts who refute words such as “chhelebela” and substitute their childhood with “meyebela” Pishima’s solution to the predicament with genders in Hindi could

‘‘It takes a lot of courage to offer that comic relief, be able to overlook the pains and sorrows and laugh at life’’ have been an inspiration incognito!

ishima, of course, never acknowledged her lack of understanding or delivery of the “Hindustaani der bhasha”. Any argument to convince her that she too was a part of a larger scheme of identity called “Hindustan” was dismissed immediately. Instead of rambling about Pishima’s unidentifiable acumen over Hindi or the granular clarity of her own

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nationality, let me share a few snippets from Pishima’s life, and some instances in particular.

ishima, since single and childless was often summoned for support by her extended family across the country in dire situations, especially in times of birth, marriages and death. Once, one of my Dad’s cousins in Gorakhpur was to deliver a child. Pishima came to the rescue of her nervous newly-wed young niece and volunteered to play “guardian angel”. An evening, close to the date of delivery, Pishima was said to have stayed alone at home with the “very pregnant niece” and an equally “anytime-now” expecting cow in the backyard. The three females (women and beast) were under the guard of the watchman, Ram Singh. Around midnight, the lady felt her first contractions; around the same time, the beast went into labour too. After juggling for a while between her needs to tend her niece and the cow, Pishima finally decided to opt for the lady and left the beast in the safe hands of Ram Singh. Animal activists wouldn’t have definitely appreciated Pishima’s act I am sure, but then that’s a different issue we can debate on yet another day! So, Pishima went up to nurse the lady and stayed in the house while Ram Singh tended to the suffering beast. After a while, a completely sweat soaked smiling Ram Singh came up to the portico and told Pishima that the cow had delivered a calf.

onsidering it as an auspicious sign, Pishima was ecstatic. “What is it, a ladka or a ladki?” she shouted back in her broken Hindi. The question left Ram Singh bewildered. How could a beast deliver a boy or a girl? His quick reply was “Maaji, bachhra hua” (It’s a calf ). Pishima tried her vocabulary again, “Ta to

bujhlam, aadmi ki aurat?” Poor Ram Singh got further flustered. Was the old woman nuts? “Bacchra” he retorted now. Pishima must have got frustrated by then for she yelled, “Mukhhpora, tum hua ki hum hua?” At this, Ram Singh, who was generally known to be a quiet old loyal servant smiled from ear to ear. Pointing a finger at Pishima, he answered with the biggest grin anyone had ever seen, “Maaji, aap hua!”

nd there was yet another thing! For all statements, past, present or future, Pishima used an exclamatory “hai” (meaning “it is”)! Sometimes, her sentences would start well in Hindi, meander a bit into Bangla, thump back to a language that was neither Bangla nor Hindi but somewhere in between, and finally end with a “hai” , always accompanied by a sigh of great relief and a smile at its completion.

ust as she would happily connect all the world, animate, inanimate, living or dead, history or present to Bengal. My mother recalls an instance where Pishima came to visit us in a little town by the Wainganga river in Maharashtra, India. Away from the hustle bustle of urban living, this little township was blessed with a generous neighbourhood of fishermen at the outskirts. Local fishermen would ferry around the township in the mornings with wicker baskets full of fresh water prawns. In the local language, they called it Jhinga. Once, when my mother was busy in the shower, Pishima, the austere bong Bramhin widow, invited one of these villagers home...”Aye to baba, roj jhinga jhinga chechash. Aaj ektu jhinge posto kore bouma ke khawabo.” My mother came out of the washroom to find a pandemonium in the bungalow verandah as

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I Pishima went berserk...”Shorbonash koreche, hottochara amake ei boyeshe ekhon amish khawabi? Byata murkho, chingri maach ko tum jhinge keno bolta?”

aving said that, Pishima was one person who could justify all her countless antics by that signature smile of hers and an explanatory note so honest and innocent that no one would think of charging her against anything ever again. To give you another sneak peek into her admirable spirit, here’s a story.

ishima was again summoned by another dying relative whose son had to urgently go on a business tour to the US for a fortnight. Pishima agreed to go to Mumbai to take responsibility and represent the family support system. Just before leaving, the grateful nephew told Pishima, in his absence, she could contact his colleague Mr Godrej, who lived in the same complex, should there be a need for it. Pishima nodded in consent. Fortunately, nothing happened; but after a fortnight, when her nephew returned, Pishima complained, “I don’t like your colleague. He has no respect for senior citizens.” Coming from Pishima who hardly criticized anyone, this was a surprise for her nephew. Godrej must have really misbehaved, he thought and queried, “What happened?” “Oh, nothing much! The other day, I saw him at the elevator and called his name ‘Voltas, Voltas….stupid boy, didn’t even acknowledge.” Her nephew broke into a mad laughter. “He is Godrej, not Voltas, Pishima. How would the poor chap know you were calling him?” “It’s one and the same thing. Both are refrigerator names,” she replied in strong defence.

could go on and on about her. Pishima just celebrated her 93rd birthday. I met her at a family wedding in India some years back. Dressed in her starched white linen and still smelling of the rose zarda, she was making sweet coconut rolls and sharing stories about her innumerable comic acts with her great grand children. Her toothless grin accentuated the positivism of her being, her relentless effort to live life to its full, no matter what destiny had in store. It takes a lot of courage to offer that comic relief, be able to overlook the pains and sorrows and laugh at life, and most of all at ourselves. God bless, Pishima!

