The Legacy of Tagore #KLF2015

Photograph - Anirban Saha | www.anirbansaha.com

Rabindranath Tagore’s name is synonymous with Bengali culture. His contribution to literature, especially to Bengali literature is unquestionably towering. However, the worth of Rabindranath Tagore cannot just be measured in the songs, novels, poems, stories, plays and essays he has composed. The legacy of Tagore lingers on even today, more than seven decades after his earthly demise. His influence is still evident in modern works of literature.

Let's Football

The Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata lights up during the Opening Ceremony of the inaugural Hero Indian Super League. Photograph - DNAIndia

The Indian Super League is here, and off to a flying start. The much-awaited football tournament, consisting of eight newly-formed teams, is set to become a part of the sport's annual calendar with its two-month-long inaugural season garnering more popularity than ever anticipated. With bollywood personalities owning various teams, and cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly doing their bit to promote the game, the glamour behind the tournament was never in doubt. The stupendous amount of revenue invested in every team too is an indicator of the sort of popularity this League was earmarked to achieve. With an average 15 crore rupees being the annual franchise cost, this league has got the economic backing that so many other Indian leagues in other sports did not.

The Freshers' Tale

CSE during their Ten Minutes to Fame. What you cannot see in the picture is how loudly the crowd cheered for Suchismita. Photograph - Ankit Mukhopadhyay.

Eagerly anticipated, strewn with controversy, yet enthusiastically executed - Freshers' 2014 has now come and gone. The single greatest night for a college student in freshman year is inevitably looked forward to with unmatched anxiousness. With pieces falling apart from the puzzle that held the picture together, the fire ignited in hearts and minds culminated in a blast on stage that saw each department fighting it out against the other in a quest for supremacy. 

Huddling around my mates, cheering for CSE, dancing my heart (and legs) out, shouting till my throat got sore, it was a pretty eventful day. Freshers' is the day to celebrate being a first year student in the college. Disregarding all the culture, or the lack thereof, on display, it was always going to be an event to remember for freshmen like myself.

Let the Festivities Begin! #DurgaPuja2014

Photograph: Saimantick Bhadra | www.saimantick.com

"Maa ashchhe!"

If you're a Bengali, or you've lived in Bengal at some point in your life, or been here in the city at least once during the festive season, you know exactly how much passion and excitement those words carry.

Decoding the Collegiate Jungle

"Remember the words Arjyak, these will always be the best days of your life. These will be your best classmates. You look around now and you can see men with ambitions of becoming sportspersons, musicians, scholars, you name it. In six months you'll be in college, and all you'll see around you will be careeristic engineers. Enjoy your days."

Heritage Institute of Technology. The Central Block.

When I first walked into Heritage Institute of Technology, I had a fair idea of what the wanted my college life to be. I also had another idea of how I would have to juxtapose that with what it would realistically turn out to be.

Nineteen to the Dozen

Nothing is as self-reflective as a selfie. :)

When the clock strikes twelve, I will officially be nineteen years old.  Even though that is a far cry from my hair going grey, I feel like I have learnt quite a lot of stuff. And, like every old person, I feel the need to share my wisdom. So here are five things I would like to pen down about the year gone by. (Because I could not think of a sixth point.)  Some of this may be clichéd, some of it might still be in the unfinished stage (because I need something to talk about next year too, right?) and all of it will be pertaining too personally to me. But here goes.

All The World's a Cup

It’s here, it’s here! Speeding towards our collective brains like The Flash on steroids, the FIFA World Cup is here to unleash some glorious fanaticism, thus making it okay for a straight man to say stuff like “Cristiano’s ball-control is sexy.”

This is also the time you get to see the true colours of India – i.e. whether you unfurl the flag of Spain or Germany or Brazil or some other country whose only memory of India is a study in mismanagement. But enough about the Parliament.