Ananda Sangbad 2019 Q4

Ananda Mandir

269 Cedar Grove Lane Somerset, NJ 08873

Ananda Sangbad A Quarterly Publication of Ananda Mandir, New Jersey

Our 17th Annual Fund-Raiser Generates Almost $260,000

By Debajyoti Chatterji

new initiatives, working with other organizaaturday, August 24, was a busy and tions in the community, successful day for Ananda Mandir. and making greater use of the Tagore Hall.

On that day, we not only celebrated the Debajyoti Chat72nd anniversary of India’s independterji then presented a ence from the British rule but also held brief report on Ananda our annual fund-raising luncheon. Both Mandir’s recent activievents were well attended, enjoyable ties and current plans and rewarding. and challenges. He Heritage Day Celebrations highlighted several important accomplishThis year, August 15, the actual date ments over the last 12 of Indian independence, fell on a weekto 15 months, the most day. To allow greater participation by notables being (1) the children and working adults, we schedsuccessful completion uled the celebrations on Saturday, Auof NABC 2018 in June/ gust 24, and decided to hold our annual Pronoy Chatterjee receiving Distinguished July, 2018 that generfund-raiser that day as well. This was the Leadership Award ated an excess of about second time we attempted this “double header” approach, and we were pleased Shortly after 1 pm, Ashok Rakhit, our $190,000 and brought us nation-wide with the success. No doubt the beautiful immediate past president, brought the recognition; and (2) the paying off of weather was partially responsible for meeting to order and then introduced our mortgage balance of $3.375 million attracting a large crowd and creating a Jai Prakash Biswas, our new presi- by raising low-interest loans, totaling joyous mood. dent. Jai Prakash thanked Ashok for his $3.175 million, from 31 member famiThe main purpose behind celebrat- leadership over the past four years and lies (and $200,000 from Ananda Mandir ing Indian Independence Day at Anan- expressed gratitude to the five mem- reserves). We will be paying back these da Mandir is to remind our children bers of the Board of Trustees who re- personal loans in about 8.5 years instead and young adults about the long and tired recently (Pronoy Chatterjee, Sikha of 18 more years for the bank mortgage. rich heritage of the country. To that day, Chatterji, Krishna Dutta Roy, Phalguni Debajyoti discussed in detail the cash various activities were planned for the Ghosh and Anupam Saha) for their ser- flow implications of this “refinancing”. morning of August 24. These are de- vice. And he welcomed the new trustees He traced the history of our fund-raisscribed elsewhere in this issue by Mita (Jayadratha Bhowmick, Debajyoti Chat- ing for the past 10+ years and explained Sinha. terji, Nilotpal Paul and Mita Sinha) and the importance of successful fund-raiswished them many years of productive ing on Ananda Mandir’s finances, espeAnnual Fund-Raising Luncheon service. He completed his brief address cially to pay off the member loans.

Ashok Rakhit followed with a reThis part of the program began in the by urging the members to get involved Tagore Hall at 12 noon with a reception, as volunteers, taking on responsibilities view of Tagore Hall activities, plans and featuring a variety of snacks and drinks. to support current programs and start challenges. He reminded the audience that Tagore Hall began operations about three years ago and has been the home for many major Ananda Mandir events as well as events sponsored by our sisMahishasura Mardini Sunday, 22 September 4:30 am – 6:30 am Debir Bodhan Thursday, 03 October 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm ter organizations such as Kallol, Medha, Debir Amantran O Adhibas Friday, 04 October 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm BKPA, etc. Tagore Hall has also been used by our community members for Saptami Puja+ Pushpanjali Saturday, 05 October 8:30 am- 11:30 am many private social and religious occaStuti & Arati 6:30pm – 8:30pm sions such as weddings, engagements, Ashtomi Puja+ Pushpanjali Sunday, 06 October 8:00 am- 11:30 am anniversaries, graduations, birthdays, Sondhi Puja Sunday, 06 October 1:57 pm- 2:45 pm arangetram, and the like. Ashok urged the audience to make greater use of Stuti & Arati 6:30pm-8:30pm Tagore Hall to make it financially viable.

Nabami Puja+ Pushpanjali Monday, 07 October 8:30 am- 11:15 am He also explained that we must follow Stuti & Arati 6:30pm-8:30pm two mandates by the Township: Tagore Dashami Puja Tuesday, 08 October 8:00 am- 9:30 am Hall can only be used by its members, so Sindur Khela Tuesday, 08 October 6:30 pm those planning to use Tagore Hall must Kojagori Lakshmi Puja & Sunday, 13 October 5:15 pm – 8:00 pm become members beforehand, and sister organizations can hold ticket-selling Satyanarayan Puja Maha Kali Puja & Diwali Sunday, 27 October 5:00 pm- 12:00 am events at Tagore Hall only if the event is continue to page 4 }

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Durga Puja/ Kali Puja – 2019

THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ISSUE HAS BEEN MADE POSSIBLE SOLELY

BY A GRANT FROM ANDY BOSE, C.P.A.

NON-PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ PERMIT NO. 1215

October 2019 Ananda Mandir Calendar of Events (Dates are subject to Change) Please check our website frequently www.anandamandir.org Tel: 732-873-9821 NOTE: If a particular Puja time is not listed, please contact temple or visit our ebsite: anandamandir.org

October (*) Durga Puja (See Details Front Page) Thursday, 03 – Tuesday 08 Kojagori Lakshmi Puja & Satyanarayan Puja Sunday, 13, 5:15pm-8:00 pm Maha Kali Puja & Diwali Sunday, 27, 5:00pm-12:00am Sahitya O Alochana (*) Friday, 18, 8:00pm Cultural Program (*) November(*) Jagadhatri Puja Wednesday, 06, 9:00am-12:00noon Raspurnima & Satyanarayan Puja Tuesday, 12, 5:30pm-7:30pm Ananda Mandir Prathista Dibas Thursday, 14 Shyama Puja Tuesday, 26, 6:00pm-8:00pm Sahitya O Alochana(*) Friday, 15, 8:00 pm Cultural Program (*) December(*) Satyanarayan Puja Sunday, 8, 6:00pm-8:00pm Shyama Puja Wednesday, 25, 5:30pm-7:30pm Sahitya O Alochana Friday, 20, 8:00 pm (*) See www.anandamandir.org or Call Mandir for details

Special Religious Services: Upon request, the priest of Ananda Mandir offers services such as in-house Shraddhas, Rituals associated with Cremations (Antyesti Kriya), Shraddha Anniversaries, Pre-wedding rituals (Naandimukh, Ashirwad, etc), Upanayan (Paitey), Annaprasan, Wedding Ceremonies & Wedding Anniversaries, Griha Prabesh (Bhumi Puja), Consecrations of new cars (New Car Pujas) and others. If you have needs for any of the above or more, please feel free to contact Biswabhai @ 732-873-9821

2 October 2019 Ananda Sangbad A Periodical Newsletter Published By

ANANDA MANDIR

(A Tax-Exempt, Non-Profit Organization) 269 Cedar Grove Lane Somerset, NJ 08873 Ph: 732-873-9821 Website: www.anandamandir.org Publication Committee of Ananda Mandir Chairperson: Debajyoti Chatterji, Debsmee572@gmail.com Assistant Chairperson: Subrata Bhaumik, Bhaumik.subrata@gmail.com Editor-in-Chief: Amitabha Bagchi, amitabhanj@gmail.com Executive Editor, Ananda Sangbad: Guru Chakravarty, guruchakravarty@yahoo.com Executive Editor, Anandalipi: Subhodev Das, subhodev.das@gmail.com Editors: Sushmita Dutta, sushmitadutt2@gmail.com Amrita Kangle, amritakangle@hotmail.com Nupur Lahiri, nupurlahiri@aol.com Associate Editor: Ruby Banerjea, r_banerjea@yahoo.com Advisors: Pronoy Chatterjee pkc_usa@yahoo.com Ashok Rakhit ashokrakhit@gmail.com l All queries, articles, news reports and letters should be directed to the Managing Editor Phone: 908-752-3065 E-mail: guruchakravarty@yahoo.com l

Ananda Sangbad

EDITORIAL

President’s Message

The October festivities of Bengalis are getting more popular than ever before. The number of organizations getting into celebrating the events, here in New Jersey, is rising yearly. The attendance is overflowing at the major venues – Ananda Mandir, Bharat Sevashram, Kallol and GSCA. Looking at the size of the crowd, and sometimes, getting entry refusals at these places, smaller organizations are emboldened to have pujas of their own. It helps that new Bengali immigrants are continuously moving into the area. If there is one black cloud in the horizon, it is the absence of the generation of Bengalis born here, who are still confused about how to get their feet into it.

Clearly, Bengalis are known to be less religious-minded than the rest of the Indians. South Indians, i.e., peoples from Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka area, and North Indians from UP, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi area, are much more rigorous in practicing Hinduism. So, what it is about Durga Puja that attracts the Bengalis to come together? The short answer is – culture.

Bengalis are known for their affinity to cultural things, be it literature, music, art or such others.

And, of course, Bengalis love to get together for the fun of it, just spend time together with endless talk of philosophical ideas. So, it comes natural to Bengalis to establish associations to get together whenever they can. Durga Puja is chosen as the ideal occasion for them to congregate together for several days at a stretch and just have fun.

The organizers of the Puja are not sitting idle either. They are constantly working on upgrading their programming to keep the fire burning.

Star entertainers from Bollywood and Tollywood are booked to perform at the cultural events. It is a race to get the most popular performers, whichstarts literally right after a Puja season ends. The talk of the social circle is always who is coming where.

Still, the religious fervor continues to thrive.

There are hordes of women who carry their offerings to Mother Durga, fasting until after pushpanjali. In a somewhat perplexing note, Bharat Sevashram and Ananda Mandir, who do not bother to have any attractive cultural shows, somehow attract the largest crowd.

The Bengalis have found the glue that put them together. For a few days in the year, they forget their routine lives, their jobs, business and even malice, to meet and greet each other in a happy mood. We at Ananda Sangbad extend our “Best Wishes to All” in this coveted festive season.

Dear Members of Ananda Mandir, Season’s Greetings to you for Sharadotsav – the time of the Bengali calendar for the most joyous of all festivities, celebrating the worship of our principal Mother Goddesses, Ma Durga and Ma Kali.

It is indeed a privilege to write to you as the new President of Ananda Mandir. As an organization, we are extremely happy to have succeeded in realizing the long-held dream of the New Jersey immigrant Bengali community – namely, the building of a Bengali Temple as well as a Heritage Center which we have named Tagore Hall. It took us several decades to reach the stage where we are today. My sincere and heartfelt gratitude to all our Founders and Life Members who helped us attain this goal with generous donations along with manifold services.

The President’s message in last year’s Anandalipi spoke of the financial challenges the organization was facing. To recap, Ananda Mandir reached its construction goal by borrowing $3.5 million in construction loan from a bank and raising an additional $1.5 million over four years from the community. Once the construction loan was converted into a 20-year adjustable-rate mortgage, Ananda Mandir had a debt-service commitment of nearly $23,000 every month in mortgage loan payment alone. To face this challenge, the core financial team of the Board of Trustees (BOT) developed plans to ensure long-term financial stability and organizational growth. I am happy to report that a key part of that financial plan has been executed: 31 member families have come together to lend money to Ananda Mandir to pay off the bank loan, thus converting the 20-year mortgage of $3.5 million at 5-year ARM of ~6% interest into a member supported loan bearing 2% interest. These short-term loans would reduce the total interest payment of Ananda Mandir by over $2.0 million and result in a debt-free status for us by 2027. We are immensely thankful to this group of members for their faith in us and support in a time of need. However, because we are committed to pay back our “member lenders” in only 8.5 years (instead of 18 more years of bank mortgage), our annual loan payoff amount will much higher. Fund-raising will continue to be a very important task for us for the next several years!

The other notable success of Ananda Mandir last year was organizing the North American Bengali Conference in Atlantic City, NJ. It turned out to be a well-planned and well-managed event that produced some surplus funds – helping our bottom line and belying the concerns and misgivings of many.

An urgent need we now have is to grow our membership as well as the volunteer workforce. It is now your turn as a member of the community to invite your friends and relatives to join Ananda Mandir as Life Members. We need to continue with our current roster of activities and start new ones that would appeal to our community. Our present activities include monthly meetings of Seniors forum (Evergreen Club), literary and topical discussion sessions (Sahitya O Alochona), and Youth magazine group (Kisholoy). We hold regular language and dance classes and, periodically, musical events and drama productions. Recently, we have started a yoga class, and a Writers Club began this September. The temple is functioning well, and the priest’s services are in constant demand. Ananda Mandir also publishes a quarterly community newsletter and this annual literary magazine.

We are proud of our accomplishments to date and feel confident that, with your help and dedicated support, Ananda Mandir will continue to grow for all Bengalis in the tri-state area and become a recognized center for the dissemination of knowledge about our rich cultural heritage for generations to come. Thank you.

