Unit Area assessment system: Kolkata Municipality goes Trendy...

E-commerce have been in the forefront for a long time. For the first time, I thought of trying out and to my very surprise found the whole image well organized.

Today, while veiwing the daily news in Star Ananda, I came across the news where the Unit Area Assessment System was formally announced, the system in its due course of being implemented as law for taxation for the MegaCity of Kolkata. The pros and cons:

* Relief from the whimses of the Property Tax commissioners who sometimes make un-fair calculations to levy taxes.

* The extra Income, if any, collected through renting premises will not be reflected on the tax.

* Consistent and Constant Equation based Calculation for all the premises in the designated location.

The City of Joy have been devided into regions, based on the socio-economic status of the residents and the degree of civic service available. The 148 Wards of the Kolkata Municipality have been segregated into 174 locales, whereby they are categorized into Group A to Group F. The people or property falling within Group A pays the highest tax. Its proposed that a basal level of Taxation would be determined, say X, which will be multiplied with the area of the premises and the civic index (comprised of age of the establishment, civic amenities available) and the product value will be the valuation of the annual tax. The people residing in Zone A pays off the maximum tax, with the highest basal level of the money, i.e X.

Find out where you are placed:

Unit Area Assessment Map: Kolkata Municipality. Courtesy: Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

Blog, to me have not only being a place to write my thoughts, but I believe in spreading news. Please check your area  from the website:

https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/UnitAreaAction.do

Any complaint can be filed in Online within 60days from today (30.7.10). You can send in a written document with prescribed format, click here.

More over, if the picture doesn't define your area properly, you can always look in here for a written assessment of the whole area wise segregation and their coding!!!

Bed Lamp.

The current have been off for past three hours and it has been at the most unfortunate juncture when the two emergency lamps have been out of charge. But, with two days post a full moon night, the silver of the moon glittered across the streets of tired Kolkata.

I had my research work, trying to stitch a link between the cancer cell lines and my goal to finish a work, whose dateline for submission was nearing the brim of our Cookie Jar...Any day, Mr. Results would try to take out some cookies, and I was incessantly trying to bake some!!! The LED of my laptop glowed through the darkness. It was running for three hours and would soon blink to a sleep... I hurried along.

Mother brought out a twentieth century lamp, which I have been seeing for the past quarter century of my existence. One of the very few items that survived the mood swings of time and was working for the fifth generation of my clan... The lamp, being manufactured in 1923 by a local craftsman, Mr. Anil Mahut, who gifted the piece to my great great grandpa, as token of gratitude. I heard that my great great grandfather had once helped him with money to conduct his son's treatment.

History apart... My Laptop blinks and resounds a good night!

The flame blinked in the cool breeze, coming for the West. It rained heavily since morning. A lucky co-incidence, the clouds cleared for the moon to show her brilliance. Pictures vividly swept past my vision. The lamp made me realize the warmth of fire... an object of fascination, whose bulged glass never broke in immense heat although in standard II, a fine glass cracked infront of my eyes when our maid poured in boiling water in it... (Physics later explained by un-equal expansion of glass)...

Knowledge may have answered my questions, but in it's presence, I have, like others- lost the basic instincts of human beings to appreciate nature and take a time off to enjoy its radiance... Something, that before dying tries to establish it's past and presence, like the blinking cursor...(even the natural comparisons have found themselves an extinct status: BLINKING CURSOR)...  I believe in self criticism....

The Bed Lamp glowed its way, when the sleep brought in more memoirs back to square ONE...

Candle and Light [Somnath Paul; www.somnath-is-here.blogspot.com, Jul 2010]

Learning...

The more I try to be one, the more I falter... Many people shall agree and ask me to make the statement generalized.... But I would ask them that for once, let me talk something about myself....

In the past, things have made me learn in a softer and slower manner, a stuff for which I am paying a price for a number of days... this includes today as well... The more I try to speak out my experience and the knowledge of stuff and when I see that I am in a confronting situation, I forget that I cannot confront...coz to shout and prove my point somewhere comes slowly. Present me a black board and a piece of chalk, I would be very easy in performing the customary to "protest", but when it comes verbal, my weakness is I falter. I get resistance and as I swell with my words, I burst, ending up speaking nothing but non-sense.... (The goofy part of it all is I also realize that sometimes, the sense that I am supposedly uttering is turning non-sense....)