Ananya Mukherjee, member of BAS and former editor of HRM Asia, is an acclaimed writer with more than 1000 publications to her credit. Her journalistic acumen in print and television covers a whole gamut of subjects including politics, lifestyle and business. She is a passionate writer, avid reader, blogger, theatre artiste and trained dancer. Ananya currently spearheads Internal Communications in a multinational company.

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Samir Kumar Datta Samir Datta (affectionately known as Samir-da to most of the older members of Bengali Association of Singapore) passed away peacefully in Kolkata on 5th August 2013. Samir-da was born in Calcutta in August 1930 and raised in that city. However Indian independence, an event he and many others had been awaiting most eagerly, also brought trauma to many in Calcutta, with his family home among those properties which were destroyed during the chaos. Consequently, he left India in 1953 with little to his name except a mission to study and secure a job in the UK. He subsequently secured his Engineering qualifications and joined a British electrical company known as Revo. Revo (which after several mergers eventually became a part of the GE group of the US) recognised that the rapidly changing political scene in Asia brought about by recently independent countries, would mean enhanced business opportunities for them. When they asked Samir-da to be the first Far East Manager (later Director) for the company in 1959, stationed in Singapore, he jumped at the chance, as he was eager for a new challenge and did not wish to live permanently in the UK.

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1930-2013 Moving to Singapore (with a brief stop in Calcutta en route) was highly exciting, not only because he lived through many of the key events in Singapore’s modern history, but especially because he met his future wife, Meera (a second generation Singaporean Bengali) shortly after his arrival. With the consent of the families, they were married in March 1960 in Calcutta. His pioneering position as an expatriate of Asian origin representing a British multinational meant that he had unique opportunities and exposure through both business and social circles. This included him being a former Secretary for the UK Manufacturers’ Organisation in Singapore and a Past President for his Rotary Club. Additionally, he had an avid lifelong interest in bridge, achieving a global Grandmaster ranking and representing Singapore on many occasions in Asian and World Olympiad bridge tournaments. However, he never forgot his roots and remained committed, interested and involved with all the activities of the Bengali Association of Singapore. Perhaps his most significant contribution was in 1979 when, together with a group of senior members of the Singapore Bengali community, he initiated and served in the organising committee of the inaugural Durga Puja in Singapore, involved

words SANJOY DATTA

in key activities such as the transport of the Pratima and the entertainment at the function. The Puja was a huge success and has been repeated every year since. It was truly a dream come true for many of the older generation Singapore Bengali families at that time, especially because many of those born outside India (including his own wife, Meera, and son, Sanjoy) had never even had the opportunity to attend a Puja – something which would be inconceivable for Bengalis living in Singapore today. His one great sadness was Meera’s early passing away in 1996, at a relatively young age. With his son and daughterin-law, Sanjoy & Richa, he did later find much joy in his 3 grandchildren, Disha, Srijan & Nishtha. Although in recent years he spent most of his time in India, and later Belgium, where Sanjoy is currently based, he still held Singapore and all his friends there very close to his heart. Samir-da, like many in his generation, provided a rapidly disappearing link to the “old Singapore”. His vivacious, outgoing, eloquent and humorous presence, helpful nature and generosity for those in need will be remembered and missed by many but, as he would be the first to say, Samir-da enjoyed a full innings and was a happy, contented man when he passed away.

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CONTEMPORARY MILON MAGAZINE িমলন OCTOBER MONTH 20XX 2013

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About the author: A resident of Singapore since November 2007, Suhrid is a die-hard Bengali, counting among his principal interests reading, writing, punning, quizzing, music, theatre & compering. When not engaged in these activities, he earns a living working for a renowned footwear brand.

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অিতিথ About Me

RJ ROY একটা েপাষািক নাম থাকেলও, কলকাতার FM Station 94.3 Radio One-এর radio jockey িহেসেব Roy নােমই েপশা-িক পিরিচিত। TV-েতও িকছু show

host কির। 'শবদবািজকর' িহেসেব ওর intention হল সবার েভতের লুিকেয় থাকা 'শব্দবাজ' - েক জািগেয় েতালা।

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Debarati Ghosh, SPR, BAS member since 1994, is from Simla Street, North Kolkata. Studied at Calcutta University & Canada and enjoys writing in Bengali & doing “aabriti”. Other than oil painting on canvas(trained at Lasalle College), first love is still Bengali Literature, particularly Rabindranath & SaratChandra, and discourses on Bhagwad Gita.

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