Guru Chakravarty

Jai Prakash Biswas

Sharad Utsav - Forever New

Executive Editor, Ananda Sangbad

President, Ananda Mandir

For general information, please contact the following executives of Ananda Mandir: Jai Prakash Biswas President Suprasad Baidyaroy Vice President Debajyoti Chatterji Vice President Ashok Rakhit Vice President Arun Bhowmik General Secretary Chanu Das Treasurer Pradip Majumdar Assistant Treasurer

Didn’t Receive Your Copy of Ananda Sangbad?

If you are a Life Member or an Associate Member, but didn’t receive your copy of Ananda Sangbad, it may be because we do not have the correct address on file for you. Please send an email to Guru Chakravarty (guruchakravarty@yahoo.com) with your correct address, and we will send you another copy.

October 2019

Ananda Sangbad

MOVING TO A 55+ COMMUNITY

By Jayashree Chatterjee

W

hat we were looking for seemed simple enough – a home in which the master bedroom, den, living room and kitchen were all on the ground floor. We also didn’t want the house to have a basement. Our realtor showed us several homes in New Providence and its surrounding towns because that was the part of New Jersey that we knew best. We’d lived in that area for over twenty years. But we soon realized that finding a house that was close to our specifications was not going to be that easy. Most of the houses that sort of fitted what we wanted were either too small or did not have a den on the ground floor. With great reluctance, we finally began to realize that we would have to begin looking in other parts of New Jersey. Then, at one of the meetings of Ananda Mandir’s Evergreen Club, we met Dr. Samir Dutta and Ira Ganguly. “You don’t have to look any more”, Dr. Dutta told us when we mentioned our predicament. “Our community is clearly the place for you. Come and take a look at my house.” We did, and saw Ira Ganguly’s house as well, and knew at once that we had found what we were looking for.

But this community was a 55+ community, and we had never lived in one before. “Is there anything special that we should keep in mind when moving to such a place?” I asked one of my friends who has a lot of experience in real estate matters.

“Oh yes,” came the prompt reply. “When it’s time to sell your house, you will have a limited group to sell it to.

Only people who are over fifty five.

“You won’t see any children nearby”, pointed out another friend. “No five- or six-year old playing outside or going to school every morning. No teenagers, either. You’ll feel kind of limited.”

And a third friend added, “I’ve heard that you always see ambulances driving up to homes in that kind of community.”

Fortunately, they also pointed out the good things that were associated with

such places.

“You won’t have to mow your lawn; the community association does that for you,” and “The association also arranges all kinds of interesting trips for its residents. I’ve heard of people going to Cape May and other places.”

So, we closed on a townhouse in the community. The next couple of weeks were really hectic. We began packing, talking with moving companies, and trying to give away as many of our possessions as we could. Finally, the day arrived when we moved out of our old house and into our new home.

What I remember about that first day was the strange feeling of déjà vu that swept over me as I strolled down the main road of the community after several tiring hours of unpacking. The road was wider than the one in New Providence on which I went for my daily walk. Also, the houses bordering this main road had only a ground floor or a second floor at most, and so they were not as high as the homes that flanked that road in New Providence. So now what I saw was the beauty of the sky as it stretched away into the distance. The sun was setting, and because the wide expanse of the sky was so open, it was possible to see all the different colors of the sunset, and to appreciate why, in prehistoric times, such sights had filled people, with reverence. I was taken back to that day, many decades ago, when my family moved from Kolkata to Kalyani after my father retired. The view of that first sunset in Kalyani had been spectacular, too, and something that I had rarely seen in the congested and built-up area of Gariahat Mor where we used to live. But now, together with an appreciation of the beauty of nature, came the memory of a whole host of conflicting emotions. That evening in Kalyani, I had wondered, for the umpteenth time, what it would be like to live outside the city, far away from my college friends and all the amenities of Gariahat that I had gotten used to.

What I realized very quickly was that in a 55+ community, because most

of the residents are retirees, they have the time to interact with their neighbors, and they truly want to do so. My immediate neighbor in New Providence was very friendly and we both helped each other out in many ways, but my husband and I worked fulltime. There was a limit to how often we could meet with our neighbor. Here things were very different.

On our second day in our new home, while I was taking boxes out of our car, our block captain came up to me and asked if she could help. I declined her offer as we started talking and she made me feel very welcome. Meanwhile, I had also knocked on all the doors of the homes in our block and introduced myself to everyone. Now whenever I was in the garage – which was often because that was where we had piled all our boxes – our neighbors would stop at the entrance that I often kept open to say hello. That’s the other thing about 55+ communities – most people go for walks in the morning and evening and are generally in no hurry to get home. So, there is always someone on the street.

I found that in a 55+ community people have the time to talk about themselves.

One resident was originally from Poland, and as a little boy at the beginning of the Second World War, he and his parents had escaped from that country, travelled all through Europe, and then ended in the US. Another resident who loves books told me that she had decided to read all Hemmingway’s works, but felt she should know about his life first. In recent years, several books have been written about Hemingway’s wives, and she read all of them. But after that, she was so full of what Hemmingway had said and done that she found she did not want to read his novels after all! She and I had a good laugh about that.

Another evening, I bumped into a resident who was out on her evening walk.

She said she had to hurry home because it was Friday, the sun was going to set soon, and she had to light the Sabbath candle. She lives on my block, and I see her practicontinue to page 4 }

3

CONSERVATION

By Basab Dasgupta

T

he word “conservation” is used in our everyday language to mean “(proactive) prevention of destruction and/or depletion” as in conservation of wildlife, historic buildings, wetlands etc. Physicists use the word somewhat differently.

There are several conservation principles in physics – the most notable being the conservation of energy and conservation of mass. The word “conservation” in these cases implies that the total amount of the substance under consideration automatically remains the same over time as a law of nature.

One of my favorite analogies when I tutor physics to high school students is to compare energy with wealth.

Energy is the ability to do work and wealth is the ability to spend money. Neither energy nor wealth can be created nor destroyed. They can only be transformed from one form to another (and hence “conserved”). From mechanical energy to heat energy or from real estate investment to gold, for example. Whenever someone is losing money, another person (or persons) is gaining an equal amount of money and vice-versa. When a person (or a machine) does work his energy goes down just like a person’s wealth is reduced when he spends money.

Using this analogy, it is easy to understand why we think that the rich are getting richer at the expense of the poor people who are getting poorer.Even though it is not a perfect analogy my students like it and seem to understand some key concepts like work and energy more quickly. However, I run into a problem when I talk about nuclear energy and more specifically, conversion of mass into energy by that famous E=mc2 equation of Einstein.

It becomes apparent that energy can, in fact, be created by converting mass into energy. This means that the law of conservation of energy plus the law of conservation of mass must be combined into a single and more generalized law of conservation of mass/energy.

Nuclear and atomic bombs and nuclear reactors are three devices that have been invented and used by the scientists to convert mass into energy. Use of the first

two is fortunately extremely rare but the nuclear reactors provide a significant fraction of our energy consumption throughout the world with no input needed from other forms of energy.

With all the recent emphasis on solar energy it seems that we can fulfill all of our energy needs by harnessing solar energy and then converting it into other forms.

However, the sun really does not create this energy; it converts mass into energy.

In fact, we can think of the sun as an entity composed of myriads of nuclear fusion bombs with explosions occurring at every moment.

Every second mass of the sun goes down by 4.5 billion kilograms because this lost mass is converted into energy, but even at that rate the sun is so huge that it would continue to shine for billions of more years before being gradually reduced to a “white dwarf”.

My problem in tutoring sessions arises from the fact that now I have to come up with something analogous to mass in our financial life which can be converted into an apparently limitless supply of wealth. It should be something that is not immediately recognizable as wealth but could be converted into goods for financial gain.

Much to my surprise, I realized that my analogy can be extended and there are indeed such sources and they are all parts of our solar system. The sun and earth duo of the solar system, in particular, not only gives us an unlimited amount of energy it also gives us an endless supply of wealth.

To elaborate on this point let me point out all of our wealth eventually come from natural resources - natural gas and oil, coal, minerals and ores, timber, crops etc.

These natural resources are processed by manufacturing and agricultural companies into various functional items which are then traded to generate profit – the ultimate source of financial viability for everyone.

How are these natural resources generated? A key contributing factor is the sun and various geothermal processes in the interior of the earth. The sun causes evapocontinue to page 6 }

4 October 2019

Ananda Sangbad

Vehophobia – The Fear of Driving

By Bakul Banerjee “Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them” Rabindranath Tagore, Fruit Gathering Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross began her classic book, titled “On Death and Dying,” with the above quote. This groundbreaking book was published in 1969. Since then, millions of social workers, physiologists, and doctors opened it to understand the fundamental fear for humans – fear of dying. I am a physical scientist with no need to study this academic book, yet I have been scanning it for years to understand why

fear prevents us from becoming proficient in conquering the fear of death or dying.

For example, why many Indian immigrant women like me, are afraid to drive – an essential skill required to survive in the US, our adopted country. Fear of driving is intrinsically related to the fear of hurting somebody. This is not a feel-good topic I mostly write about. However, it has been on my mind for a while.

Perhaps, my story would help newcomers from India, mostly women but some men too, to overcome their fears in some small ways.

Soon after I arrived at Baltimore forty some years

Our 17th Annual Fund-Raiser Generates Almost $260,000 | continue from page 1 sponsored/co-sponsored by Ananda Mandir. Ashok added that we plan to promote our temple and what it offers to the Indian community through radio ads. Ashok ended his presentation by pointing out the year ahead will be a challenging year for the Tagore Hall.

Before proceeding to the next item on the agenda, Biswabhai, our resident priest, explained beautifully in a few words, the importance of generosity in every aspect of human life. He thanked all who have contributed to Ananda Mandir’s financial success so far – and wished them long, happy and healthy life.

The last item on the agenda before the lunch break was the presentation of a “Distinguished Leadership” plaque (with a citation) to Pronoy Chatterjee.

Ashok Rakhit, as the Chair of the Awards & Recognition Committee, called Pronoy to the stage, read the citation, and handed the plaque to Jai Prakash Biswas, President. Jai requested Paritosh Chakrabarti, the chief guest, to say a few words and present the plaque to Pronoy. In turn, Pronoy recalled a few highlights from his long association with Ananda Mandir and thanked the team he built over the years for his areas of responsibility, especially the members of Publi-

cations Committee.

The award plaque to Pronoy Chatterjee recognized his contributions in the following manner: “This Certificate of Appreciation is presented to PronoyChatterjee for his leadership in shaping and guiding the organization’s Publication and Award & Recognition programs for more than ten years, and for developing and nurturing an exceptional teamwork.”

Following a nice, homecooked lunch, the audience re-assembled to enjoy a two-part cultural program, organized and led by Arun Bhowmik that focused on young talents from the local Bengali community. The first part featured two highly celebrated young vocal artistes, Shreya Bhanja Chaudhury and Sankhodip Chakrabarty – and four young Odissi dancers, all with great potential. The second part presented a one-act play, directed by Indranil Mukherjee, on some of unique aspects of the life of Sadat Hasan Manto, the acclaimed Urdu writer, and starring five young actors.

The day’s program ended around 5 pm, with a vote of thanks by Debajyoti Chatterji.to all the donors, volunteers and performers. It was a fitting finale to a beautiful and successful day.

NOTE: Would you like to know the total sum of donations we raised from this year’s fund-raising efforts? As of the writing of this report, the total stands at almost $260,000.

ago, I was accepted in the Ph.D. program at the Johns Hopkins University with a full fellowship and a tuition grant. I was not afraid of the tough courses, answering famous professors on a daily basis, or being a research assistant to a bunch of highly competitive undergraduates who accosted me often to better their grades. My fear was how to reach the university across a congested city to the Homewood campus of the university. As a newly married woman, I lived at home outside the city limit in the opposite direction. During the first year, I managed to commute by bus and car rides. Then, it became obvious that I needed to drive.

It took me a while to con-

vince my husband to take me out for the first driving lesson. One Sunday afternoon, we went to the empty parking lot of a giant furniture store. I took the steering wheel of my husband’s beloved Plymouth Gran Fury 2 Door Coupe with a V8 engine. It was one of the largest cars I had seen on the road.

After I pressed my foot on the gas pedal, I realized that it was almost impossible to keep the car steady because of its unusual power steering, even at a speed of three miles per hour. With the shipping weight of about 4300 pounds and an acceleration specification of 0 to 60 miles in 12.4 seconds, I understood what the momentum (= mass multiplied by velocity) really

meant. It meant sheer fear for life. Every time I slammed the brakes, I could feel the overwhelming sense of my spouse’s disgust.

“I doubt you will ever be able to drive,” he declared after ten minutes. I took in his angry voice, stopped the car, and stepped out. I was no stranger to humiliations, yet that comment was hard to digest. I promised myself not to touch a steering wheel ever when he was in the car and, for many years, I did so only when it was unavoidable. I was consumed with the fear that my aspiration for a successful career was doomed.

A few days later, I accidentally mentioned that continue to page 7 }

MOVING TO A 55+ COMMUNITY | continue from page 3 cally every evening. So, I felt I could ask her if I could see what she did. She took me to her house at once, and I truly enjoyed watching as she lit the Shabbat candle.