At that juncture, I stop by my image, it may be a shadow or a parallel reflection on the plane mirror. I speak up asking questions? Is knowledge meant to oppose? Is it for pride? Is it for the sense of superiority and acceptance of being invincible? The the answer pops up from somewhere within.... They are side effects! The real ones are to make enlightenment... Starting from Shri Gautam Buddha to Swami Vivekananda, all preached the importance of unity in knowledge... protest and counteract is a breach of that unity...

I lift my soul from the darkness of my ever growing shadow...reinsert it into me and call on to rectify my image and say: "Sorry..."

Ring.... Ring....

"Hello....." (01:00AM, 26/7/10)

Pegs of Tears...

There is no CHEERS before lending a sip into this peg... its salted or blant, made of tears over the years....

Kolkata, a city ever expanding with it's horizons, where a good fourty years back was confined in a radius of 20kms from Shyambazar to Dharamtala, even the palatial Victoria Memorial was a part of daily outskirt adventure now grows into a mega city, with hypothetical MEGA PROJECTS!!!

But it bleeds...its soaked with tears...

Time and again, the world has seen great political minds come up from bengal and this one place where the bengalis are GOOD at.... Think Politically.

40 years back, it was the brigade frontier held by the present day communist rulers (should I mention them psuedo-communists) that was beaten up and then Bengal got a new government which still rules, but is ROTTEN to the CORE! There is NOT a single leader who have come from the masses.... In that beating, 40years ago...i have not heard any tale of any present day leader get a blood bath! Only few innocent people died that day...CPIM(L) (a number of divisions) had celebrated Matyr's Day (শহীদ দীবস) but the leader from the masses, who has had tales of being hurt and have dodged  several attempts by the ruling government to attack her, Ms Mamata Banerjee calls her own organizations' Matyr's Day, 21st July. The occasion is to reverberate her presence in physical, chemical as well as biological entity.... This year, 21stJuly, commemorates 17th year of such heinous offence....

17th July 1993, the year, the date when I was still studying in standard 3. Something had happened, where I saw a lull prevail in Calcutta, in the evening. Everyone was glued to the television, trying to grasp the news of the day...

Today, I know that on the day mentioned, blood followed by tears flew from the veins and eyes of loved ones of the "Political Matyrs', thanks to the motion of Democratic protests against the feudal landlords and the demand for work for atleast one in each family. Back then, the modern Supremo of the All India Trinamool Congress, Ms Mamata Banerjee was a student leader of All India Youth Congress, a lady who was formed from the pity state of the slums, trying to change the  state and social condition of the masses. She was beaten on her forehead and bullets showered at the Mayo Road crossing, Central Calcutta, taking 13 lives of youth who demanded work for food.... legally. In this regard I want to quote K. Gupta in one of the strong worded article published on net against the then Chief Minister's (Late Jyoti Basu) death... " Had it been Jyoti Banerjee lying unattended in a filthy general ward of SSKM Hospital in Kolkata and not Jyoti Basu in the state-of-the-art ICCU of AMRI Hospital, among the swankiest and most expensive super-speciality healthcare facilities in West Bengal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would not have bothered to arrange for a video-conference for top doctors at AIIMS to compare notes with those attending on the former Chief Minister of West Bengal.

Jyoti Banerjee, like most of us, spent his working life paying taxes to the Government. Jyoti Basu spent the better part of his life living off tax-payers’ money — the conscience of the veteran Marxist was never pricked by the fact that he appropriated for himself a lifestyle shunned by his comrades and denied to the people of a State whose fate he presided over for a quarter century. " (Ref: http://www.dailypioneer.com/228148/Destroyer-of-West-Bengal.html )

The atrocities over the poor peasants continued in Nandigram by same government under a different CM who LOVES Doing Mistakes: Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. The death toll was never announced....

Dead Dog - Thanks CPM Government, WB.

Today also, Dharamtala sees a mass gathering, which have been ever growing each year for the 17 years.... This is the picture of the gathering taken from The Telegraph, last year:

Courtesy: The Telegraph, Kolkata. 2009.

