@SinghPramod2784@tehseenp This is oft quoted incident in social media verse but is there a verified source to this? I could find none. Anyone has one please forward . Also don’t forward the opindia articles .
@derekobrienmp @SMitra_ Not sure why that’s the case.While Bengal definitely needs better Industry and Jobs.I would rate living in Kolkata better than Delhi , Gurgaon or Mumbai, all the cities where I have stayed for a long time. In fact have been staying out of Kolkata for more than 20 years now.
@slb_cool I had the same concept , what’s there in a food .But after staying in North India for 20 years I have changed my views . The contempt with which the Non vegetarians are held is simply not on .Also this has specifically increased in the last 10 years . It’s like how can you eat?
@volklub I remember my mother being staunchly opposed to my driving scooter or motorcycle, used to hate that restriction , now at 50 understand her logic . In India , Bikes and scooters are completely avoidable if you can.
A friend once warned him, "Go if you must! But the Bengalis won't let you survive there."
Vistasp’s reply was simple,"If they don’t let me stay, I’ll come back."
Back then, Vistasp, the son of a Parsi teacher in Bombay surprised everyone with his decision to move to Calcutta. He had a wife and children in Bombay and a respectable income. There was no guarantee he’d find work that paid nearly as well in Calcutta. But his friends and family knew him too well.
They remembered how, shortly after his matriculation, Vistasp ran away to Pune in search of work. He spent his days job hunting and his nights on railway platforms. After being chased away by the police, he sought shelter at Kirkee station, sleeping on wooden benches to the "lullaby" of a mosquito symphony. He eventually found a job washing horses at a military camp, but he didn’t stay away for long. Reflecting on it, Vistasp once wittily remarked, "...eventually, I returned home, just like all frustrated young men do."
When he finally reached Calcutta, the "Vistasp" shortened to just "V." Paired with his surname, he filled the city with music as V. Balsara. He often used a two-fingered "Victory" sign as a silent shorthand for his name.
He arrived in Calcutta in late May 1954, carrying nothing but a shirt and trousers wrapped in paper and exactly three rupees in his pocket. Staying at a Parsi guest house on Bow Street, he had no plan. He decided to find Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh and headed to the radio office. Ghosh wasn't there, but a kind gentleman directed him to the National Orchestra, where Ghosh was busy with rehearsals for a recording the next day. The group practically forced Vistasp onto the piano stool. That moment marked the beginning of V. Balsara’s journey in Bengali music.
Once, Hemanta Mukherjee jokingly gave his dear friend a bit of a "jail scare." While arranging music, Balsara was startled to hear he might end up behind bars. During a Rabindra Sangeet recording, Hemanta noticed a slight deviation from the notation and scolded him: "Hey, play exactly what’s in the notes. This is Tagore's music. If you play something else, Visva Bharati will send you to jail!" Fear of "jail" kept Balsara away from Tagore’s compositions for a long time, though later, those very songs became his greatest solace.
His life was marked by incredible discipline and quiet strength. When his eldest son passed away at just eleven years old, Balsara showed up at the studio exactly on time right after the funeral rites. Even on the day his wife passed away, he didn't cancel his scheduled performance. Instead, he dedicated "Purano Shei Diner Kotha" to his lifelong companion.
Vistasp Ardeshir Balsara gave up formal education after failing his 2nd year college exams, pivoting entirely toward his obsession with instrumental music. He was fascinated by the sounds he could coax out of glass, bottles, metal, and stone. By collecting various empty bottles, he created the "Bottlephone," followed by the "Glassophone," "Steelophone," and "Bellophone."
In his memoirs, he wrote, "Since childhood, my head was buzzing with ideas. I was always thinking of ways to pull new sounds out of a harmonium." This relentless curiosity eventually made him the undisputed emperor of instrumental music.
On this day in 2005, this true gentleman, who loved Bengal and its people deeply, passed away.
Tributes... 🙏🙏🙏
@suchetadalal@TVMohandasPai Fact of the matter is Govt remains the biggest litigator . It stems from the culture that no one takes a call to stop pursuing a case and leave it if a tribunal or HC has decided against the GOVT .
@Banglar_Tintin@patralekha2011 Having lived in Delhi / Gurgaon for almost 15 years and now in Mumbai for last 3 years , can easily say Kolkata is much cleaner than either of these two cities and yes I am talking about Sinthi , Cossipore , College street those areas . There is way too much bad press .
@ZavierIndia Interesting, when Congress ruled the centre it never crossed 100 in any states even though the crude was over 100 dollar.
Your one vote to the right party makes a lot of difference to your living .
@andymukherjee70@deepigoyal who had a strict mandate to their drivers about following traffic rules. Of course different sector and they were cab drivers, but they went to the extent of putting all their drivers through regular defensive driving training .Though cabs were on hire the control was strict.
@andymukherjee70 Thanks @andymukherjee70 for a very good read as https://t.co/fepSTkrhgR of the fascinating aspeccts of @deepigoyal s posts was his defence that Everyone in India breaks traffic rules so we don’t have any responsibility. I used to work for a Scottish company operating in india …
@TheSanjivKapoor I shifted to Mumbai around 2 years back and remember someone mentioning this statistics very casually in a lunch table. Still can’t get my head around it . How is this acceptable? People don’t even talk about this forget complaining. May be part of “Mumbai Spirit”