Other neighbors told us about the history of the community and what things had been like for them when they moved here. Yet another neighbor insisted on breaking up the wooden crate in which some of our possessions had been packed, so that it would be easier to dispose of it. And Ira Ganguly and Samir Dutta showed us the nearest podiatrist’s office, pharmacy etc., and introduced us to the other Bengali couple in the community, Dr. Mohan Lahiri and Shipra Lahiri. One afternoon, when I was taking the letters out of our letterbox, a wasp flew up and bit me. I remembered reading somewhere that wasp bites can have serious effects, and I called Dr. Lahiri. He rushed over immediately and told me what to do.

A few months later, another Bengali couple, Mita and Prabhat Sinha moved into our community. Mita saw me trying to change the bulb in our powder room, and before I knew it, she rushed home and came back with a ladder to help me!

Our association has many different clubs that are open to all residents. The IndoAmerican Club members, for instance, are mostly of Indian origin, but there are three or

four members of European descent. “The organizers of the club are so welcoming,” one of them told me, “that I decided to join.” The club members meet once a month and enjoy a variety of activities such as playing Bingo, watching travel videos made by participants, listening to musical performances etc.

Hindi movies with English subtitles are screened every other month. Then there are the Italian American Club, the Women’s Club, the Men’s Club etc. together with groups like the Arts and Crafts Group or the Quilting Group. Weekly activities include chair yoga, ping-pong and meditation, and weekly games include bridge, canasta and poker.

The Grandparents’ Club organizes a Halloween and an Easter celebration for grandchildren whose grandparents live here, usually the week before the actual date of the event, and the association takes members to New York to see Broadway plays and other such performances.

However, there are also some other things that one has to keep in mind when moving to a retirement community. The first is that many such communities have security gates manned by guards, some of whom can be very strict. We had called a limousine service to take us to the airport, and I forgot to let the gatehouse know. At the appointed time, I got a worried call from the driver, and another from the annoyed guard. However, it is also

fair to add that not all guards are as strict. The other difficult task is that of downsizing. We gave many things away to Goodwill, Sage and similar places before we left our old house, but when we moved into our new home, we realized that that had not been enough. Our closets were not as deep as in our old place, and so we needed to dispose of more of our belongings. A related problem was that in this community we had to pay the disposal company to take away some of our furniture, old trunks and suitcases. In New Providence, the township collected old items like furniture twice a year and residents could take old trunks to the disposal center twice a month. Another time-consuming task is looking for doctors, dentists, eye specialist etc. But that is something that one would have to do when moving to any new place.

Now, after several months, this house feels like home. I remember the day we signed the papers at the realtor’s office. Our realtor accompanied us to our new house because there were some matters that he had to see to. When he finished, I said to him, “We have to go home now”, meaning our house in New Providence.

He looked at me for a moment. “This is your home now,” he said. It didn’t feel it was on that day. Now, after the passage of several months and everything that has happened during that time, it certainly does.

October 2019

Ananda Sangbad

5

Nobel Prize in Literature: Eurocentricity to Global Outlook

By Amitabha Bagchi

T

he Nobel Prize in Literature has a special place in the Bengali heart. That is of course because of Rabindranath Tagore – the great Bengali poet who was the first, and for many years the only, Nobel Laureate in literature from Asia. Most Bengalis are not aware of the circumstances surrounding the award of the prize to Tagore in 1913. But they do wonder why no Bengali or, more broadly, Indian author has won the prize since.

As I was growing up, many adults around me were convinced that the prize should have gone to Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and/or Munshi Premchand. After a while, with more data coming in about the newer awardees, I too began to wonder about the reason for the absence of non-Europeans in the list. Is the prize given after a free and fair search of candidates across all continents, or is the search hopelessly biased and Eurocentric?

As I grew older, I learnt that many outstanding authors, from Leo Tolstoy to James Joyce, had not received the Nobel Prize either, even though their reputation has clearly outlasted that of many Nobel Laureates. So Sarat Chandra and Premchand are at least in good company. But the paucity of awards going to people of non-European stock was strange and troubling. I recently began to explore the issue and uncovered a treasure trove of information. In this article, I will describe my findings about how the goal behind the award of the Prize was originally interpreted, and how that interpretation changed over time.

This evolving interpretation naturally impacted how the awardees were selected in different periods over the past 100+ years.

To date, meaning 2017, there have been 114 recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature. (There was no award in 2018 because of a huge controversy, and two awards have been promised for 2019.) Of the 114 recipients, there have been two authors in Japanese, two in Chinese, one in Arabic (from Egypt) and one from India (in Bengali and English).

There has been a smattering of other people of non-European origin, like V.S. Naipaul, Kazuo Ishiguro, Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott and Toni Morrison (all writing in English). If one includes Latin America in the mixed-race or not wholly European category, there are two winners from Chile (Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda), and one each from Colombia (Gabriel Garcia Marquez), Guatemala (Miguel Angel Asturias), Mexico (Octavio Paz), and Peru (Mario Vargas Llosa) – that is to say, six writers in all, but all writing in Spanish.

As for the countries of origin or citizenship, we find sixteen (16) from France, eleven (11) from both the United States and United Kingdom, and the rest in single digits. The United States is the only non-European nation that ranks among the top ten of countries in the list of literature Nobel prizes. Turning to the languages honored, the lion’s share goes to English with 29. Apart from USA and UK, this includes authors from South Africa, Australia, Nigeria and Saint Lucia. The number grows to 32 if one also includes Rabindranath Tagore, Samuel Beckett and Joseph Brodsky. (I am embarrassed to admit that I did not know of Brodsky, even though he is an American citizen born in Russia and wrote prose in English and poetry in his mother tongue.)

All this sets the stage for the all-important question: Is the above statistics indicative of Eurocentricity and bias in the awardee selection, or can the choices be justified in terms of the universalist goals set out for the prize at its inception? To be able to address the question, it is first necessary to know what the criteria for the award were in Alfred Nobel’s will. That, and its interpretation, is what I will explore in the rest of this essay.

As I began researching how Nobel’s will was worded, I was led to a fascinating essay by Kjell Espmark titled “The Nobel Prize in Literature: A Study of the Criteria Behind the Choices.” It was written in 1986, translated into English in 1991, and forms a chapter in an anthology edited by Ag-

neta Wallin Levinovitz and Nils Ringertz titled “The Nobel Prize: The First 100 Years” that was published in 2001. A link to the essay can be found at: https://www.nobelprize. org/prizes/themes/the-nobel-prize-in-literature-3.

As for Espmark, he is a Swedish poet, novelist and literary historian who was born in 1930, became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1981 and the chairman of the Nobel Committee in 1988.

Of the five prizes established by Alfred Nobel’s will of 1895, one was intended for a person in the literary field who had produced “the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” The Laureate was to be determined by “the Academy in Stockholm,” i.e., the Swedish Academy. The statutes of the Nobel Foundation defined literature as “not only belles-lettres, but also other writings which, by virtue of their form and style, possess literary value.”

Thus, fell on the shoulders of the Swedish Academy the task of interpreting and putting into practice Alfred Nobel’s vaguely worded will along with the additional, explicatory clause. The Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy has tried over the years to interpret – and modify the interpretation of – Alfred Nobel’s will. Its arcane phraseology has presented a challenge to come up with a universally acceptable explanation. As a result, the will’s interpretation has changed over the years, and it has been colored by the preferences and prejudices of the Permanent Secretary of the Nobel Committee.

Reviewing the history of the prize, Espmark defines seven “epochs” that have characterized the literature award till 2001. It is useful to define and describe them to understand the reasoning behind the Academy’s selection of the prize recipients.

“A lofty and sound idealism” (1901-13) The first stage was dominated by secretary Carl David af Wirsén’s reading of Nobel’s ideal as “a lofty and sound idealism.” His focus, as noted earlier, was on “the great figures of continental literature.” This resulted in the award being given to Theodor Mommsen, Henryk Sienkiewicz,Rudyard Ki-

pling, Selma Lagerlof, and Rabindranath Tagore.

The citation for the latter read “Because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West.”

In this period the Academy also, true to its conservative idealism, rejected Leo Tolstoy, Henrik Ibsen and Émile Zola. It was struggling at home against radical Scandinavian writers, and the Nobel Prize gave Wirsén the opportunity to carry his provincial campaign into the fields of international literature.

“A Policy of Neutrality” (World War I) In the words of Espmark, this chapter of the history of the Literature Prize could be entitled “A Literary Policy of Neutrality.” The belligerent powers were kept outside, and the award went to relative unknowns – two from Denmark and one each from Sweden and Switzerland.

The one exception was a Frenchman in 1915: Romain Rolland.

“The great style” (the 1920s) By this time, the Academy had gotten rid of the narrow definition of “ideal direction” and chose to interpret it more generously as “wide-hearted humanity.” This paved the way for the award being given to the following, among others, including some who had been rejected earlier: Anatole France, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Henri Bergson, and Thomas Mann.

“Universal interest” (the 1930s) The Academy in the 1930s shifted gear and focused on “the greatest benefit on mankind” in Nobel’s will.

It equated “mankind” with popularity or immediate readership. So, the award in this period went to popular but mediocre writers like Sinclair Lewis and Pearl S. Buck and repudiated exclusive poets like Paul Vatéry.

There were two outstanding choices, however, in this period: Luigi Pirandello and Eugene O’Neill.

“The Pioneers” (1946- ) Following the Second World War and under the aegis of its new secretary, An-

ders Österling, the Academy finished its excursion into popular taste and focused instead on what was called “the pioneers.” In another interpretation of the phrase “the greatest benefit on mankind,” the perfect candidate would be the one who had provided world literature with new possibilities in outlook and language. There are too many famous Laureates in this period to list in detail: from William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway of USA to T.S. Eliot and Bertrand Russell of UK and Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre of France (Sartre did not accept the award). But two awardees need special mention – one, because he was turned down earlier, and the other, because his pessimism and “dark conception of the world” could not be squared easily with Nobel’s “ideal.”

They were Herman Hesse and Samuel Beckett respectively.

“Attention to unknown masters” (1978- ) The scope of the Prize was further extended with arrival of the new secretary, Lars Gyllenstern, who introduced the concept of “the pragmatic consideration.” In the words of Kjell Espmark, “A growing number within the Academy wanted to call attention to important writers and literatures, thus giving the world audience masterpieces they would otherwise miss, and at the same time, giving an important writer due attention.”

Thus, the Prize was awarded to relative unknowns: Isaac Beshevis Singer, Jaroslav Seifert, Octavio Paz, Derek Walcott and Seamus Heaney.

One could argue that this trend was first anticipated in the award to Rabindranath Tagore in 1913.

“The literature of the whole world” (1986- ) In an attempt to understand and carry out Nobel’s intentions, a new policy, long under consideration, had a breakthrough in the 1980s.

His will had an international horizon and stipulated that the choice for any Prize be made without consideration of nationality and independent of “whether he be Scandinavian or not.” The Academy, however, was ill equipped to survey the literacontinue to page 7 }

6 October 2019

Ananda Sangbad

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Unjustified Beliefs and Rituals in Hinduism

Picture: Thousands of Hindus bathing in the banks of River Godavari at Kumbh Mela in India

By Sushmita Dutta

A

mong religious congregations worldwide, Kumbh Mela is the largest gathering of men and women of Hindu faith. As seen in the picture here, thousands of Hindus believe that bathing in the holy rivers of Kumbh Mela (Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Shipra and meeting of Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers in Prayag) washes away sins and delivers moksha – liberation from the cycle of death and birth. And then, it is also believed that after the holy river dip, touching a non-Hindu (a Muslim or Christian) or even a person who has not bathed takes away the earned blessings from the dip in the holy river. This illogical belief goes against the primal Hindu preaching that every entity, every element of this universe is “One Brahman.” This concept is central to Hindu philosophy and extensively discussed in Hindu scriptures yet, superstitions practiced amongst Hindus segregate persons by religion, caste, works and deeds.

Two other examples of such superstition-driven human segregation are the way we treat widows and Brahmins/Non-Brahmins.

A person is eligible to cook

food for the Gods only if he/she is a Brahmin. In large community pujas Hindu way of worshipping Gods, food cooked for the God/Goddess has to be delivered by a Brahmin else the food is not presentable to Gods. A non-Brahmin is considered inauspicious for the task of preparing food for Gods. Similarly, Hindu widows are ostracized from engaging in some religious ceremonies including wedding as they are considered bad omen for such purposes. Widows have also other strictures put on them including food. They are forbidden to eat non-vegetarian foods and required to maintain fasting on certain days of each month. At a social gathering in New Jersey, a young woman who recently lost her husband sat with us at the same table for dinner. A much elderly woman from the same community with some high education degrees, asked the young widow, “Can I see what you have on your plate?” The young widow, bit embarrassed, said, “I eat everything aunty, including fish and meat, it was my husband’s wish.” These superstitious beliefs are practiced even today and do not sync with Hindu philoso-

phy of one universal God and one Brahman. If anything matters in the universal connectivity with Gods, humans and all elements in this celestial space is love, pure love that supersedes all mandated superstitions and makes living a joyful experience.

