May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss is the first book of Arnab Ray, an Indian blogger. The book is an extension of his blog. It deals with Indian pop culture, Bollywood, satire and his own life experiences. He makes sarcastic comments on the Indian film industry, Indian politics and society in general.
The book generally met favourable reviews. It was on India Today's Bestsellers list. [1] Times of India Crest said, "Take a chance on Ray; you might enjoy being tickled greatbong style.". [2] The Daily Telegraph said "for a more in-depth insight into the minds of the pubescent adults growing up in the ’80s, do read his Bollywood made me what I am". [3] It also found a mention on the newspaper's surprise hits of 2010. [4] Daily News and Analysis called the satire in the book as "highly entertaining" and that "all said and done, if you grew up in the late eighties and the nineties, this is a book you should not miss." [5] Deccan Herald wrote that "everything from the cover, the title, the blurb and the preface tells you that this is a book worth picking up. It doesn’t disappoint". It considered the book as irreverent but also poignant. Outlook felt the content of the book could make hilarious blog posts "but reading over forty thousand words of this pales quickly". It also pointed out the episodic nature of the chapters with no connection with each other as a sore point. [6] Kanchan Gupta of The Pioneer, on the other hand, commented on the episodic nature of the chapters in MIHYAP (as the author likes to call his book). He said that it gives the reader the freedom to "read in bits and pieces, portions that aren’t particularly interesting can be skipped." [7] It also finds a mention in WorldCat book catalogue. [8]
Taslima Nasrin is a Bangladeshi writer, physician, feminist, secular humanist, and activist. She is known for her writing on women's oppression and criticism of religion; some of her books are banned in Bangladesh. She has also been blacklisted and banished from the Bengal region, both from Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal.
Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury was a Bengali writer, painter and entrepreneur. One of his written books is Chotoder Shera Bigyan Rochona Shongkolon. He was the son-in-law of reformer Dwarkanath Ganguly. He was also an entrepreneur. He was the first person who introduced color printing in Bengal. He started the first colour children's magazine Sandesh in 1913.
The Calcutta Quran Petition is a book by Sita Ram Goel and Chandmal Chopra published by Goel under his Voice of India imprint. The first edition was published in 1986, the second in 1987 and the third in 1999.
Tiretta Bazaar, also known as Chinatown, is a neighborhood near Lalbazar in Central Kolkata. It is usually called Old China Market. The locality was once home to 20,000 ethnic Chinese Indian nationals, but now the population has dropped to approximately 2,000. Most of the Hakka Chinese people in the area moved closer to Tangra. The traditional occupation of the Chinese Indian community in Kolkata had been working in the nearby tanning industry as well as in Chinese restaurants. The area is still noted for the Chinese restaurants where many people flock to taste traditional Chinese and Indian Chinese cuisine.
Mani Lal Bhaumik is an Indian American physicist and an internationally bestselling author, celebrated lecturer, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
St. Xavier's Collegiate School is a private Catholic primary and secondary school for boys, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The school was founded in 1860 by the Jesuits under the supervision of Fr. Henri Depelchin S.J., and it is named after St. Francis Xavier, a 16th-century Jesuit missionary to India. The school caters to approximately 2,300 students.
Abhijit Bhaduri is an Indian author, columnist and management consultant. Bhaduri was Chief Learning Officer of the Wipro Group. Bhaduri is the author of three best-selling books- two novels of the 'MBA' Series- Mediocre But Arrogant, Married but Available and the management 'guide-book' Don't Hire The Best.
Sanjib Chattopadhyay is an Indian Bengali novelist and writer of short stories. His style is characterized by use of short satirical sentences mixed with very lively language.
Kahaani is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language thriller film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Sujoy Ghosh. It stars Vidya Balan as Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman looking for her missing husband in Kolkata during the festival of Durga Puja, assisted by Assist Sub-Inspector Satyoki "Rana" Sinha and Inspector General A. Khan.
Hawkers in Kolkata numbering 275,000 generated business worth ₹ 87.72 billion in 2005. In Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal, almost 80 per cent of the pavements are encroached by hawkers and illegal settlers. In many countries, hawkers use pavements or other public places to retail their goods or services but in Kolkata the magnitude has drawn special attention of administrators and law courts.
Parambrata Chattopadhyay is an Indian actor and director. Parambrata started his career with Bengali television and films. He has acted as the fictional character Topshe from Feluda under Sandip Ray's direction. His notable works include Bhalo Theko (2003), Baishe Srabon (2011), Sold (2014), Kadambari (2017), Anukul (2017), Pari (2018), Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi (2019), Dwitiyo Purush(2020), Bulbbul (2020) and Doctor Bakshi (2023). He made his Hindi debut in Kahaani (2012), starring with Vidya Balan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
Derek O'Brien is an Indian politician, television personality and quiz master. He is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal and member of the AITC. He is the chief national spokesperson as well as leader of the AITC Parliamentary party in the Rajya Sabha. He has been suspended several times from parliament. Prior to his Parliamentary career, he became well known as the quizmaster for the Bournvita Quiz Contest and other shows.
Ipsita Roy Chakraverti is a Wiccan priestess based in India. Born into an elite family in India with a diplomat for a father and royalty for mother, Chakraverti spent her early years in Canada and the US where her father was stationed. There, she was allowed to join a select group of women studying ancient cultures of the world and the old ways. Chakraverti studied with them for three years and finally chose Wicca as her religion. After coming back to India and getting married, Chakraverti declared herself as a witch in 1986. Amidst the backlash that followed her declaration, Chakraverti explained to the media the Neo Pagan ways of Wicca and its healing power.
Arnab Ray is an Indian novelist, blogger, podcaster who currently lives in the United States. While finishing his PhD at Stony Brook University, he started his blog with the name Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind, in August 2004, using Greatbong as his pen name. The blog focuses on satirical social and political commentary.
The Bengal Club is a social and business club in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1827, the club is the oldest social club in India. When Kolkata was the capital of British India, the club was considered to be the "unofficial headquarters of the Raj". The club is nowadays known for its old-world ambience and patronage among contemporary social and corporate elites, and is among a small number of Indian clubs featured in the elite list of the "Platinum Clubs of the World".
Mrityunjay Kumar Singh is an IPS Officer of the 1987 batch belonging to the West Bengal Cadre. He is also a poet, columnist, lyricist and folk musician.
Yash Dasgupta is an Indian actor, television personality, producer, politician. He works Bengali and Hindi Film industry. He started his career in television, and his movie debut was in the 2016 Bengali film Gangster. In 2023 he made his Hindi film debut in Yaariyan 2. He was listed as the most desirable man in the Calcutta Times list of Most Desirable men in 2014, 2015 and 2020.
Nisith Ranjan Ray was an Indian historian, social activist and the founder of the Society for Preservation, Calcutta, an organisation working for the preservation of the cultural heritage of Kolkata.
Shantanu Maheshwari is an Indian actor, dancer, choreographer and host. He debuted with the show Dil Dosti Dance on Channel V in his breakthrough performance as the protagonist Swayam Shekhawat. In 2017, he participated in Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 8 and emerged as the winner. He was also seen as a contestant on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 9 and Nach Baliye 9 and became a finalist in both.
Bong is a neologism that originated in cosmopolitan India in the 1980s as a slightly pejorative exonym for the educated middle-class Bengalis from the Indian state of West Bengal. In the 21st century, the term became a self-appellation of pride through the use of satire and self-reflexive irony by the Bengali blogging community, which came to stand for West Bengalis as a whole. Bong has been noted as a word of Indian English, used in the Indian newspapers.