Travel

A Dyanora black and white television, an old murphy radio, a grubbly-looking His Master’s Voice gramaphone, a German-made organ; as I wandered around, looking at the haphazard display I could not help but turn up my bulbous nose at the modest collection. After all I hail from the city which is home to the great Indian Museum; or if you consider my present home – it boasts of the great Salar Jung Museum. So if you detect a certain degree of snootiness creeping in for the oddball display in Visakha Museum at Vizag I should be excused.

[In search of a soul in Ladakh]

Frustrated for not being able to pursue his dream of becoming an actor, the Dilip Kumar fanatic went on to first join the Indian Air Force with guardian advice from his army-man uncle. I can recall him saying “I remember when we became trainers, we used to keep count of how many fellows we kicked out of the airplane during free fall training!” – Then from Air Force to the Indian Army, to the Core of Signals, from being a wild horse to becoming a soldier, a decorated officer.

The Durga Puja! About the only deadline that the laid back Bengali takes rather seriously. Four days of festivities takes months of elaborate and intricate preparation and at the heart of everything is the creation of the idol. And so we come to Kumortuli (potter’s colony) in Kolkata. The epicenter of idol making for Bengalis.