We are living in strange times. On one hand, our education drives strong scientific beliefs and we want to disregard religious superstitions and on the other we have a fearful mind tutored from childhood that tells us to obey superstitious beliefs.

Here are some superstitious beliefs amongst Hindus that we grew up with: ● Sneezing: While leaving home, if anyone sneezes, we are forbidden to leave home because sneezing brings bad luck. So, we sit for a while and then leave home. Is there any logic behind this? ● Cat Crossing road: What is the origin of typical Indian superstition like stopping for a while if a cat crosses your way? Especially if the cat crossing is a black one, then we have been taught to take a detour to avoid ill luck. ● Lagna Bhrashta: There is a superstitious belief that a Hindu marriage that does not take place on “lagna” (time prescribed for wedcontinue to page 10 }

CONSERVATION | continue from page 3 ration from the oceans, which then turns into rain and helps crops to grow. All minerals and metallic ores were produced millions of years ago in the deep crust of the earth by various volcanic activities.

Natural gas was the result of conversion of biological elements through decomposition over a period of thousands of years.If we dig into the earth’s interior we would find all kinds of valuable ores and minerals. Just imagine if someone finds a five-carat diamond while digging in a diamond mine. That would be worth millions of dollars. It is not quite as dramatic as transforming one gram of nuclear matter into energy but still makes the point about my analogy.

It is no wonder that countries which are rich in natural resources are also the most prosperous ones – Russia because of coal, gold and oil, USA for oil and gas, timber and a variety of other ores, Saudi Arabia for its gas and oil reserve, Australia for Bauxite and other ores, South Africa for gold and so on. Countries like Canada, Brazil, Iran and China also rank high by this criterion.

Sri Ramkrishna used to say “taka mati, mati taka” (money is dirt, dirt is money). It may not be just a philosophical metaphor, but a profound factual statement about how wealth is generated from mother earth.

We have to remember that the earth and the sun were both originally parts of the same gaseous cloud after a supernova explosion and gradually grew into spherical orbs when the solar system started to cool down.

The solar system can give us all the energy we need as well as all the wealth we want to spend and enjoy. It seems that conservation of mass/ energy and conservation of wealth/natural resources are really two different manifestations of a much more universal and generalized principle of conservation. This principle can be stated by using a slightly different meaning yet of the word “conservation”. We can simply say that all the energy and all the wealth we need for our survival (at least, until the sun stops shining) have already been stored or conserved for us within the solar system.

All of our needed energy on this earth can be harnessed from energy of the sunlight and other natural phenom-

ena (wind and waterfalls, for example) caused by the sun, as well as natural gas and oil buried under the earth’s crust.

Similarly, this earth, with a little help from the sun, can provide all the wealth needed for survival of the entire mankind.

Then why do we always feel that we are running out of energy and running out of natural resources? Why are there millions of people living in poverty and without electricity, heat and other energy? The only social issue is a fair process for harnessing and distributing what is already stored for us. Lack of fairness is the root cause of all the miseries in the world. As Gandhiji once said “the world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed”.

Can we say that the total mass/energy (and analogously the total wealth/natural resources) of the solar system is conserved in the sense that their amounts will stay the same forever? Perhaps so, but we really do not know what kind of mass/energy interactions that go on between our solar system and other stars, exoplanets and galaxies.

It is also interesting to note that wealth and energy are interrelated in the sense that one can convert wealth into energy and vice-versa. The utility companies routinely convert energy into wealth by selling us energy although the process is a bit indirect and conversion factor is neither simple nor unique. It is a multi-step process. An electrical power plant, for example, might acquire some form of energy (heat or wind) which is converted into electrical energy and sold at a price higher than their investment.

In a reverse process, one can transform wealth into a mass of “fissionable” material – by investing in plutonium for example – and then this material can be converted into energy. It is a transformation of wealth into mass and then mass into energy.

These examples suggest that the principles of conservation of mass/energy and conservation of wealth/natural resources could perhaps be combined into one grand conservation scheme.

In any event, it seems that significances of these conservation laws have been overemphasized. We really need not worry about running out of energy (or wealth for that matter) necessary for our survival!

October 2019

Ananda Sangbad

7

Superstitions and All Vehophobia – The Fear of Driving

By Rahul Ray

| continue from page 4 experience to Mike and his wife, our neighbors. Mike was a truck driver with six children.

He taught them how to drive.

First, they suggested going to a driving school. When I hinted that paying for driving lessons would not work with mwking frequent entries/exits, and congestion. During the blizzard of January 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed on 14th street Bridge over the Potomac River.

The total number of fatalities was 78 including four people on the bridge. Although I was not on Interstate 395 that day, cars on the nearby highways stood immobile for hours because of the crash. I was driving home in the evening. Radio airwaves in my car were filled with the news of the crash, other roadway accidents, and suggested detours. As I tried to ignore the migraine headache, I could think of nothing else but my daughter.

It helped me to stay focused on the dark and treacherous road in front as I steeled my nerves.

For many miles, I followed the dim glow of two taillights of a truck ahead as I slip-slided behind it. I could see nothing else.

Arriving home, I showered my daughter with hugs and kisses.

As soon as I put her down, she walked several steps on her own.

That was the first time I saw her walking without any aid. I might not have seen her taking the first wobbly steps, but, at the conclusion of a harrowing day, she rewarded me with a great gift. At the same time, I felt the visceral fear of my infant daughter losing her mother. Oh! I was so tired the next day!

Many years later, I asked my daughters if they ever felt bad about my working so much.

“We wouldn’t have it in any other way,” both of them replied. I could do so only because I could drive. It has been proven that women are more anxious than men (https://theconversation.com/women-are-far-moreanxious-than-men-heres-thescience-60458). Perhaps, it is the built-in nurturing instinct in females that makes us more anxious.

These reflections will not be complete without discussing a fatality. I was driving to work on a bright sunny morning. The road was full of cars, many going to the same federal government facility in southern Ohio. Suddenly, a mature white-tailed male deer decided to cross the road and jumped on the windshield

of my car. As I tried to veer away to save it, I hit a sturdy mailbox post designed to withstand frequent collisions with cars zooming by and careened into a ditch.

Getting out of the car, I caught sight of the deer taking his last breaths, about fifty yards away by the roadside.

As people gathered around me, they kept mentioning how lucky I was that the accident was not far more serious. They shielded me from the sight of the dead deer and a woman held my trembling body. My fairly new car was a complete loss. However, following the advice of my colleagues, I bought another car and started driving again as soon as it was delivered. It took me a while to overcome the vision of the post approaching me at great speed.

Vehophobia, the fear of driving, is real. The fear of driving after a major accident may fall into the ailment category of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Resources to deal with it are often available on websites of insurance companies. Friends and family members should encourage the victims to start driving again very soon. It is the most important first step. It is also important to insist on visiting a doctor even if there are no visible injuries. I did not do that after the accident involving the deer. After twenty-five years of suffering mysterious neck pains, a doctor figured out that I had partially healed neck injuries due to that accident.

“Bakul, is your husband coming to pick you up?” A friend asked me about two months ago at a gathering that I attended by myself. This person has known me well for the last twentyfive years. Is it a cultural thing?

Some of my Bengali community members still find it hard to believe that I have been driving around the country and outside by myself for the past forty years. I must admit though that I am not fond of driving in snow and sleet. To me, the ability to drive remained a metaphor for overcoming challenges of life, big and small. In the words of the ancient Greek emperor and sage, Marcus Aurelius, who was known for sleeping on his horse: “When you arise in the morning, think of what a great privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”

To do all of the above to the fullest, in this country, in this culture, we need to muster the courage to drive.

S

uperstitions possibly have stayed with humans since the emergence of Homo sapiens on the earth. The Latin meaning of ‘homo sapiens’ is ‘one who knows’, but that was definitely not the case when humanoids or even early humans started roaming the earth. It is impossible to figure out what went through the minds of early humans. However, most likely they grappled with superstitions as soon as they started thinking beyond food and sex. Superstitions possibly emerged when early humans had very little control over their surroundings, exacerbated by total lack of knowledge of their physical environment. They had no knowledge why in some years there were bumper crops, while in others there was barely any. They did not know why certain diseases erased half of their community, or what to do while such calamities struck.

In early human minds this feeling of helplessness against unknown forces of nature most likely gave

rise to the concept of ‘God’ as the ‘almighty’ also. A super-human who controls everything that influence their life and livelihood, the benevolent God and the wrathful God. Invocation of such a concept was necessary to try to explain miseries as well as happiness in their lives.

The concept of superstition, the idea of blindly believing in phenomena that are un-explainable, probably came on the heels of God-concept, particularly the benevolent God, who does no harm. In contrast, belief in dark forces and invocation of supernatural creatures and their misdeeds, counters the ‘benevolent God’ concept.

An example will be appropriate. Imagine, someone trying to gather fruits from a tree while this person is bitten by a snake. Soon rumors would fly that the tree is possessed by dark forces, and no one must go near it. In no time people would start believing it, a superstition is born.

Satyajit Ray, one of the greatest filmmakers of our time, has wonderfully exploited the idea of superstition in his film, ‘Ashani Sanket’. A village in Ben-

gal was struck by a cholera epidemic and people began to die like flies. The root cause of the spread of the disease was the village pond that was infected with cholera-germ.

The villagers unknowingly collected their drinking water from that pond.

The village-priest (played by veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee) was a wise man. He knew that the pond had to be avoided at any cost to limit the spread of the disease. Thus, he gathered all the villagers at the pond-side and made a sermon that the pond was possessed by something super-natural. Therefore, nobody should touch that body of water for a month.

In this case, people’s belief in superstition was exploited to the benefit of the community. However, that is not always the case.

As stated earlier, faith in God as arbiter of our lives, and superstitions as Segway to mysterious unknowns are rooted in our lack of knowledge of the world around us. Therefore, not surprisingly, God-fearing and religious people often believe in customs and superstitions continue to page 12 }

Nobel Prize in Literature: Eurocentricity to Global Outlook | continue from page 5 ture of the whole world. The Prize awarded finally to Yusunari Kawabata of Japan, in 1968, “took seven years and involved four international experts.” Subsequent Prizes to Wole Soyinka, Naguib Mahfouz, Nadine Gordimer and Kenzaburo Oe show an attempt by the Academy to shed its Eurocentric policy, howsoever slowly and fitfully.

Espmark’s essay ends right around the end of the last century. In the nearly two decades that have followed since, the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy has oscillated between established “Pioneers” like Harold Pinter, “Unknown Masters” like Doris Lessing and Patrick Modiano, and “World Literature” representatives like Orhan Pamuk of Turkey and Mo Yan of China. Two of their recent choices have generated a considerable amount of controversy -- Svetlana Alexievich for being an investigative journalist, and Bob Dylan for being a singer.

It goes without saying that the Nobel Prize for Literature has been Eurocentric, with its initial focus on “the great figures of continental literature.” Espmark acknowledges the criticism of Eurocentricity but argues that attempts were

made later to broaden and globalize the award’s outlook. In that effort, the Academy faced two problems. First, it did not have adequate resources dedicated to evaluating literature in non-European languages. Second, In the 1930s – the period when Sarat Chandra (1876-1938) or Munshi Premchand (1880-1936) might have been considered -- Espmark laments that “there were, on the whole, not even reasonable nominations from the Asiatic countries.” Who knows? He is probably correct in his assessment that “the Academy had, at that time, not yet developed a scouting system of its own.” We do not know how well the Indian authors of that period were translated into English.

We definitely know that the two authors noted here did not have the kind of backing of established English litterateurs that Rabindranath Tagore benefited from.

It would be nice if the literature Nobel Prize evolves more fully to be global in scope. It would be even nicer if an Indian author succeeds Tagore as the country’s second recipient of the Prize. One wonders if the second award, when it comes, will go to someone writing in English or one of the vernacular writers of India.

Time will tell; we can only wait.

8 October 2019

Ananda Sangbad

Puja Activities of Ananda Mandir Puja Activities of Ananda Mandir Reported by Mita Sinha, Chair, Puja Committee

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nanda Mandir was busy this summer starting early June. On June 2nd we had our Phalaharini Kali Puja. On this day, Thakur Ramkrishna worshipped Sarada Ma as the goddess Shodashi.

A good number of devotees came to the temple.

Biswajyoti, as always, did a wonderful Puja ceremony.

Arun da kept everybody engrossed with his beautiful singing. Dinner prepared by Suman was delicious.

We had Dashahara and Ganga Puja on June 12 and June 16 respectively. Dashahara is celebrated mostly in West Bengal and Ganga Puja is a religious festival celebrated all over India. Ganga is the holiest of all rivers of India and no puja can be held without Gangajal. On June 16 we observed our monthly Satyanarayan Puja and on June 17 we celebrated Jagannath Mahapravu’s Snan Jatra.

We had a lot of pujas in

July at Ananda Mandir. We celebrated the Ratha Yatra and Ulto Rath like every year.

On both of these days, deities Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra were taken out of the temple for a tour on a chariot accompanied by the devotees. People chanted songs/ mantras while walking, pulling on the rope of the chariot.

