SOWMEN MITTER | সৌমেন মিটার

এই নাও বাম হাত তোমাকে দিলাম। একটু আদর করে রেখো, চৈত্রে বোশেখে খরা আর ঝড়ের রাত্রিতে মমতায় সেবা ওশুশ্রূষা দিয়ে বুকে রেখো, ঢেকে রেখো, দুর্দিনে যত্ন নিও সুখী হবে তোমার সন্তান। এই নাও বাম হাত তোমাকে দিলাম। ও বড়ো কষ্টের হাত, দেখো দেখো অনাদরে কী রকম শীর্ণ হয়েছে, ভুল আদরের ক্ষত সারা গায়ে লেপ্টে রয়েছে, পোড়া কপালের হাত মাটির মমতা চেয়ে সম্পদের সুষম বন্টন চেয়ে মানুষের ত্রাণ চেয়ে জন্মাবধি কপাল পুড়েছে, ওকে আর আহত করো না, কষ্ট দিও না ওর সুখে সুখী হবে তোমার সন্তান। কিছুই পারিনি দিতে, এই নাও বাম হাত তোমাকে দিলাম।

A film on religion and superstition by one of the greatest rationalists and humanist directors the world has ever seen. -  Gautam Benegal "It is a haunting melody of cultural conflicts,irrational enthusiasm, obsession.belief in God by asceticism (instead of rational thought )"-  Nida Ghatte

A film on religion and superstition by one of the greatest rationalists and humanist directors the world has ever seen. -  Gautam Benegal "It is a haunting melody of cultural conflicts,irrational enthusiasm, obsession.belief in God by asceticism (instead of rational thought )"-  Nida Ghatte

And the riot-mongers know how to go back on their promises made some six months ago, in the run-up to the polls. Actually they knew it all along. From containing price rise to bringing back black money stashed away in foreign banks and sundry other issues on which they were so very critical of their predecessors!!! Now just keep fanning the beast within..! Leave the rest to Time, and some manipulation as well. The 'sabre-matie', or for that matter any other X-press will do to  make it to the destination.  Only that our techie-literati, the glitterati included, and the so-called libertarians (who evidently take pride in their un-addled [or, sun-addled?] superiority of their brains) would never know this was what their tomfoolery led to. And now, as a corollary, the diktat-mongers too have a heyday, with their beards flowing and wagging all the way. 

Rally, and then a counter rally of the fundamentalists, or rather the bigots from both the minority and majority blocs, and that too so quick in succession, are pointers to how things are going to shape up in the days to come vis-a-vis Bengal's political scenario. What havoc can parochialism wreak - we have, time and again, been witness to in the developments that have so often claimed so many lives, rocked the very foundation of humanity, held our values to ransom... And then u see, if of course u want to, how it was so different here not so long ago, in those 'bygone' days!

Peter Thomson Well, you learn something every day... IRISH: THE FORGOTTEN WHITE SLAVES They came as slaves: human cargo transported on British ships bound for the Americas. They were shipped by the hundreds of thousands and included men, women, and even the youngest of children. Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished in the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by their hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment. Some were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the marketplace as a warning to other captives. We don’t really need to go through all of the gory details, do we? We know all too well the atrocities of the African slave trade. But are we talking about African slavery? King James VI and Charles I also led a continued effort to enslave the Irish. Britain’s Oliver Cromwell furthered this practice of dehumanizing one’s next door neighbour. The Irish slave trade...