Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Chinese community in Kolkata

The Chinese of Kolkata in West Bengal, India are a community of immigrants and their descendants that emigrated from China starting in the late 18th century to work at the Calcutta port . Unofficial estimates put the number of Chinese in Kolkata anywhere from 5,000 to 200,000, most of whom live in or near Chinatown in Tangra.
The ethnic Chinese have contributed to many areas of the social and economic life of Kolkata. Today a majority are engaged in business with a major segment involved in the manufacturing and trade of leather products. A sizeable number are also owners and workers in Chinese restaurants. Kolkata is the only city in India to have a Chinatown.
Immigration
The first record of travel from China is provided in the travelogue of Fa-Hien who visited Tampralipta, in what is now Tamluk in the Fifth Century A.D. Records of immigration for the next sixteen centuries are not reliable although many words in Bengali can be attributed to Chinese influences.For example chini, the Bengali word for "sugar" comes from the word for China, and words like Chinamati for porcelain china hint at Chinese influences.

Kolkata, then known as Calcutta, was the capital of British India from 1772 to 1911. It was also geographically the easiest accessible metropolitan area from China by land. The first person of Chinese origin to arrive in Calcutta was Yang Tai Chow who arrived in 1778. He worked in a sugar mill with the eventual goal of saving enough to start a tea trade. Many of the earliest immigrants worked on the Khidderpore docks. A police report in 1788 mentions a sizeable Chinese population settled in the vicinity of Bow Bazaar Street.

During the time of Warren Hastings, the first governor-general of British India, a businessman by the name of Tong Achi established a steel mill at Achipur, 33 km from Calcutta, on the bank of the Hooghly River near Budge Budge.A temple and the grave of Tong Achi still remain and are visited by many Chinese who come from the city during the Chinese New Year.

One of the earliest records of immigration from China can be found in a short treatise from 1820. This records hints that the first wave of immigration was of Hakkas but does not elaborate on the professions of these immigrants. According to a later police census, there were 362 in Calcutta in 1837. A common meeting place was the Temple of Guan Yu, the god of war, located in the Chinese quarter near Dharmatolla. A certain C. Alabaster mentions in 1849 that Cantonese carpenters congregated in the Bow Bazar Street area. As late as 2006, Bow Bazar is still noted for carpentry, but few of the workers or owners are now Chinese.
According to Alabaster there were lard manufacturers and shoemakers in addition to carpenters. Running tanneries and working with leather was traditionally not considered a respectable profession among upper-caste Hindus, and work was relegated to lower caste muchis and chamars. There was a high demand, however, for high quality leather goods in colonial India, one that the Chinese were able to fulfill. Alabaster also mentions licensed opium dens run by native Chinese and a Cheena Bazaar where contraband was readily available. Opium, however, was not illegal until after India's Independence from Great Britain in 1947. Immigration continued unabated through the turn of the century and during World War I partly due to the fact that China was undergoing political upheavals such as the Opium Wars, First Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion. Around the time of the First World War, the first Chinese-owned tanneries sprung up.
Sino-Indian War of 1962
During the Sino-Indian conflict, the Chinese faced anti-national sentiment unleashed by the Indian National Congress-dominated government. Chinese businesses were investigated for links to the Chinese government and many people of Chinese origin were interned in prisons in North India. Like the Chinese in India, many communists found themselves behind bars and labeled 'foreign agents'.There is decisive evidence, documented by the CIA, that a small minority of Indian Communists were actively betraying Indian military secrets to the Beijing politburo.
India's Independence from Britain did not hinder the influx of Chinese into Kolkata. In 1961, there were close to 7,000. The Sino-Indian War of 1962 ended further immigration from communist China. An unknown number left (most for Australia, Canada, and the United States). Further, those that remained were often suspected of collaboration with an enemy nation. According to a 2005 documentary, some were sent to an internment camp in Rajasthan The situation was alleviated when India and China resumed diplomatic relations in 1976. However, it was not until 1998 that ethnic Chinese were allowed naturalized Indian citizenship. In 2005, the first road sign in Chinese characters was put up in Chinatown, Tangra.
Today

The Chinese today work as tannery-owners,sauce manufacturers, shoeshop owners, and restaurateurs. A number of them run beauty parlours in the city. Among services, dentistry is a traditional occupation that is being welcomed by the new generation. Many of the shoe shops lining Bentick Street, near Dharmatolla, are owned and operated by Chinese. A number of restaurants dotting the city are also owned by the Chinese. Fusions of Chinese (especially Hakka) and Indian culinary traditions have given rise to a widely available form, Indian Chinese cuisine. There is one Chinese newspaper published in the city, The Overseas Chinese Commerce in India but figures from 2005 show that sales have dwindled from 500 to 300 copies sold. At one time, 90% of the students of the Grace Ling Liang English School were ethnic Chinese. In 2003, they comprised only about 15% of the 1500 students.