Flower petals were strewn on the path. Guru da did the Arati of Jagannath, Balaram, and Subhadra. Lots of children with their parents participated in this holy and joyful occasion. We also, had food stalls on the temple ground. Shikha di, Rita Bhowmik, Samir da, Bimal da and a few others served delicious food.

Suparna helped at the collection desk.

People bought snacks and enjoyed the day with friends and family.

On July 2nd and on July 31st we had our monthly Shyama Puja. Biswajyoti’s

Rath Yatra Festival chanting of the mantras vibrated the temple hall. We had beautiful Shyama Sangeet by one of our devotees.

After the Puja we had Aarati with Dhak, Shankha, and Kansar Ghanta. Dinners are always served on these days after the Puja. Volunteers work tirelessly to make these occasions successful. Suprasad da, Ujjal, Santosh, Amar da, Uma and Tapati are always available to help.

On July 9 we had the Bipadtarini Puja. This annual Puja is a special event in the religious calendar of most temples in the region of Bengal and Orissa. The Goddess Bipadtarini is a manifestation of Ma Durga. It is celebrated in the month of Ashar in Bengal, after Rath Yatra and before Ulto Rath. For Bipadtarini puja, thirteen different types of flowers and fruits were offered to the Goddess.

After the puja we had Arati and offered Anjali to the goddess.

The first puja in the month of August was Rakhi Purnima and Satyanarayan Puja.

A lot of devotees attended these pujas.Shri Krishna Janmashtami was celebrated on August 23rd. It is a highly popular Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, on the eighth day continue to page 9 } Advertisement

October 2019

Ananda Sangbad

9

14th South Asian Theater Festival (SATF)

Photo Credit: Kousik Bhowal, Joydeep Mukherjee, Subhodev Das

Reported by Subhodev Das

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he 14th South Asian Theater Festival organized by the Epic Actors’ Workshop was held at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on August 3-4, 2019.

The Festival opened withMrittyu Na Hotya, a Bengali adaptation of Dario

Fo’s “Accidental Death of an Anarchist” by Bibhash Chakraborty. It was directed

by Parthapratim Deb of Kolkata and produced by Spotlight of Columbus, Ohio.

The play revolves around the death of a prisoner in police custody. Its farcical style delves into state terrorism,

where the nexus between the police, the judiciary and the government is comical at best.

Next up was Makkhi Choos, a Hindi adaptation of Molière’s “L’Avare” by Jayashree Shahane. It was directed by Ms. Shahane and produced by Bravo Arts of Boston, Massachusetts. The original play written in 1600s

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is cast in 1950s provincial North India in this adaptation. It touched upon the issues of social corruption, overbearing patriarchy and deep gender bias in the backdrop of a conflict between a moneylender and his children who longed to escape his penny-pinching grip.

The final play of the opening day was Chekhov Express

basedon an anthology of seven short storiesby Anton Chekhov. The bi-lingual play was adapted to an Indian setting with English adaptations done by Mahesh Dattani and Hindi ones by Aditya Datey.

The production was directed

by Mahesh Dattani of Mumbai, under the auspicious of Indian Cultural Society of continue to page 12 }

Puja Activities of Ananda Mandir | continue from page 8 (Ashtami) of the Krishna Paksha.

On this sacred day, like every year, devotees chant Lord Krishna’s name 10,000 times. Krishna and Radha were put on a Jhulan (cradle). People sang devotional songs of Krishna.

One of the very important day of Ananda Mandir’s activity calendar was August 24, when we celebrated the Heritage Day. It is a celebration of India’s Independence Day, the 15th of August. The Flags of US and India were hoisted, and the kids sang the national anthem of both the countries. We all marched around with flags of both countries in our

hands. It is a proud moment for all of us. Sudipta, Dipak da, and Arun da assisted in the organization of this program. The community gathers with their second and third generation kids growing up in this country to participate in this function.

Later in the day we had our fundraising program with good food and cultural activities. That event is covered in great detail on the front page of this paper.

Please follow the upcoming puja events displayed in the front page of Ananda Sangbad.

Janmashtami Celebration

Heritage Day Celebration

10 October 2019

PARCHED

By Tathagata Ghosh

M

any of mega cities are drying up. It is one of the most fearsome crises in many parts of the world. They are running out of drinking water for their residents. The crisis of monumental proportions was visited on Chennai, my hometown in India. It is almost unthinkable, but it did not rain for more than six months in Chennai in the early part of 2019. It rained to the north, the west and the south but inexplicably Chennai was in rain shadow. On the East, is the Bay of Bengal, water everywhere but the rain clouds constantly forming over the bay, never making it to the land in Chennai.

Chennai is a megapolis with 10 million residents and growing fast. It is the fourth largest city in India. Its growth has been unfettered without any planning for water resources. It has built two desalination plants and two more are on the way but still it is not enough to stave off the water crisis.

The other major cities that are waterstressed include Tokyo, Cape Town and Mexico City. Many cities in California including San Francisco are increasingly water-stressed.

Cape Town had all the dramatic elements of an impending disaster where there was a countdown to “Day Zero” when water would be shut off and the taps would run dry due to extreme water stress. Cape Town has limits on how much water a person can consume per day. It was set at a diminishing level for per person of consumption, dipping below the 50 gallon/person mark. On multiple days in April 2018, Day Zero restrictions were supposed to kick in, when all the taps would run dry. That was averted and postponed due to decrease in usage and rains that helped increase the water levels in the dams.

Water sources have been poisoned in many parts of South America including Peru and Argentina. In cities in Peru, like in most parts on India, you should neither consume tap water nor even brush your teeth with it.

Much of the water sources are polluted due to mining runoffs and other industrial operations.

Water-intensive agriculture is also a major contributory factor to water-stress. In South America as an example, 70% of water use is for agriculture. About 10% is used for mining and other industrial operations. These percentages are typical across the world. Water for domestic use is a small component in the overall usage for broad geographical regions.

In Punjab, the agricultural center and bread-basket of India, the decision to transform Punjab into a rice-producing region has a catastrophic effect on the ground water.

Rice needs water-logged fields to grow which means an abundance of water is required for farming. To harvest water from underground resources and benefitting from the government subsidized electricity, farmers started to drill deeper and deeper in search of elusive natural aquifers to supply water. This has caused water table to dramatically fall, the water quality to decline and also caused the land to sink in some areas. In California, a similar story is playing out. The bread-basket of the US is also depleting water resources.

More than 300 million people will be affected by extreme droughts if the average global temperatures increase by 1.5 degree centigrade. Double that many people will be continue to page 10 }

Ananda Sangbad

Unjustified Beliefs and... more children. Hundreds of babies are tossed from the top of a temple ding) the girl is believed to be stuck roof to a group of men standing with ill luck and would never get below with a cloth to catch the fallmarried again. In a case as this, the ing babies. girl would be married to anyone ● Finger Amputation is anothavailable around to save her from er insane ritual banned but still in remaining unmarried for the rest practice having portions of one’s of her life. This superstitious “La- finger chopped off specially to gna” episode was well enacted in mourn deceased family members. famous Indian film maker Satyajit Again, this is driven by superstiRay’s film “Apur Sangsar” where tious fear of having accumulated actor Soumitra Chatterjee got mar- sins that has caused sufferings in ried to actress Sharmila Tagore the family. who was a victim of lost “Lagna”.

Indian government is aware of These are harmless beliefs by these inhuman religious practices many Hindus. Some other Hindu but the mass support in favor of misconceptions are extremely these rituals is so strong that the harmful for human sustenance. Re- government does not want to ancently there was a video circulated tagonize public feelings. I am sure, on social media, which revealed a with increased mass awareness superstitious belief in South India against such superstitious relithat breaking coconut on the head gious practices these will be evenof a devotee is an auspicious ritual tually banned, and Hinduism will which pleases Gods and help ful- be reformed someday. fill wishes. After seeing this video, All religions have man made I researched and found this picture illogical rituals, which are based inserted here where devotees are on superstitions, and reforms have seen sitting near a temple ready for taken place from time to time. priests standing behind to break In Hinduism, reforms over past coconut on their heads. The video many years have changed many also showed lined-up ambulance superstitious acts. In the 19th cenin the courtyard ready to transport tury, for example, very important devotees with bleeding heads to reforms took place in Hindu rituthe nearby hospital. Yes, this vid- alistic acts under the patronages of eo was shotin 2019, the technology Shri Ramakrishna largely voiced era that we belong to and boast to by Swami Vivekananda, and be intellectuals. the sects of Arya Samaj, and the Recently, www.dnaindia. Brahmo Samaj who were instrucom/lifestyle published a list of mental in removing Hindu supersuperstition-driven rituals in India stitions-based ritualistic practices that are horrifying. Here are three like “Sati Daha”- a widow to be worst ones: burnt alive with her dead husband; ● Self-flagellation is a super- and “Child marriage” – young stition-driven ritualistic practice girls of 5-7 years to be married to a performed in the name of removal higher class Brahmin male even if of sins. The act involves piercing he is 70 years oldfor ritualistic and oneself with sharp dangerous ob- social demands. These have been completely abolished and banned in India. In more recent times, Hare Krishna movement initiated

by Swami Prabhupada, completely renounced the Hindu ritual“Bali”or animal sacrifice. It’s a ritualistic practice performed even today with a superstitious belief that the act of animal sacrifice pleases God and devPicture: Priests breaking coconut on devotee’s otee’s wishes are fulhead. Superstition-based ritual practiced in filled. These superIndia for years. stitious beliefs will have to be changed, jects like knife with a belief that and we need to rise to the cause as with this act God enters the body Hindus. for protection from evil spirits.

Some scholars believe Hindu● Baby tossing is a supersti- ism is the world’s oldest religion tious ritualthat has been in prac- with roots and customs spread tice since the past 700 years, mak- over more than 4,000 years.Having ing it one of the oldest dangerous 900 million followers, Hinduism rituals with a belief that it brings is the third-largest religion in the in good luck. Married couples are world after Christianity at number engaged in this ritual wishing for one and Islam at two.Hinduism is | continue from page 6

not just a religion, it’s a way of life which includes multiple ritualistic practices that are very logical and scientifically proven to be beneficial for human sustenance and helps create a linkage with higher universal entities like Gods. But, then, we also have man-made ritualistic practices which are based on superstitions, and harmful for human sustenance.

Vedas in Hinduism promote “Anandam” happiness and love in unitedness, connectivity and perfect harmony of our inner world with the outer world. The elctromagnetic circuits within us and the circuitries around us including all elements in the universe drive co-existence in a perfect harmony where there is no room for barriers and blockages created by ritualistic superstitions. There are many examples of “Ananda”, joyful love for God in Hinduism, example, Meera Bai offering imagined food to Shri Krishna out of love when she was forbidden to offer real food; Shabari offering berry fruits to Shri Ram after tasting each berry for sweetness without caring for the superstitious belief that Gods should not be offered foods that have been eaten. And, Shri Ram, perceived as God, avatar of Lord Vishnu partakes of the already eaten berries as lovingly offered fruits from a devotee.

Many modern Indian spiritual gurus have also delivered “Anandam” the joyful state of love to devotees ignoring superstitions and I witnessed one. Some years ago, I visited Sri Satya Sai Baba’s meditation center in Mumbai, India. Hundreds of men and women gathered at the center to see Baba.

A woman was sitting under a tree far from the crowd looking at Baba with tears in her eyes. Baba walkedstraight to that woman, held her hands and blessed her.

Later we gathered that the woman was having her menstruation cycle and hence sat away from the crowd because Hindus believe in staying away from all religious activities during menstruation. It’s again another superstitious belief which the woman followed but Satya Sai Baba did not believe in such superstitions and made the woman feel loved and blessed.

As I completed this article, it was dawn, I looked out my window, and the Sun was in full glow, in fact blurring my laptop screen, making me feel very small on the surface of this vast universal intellect. I looked eye-to-eye with the Sun, took a deep breath and prayed - ‘unite me, tie my breaths, my cells with the neurons of this entire universe and rejuvenate me’, that’s all I need to be a human in perfect harmony with God, free from the bondages and barriers of superstitions.

Ananda Sangbad

WHY?

PARCHED | continue from page 10 impacted by droughts, if the world gets warmer by 2 degree centigrade. From California to Australia there have been a marked decrease in the amount of rainfall that have led to drought-like conditions in the 21-st century.

The reasons for water-stress are many; listed below are a few major ones.

1. Over-urbanization 2. Water-pollution 3. Lack of water management 4. Lack of urban planning 5. Climate change leading to decrease in natural water supply

Solutions There are some solutions listed that are water management techniques and others that require imagination, significant capital investments and political will.

Water harvesting is now familiar sight in drought ridden areas. Excess runoff off of rooftops is typically diverted through pipes into storage tanks. This method is extensively used in Chennai. Water recycling is also common in some areas where the water used for washing dishes and bathing is diverted to kitchen gardens.

Water purification from sewage water. Singapore has used this technique very effectively since they have limited land mass and natural water sources. This method is cheaper than desalination. They have also invested heavily in desalination plants.