From the same source of media, I would like to put forward a picture, 17 years ago, that shouts out the ailment that Bengal is being through for many a years... The left front claim of a similar incident in 1960s where many people were killed by the then Congress Government led by Mr. Siddharta Shankar Ray, but  not a single leader can show injury history in that...today they cry and shed tears...but they fought behind inncoent peasants....

Courtesy: The Statesman Calcutta, 22.7.1993

Today, while coming in the metro...peasants conquered the dias than the common man.... they are here for a change. since 2007, the wind of change is on its final lap... people say that today's gathering will cross 500,000 heads, spanning from Dharamtala, Central Avenue, S.N.Banerjee Road, Mayo Road, Red Road, Brabourne Road, Jawaharlal Nehru Road and A.J.C Bose Road (Rabindra Sadan crossing).

I, as usual protest the pseudo communism as the leaders under the name of Communism are doing nothing for the Community... but making the Community a Commodity!!!!

Sign of the Paper

Back in early 16th Century, the Afgho-Indian ruler, Sher Shah Suri started the first ever postal system of the world, addressing the household and sending out messages in bits of paper....

He also was the architect of the first organized highway of the World, the Grand Trunk Road that connected the port lands of Bengal (India) with the rich plains of the North East frontiers, up to Landi Kotal, via Peshawar (now in Pakistan).

He also has another credit to his reign, apart from being a menace to the mighty Mughals... he segregate the Indian currency system to bring parity to the land...

Today, the Indian Government of the twenty first century makes an upgrade move, making a symbolic attempt to symbolize the Indian currency. In the light of some common names like Rupiah (Malaysia and Burma), Srilankan Rupees, etc, the Indian Rupee made her own lustre as gher government announces the symbol for it...

Indian Rupee

India, making her headway in the World Economy stage now joins the UK Pound, Euro, US Dollar, Yen and Rouble to become the sixth currency with a symbol and also the fifth nation to do so, since Euro is a collective currency.

Glasses and Meat...

It started with a sign in password by Soumillo, I AM LATE...and the the Delay culminated thanks to the agonizing moments by Soumillo over Facebook, gmail(s) and Orkut....!!!

Dual Skills...both on phone and lappy..

With Sandip a little dicy, thanks to the un-avoidable works that remained pending and Sourav and his wife, Deblina would be due by 7:30PM, the planned out leisure time at Oly seemed shortened without reason. Instead of starting out at 3:30PM, we went out at 4:45PM!

After 1.5 years, this group is gonna meet. The last time was in 2009, January, during Sourav and Deblina's marraige. This ocassion is hard to come along thanks to the work commitments of Sandy (@ Huawei), Sanga (@Mphasis), Sourav (@ IBM) and Soumillo, pursuing his MBA at Pune. The first two are located in Chennai and Sourav is located at Bangalore at the moment! Deblina is here in Kolkata @ CTS. I am the lone manger, of the general stream on the paths of pursuing my distant dream of a PhD, presently located at IICB, Kolkata.

At 5PM , after taking a cab, we reached Oly Pub at 5PM. Over there met a few old faces from my Graduation days.... Then we head off for the glasses and the meat.... Enjoyed the tranquility amidst humdrum! (peculiar eh!!? But thats Normal as I have entered the place after 3 years!!! Last time was with my M.Sc pals in 2007!)

Oly is famous for its BEEF, off Menu, but take a taste of the stuff with tangy Mustard...you feel you have been heaven...! I am a Hindu, but I think,  God is in all creatures, then why spare the Cow and not the Chickens and the Goats and the Pigs?!!!

We were off the records at Oly, by 7:30PM. We had a brief wait at Music World, before Sandip finally came. We made our way to PeterCat before Sourav and Deblina came. It was laughter, fun and painstakingly, Tamil Talk...as all the four guys, except me have had some time of their recent working life spent in Chennai....! :(

But it was nice and rejuvinating to see the couple... Newly wed it seemed and it should always be as fresh like this!!!

Sanga, Sandip and Soumillo speaks Tamil!!












Deblina, Sourav and me...














And last but not the least...whats the changes that have ciome amidst the following pics...

2010.

2007.

Three years....