Many of the Chinese of Calcutta are Christians. A large number of the younger generations became Christians due to the influence of missionary schools they studied in. The Chinese New Year remains widely observed.[2]

Man gets new life after first-of-kind surgery (Lead)

MUMBAI - Dipesh Shah suffered from a major heart problem and doctors described his case as “extremely rare” with a risk of developing permanent infections. But 39-year-old Shah’s heart valve was successfully repaired without serious repercussions after a first-of-its-kind surgery here.

Shah suffered severe aortic valve leakage in his heart, but secured a new lease of life when a team of medicos led by Ramakant Panda successfully operated on him.

Panda described the case as “extremely rare”. This was the “first time in India that a unique surgery of this nature” was conducted at the Asian Heart Institute (AHI).

Shah, who did not have any previous complaints of heart trouble, had gone to AHI for a routine check-up in January. Though all his investigations were fairly normal, his 2D Echo revealed leakage in theaortic valve.

“A heart valve helps control the flow of blood in and out of the heart. The leakage is caused due to damage to the aortic valve and results in backward flow of blood from the aorta. Shah’s CT coronary and aortic angiogram showed different tubular dilation (bulging) of the ascending aorta,” Panda told IANS.

Finally, on March 12, as Shah’s anxious wife Jigisha, 14-year-old son Mounil and 78-year-old father prayed, he was wheeled into the operation theatre for surgery that lasted over 12 hours.

He first underwent Trans Esophageal Echocardiogram (TEE), a procedure in which the probe instrument is inserted through the mouth and passed into the food pipe to view the heart and its functioning.

This was followed by opening the aorta, an examination of the aortic valve and the decision to repair it, said Panda, who shot to fame after he successfully operated on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year.

“Generally, when the valve gets damaged, it is replaced with a mechanical or biological valve. However, in this case the valve was repaired, not replaced,” he explained.

Accordingly, the dilated portion of the ascending aorta was replaced with a 34-mm woven polyester vascular prosthesis, reinforced with bovine collagen. The right and left coronary arteries were re-implanted on the vascular prosthesis.

“TEE was repeated on Shah, which showed mild aortic leakage, indicating good repair. The patient was absolutely stable and discharged a week later (March 19),” Panda said.

Explaining the challenge, Panda said that when the valve does not function properly, it is either repaired or replaced with a new valve, especially theaortic valve.

“Replacement involves a lot of post-surgical care. Since the new valve is a foreign object, it tends to produce clots and gets blocked, compelling the patient to take blood thinners for the rest of his/her life,” he added.

Added to this is the risk of the patient developing permanent infections in the replaced valve.

“However, if it is repaired - as in Shah’s case - the patient retains his own valve, doesn’t need long post-operative care and quality of life is much better,” Panda said.

Aortic valve repair is a rare thing. In Shah’s case, because of the 7-8 cm bulging of the aorta, the gap between the flaps of the valve had increased considerably, making it near-impossible to repair it, which resulted in its dysfunction, though the flaps had not torn.

Jigisha said that the Shah family would be forever “indebted to Dr. Panda and his team,” for giving a new lease of life to her husband.

“He has come home now and is feeling quite normal. Yes, there are severe dietary and other restrictions, some minor side-effects after the surgery, but he is cheerful,” Jigisha told IANS from her home in Borivli west, a north-west Mumbai suburb.

The total cost of the operation would work out to over Rs.1 million (US $22,205) Jigisha said adding that her husband is expected to go back to his routine within two months.

Top 10 Most Spoofing April Fool 2010 SMS

April 1st is the special day, dedicated to make fool to our friends, relatives and others. People play pranks and make various fun with their friends as part of celebration of April Fools Day.

In our fast moving daily life, people hardly manage time to meet friends and play a hoax on the gullible one. Since April Fool Day is not observed as a holiday, people enjoy this day by sending SMS jokes to their friends from their working place; instead of doing it practically.

