Presently, Bengal is already burdened with the career of Saurav Ganguly and decoding who is a greater political alternative, the CPM or TMC-Cong combination. Figuring out the sexual orientation of Rituporno Ghosh or commenting on the status of present band-songs of Bengal will feature somewhere lower in the table of priorities for Bengalis.
In midst of all this, to invoke the works of Robindranath Thakur and that of Satyajit Ray, becomes a moral obligation. A defiance from the former, or to display any kind of ignorance pertaining to both, can be an unsettling experience for you, if you are caught in a group of Bengalis. It's a metric, that will find its use in decades to come, to establish one's Bangali identity. It won't count, even if you are overwhelmed with your childhood fascination for Sontu-Kakabu or songs of Protul Mukhopadhay; unless and until you can identify a Rabindrasangeet and able to associate the song with the particular part of gitobitaan, namely, Puja, Prem, Prakriti or Bichitra. If you don't know the name of the driver, who drives the green Ambassador for Lalmohon Babu, you are asking for trouble and be sure to get snubbed in a Bangali adda. Your quest and your die-hard assertion for your Bengali identity will be pretty much doomed if you fail in both.
It's tough to attain the status of a Bengali. And the folks who have made it tougher are Rabindranath Thakur and Satyajit Ray, themselves. Just with the sheer volume of their works and in multiple domains, they have left you with this monumental task, of uncovering them. If you are not introduced to them in the early childhood years, be assured that you are starting two laps behind, in this marathon to exert your Bangali identity, and the gap only widens as you keep postponing your introduction to Satyajit Ray and Robindranath Thakur. Bengalis have armed themselves with these two mighty arsenals and will throw them at you according to their convenience, to make you feel uncomfortable. So, here's a tip, When in Rome, do as Romans do.
With Bengal politics, its relatively simple, all you need to know that CPM (name of a political party) came into power in 1977 and introduced land reforms in rural Bengal and there had been no substantial industrialization in the state of West Bengal. Enough for you to survive, in a discussion with the Bengalis on a cup of chaa and jhaalmuri, chop-beguni for good 3-4 hours. With sports, its even more simpler, football giants, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal have lost its relevance, all you need to do is to do a google and youtube search on Saurav Ganguly. Remember, to use, Ganguly is the captain, who changed the face of Indian Cricket by injecting fighting spirit, this will definitely come to your rescue and might cover-up your lack of knowledge of Bengal politics. And if you are not willing to get too academic in adda, don't trouble yourself much by knowing Rituporno Ghosh or Chandrabindu, half of Bengal doesn't care.
But, when it comes to Robindranath and Satyajit, its very much part of the ethos, much like how google and facebook is dominating the web-space now. Those are the two primary tools made available to you to know the culture of Bengal. Drown yourself in the works of two, you have pretty much made yourself knowledgeable of modern day Bengalis.
Many communities and cultures have their own set of luminaries and they are celebrated and worshipped in their respective circles, but, the primary differentiating factor with them and these two are, both of them have been soaked deep down systematically within the soul of Bengal. Rabindrasangeet had not been restricted to the snobs or heavy practitioners, watching of Satyajit Ray movies had not been confined within the artsy crowd of jhola-bag. The universalism in their works had been successful in penetrating the deep regions of Bengal and people get introduced to both, if not in early childhood, then definitely in their youth. Shakespeare-s or Bertulocci-s are not fortunate enough, as their relevance will be trimmed down at the upper echelons of their respective communities and will in all probabilities get lost in the lower segments of societies. Neither, their works possess the defining powers of their respective culture or communities as Robindranath and Satyajit Ray. This can be due to the fact, Bengal never could produce luminaries of that kind and both very well might had been statistical outliers in the population, left with the task of providing a definition. Reasons can be offered, analyses can be made and it should be left to the experts, how and why these things happen.
Point being, legacies of both is difficult to get done with in the next decades. Followers of both can carve out niche by cherry picking any particular aspect of their works and make their careers/lives out of it safely. Needless to say, surely, both Robindranath and Satyajit Ray are bankable stars, and if you invest on them with a less-than-high premium, dividends would be rewarding for long periods of time. Both offer heavy equity securities and innate ability to liquidate them anytime you wish.