The Monkey Business

Today, 5th July, 2010, was supposedly a pre-planned ReUnion day of S5, a plan foiled by Bandh, followed nation wide (except Tripura). The cause of the strike is to send a notice to the UPA government at the Center against the price hike of petrol based products and subsequently the price hike in all commodities. The monkey business is tht, even a few allies of the UPA have also supported the strike, proposed by the opposition at the union parliament.

Everyone knows the strike will be successful. Today, while watching the evening News, I came up with the view expressed by Prakash Karat that the Bandh was a success. it surely was, as not a single vehicle was seen plying! But the funny part is, on my own survey, the people opted to stay home (or some have fled to a nearby tourist spot from Saturday), beacuse, June and July themselves are Dry Months regarding extra holidays and, this year, the legitimate holidays, 75% of them are on either Saturdays and worst on Sundays!!! But the politicians believe that its a resounding slap by the mass against government policies!!

For once, the funny advertisement produced by Alpenliebe, a premier candy brand, where we have a role reversal between Monkeys and Humans (represented by the great actress Kajol); the Ad seems true as the mass for change has made the political leaders fool.... Want to see the AD:

The Bengali Link....

Uploaded, Scratched and Devasted.....

Bengal and Bengalis have their ever onward link with football. Come May, June or July or may be the cold Jans and Febs, Bengalis have always loved the game, that the English preached the world. Its a famous quote that the English preached the beautiful game of football, the world over and the Brazilians made it their own. But folk lores have always proved it a point, that there is one more nationality, that have owned this beautiful game, smearing emotions, tears, love, smiles, pain and almost all the basic human traits....even death!

The culture of football in Bengal started way back in 1867, when the first ever match was being played. In 1889, the first ever Soccer club was established, bearing the name Mohun Bagan. Today, it is one of India's premier clubs... Incidentally, Mohun Bagan is Asia's oldest soccer club. Its first achievement came in 1911, being the first Indian club to defeat a British team in the prestigious IFA Shield Finals, winning the trophy. Their counterparts were The East Yorkshire Regiment. They were beaten by MB with 2-1 margin. It was a part of Bengal Rennaissance, that inspired Indians. In a megazine called Manosi, this winner by a pre-independent Indian team had sent our wripples, announcing June 29, 1911 as the freedom for Bengal (as well as Indian) football. Mr. Shibdas Bhadhuri led the team against the foreigners. Its was also reported, that kites flew till dusk, that day to celebrate the victory. This is symbolic with Indian independence, as kites flew on 15th August 1947 as well....

Bengal, post independence was divided into Bangladesh and West Bengal.... the soccer fraternity too were divided within West Bengal as East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. Relatively new, East Bengal is the sole compititor of Mohun Bagan and when its a derby between the two, the emotions run as high as a Brazilian Argentine match or even India Pakistan cricket match... to commemorate that, August 1984 saw the demise of 19 spectators when brawl broke between the two sects of supporters at Eden Gardens, over the Calcutta Football league...

Football has played an important role, making it beautiful to life and many times a Chivalrous date...

Many unsolved deals were settled by a game of soccer. I can cite one:

I had studied in Calcutta Boys' School. There was always a supressed tension between the two sections of same standard, regarding quality of results and students.... By sections I mean, division within the same standard. In standard 8, the tension reached the maximum. I don't even vivid remember the reason, but the issue became so prestigious, that 30 students of 8B faced 27 students of 8A (my section) in a soccer match, during the lunch recess... The match turned into a fight, after section B won by 2-1, but the fight began even before the game ended...! 

Emotions run high for passion.... when it comes to Argentina and Brazil. The city is again divided into two....

2010, both departed in the Quarters. The city has its own fan following for the Germans, because Bengalis have a close knit relation with the Germans, coz of Netaji and many stories... Few years back, Oliver Kahn, the great German Goalie, signed off his career playing his last match at Yuva Bharati... for Bayern Munich. Also, Maradona paid his visit, mentioning Kolkata as his newest second home...feeling the warmth. Even Pele, played for Cosmos, against the forebearers of Indian Football, Mohun Bagan, 1977.

But again, the glaze and glamour has tarnished a bit, due to exit of Brazilians and Argentines....