Send some spoofing April fool 2010 SMS to your friends and family and make this April fool day a memorable one.

A Day Will Come . . .

When The Whole World Will
CELEBRATE

Your NAME

Your FAME

Your PERSONALITY

Your THOUGHTS

Your VIEWS

But Keep In Mind

April Fool Comes Once A Year

Congratulations

Its Ur Day

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Today, tomorrow and forever there will be one heart that would always beat for you.
You know Whose???
Your Own Stupid!!!
Happy April Fool Day!

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

I am your girlfriend:
Smart.
Intelligent.
Sweet.
Talented.
Excellent.
Romantic.

theek kaha na ?

In short I am your S.I.S.T.E.R. :p

Happy April Fools Day

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

SomeOne..
MiSSES U..
NeeDS U..
Worries About U
Lonely Without U
Guess Who?
THE MONKEY IN
… THE ZOO ..

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Kya Aap ne suna hai..?
BBC per
CNN per
IBN7 per
AAJTAK per
NDTV per
nahi suna..!
Radio Mirchi per toh suna ho ga..!
Agar phir bhi nahi suna toh ab padh loo..
Today is April Fool Day and 1 F(O_O)L is reading this msg Very carefully..

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Everything has a day…
Every pet has a day…
Every fool too has a day!
Hope you might have enjoyed your day!
The April Ist !

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

So Sweet is ur SMILE???
so Sweet is ur STYLE???
so Sweet is ur VOICE???
so Sweet is ur EYE?????
see …….how Sweetly I LIE.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

For Pepsi “Shahrukh”
For Coke “Aamir”
For Mirinda “Vivek”
For fanta “Rani”
& For Thumps Up “Akshay”
Don’t worry
For Bante wala soda “You”
Cheers !!!
“Happy April Fool Day”

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

FOOL ne
FOOLon ki
FOOLWARI main
FOOL ke saath wish kiya hai
u r the most
BEAUTIFOOL
WONDERFOOL
and ColorFOOL
amngst all FOOL’s
HAPPY APRIL FOOL’s DAY

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Jab tum aine ke paas jate ho to aina kehta hai
beautiful beautiful!
aur jab tum aine se dur jate ho to aina kahata hai
? aprilfool, aprilfool .

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Not making any political statement by marrying Shoaib Malik: Sania Mirza

Hyderabad, March 30 (ANI): Tennis sensation Sania Mirza on Tuesday stated that she was not making any political statement by marrying Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.



Sania and Shoaib are scheduled to marry next month.



Addressing the media outside her house in Hyderabad, Sania said: "We are not getting married for making political statement. We are getting married, that is the only thing in my mind. It is as simple just like you people get married."



"I''m very happy, my family is very happy with the occasion. The reception will be held on April 15. The venue has not been decided as yet. It is still weeks away, but I''m happy," she added.



Sania further said that she will continue playing for India, and will continue to be an Indian citizen despite her decision to settle in Dubai.



"I''m going to keep playing. I will play for India, and inshallah he will play for Pakistan," Sania said.



"We will settle in Dubai, it is a safe place to live in and it will be the middle base for both of us," she added.



Sania also informed that she has known Shoaib for the past six to seven years.



Replying to query regarding supporting the cricket teams between India and Pakistan,

"I will support India but I will definitely support my husband. But I will definitely support India."



Earlier reports had said that Sania and Shoaib were in a relationship for the last six months, which had led to disruption in the Hyderabad girl''s earlier engagement to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza. (ANI)

General VK Singh to take over as new Army chief today

New Delhi, Mar 31 (ANI): General VK Singh will take over as the new Army Chief here today.

The 59-year-old General takes over from General Deepak Kapoor, who retires from service today.

He will be the 26th Army Chief and will stay at the helm of the 1.13 million personnel-strong Army for over two years.

An honours graduate of the US Army Infantry School at Georgia in the US, General Singh is an alumnus of the Wellington-based Defence Services Staff College, the Mhow-based Army War College and the US Army War College, Carlisle.

A third generation army officer, General Singh was commissioned into the Rajput Regiment on June 14, 1970.

He had participated in the 1971 war against Pakistan and in the operations of the Indian Peace-Keeping Force in Sri Lanka in the mid-1980s.