Lastly, a health caution, intellectual pretense and display of knowledge of their works, is a pragmatic tool and works just as fine amongst Bengalis, only that, the returns are as volatile as your stocks in the free-market economy.
In midst of all this, to invoke the works of Robindranath Thakur and that of Satyajit Ray, becomes a moral obligation. A defiance from the former, or to display any kind of ignorance pertaining to both, can be an unsettling experience for you, if you are caught in a group of Bengalis. It's a metric, that will find its use in decades to come, to establish one's Bangali identity. It won't count, even if you are overwhelmed with your childhood fascination for Sontu-Kakabu or songs of Protul Mukhopadhay; unless and until you can identify a Rabindrasangeet and able to associate the song with the particular part of gitobitaan, namely, Puja, Prem, Prakriti or Bichitra. If you don't know the name of the driver, who drives the green Ambassador for Lalmohon Babu, you are asking for trouble and be sure to get snubbed in a Bangali adda. Your quest and your die-hard assertion for your Bengali identity will be pretty much doomed if you fail in both.
It's tough to attain the status of a Bengali. And the folks who have made it tougher are Rabindranath Thakur and Satyajit Ray, themselves. Just with the sheer volume of their works and in multiple domains, they have left you with this monumental task, of uncovering them. If you are not introduced to them in the early childhood years, be assured that you are starting two laps behind, in this marathon to exert your Bangali identity, and the gap only widens as you keep postponing your introduction to Satyajit Ray and Robindranath Thakur. Bengalis have armed themselves with these two mighty arsenals and will throw them at you according to their convenience, to make you feel uncomfortable. So, here's a tip, When in Rome, do as Romans do.
With Bengal politics, its relatively simple, all you need to know that CPM (name of a political party) came into power in 1977 and introduced land reforms in rural Bengal and there had been no substantial industrialization in the state of West Bengal. Enough for you to survive, in a discussion with the Bengalis on a cup of chaa and jhaalmuri, chop-beguni for good 3-4 hours. With sports, its even more simpler, football giants, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal have lost its relevance, all you need to do is to do a google and youtube search on Saurav Ganguly. Remember, to use, Ganguly is the captain, who changed the face of Indian Cricket by injecting fighting spirit, this will definitely come to your rescue and might cover-up your lack of knowledge of Bengal politics. And if you are not willing to get too academic in adda, don't trouble yourself much by knowing Rituporno Ghosh or Chandrabindu, half of Bengal doesn't care.
But, when it comes to Robindranath and Satyajit, its very much part of the ethos, much like how google and facebook is dominating the web-space now. Those are the two primary tools made available to you to know the culture of Bengal. Drown yourself in the works of two, you have pretty much made yourself knowledgeable of modern day Bengalis.
Many communities and cultures have their own set of luminaries and they are celebrated and worshipped in their respective circles, but, the primary differentiating factor with them and these two are, both of them have been soaked deep down systematically within the soul of Bengal. Rabindrasangeet had not been restricted to the snobs or heavy practitioners, watching of Satyajit Ray movies had not been confined within the artsy crowd of jhola-bag. The universalism in their works had been successful in penetrating the deep regions of Bengal and people get introduced to both, if not in early childhood, then definitely in their youth. Shakespeare-s or Bertulocci-s are not fortunate enough, as their relevance will be trimmed down at the upper echelons of their respective communities and will in all probabilities get lost in the lower segments of societies. Neither, their works possess the defining powers of their respective culture or communities as Robindranath and Satyajit Ray. This can be due to the fact, Bengal never could produce luminaries of that kind and both very well might had been statistical outliers in the population, left with the task of providing a definition. Reasons can be offered, analyses can be made and it should be left to the experts, how and why these things happen.
Point being, legacies of both is difficult to get done with in the next decades. Followers of both can carve out niche by cherry picking any particular aspect of their works and make their careers/lives out of it safely. Needless to say, surely, both Robindranath and Satyajit Ray are bankable stars, and if you invest on them with a less-than-high premium, dividends would be rewarding for long periods of time. Both offer heavy equity securities and innate ability to liquidate them anytime you wish.
Lastly, a health caution, intellectual pretense and display of knowledge of their works, is a pragmatic tool and works just as fine amongst Bengalis, only that, the returns are as volatile as your stocks in the free-market economy.
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