Desalination – 40 % of world’s population lives within a 100 km of an ocean making desalination a viable, feasible alternative. The two main methods of desalination are multi-stage flash distillation and reverse osmosis. More than 120 countries around the world including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait City, Doha and Abu Dhabi have desalination plants. Thanks to the abundant oil reserves that are necessary

for running those plants, the Middle East countries are leaders in desalination plant.

Extraction from fog. Lima is one of the driest areas in the world, but they have a very thick sea fog. They use nets to glean the water from the fog using these nets.

Icebergs could produce 150 millionliters of water/ day for about 1 year. This method was suggested to alleviate the water-stress in South America but can probably be used in other urban centers like Chennai. An iceberg would be wrapped in sheets from the Antarctic and dragged and guided by a few tugboats to a suitable location off South Africa.

Ice Stupa’s are being used in Ladakh for providing for water in the Himalayan desert. This is a uniquely Indian approach where and ice stupas are created during winter and the runoff can be then used during summer.

Redevelopment of forests can help mitigate the effects of droughts. Forests prevents excess runoff, soaking up excess rain during the rain event. The density of the forest cover and the type of foliage is important in this process. It is another possibility where there are seasonal rains like monsoons. This will help against flooding and help during season of drought.

All these solutions need effective long-term planning and discipline. Many require political will and good governance.

When houses are built where a lake once stood, be it in Chennai or Texas, it is a recipe for long-term catastrophe, both in times of floods and in times of drought. For many years there have been talks about linking rivers in India so that heavy rainfall in some parts of India can be contained, managed and diverted to areas that do not get sufficient rain. This requires billion-dollar investments and advanced technology that may someday become available.

In the meantime, smaller, local efforts are needed to slake the thirst of these desperately parched regions.

References: https://www.circleofblue.org/2017/world/city-prone-droughtchennais-water-packagers-rush/ https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/5254/WF2-04_Water_Challenges_of_Megacities. pdf?sequence=1 https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/36per-cent-cities-to-face-water-crisis-by-2050-59985 http://paramo.cc.ic.ac.uk/pubs/Buytaert-IAHS-2013.pdf http://water.columbia.edu/research-themes/water-food-energy-nexus/water-agriculture-livelihood-security-in-india/punjab-india/ https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/forests-can-help-prevent-floods

By Dilip Chakrabarti

F

inally, Air France Plane arrived in JFK airport of New York City in a spring day of April. I got off the plane and headed towards the immigration and naturalization department to produce my visa to them and collect my green card from them. It was a unique and scary experience for me. I stood on the line of the Immigration Clearance and I saw hundreds of peoples are waiting in the line.

When called, only then they are going to the Immigration Agent. Immigration agent were asking them some questions. After assessing their replies, the Officer was granting permission to enter the country.

The Immigration Officer was also referring some of the Entrants to wait on the side and another officer was taking them to a separate office for more interrogation.

Although I knew I have the visa with me, I was still very nervous. What if they deny me from entering the country for whatsoever reason? However, immigration process for me went very well. They handed over my Green Card and said – you must carry this always and at the end of the year you must inform immigration department your address.

The official also said – welcome to America and wish you all the best.

After that, I came to the baggage area, collected my luggage and proceeded to the gate to go out of the airport. The arrival area in the International Terminal was quite big and lot of people were waiting there to greet and receive their loved ones and friends. I did not expect anyone to receive or greet me except one person who was coming to meet me here to receive a pair of shoes which his brother sent to him with me. His brother was a colleague in my last place of employment. Before I realized one person was asking me if I was his brother’s colleague.

I replied – yes, I am, and your brother has sent a pair of shoes for you with me.

Let me open the suitcase and give it you.

He shook my hand and said – my name is Adhir.

I replied - my name is Dilip.

I started to open the suitcase, at this time. Adhir asked me – where are you going to stay, do you have a place where you are going?

In reply I told him – I have to go to Brooklyn, and I am going to stay with Ramen Maitra. I met him in his brother’s house in Kolkata and at the request of his brother he offered me to stay with him until I get a job. He is a very kind person - I added.

Adhir asked me – does he know that you are coming today? Is he coming to the airport to receive you?

I was nervous to begin with to come to a new country. I had written to Ramen numerous times and he always assured me of my stay with him. I said to Adhir – I have his phone number: I shall give him a call now.

Please help me, I do not know how to use the phone here.

We walked to a public phone. Adhir put the money in phone and dialed the phone number. He gave the phone to me when it started to ring. After a few rings a lady answered the phone.

“Hello, whom do you want?”

I said – I want to speak to Ramen Babu.

She replied – I am his wife, hold on please. I am giving it him and then she said – Ramen, someone wants to speak to you.

Ramen said to her – ask who he is.

Then his wife asked me – may I know your name please, Ramen wants to know. In the meantime since phone is open, I am overhearing their conversation. I told her my name and asked again to speak to him. She shouted to her husband – his name is Dilip, he is from Kolkata and he is in JFK Airport. He says –he needs to speak to you.

He then told his wife – tell him, I am not in home, I have gone to Philadelphia and I will be back four/five days later. All these useless troubles, we don’t need these. Just tell him I am not here in New York.

His wife then told me – my husband is not in home, he went to Philadelphia, he will return four/five days later. After saying this she hung up the phone. Upon

October 2019 11

finishing talking to her I was at a loss what to do. I felt like a big thunderstorm was going to engulf me. I never expected to fall in a hapless situation like this.

I turned around to Adhir and said – Ramen’s wife told me that he went to Philadelphia. But she was asking her husband back and forth to reply my phone and I overheard Ramen’s voice.

I think, for some reason she was lying to me. Maybe they did not want me, as such made an excuse that he is not here.

Adhir listened to me and said – Over here nobody goes to Philadelphia leaving his wife behind. It is very clear, they do not want you to be in their home, so they made this up and got rid of you. Anyway, what are you going to do? Do you know anyone else who can help you in this situation?

I looked at Adhir and said – no, I do not know anyone, and I am at a loss what to do. I do not have enough money to go to a hotel. Ramen assured me so many times, and I believed him. If he did not assure me, I would have tried to make other arrangements.

Adhir said – forget about Ramen, I am a student, I live in a very small place. For now, you stay with me. Later on, we can try to find out where you can stay. Please follow me, let us take a bus to go to my place.

We took a bus for Manhattan and for the first time I was looking at America.

Everything seemed to be so beautiful and I felt very lucky that I could come to this country, except that I was in a dire situation about my stay. At that point I was living hour to hour. In the meantime we reached his place in upper west side of Manhattan, it was known as “Clinton Arms Hotel”.

Adhir rented a small room here, kitchen and bathroom were common, there was barely any room beside the bed, but for one student it was enough. I thought what Adhir did for me was very kind and generous He did not have to give me shelter.

Itwas his humane feeling that he could not leave me on the street. I felt a great respect for him. What a fallacy, even after giving assurance one man denied continue to page 14 }

12 October 2019

Ananda Sangbad

Superstitions and All

| continue from page 7 more than people on the other side. During sixteenth through early nineteenth century, India was ravaged with religious stagnancy and deliberate hegemony dictated by the dreaded Hindu caste system, which stratified people by vocation of their ancestors. The ‘upper class’ people benefited enormously at the cost of those at the bottom of the rung.

It is to be emphasized that such social stratification was accompanied by various superstitious acts and beliefs.

In Bengal, such social stratification gave rise to ‘Young Bengal’ movement, led by Henry Louis Vivian Derozio in the earlier part of the nineteenth century. Bengali youth, particularly educated ones, rebelled against the caste system and all matters related to Hindu religious practices, superstitions and sanctions. The latter involved issues such as prohibition against eating cow-meat, losing one’s caste by touching an ‘untouchable’ or lower caste person, inter-caste marriage, prohibition against women’s education, re-marriage of a widow, and scores of others. Many ‘Young Bengal’ activists turned towards Brahmanism (an adherent to Unitarian Church) and Christianity as a foil against Hindu orthodoxy and superstitious practices. Later, Hindu revivalist movement, led

by Swami Vivekananda arose to thwart such a trend.

I grew up in an ultra-liberal family in Kolkata. My father proclaimed to have ‘no religion’ in contrast to the common practice of adhering to his forefathers’ faith as his own. My mother was a left-wing activist, and preached against any orthodoxy, be it in the guise of faith or superstition. I attained my young adulthood under such influences. As a result, I grew up with a firm determination to shed all forms of orthodoxy and delusional faith.

It is to be emphasized that being superstitious requires certain degree of mental stubbornness, dictating one to believe in things without asking questions, similar to belief in God. A common saying in Bengali pronounces ‘Biswase meelai Hari, torke bohudur’, meaning God can be reached by faith, and not by questioning.

I am an archetypal questioner and refuse to believe in anything without asking questions. As a result, I have faced scorn to outright hostility, yet I have remained steadfast. However, two recent incidents have jolted my confidence.

The first incident is related to a simple shopping event. Swapna, my wife, bought a few items

for our sons from a name-brand store. However, our sons were not interested in their mother’s choice of garments. Therefore, she took the items back to the store, and obtained a store-credit worth $63.97. A couple of birthday parties were coming up.

Hence, she bought a few items from the store, expecting the sum to exceed the store-credit amount, and she would pay the balance in cash.

At the end, she brought newly purchased items to the counter, and the clerk dutifully rang up the items in computer. Then, he politely announced, “Total is $63.97.

How would you like to pay for them?” Sixty-three dollars and ninety-seven cents, exactly! Both of us were completely overtaken by surprise. How could price of random items tally up to a specified total, particularly a number like 63.97.

If we rely on statistics, and invoke pure chance of a certain happening, there is probably one in billionth chance of such an incidence. There is a proverbial saying - if a monkey sits in front of a computer and types at its will, there is a finite chance that it will write a prose like Shakespeare after a billion attempts. Are we that proverbial monkey? How do we explain this odd happening? The question remains unanswered, but this incident truly shook my confidence about not believing in phenomena that cannot be fully explained.

The second incidence was outright eerie and sinister. Earlier this year, I was driving on a local road in my 2010 Toyota Prius with Swapna in the passenger seat. It was late afternoon in an unusually balmy and clear day in the dead of winter in New England. The road was completely free of snow and slush. I stopped to take a left turn, when suddenly a car rammed into mine from behind. Obviously, we were completely shaken up, but fortunately nobody was harmed physically.

Apparently, the driver of the other automobile was texting while driving and did not pay attention to the traffic in front of him.

I exchanged insurance information with the driver of the other car and drove away with my battered but, drivable car.

The next day I took the damaged car to an auto-body shop recommended by my insurance. The mechanic determined that damage to my car was quite extensive so that the accident should be deemed as a ‘total loss’, meaning cost of repairing would far exceed the estimated retail value of the automobile.

This Toyota Prius had been our friend and a dependable com-

panion for nine years. We made many long trips in this car, and it never failed us. However, time has come to say ‘good-bye.’ We left the car behind after removing all personal objects.

Very soon we purchased a new and partially electric, and yet another Toyota Prius. We appreciated how car-design has changed with all the bells and whistles related to safety, and ease of driving. Before bringing it home, I decided to use the car registration plate from the old Prius, instead of getting a new one, as is customary. Possibly I loved my old Prius so much that I did not want to severe the ties completely.

Our happiness lasted only for a month or so. Almost like the mirror-image of the previous incident, someone hit our new Prius from behind while my car was stopped in a traffic light. Again, I learned that the driver became careless because she was texting while driving. As before, my insurance company graciously did everything to get a rental car while our Prius was getting fixed.

Similarity of last two incidents was anything but bizarre.

Where is the connection, I mused.

The old Prius was somehow accident-prone. It took a lot of body-punches much like in a boxing match. It was hit by other automobiles twice before. Then there were roadside deer which rammed onto the car twice. If the proverbial ‘morning shows the day’ holds any truth, will the new Prius have the same fate as the old one, as the last accident suggests?

I racked my mind back and forth, where the connection is between the old and the new.

For Pete’s sake, it is the number plate! I am not a believer of superstitions, but my cup was full.

I deliberated extensively. This car is driven by my wife also, and occasionally by my sons. If another accident happens and there is bodily injury, will I be responsible for that? My rational mind spoke otherwise, but after much deliberation I grudgingly went to the nearby Department of Motor Vehicles, submitted my old plate and attached a new plate to my new Prius.

What is the take-home message? Have these incidents made me a superstitious person? I may deny it, but my action suggests that it is indeed the case. Will this new ‘self’ stay with me for rest of my life? Short answer is I do not know. However, the fact that I am able to write about it openly makes me believe that most possibly I will waver between my rational and irrational (superstitious) selves. I rest my case.

14th South Asian Theater Festival | continue from page 9 East Brunswick.

The concluding day’s proceedings began with Stories of Jackson Heightsdirected by Golam Sarwar Harun and performed by Dhaka Drama, New York. The play, originally written in Bengali by Harun, was translated into English and conceptualized by Gargi Mukherjee. It traces the journey and the plight of an undocumented immigrant family from Bangladesh in the US. Rani Kamlapati written by Indira Dangi, directed by Ameeya Mehta and performed by Prayog Theater Group, New Jersey, was the next to follow. This period drama was based on the true story of Tribal Princess Kamlapati who was the seventh queen of Tribal King Nizamshah Gond of Ginnorgarh. The play follows her ascension to the throne of Ginnorgarh following the murder of her husband in the hands of his relatives and her treaty with a neighboring ruler, Dost Mohammad Khan, to secure her son’s succession.

