My Favorite City!

My favorite city? What it could be?? Kolkata , Calcutta ... call it by any name the essence will remain same... The city of Joy .......!!

The city of Rabindra Nath  Thakur.. 

The city of Satyajit Roy..., 

The city of Kali & Durga... 

The city of Mother Teresa .. 

The city of Rossogulla.....

The City of Mishti Doi... 

There are so many reason for me to say Kolkata is my favourite city... its people.. its foods, its festival , its culture.. 

I have been to so many places in India, I remember one incidence while I was travelling to New Delhi I lost my money so I was looking for an ATM as my train was about to leave I asked a person about the ATM location. At first he gave me a strange look them without uttering a word he kept on doing his job when I asked him again he just shouted on me and asked me to leave!!! If I were in Kolkata chances were that people would not only guided me its also possible he would go along with me to show me ATM! 

Kolkata has so many things in its glory like First Metro Rail service in India, Only Tram service in India , all Nobel Laureates (Rabindranath Tagore,C.V. Raman, Mother Teresa and Amartya Sen) are from Kolkata, the only Oscar Awardee for life time Mr Satyajit Ray is also from Kolkata!

Tram

Tram

If you not tasted the ball of sweet juice (Rossogula) you have not tasted the ultimate sweet dish of Kolkata invented by Nobin Chandra Das a well known sweet maker of Bag Bazaar which catapulted the city at top place in terms of sweets. Lal Mishti Doi Or Red Yogurt also very popular not only with local but outsiders also. Kolkata is also rich in its street foods like Phuchka, Jhalmuri ,Telebhaja , Mughlai Paratha and Fish Cutlet .

Mishti Doi

Phuchaka

Tele Bhaja

Jhaal Muri

Ball of sweet juice Rossogolla!!

Fish Cutlet

If I don't discuss Aadda and Coffee House then I will miss the inner soul of my favourite city kolkata!! Aadda and Kolkata is synonyms with each other. When you think about Aadda only one name flash in your mind; Coffee House, which is immortalised by Manna Day's "Coffee Houser sei adda ta...."!! Located opposite to Presidency University (Formerly Presidenc College) is famous for its Black coffee, fish Cutlet and lots of Aaddas...!  

Aadda Bazi

Coffee House er Aadda

Kolkata is spread over 1,886.67 km² (728.45 sq mi) and comprises 3 municipal corporations (including Kolkata Municipal Corporation), 39 local municipalties and 24 panchayat samitis, Kolkata, which is under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation( KMC), has an area of 185 km²  The east–west dimension of the city is comparatively narrow, stretching from the Hooghly River in the west to roughly the Easter Metropolitan Bye pass in the east - a span of 9-10 km The north–south distance is greater, and its axis is used to section the city into North, Central, and South Kolkata.

North Kolkata is the oldest part of the city. Characterised by 19th-century architecture and narrow alleyways.

Central Kolkata hosts the central business district. It contains B.B.D. Bagh, formerly known as Dalhousie Square, and the Esplanade on its east; Strand Road is on its west. The West Bengal Secretariat , General Post Office, reserve bank Of India, High Court, Lal Bazaar Police Head Quarters  and several other government and private offices are located here.

Kolkata is the main commercial and financial hub of East and North-East India and home to the Calcutta stock Exchange.It is a major commercial and military port, and is the only city in eastern India to have an international airport

Durga Puja the grand festival of Bengal... one should must visit Kolkata during Durga Puja to understand the rich culture of Kolkata or Bengal when Maa Durga worshiped over a period of five days (Shasti to Dashmi) people from different part of India and the world flocked to see the grand celebration of good over evil.  

My city; in real sense is madeofgreat...

Please visit http://madeofgreat.tatamotors.com/

Messiah of Green

"Ram Prasad Naskar"

We in our whole life meet so many people from different walk of life some of them left an impression so deep which inspire you to do something which you never dare to.... I also met a person few month back named Ram Prasad Naskar!

