A sketch by Shailo Chakroborty to be displayed at the exhibition

From tomorrow, Calcutta will witness the biggest cartoon exhibition that the city has seen in a long time. Kolkata Smiles ’08 will be inaugurated at Weavers Studio in Ballygunge Place.

“Calcutta’s cartoon history is far longer than that of Delhi or Mumbai. We have cartoons dating back to even before 1857,” says organiser Sharanya Chattopadhyay. The show will draw on cartoonist Chandi Lahiri’s personal collection.

“Heritage is not just about mansions with chandeliers and nautch girls. It has to do with a city’s cultural roots. Cartoons provide the first reactions to any event,” Lahiri, the show’s curator, points out.

One example of that is a cartoon by Prafulla Chandra Lahiri that came out the morning after Gandhiji’s assassination, capturing the reactions of various factions surrounding the body. While Muslims in India were shedding copious tears and non-Muslims in Pakistan were filled with despair, officials at United Nations were torn between shock and anxiety.

“We are asked to look up Albert Hirschfeld, David Low or Heath Robinson. But the works of Lahiri (Piciel) or Rebotibhusan Ghosh are comparable to international standards,” Sharanya contests.

But Calcutta’s, and India’s, cartoon legacy dates from two publications — Indian Punch, which lampooned Indian society and manners, presumably for the consumption of British residents in colonial India, and its answer, Indian Charivari.

“Both used to come out from Calcutta. As proof, we would be putting up the cover of one edition which mentions 8 Dacres Lane as the printer’s address. Why, even after Indian Punch was shifted to Delhi after the transfer of the capital in 1911, the artistes of the new Hind Punch all hailed from here. The proof is a cartoon in Hind Punch showing Mother India bidding farewell to Lord Minto with Calcutta’s Ochterlony Monument in the background,” says Lahiri.

The show will bring some past stars to the limelight — Debiprosad Roy Chowdhury, a major influence on the Bengal school of painting whose students included Paritosh Sen, Jyotindra Kumar Sen, best known for his illustrations for Parashuram’s stories, and Gaganendranath Tagore.

After the inauguration at 6pm on Monday, there will be a seminar featuring Lahiri, Amol Chakraborty, Debasish Deb and Anup Ray on Tuesday at 6.30pm.

On Wednesday, a film will be screened on interviews of master cartoonists. The exhibition will be on till July 26.

Woman power

Bharati Ray at the launch of her book

Daughters, mothers and grandmothers took centre stage at the launch of Bharati Ray’s book Ekaal Shekaal: Paanch Prajanmer Itikatha at Oxford Bookstore last Saturday. The unveiling by Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Rajat Kanta Ray was followed by a discussion on women in Bengal — yesterday, today and tomorrow — moderated by stage actress Dolly Basu.

Ekaal Shekaal traces the changes wrought on society and the condition of women through five generations. Instead of the conventional research-oriented study, one gets a peek into the author’s past, from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 21st century.

Ray’s narrative sweeps episodes from the lives of her grandmother, her mother and herself before concluding with flashes of her daughter’s nuclear family. From recalled humdrum events, images, scents and flavours, Ray seeks to understand these women — their compromises, likes and dislikes to illustrate how each of them charted their individual courses.

“This is not an intellectual exercise. It is a casual recounting which everyone can enjoy and identify with. There are stories within stories but they are not fictitious,” said Ray.

Taking a cue from the book, several teams of daughters, mothers and grandmothers took turns to share their experiences with mothers, mothers-in-law, daughters, husbands and more.

Of them were three generations of the Ahmad women — educationist and social worker Uma Ahmad, her daughter Anjum Katyal, who is an editor and singer, and granddaughter Diya Katyal, a content writer. Piyali Ray came with her schoolteacher daughter Swati Lal and grandaughter Shuktara Lal, whose interests are theatre and social work. Ruby Pal Choudhuri, the secretary of Crafts Council of West Bengal, was accompanied by her daughters Nandita Palchoudhury and Ahona Palchoudhury, a student of Class XI.

Myriad stories emerged from the interaction — from interfering mothers-in-law and grandmothers with supreme tolerance levels to to single mothers and teenagers.

To Ladakh, on bike

The three young men who head Calcutta Walks are gradually making a name for themselves as pioneers in the field of Calcutta’s heritage tourism, if it really deserves that name. Now they are gradually widening their horizons.

A group of like-minded young men flying the Calcutta Walks colours will ride on Bullets all the way to Ladakh from Delhi. They have been able to attract participants from Delhi and Ahmedabad to their group. Beginning on July 19 from Delhi, they will take the Chandigarh, Manali, Sarchu route. This is the roughest terrain for biking but it is said to be a rewarding experience. They are new to Bullets but that will add to the excitement. At Leh, they will rough it out in tents.

The return journey begins after five days. They plan to visit the monasteries and the Hemis national snow leopard conservation park as well, for which they are looking for sponsors. More bikers are welcome and so are sponsors. They are to call Iftekhar at 9830184030.

(Contributed by Sudeshna Banerjee, Sebanti Sarkar and Soumitra Das)