The University of Calcutta is a public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate colleges and 16 institutes in Kolkata and nearby areas. It was established on 24 January 1857 and is the oldest multidisciplinary university of Indian Subcontinent and South East Asian Region. Today, the university's jurisdiction is limited to a few districts of West Bengal, but at the time of its establishment it had a catchment area ranging from Kabul to Myanmar. Within India, it is recognized as a "Five-Star University" and accredited an "A++" grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).
Presidency University, Kolkata is a public state university located in College Street, Kolkata. It was among the best colleges in the country when the institute was affiliated to University of Calcutta. The institution was elevated to university status in 2010 after functioning as a constituent college of the University of Calcutta for about 193 years. Currently, it continues to rank among the top universities in India.
College Street is a 900 metre long street in Central Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. Also known as Boi Para, it stretches from Bidhan Sarani road up to Bowbazar via MG Road crossing and Surya Sen Street crossing. Its name derives from the presence of numerous colleges and universities like University of Calcutta, Calcutta Medical College, Presidency University, The Sanskrit College and University, City College of Commerce and Business Administration, Goenka College of Commerce and Business Administration etc. The road houses many centres of intellectual activity especially the Indian Coffee House, a café that has attracted the city's intelligentsia for decades. College Street is the largest book market in India as well as Asia and the largest secondhand book market in the whole world.
Anjan Dutta is an Indian film director, actor, and singer-songwriter known for his work in the Bengali alternative music genre anyodharar gaan. As an actor, Dutt began his career in Bengali cinema in the Mrinal Sen film Chalachitro, for which he won the best newcomer actor award at the Venice Film Festival. He acted in Aparna Sen's hit film, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. In 2018 he featured in Swapnasandhani's new play Taraye Taraye, as Vincent van Gogh, under the direction of Kaushik Sen.
Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) is the oldest association of theatre-artists in India. IPTA was formed in 1943 during the British rule in India, and promoted themes related to the Indian freedom struggle. Its goal was to bring cultural awakening among the people of India.
The culture of West Bengal is an Indian culture which has its roots in Bengali literature, music, fine arts, drama and cinema. Different geographic regions of West Bengal have subtle as well as more pronounced variations between each other, with Darjeeling Himalayan hill region and Duars showing particularly different socio-cultural aspects.
Indian Coffee House is a restaurant chain in India, run by a series of worker co-operative societies. It has strong presence across India with nearly 400 coffee houses. It has been a hub for Communist and Socialist movements for generations. Thus it has played a very important role in the politics of India.
The little magazine movement originated in the 1950s and 1960s in many Indian languages like Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Hindi, Malayalam and Gujarati, in the early part of the 20th century.
Shyambazar is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The area, under Shyampukur police station of Kolkata Police, has been, along with neighbouring Bagbazar, the citadel of the Bengali aristocracy, in a part of what was earlier known as Sutanuti. and the popularity of Shyambazer five point crossing is for the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Nandan is a government-sponsored film and cultural centre in Kolkata, India. The primary aim of the cultural hub is to encourage and facilitate cinematic awareness in society. It includes a few comparatively large screens housed in an impressively architectured building. The complex, besides being a modern cinema and cultural complex, is a popular destination for the young and the aged alike.
Samir Roychowdhury, one of the founding fathers of the Hungry Generation, was born at Panihati, West Bengal, in a family of artists, sculptors, photographers, and musicians. His grandfather Lakshminarayan, doyen of the Sabarna Roy Choudhury clan of Uttarpara, had learned drawing and bromide-paper photography from John Lockwood Kipling, father of Rudyard Kipling, who was Curator at the Lahore Museum, and thereafter established the first mobile photography-cum-painting company in India in the mid-1880s. The company was later taken over by Samir's father Ranjit (1909–1991). Samir's mother Amita (1916–1982) was from a progressive family of 19th-century Bengal renaissance.
Shibram Chakraborty (1903–1980) was a popular Bengali writer and humorist who is best known for his humorous stories. His best known short stories and novels are renowned for their unique use of pun, alliteration, play of words and ironic humour. He was a prolific author who also wrote poems, plays, non-fiction and novels for mature audiences in his long career.
Swapan Kumar Chakravorty was an Indian academic who was a distinguished Professor of Humanities at the Presidency University, Kolkata. He also served as a Professor of English, Jadavpur University, Director General of the National Library of India along with Secretary, and Curator of the Victoria Memorial Hall. Chakravorty was chairperson of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC), Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor on Library Matters, Ashoka University, and Distinguished Visiting Faculty, S. P. Jain School of Global Management.
Sanskrit Collegiate School is one of the oldest schools in Kolkata, India, teaching grades from class 1 to 12 under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. The boys-only school was established by the then Bengal intelligentsia along with Sanskrit College, Calcutta. The establishment date is 1 January 1824. It is situated opposite the Presidency University, Kolkata, College Square and Hindu School, Kolkata and next to the University of Calcutta and Hare School, Kolkata.
Khaled Choudhury was a theatre personality and artist of Bengal. He worked for various directors of both Bengali and Hindi plays, including Sombhu Mitra, Tripti Mitra, and Shyamanand Jalan in various capacities — creating the Stage, sets and costumes and later as music director. He was a bachelor. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to theatre in India's Republic Day Honours List on 26 January 2012. He died on 30 April 2014 in Kolkata.
Kathashilpa, of 19, Shyamacharan De Street, Calcutta 700073 was founded in 1959 by Abani Ranjan Ray (1932–2008) and friends like Indranath Majumdar. It became a rendezvous of radical intellectuals and artists of Calcutta, including those with extreme left sympathies. It stayed alive for more than thirty years and published a number of books that would later become classics in their respective fields. At present, the stewardship of the organization is in the hands of Mr. Dulal Burman, Dr. Amit Podder and Mr. Asit Poddar.
Beauty Boarding is a hotel and restaurant located in old Dhaka. It is a historical center of the intellectual gathering of Bengali authors, poets, cultural activists, and politicians. The place has been widely commemorated in their arts and writings. Currently, the place is popular for serving Bengali food, though it also serves other Indian food.
AghorenathChattopadhyay (1851–1915) was an Indian educationist and social reformer. First Indian to secure a D.Sc. degree, he later became the first principal of Nizam College, Hyderabad. The renowned poet and Indian political activist Sarojini Naidu was his eldest daughter.