Ram Prasad Naskar by profession a Para Teacher in a village school named Sreepur Siksha Sadan of Sonarpur an interior area of West Bengal who has passion of cycling since his childhood. Born in a BPL family on 15th March 1978 his father was a poor driver. Their family income comes from cultivation. He completed his basic education from Chaltaberia High Schoo and after completing his graduation in Geography from Ashutosh college he completed his B.Ed from Belurmath Ramkrishna Mission in the year 2003.

After completing his B.Ed he got a Para teacher job in a school in Sonarpur. Being a teacher of Geography it occurred to him that the scope and dimension of his knowledge beyond the conventional education could be extended manifold if he could gain direct knowledge about topographical feature of his country and her multilingual people, variety and diversity within unity.

As he has already passion for cycling so he began his first cycle expedition in 2010 for 13 days and second in 2012 for 23 days to explore whole West Bengal carrying the message regarding the potential threat of River and Air pollution.

During the course of his preparation a report regarding the retreat of Gangotri Glacier published by the Paschim Banga Vigyaan Manch (W.B. Science forum) shocked him deeply, the apprehension of environment expert that the glacier would get completely melted by 2040! So he decided to make aware his countrymen  regarding the threats and remedies of Global Warming due to pollution. Accordingly he thought he must contribute to the cause of restricting the devastating consequences of global warming and will dispatch a message in written to all state pollution control board of India. Accordingly he applied to the Chief Minister , Govt. Of W.B. and finally got approval from the State Project Officer , Sarva Siksha Mission, Bikash Bhavan Salt Lake and NOC from his School Headmaster and also got little assistance from The West Bengal State council of Sports.

ON 18th December 2013 he started his mission "Sobujer Abhiyan" (Expedition for Green) from State Pollution Control Board office Salt Lake Parivesh Bhawan to submit his alarming message to the Chairman of all 28 States and 5 Union territory excluding Andaman Nicobar and Lakshya Dwip. covering the distance about 16,500 KM in 172 days. During his campaigning there were several occasion that he met with various media persons who published news and article about his noble mission.

Ignoring all the predicaments, danger, inconveniences, adverse situation and financial hardship he had successfully completed his mission at Tripura;s Agartala of the North East region where his journey of 172 days of paddling with passion , love and affection of people and support of countrymen terminated.

In the year 2014 Ramprasad along with 11 member started his journey for Bakkhali a beautiful beach in south 24 Parganas Dist. of West Bengal. During this trip he also distributed  literature to make people aware of river pollution..

A cow carcass at Bakkhali Sea Beach

In his next leg on 9th November 2015 he started his his journey for Purulia covering Kolkata, , Hooghly, Burdwan, Bankura , Purulia , East and West Medinipur...

His dream to cover world on his bi-cycle and spread the message for greener world and stop pollution... 

After all hardship and lack of financial support, I wonder for his passion and commitment towards nature and his craziness for cycling, What drive him? What is  his motivations?? He simply smile and said "If I can make aware 10% of people about Pollution and Global Warming which help this world to remain in its beauty and shape my life's mission achieved"

I learned a very important lesson of life, Junoon or craziness for your Goal!! No matter whatever the situation, you will achieve it.. He is truly a person of #madeofgreat          

http://madeofgreat.tatamotors.com/   

Sobujer Abhiyan

Mr Ram Prasad Naskar a bi-cycle enthusiast going to Purulia on his Bangla Bi-cycle to create awareness about Global Warning this is 3rd leg of his endeavor.

Prior to this last year in December a team of 12 member went to Bakkhali on bi-cycle and  Ram Prasad was one of the team member he has done an All India Bi-cycle tour to create awareness about Global Warning. By Profession a para teacher in a government school he has a dream to do world tour on Bi-cycle!!

We wish him all the best and safe return.

some snaps of flag off at the IOE premises.....