The finale of the festival wasMegh (“The Haze”) by Epic Actors’ Workshop, New Jersey.

This Bengali play was written by the noted thespian Utpal Dutta and directed by Pinaki Dutta.

This unique play, unlike Dutta’s more notable work, deals with the subject of internal trauma and conflict that a person goes through in the current socio-economic environment while intermingling with the psychological turmoil caused by his schizophrenic condition.

Theater in Breaks conceived and directed

by Subhasis Das and produced by Epic Actors’ Workshop was once again part ofthe festival lineup. According to Subhasis, the concept is one that aims to explore and create spaces of exchange between theater workers and audiences. During four breaks over two days, Subhasis and his supporting team explored different frames of exchanges in the format of ‘Third Theater’ popularized by his mentor, the late Badal Sircar. The converted black box space of George Street Playhouse was utilized to foster the mutual evolution of the audience and theater through improvisation. The two breaks on first day examined our fear of the unknown and our innate tendency to connect with nature and other forms of life. The first break on the second day explored the contemporary issues of immigration and the roadblocks being erected in its path. The final break showcased Jukti Takko Gaal Goppo or debate as a constructive way to develop narratives. This session was built on the conversations initiated in the previous year’s festival. Subhasis and his team emphasized that such exchanges must continue.

NO PARKING ZONE

Illegal Parking in circular driveway of temple has to be STOPPED! It is a longer walk from parking lot but that is our parking design. There are three car parking back of the front house and few cars can be parked on front house driveway to the garage! Once these are filled, everyone (!) has to park at the parking lot!

Most often it is our own people who park illegally! Everyone must respect allowable parking space. If not, we are going to call police for TOWING! Let us cooperate and try to avoid this!

Let us all be a good CITIZEN and follow the law!

No one wants car to be TOWED! It is our community home and let us follow parking rule!

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!

October 2019 13

Ananda Sangbad

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

D

oes seeing still amount to believing? In this technological age of hyper-realistic mask and deepfake video, the familiar adage may need a careful re-evaluation.

Masks are a part of human culture for centuries.

They were used for sacred purposes and for profane, sometimes at the same time.

With the introduction of latex and silicone masks for special effects, typically in film but applying also in theater, the adoption of these props became far and wide. The natural or synthetic latex and the silicone rubber lend themselves to easy sculpting, thus making the masks suitable for theme parks, haunted attractions, Halloween costumes, music videos, film, and television. Modern technologies, such as 3D scanning and computer sculpting, are transforming these masks into shockingly lifelike experiences.

They’re not just for Halloween anymore.Expensive, realistic masks – the kind that are the hit of the costume party – are increasingly being used out of season, and not always for laughs.In one case, a white bank robber in Ohio used a hyper-realistic mask manufactured by a small Van Nuys company to disguise himself as a black man, prompting the local authorities to mistakenly arrest an African American man for the crimes. When police showed the picture of the disguised robber to the mother of the wrongfully arrested man, even she thought it was him. The culprit was eventually caught based on a tip from his girlfriend.

In another case, a 20-yearold Chinese man seeking asylum in Canada used one of the same company’s masks to transform himself into an elderly white man and slip past airport security in Hong Kong.The deception was only detected when the person removed the mask midflight and a fellow traveler brought the change in appearance to the attention of the crew.

While I was penning this article, I came across the news of a Brazilian drug dealer who tried to escape prison. He was dressed in a silicon mask, a long-haired dark wig, tight jeans and a pink t-shirt – attempting to pass off as his 19-year-old daughter, who had come to visit him.She had planned to stay behind while he made his getaway.Guards became

Believe It or Not alert after they noticed someone looking suspicious.

These examples imply that realistic masks can be mistaken for real faces, even when the viewer’s attention is focused on facial appear-

By Subhodev Das is looking at these props to improve commercial monitoring systems that rely on face recognition technology.

Is there a masked face? (Answer is at the end.) ance (as is the case in police line-ups and passport checks).Such incidents are likely to become more common as hyper-realistic masks become easier to manufacture. These developments have potentially far-reaching implications for security and crime prevention.

Face recognition requires a one-to-one mapping between faces and people, so that appearance can be traced to identity unambiguously. If viewers do not distinguish between hyper-realistic masks and real faces, the mapping can be compromised, and facial appearance is no longer informative for recognition.

Experiments have found that viewers fail to detect hyperrealistic masks, even when they attend to facial appearance.

Face recognition is a common means of identifying people and an important component of security and crime prevention internationally. Hence, the tech industry

A small Japanesecompany that makes hyper-realistic face masks has stepped in to aid the tech industry. The company has found a way to use three-dimensional facial data from high quality photographs to make these masks.

Each mask replicates the tiniest details of a person’s face, down to an eye’s blood vessels and fine skin wrinkles. It is hoped that with artificial intelligence injected into the monitoring systems, these hyper-realistic masks can be used to train the systems to distinguish between real and masked faces.

Apple also used equally creepy face masks to test false attempts at logging into the iPhone X with Face ID. (Turns out it wasn’t enough, as a Vietnamese cybersecurity firm claimed it was able to bypass Face ID with a cobbled-together mask.)

It is not only the hyperrealistic masks that are transforming faces. In 2017, Russia-originated FaceApp

tomate this kind of facial reanimation, and it did so with machine learning techniques to make connections between the sounds produced by a video’s subject and the shape of its face.

Contemporary academic projects have focused on creating more realistic videos and on making techniques simpler, faster, and more accessible. The Face2Face program, published in 2016, modifies video footage of a person’s face to depict them mimicking the facial expressions of another person in real time.The “Synthesizing Obama” program, introduced in 2017, modifies video footage of former president Barack Obama to depict him mouthing the words contained in a separate audio track.

With access to relevant technologies, amateur development in deepfakes has proliferated across the internet. In 2017, these videos, particularly those of involuntary pornography, started surfacing in the social news aggregation site Reddit, the social media platform Twitter and the pornography site Pornhub. Since then, these websites and several others have banned deepfakes of involuntary pornography.

However, these continue to flourish in many online communities.

Non-pornographic deepfakes of one actor’s face swapped into various movies or misrepresentations of well-known politicians are available in video portals or chatrooms.For example, the face of the Argentine Presi-

was introduced for iOS and Android devices to create a rendering of what one might look like in a few decadesusing artificial intelligence.

Recently, it has made a comeback, thanks to the so-called FaceApp Challenge, in which celebs (and everyone else) have been adding years to their visage with the app’s old-age filter. Since its introduction, FaceApp has added new features, such as gender swapping,with convincing results.

To keep pace with these improvements will require increasingly sophisticated countermeasures, perhaps including consciousness raising, personnel development and supplementary imaging methods.The conditions are conducive to a new arms race in face recognition between deception and detection.

A closely evolving technology is threatening to push the arms race beyond the face to the persona. With our social interactions and information gathering moving online at a fast pace, deepfake videos are becoming another source of concern.

Deepfake (a portmanteau of “deep learning” and “fake”) is a technique for human image synthesis based on artificial intelligence. It combines and superimposes existing images and videos onto source images or videos using a machine learning technique known as generative adversarial network.

So far, the technology has been primarily used to create fake celebrity pornographic videos or revenge porn. More recently, deepfakes are being appliedwith increasing sophistication to creation of fake news and malicious hoaxes.

Academic research related to deepfakes lies predominantly within the field of computer vision, a sub- Putin under gender and age field of computer science transformations. often grounded in artificial intelligence that focuses on dent Mauricio Macri was recomputer processing of digi- placed by the face of Adolf tal images and videos.

Hitler, and Angela Merkel’s In 1997, a landmark work- face was transformed into called the Video Rewrite Donald Trump’s. program was published. It In May 2019, the speaker modified an existing video of the United States House of footage of a person speaking Representatives, Nancy Peloto depict that person mouth- si, was the subject of two viral ing the words contained in a videos.One of the videos had different audio track.It was continue to page 14 } the first system to fully au-

14 October 2019

Ananda Sangbad

Recent Sahitya O Alochana Sessions at Ananda Mandir Reported by Subrata Bhaumik

S

ahitya O Alochana (SOA) is a monthly literary and topical discussion forum under the aegis of Ananda Mandir (AM). It completed its 11th anniversary in January 2019 and will have organized one hundred and seventeen (117) sessions by the time this report goes to press. These monthly sessions feature exciting and illuminating discussions on diverse subjects including literature, art, theater and movie; history, philosophy and religion; science and mathematics; economics and business; and social issues, sports, and current affairs. Below is an account of a few recent sessions.

June 2019 This session was entitled – “Trade, Tariff, and Trump – Triune Myth of “Make America Great Again,” and was led jointly by Gautam Goswami and Subrata Bhaumik. It was an engaging and informative discussion that reviewed the rudiments of international economics pitted against the basic pillars of President Trump’s economic cum foreign policy including Trade/Tariff, Tax Cut, and Deregulation. The session specifically focused on trade and tariff and introduced the associated theoretical underpinnings. It also examined US’s present conundrum as it relates to the impact of the current president’s bandaged trade policy on the domestic and global economy, and the future of the widely held view of globalization proponents that the world is a shared resource for humanity at large. The crowd was a bit light, but the exchange and the mood more than filled the void.

A ton of thanks goes out to Gautam and Subrata.

July 2019 The July event was entitled “An Evening with Srijato.” This session featured poetry reading by, conversations with, and music in kind of a cappella style by the celebrity poet who is a frequenter at our alochana sessions. In this event, he was his usual self - reading poems and talking about them in a quietly zesty manner. But as the session went on, it slowly turned into a really memorable experience: the imagery, the mystifying interspersing of creative agony and jubilation oozing out of those deftly chosen words, and the effervescent presence that defied some fortuitous challenges. Icing on the cake was his wonderful music that followed the reading session: he sang two famous ghazals (Garche Sau Baar and Ulti Ho Gayin) interchangeably in Mehdi Hassan and Begum Akhtar styles, and ended with a Bengali light classical song (Kholo Mandir Dwar) originally sung by his grandfather, the famous Hindustani classical vocalist Tarapada Chakrabarty.

What followed was a long standing ovation by the overflowing crowd in presence. A truly wonderful experience! A ton of thanks goes out to Srijato.

August 2019 In August, Amitabha Bagchi led a session entitled “Being the Other: Muslims in India.” Based on a famous book with the same title authored bySaeed Naqvi, aprominent Indian journalist, the discussion focused on Naqvi’s reflection on life as one of his country’s 180 million Muslims — a population that, he argues, has gradually become “otherized.”

Bagchi began with providing some contextual background with a mini discussion on another seminal book entitled “India Wins Freedom,” by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, one of the major leaders of Indian National Congress and the first education minister of independent India. This part of the discussion dwelled on the issue of “token” secularism, one of the concepts espoused in Azad’s book. This provided a perfect segue to Naqvi’s thesis – India is a country that has historically been steeped in an exquisite confluence of cultures and races, it’s lifeline. Consider the following lines from his book “The clouds are moving ecstatically from Kashi to Mathura and the sky will remain covered with dense clouds as long as there is Krishna in Braj.” “These lines were composed by Mohsin Kakorvi, a Muslim poet, to celebrate not Lord Krishna’s birthday but that of the Prophet Muhammad.” Where else on earth local traditions and folklore transcend communities, religions, and ethnicity? Only in India. And that’s the “Dream India” that was promised to all of us. To the sheer dismay of Naqvi and many other, as he explains, the roots of such “otherization” were sown during the early days of Independent India by the covert actions of the founding leaders including Nehru, Patel, and Gandhi, which only have gone out of control in the present-day India we see. While this is a point of view that offered meaningful insights into one of the major challenges that the country is confronted with, it did trigger vituperative exchanges amongst the attending crowd along the usual divisive lines. Overall, it was great session, and a lot of thanks go out to Amitabha Bagchi.

Future sessions Quite a few interesting sessions are in the pipeline for next several months.

They feature eclectic topics including a discussion on “Religion and Politics – a South Asia Perspective,” a session on “Investing, a Lifestyle vs. Economic Swings,” another one featuring “Children’s Literature,” and a session on technology and new horizons.

The friends of Sahitya O Alochana would like to thank Ananda Mandir for its continued support for the forum’s contribution to the cultural enrichment of the local South Asian communities.

WHY?

| continue from page 11 keeping the promise; on the other hand this man wanted to help me even though he did know me, I clearly understood the difference between a human being and a look alike human being. I was overwhelmed by his kindness and hospitality. I was very tired. He showed me the bath room. By the time I came back freshened, Adhir warmed up the dinner he cooked.

Although it was forty plus years later, I still vividly remember that menu of rice and buffalo carp.

The food was very delicious, I ate to my heart’s content. This was my first meal in USA from a kind man whom I did not know, a man who did not have to provide yet he did it for me because of his responsible nature and kindness for fellow human being. If Adhir was not there for me that day, my life could have faced a huge uncertainty on that day, anything could happen to me because of one man’s false assurance. I felt very humble and grateful to Adhir in that night. After dinner we spoke about different things, we spoke about his brother who sent him the pair of shoes and then retired for the night.

Next morning Adhir gave me eighty dollars which was equivalent to five hundred rupees which I gave to his brother. Then he took me to the office, and I rented a small room for eleven dollars per week. I was very happy to find a place to stay. Adhir showed me the grocery store, I bought uten-

sils and rice, egg and potato etc. from there. Eventually, we became good friends and we shared our good times and bad, since then. I expressed my gratitude to Adhir many times and I shall always remain ever grateful to him for his kindness to me.

I was amazed how people can lie so much to shy away from a promise he made to someone.

Ramen gave me a lifetime teaching by his false hope and assurance. As a human being all of us should try not to hurt anyone by any means. If it is a difficult task, nobody should give any false hope because that may put someone at a difficult situation. Life can be very challenging and difficult when someone comes here in USA for the first time. Till today I cannot find any reason, why Ramen behaved that way. First of all, I did not ask for help, it was his brother (my ex-boss) who requested him.

He could easily say no, but he chose not to do that, instead he assured me numerous times and finally he did not keep his promise, putting me in harm’s way. As a human being, everyone should try to do well to others, but if it is not possible, at least never hurt another human being.

In later years, I met Ramen several times in different social gatherings. He could never speak to me keeping his head high. I wanted to ask him why he lied to me, but I never did. I still have the question to ask – why?

Believe It or Not | continue from page 13 the speed slowed down to 75 percent, and the other edited together parts of her speech at a news conference for the Fox News segment Lou Dobbs Tonight.Both videos were intended to make Pelosi appear as though she was slurring her speech. President Donald Trump shared the latter video on Twitter, captioning it “’PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH NEWS CONFERENCE’”.These low-quality videos are sometimes described as “dumbfakes.”

As with any technology, the manipulation of images and videos using artificial intelligence could become a dangerous mass phenomenon. Much of the motivation behind deepfake pornography comes from the desire “to control and humiliate women.”

It is also possible to use deepfakes for targeted hoaxes. In June 2019, adeepfake of Mark Zuckerberg giving a sinister speech about the power of Facebook was posted to Facebook-owned Instagram.

Two artists and an advertising company, Canny, used a real video footageof a September 2017 ad-

dress that Zuckerberg gave about Russian election interference on Facebook.The caption of the Instagram post says it was created using CannyAI’s video dialogue replacement (VDR) technology.

According to the founders of Canny, their work leverages the algorithms developed by University of Washington researchers in the “Synthesizing Obama” project.

Despite misuses, many in the industry see the true potential for the deepfake technology lying in the ability to create a photo realistic model of a human being. According to Omar Ben-Ami of Canny, “it is the next step in our digital evolution where eventually each one of us could have a digital copy, a Universal Everlasting human. This will change the way we share and tell stories, remember our loved ones and create content.”

Zuckerberg deepfake

October 2019 15

Ananda Sangbad

Community Section

ICC CORNER

Reported by Arpita Gupta The ICC Annual picnic, the primary activity of the community for this summer, was held on Sunday, July 28th between 10am and 6pm at our regular venue at the Hedden Park Recreation Area situated in Randolph, NJ. The weather turned out to be ideal for an outdoor picnic, and more than 110 participants thoroughly enjoyed the day. The summer warmth made the outing very enjoyable for all.

All attendees were greeted with snacks which consisted of ‘Jhaal Muri’, luchi, aloor dom, bagels, scrambled eggs. This was followed by lunch which consisted of barbequed vegetables and corn, chicken hot dogs and Tandoori chicken, hariyali chicken, veggie burgers, and grilled paneer accompanied

by a choice of hot and cold refreshments. The park has a very beautiful trail meandering through the woods, lake and other manicured open spaces, which many of the attendees strolled around.

The adjoining field also provided an opportunity for others to try their skills in soccer, cricket, “hula hoops” and other outdoor activities.

A math quiz and a lemon-inspoon race were organized for the children, with prizes being awarded for the winners and the runner ups.

A sumptuous dinner consisting of delicious Goat Curry made by Shiv Kar and Debol Gupta was enjoyed greatly by everyone. Dessert consisting of fruits, bonde and ice cream was served at the end of the event. The super-hit drink aam pora pre-

NJPA Corner

Reported by Chanakya Ganguly NJPA celebrated its annual summer picnic on June 9th at Roosevelt Park in NJ. It was modestly attended and enjoyed with day long fun and frolic with several new members joining the same.

On November 9th, NJPA plans to celebrate Kali Puja with a long set of cultural programs at the Wardlaw and Hartridge school, 1295 Inman Avenue, Edison, NJ 08820. It is expected to draw a large number of people and is being organized in detail specially keeping in mind that this yearmarks the 50th anniversary of NJPA.For spiritual aspirants,

GSCA Corner Reported by Pradip R. Das Cricket Match to support Charity

On Saturday, June 29th,Garden State Cultural Association of NJ organized 20 overs each side cricket match to support its philanthropic efforts with the proceeds collected from this event. The venue was at the Naaman Williams Park in Franklin Township. More than 35 people participated in this event in spite of the extremely hot temperatures that day. Many showed up just to support it from the sidelines by their presence and cheer the players on the field. The daylong event was supported enthusiastically by all present and in spirit and monetary contributions from non-attendees as well.

Picnic GSCA hosted its Annual Picnic on Saturday, July 27th. at Mercer County Park, West Windsor, NJ. More than 125 people, members and members’ friends, adults and children of all ages, gathered at this beautiful site of lush green meadows surrounding the picnic spot besides the Mercer Lake. The picnickers were treated to Bengali jalkhabar (snack) items with some prepared on site. Later in the day, for lunch, typical grilled picnic items were

pared by Arpita Gupta and Chaitali Sinha was a perfect thirst quencher for a hot summer day.

With the end of summer, the ICC EC with the help of many of its members is very busy preparing for the ICC’s Durga Puja which will be held on September 28th and 29th. Padmashree Kavita Krishnamurti and Bhoomi fame Surojit and his band Surojit o Bondhura from Kolkata will be the featured artist of this event. They will be performing exclusively for ICC in the tri-state area during this Puja. Along with that will be many programs presented by the ICC members and other Local Artists.

More details of all the above events may also be found at the ICC website www.iccgs.org.

I wish all readers, a wonderful Fall Season and all the very best in the upcoming Festivities.

yogis and awakened devotees, Kali represents enlightenment. Just asreality itself can be both kind and tough, the yogi’s Kali is the enlightening force that removespreconceived notions, frees one from conditioned beliefs and everything else that keepsone away from recognizing one’s true identity.

Tough times never last, but tough people do like the Tortoise. Maintaining a cool attitude inboth success and failure is called equanimity, which is described as Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita.

Till we meet again, have a Joyous Summer and an Introspective New Year of Yogic Consciousness. Information about the upcoming event will be available on our Facebook page “NJPA Parivar.” made and served in abundance. Varieties of hot and cold beverages were available all day.

This daylong event was filled with many fun-filled activities to keep both adults and children occupied and entertained all day. Games for all age groups including spoon races, tug-ofwar, three legged races, and musical chairs were organized. Prizes were given out. Besides the favorite pastime of “adda”, adults also joined in antakshari, sharing jokes etc. Some were seen playing volleyball, badminton or soccer. Some even ventured out on paddle boats on the lake, making merry of the beautiful summer day.

During wrap up time, members joined in the clean-up activities. One could not help but observe the camaraderie and true sense of teamwork in all activities. The day seemed to go by fast with the attendees spending a perfect day with savory food, great company, music and many sporting activities.

All Committee Meeting All the main facets of organizing a community event of this magnitude were discussed.

These included, but not limited to, proper coordination with school management, setting timelines for different activities such as protima set up and decoration, puja and dinner preparation, registration desks and vendor stalls set up, recreational and kids’ activities, stage set up and sound system, stage management etc.

Membership status changes

for the 12 month period of July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.

First Names

Last Names

Sunil & Suman Bagaria Dipak K. Sarkar & Shirley Sanderson

New Status Benefactor Benefactor

Saibalesh & Seuli Mukhopadhyay Grand Patron-Gold Dipak & Chandra Sen Grand Patron-Gold Andrew (Andy) Bose Grand Patron-Silver Anjan & Anupurba Lahiri Grand Patron-Silver Swapan & Uma Roychoudhury Grand Patron-Silver Schwab Charitable Trust Grand Patron-Silver Bijoylakshmi Santanu & Jayati Satyajit & Sucheta Jayadratha & Tandra Sudip & Nabanita Pranab & Ila Dipak and Kumkum Sandipan & Dhirja Rajesh & Polly Mitrajit & Rashmi Arun & Shubra Swapan & Subhra Tapendra & Rina Arun C. & Sanghamitra Moyukh and Prakash Doris Duke Management Fund Ritam Indrani Indrajit Giri & Sucharita Dola Rajat & Lachmi Kalyan & Shyamali Ritwik Amitabha & Deepti Parama Arup & Nabaruna Debbarman Prasanta K. & Shreemayee Probir R. & Sumita D K and J Pallavi & Arya Samya Ghosh and Ritika Inderjit & Sunrita Parag M. & Aparna Mukul & Malabika Surinder Singh Nikhiles & Dolly Ashis Saha & Sutapa Devdas & Kaberi Nirmal K. & Rakhi Prabal and Haimanti Shefali Shrabani Dorris Duke Nandan & Sudha Pradipto Bagchi & Jaya Kalipada & Kalpana Sudha Narayan & Anjana Birendra N. & Nandita Rahul Rohini Santosh and Aparna Biswa & Mahua Shubho & Jayati Soumyendra & Tapasi Sumit and Reshma Roy Nilanjan Mukherjee & Kakali Rabindra P. & Rajni

Banerjee Patron Basu Patron Bhattacharya Patron Bhowmick Patron Chakrabarty Patron Das Patron Debiswas Patron Gangopadhyay Patron Karmakar Patron Mukherjee Patron Paul Patron Roy Patron Sanyal Patron Sarkar Patron Sen Patron

Patron Academy Basu Bhattacharya Bhowmick Bose Chakravarti Chattopadhyay Das Das Datta

Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member

De Dhara Gupta Guha Gupta Kainth Kulkarni Majumdar Matharu Mukhopadhyay Mukhopadhyay Mitra Mittra Mukherjee Mukherji Nandi Foundation Pai Pal Palit Parikh Paul Pramanik Rakhit Rakhit Rakhit Saha Sarkar Seal Sengupta Sinha

Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member Life Member

Sinha

Life Member

16 October 2019

Ananda Sangbad

Awards Presented to Pronoy Chatterjee and Sanchoy Das Based on the deliberations of the Awards & Recognition Committee, the Board of Trustees presented the following recognitions to two of Ananda Mandir members:

Pronoy Chatterjee is recognized as the recipient of Distinguished Leadership Award Pronoy has been leading our two publications, Ananda Sangbad and Anandalipi, for the past 15 years. In that capacity, he has given these efforts a sense of vision and direction, and he has created and energized a team of writers, reporters and editors.

Because of his and his team’s efforts, we can all be proud of these two pub-

lications sustained quality. In addition, Pronoy has chaired our Awards & recognition Committee and has been a key member of our Constitution Committee.

Through all his work, he has demonstrated strong leadership and team-building skills. Ananda Mandir thanks him for everything he has done.

Sanchoy Das is recognized as an Outstanding Volunteer of Ananda Mandir A quiet, courteous, mild mannered but confident and firm. That is how one can characterize Sanchoy Das in few words.

Sanchoy is volunteering with Ananda Mandir for about 8 (?) years. Over the years he shouldered many responsibilities that are very important for proper functioning of this organization. He has taken the lead role for coordinating serving of lunch and dinner for Durga Puja and Maha Kali Puja. During these Pujas he works tirelessly leading

the proper and timely distribution effort of cooked foods to the attending devotees. Typically over 2000 lunches and 3000 dinners are served during the 4 days of DurgaPuja and 1 day of Maha Kali Puja. That is an enormous task. And Sonchoy, year after year, efficiently and surely executing this enormous task.In addition, Sanchoy is also responsible for maintaining and updating Ananda Mandir website. His expertise helped improving our website.

Please note that you can become an Associate Member of Ananda Mandir by donating a minimum of $100. Your subsequent donations of $50 or more are credited to your account.

When your total cumulative donation reaches $1000, you become a Life Member. Your support, small or large, is most welcome and sincerely appreciated.

Tagore Hall at Ananda Mandir

Available to all Members of Our South Asian Community!

A 12,000 square foot, multi-purpose Community Hall that serves as anauditorium (with stage and audio-visual capabilities) as well as a banquet hall, and offers classrooms and meeting rooms. Ideal for your religious, educational, cultural and social events!

For more info: Email to surinder360@gmail.com Or Contact Surinder Singh at 917-304-9878