He also commanded the Jalandhar-based 11 Corps and Ambala-based Strike Corps and was an instructor in the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT) headquarters in Bhutan.

He is a recipient of the Param Vishist Seva Medal, the Ati Vishist Seva Medal and Yudh Seva Medal. He is also one of the honorary ADCs of the president of India, who is the Supreme Commander of the armed forces. (ANI)

Chhattisgarh to host 37th National Games in 2013

New Delhi, Mar 31 (ANI): Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi has said that Chhattisgarh will host the 37th National Games, scheduled for 2013.



Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh signed the host city contract with Kalmadi at a function here on Tuesday.



The state government also handed over a cheque of Rs.two crore as contract fee for holding the event, which includes 33 categories of Olympic sports.



Speaking on the occasion, Suresh Kalmadi termed it as an opportunity for Chhattisgarh to train and prepare sportspersons with aspirations to emerge among the top performers and win medals.



"Not only Commonwealth Games but we also want to look forward to the Olympics as well. We want to encourage Olympic sports at all levels. We have to prepare players in every state and now Chhattisgarh also has a chance to prepare their players and in coming days they should participate at the national level and win medals because it is necessary and they should be won in Olympic sporting events," he said.



Raman Singh said that the state has already started preparations for the games.

"The elementary preparations have started and we hope to make the event a great success," he added.



"I just want to say that we will try that Chhattisgarh organises the best edition of National Games. For that whatever infrastructure is required, primary discussions and meetings regarding the games have already begun and progressing well," he said.



The subsequent event will be staged in Kerala during May this year while Goa will host the 36th edition in 2011. (ANI)

Northeast Briefs

10kg IED found
Dhubri, March 30: A 10kg IED was seized from the house of Sheikh Sabi Dokar, 28, at Uttar Raipur here on Tuesday. Dokar has been arrested.

Dacoit killed
Dibrugarh: A dacoit was killed in an encounter with police at Bogibeel here on Monday.

Recovered
Sivasagar: Army personnel recovered a rifle and ammunition hidden in a drain at Tiphuk tea estate here on Tuesday.

Absu demand
Kokrajhar: The All Bodo Students Union on Tuesday demanded seizure of arms and ammunition and deployment of more forces ahead of the April 9 BTC election.

Party switch
Sivasagar: Altogether 85 AGP workers on Tuesday joined the Congress at a meeting held at Namti under Amguri constituency here.

Road mishap
Dhubri: The Dhubri district AKRSU organising secretary, Bhrigu Moni Roy, died when his motorcycle collided with a truck at Balpara here on Monday.
Top

Nehu teachers oppose move on new heads

Shillong, March 30: The North Eastern Hill University (Nehu) is poised for more rough times with the university teachers’ association opposing the move of vice-chancellor Pramod Tandon to appoint new heads in two departments.

At a meeting last night, the North Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association opposed Tandon’s move to appoint new heads in the departments of information technology and electronics and communication. The two heads of departments had resigned after some KSU activists manhandled them for conducting the examinations on a holiday on December 30 last year.

Iftekar Hussain and S.K. Dutta, heads of department of information technology and electronics and communication respectively, had resigned from their posts soon after the incident demanding congenial working environment and condemning the university for holding the examinations on a holiday.

President of the Nehu teachers’ association S.B. Prasad in a statement issued here said three months after the incident, an inquiry committee instituted by Tandon submitted the report on the matter yesterday without even meeting the affected teachers.

“Moreover, the vice-chancellor conducted a meeting with faculty of the school of technology to appoint two new heads in place of the earlier ones who had resigned,” Prasad alleged.

He said Tandon had failed to take responsibility for scheduling the examination on a state holiday on December 30, which is the death anniversary of Khasi freedom fighter Kiang Nagbah.

He said the vice-chancellor did not do anything positive towards mitigating the insult and humiliation suffered by the teachers.

The association in a resolution also clarified that the teachers cannot be held responsible for scheduling the examination and hurting local sentiments.

“It is rather the office of the vice-chancellor that should take all the responsibility for notifying examination on a local holiday,” Prasad said.

The association also said the move on the part of the vice-chancellor to appoint new heads of the departments amounts to double humiliation of the teachers.

“Hence the vice-chancellor should offer an unconditional apology to the affected teachers for humiliating them further by not showing any solidarity with them,” Prasad added.

According to the teachers’ body, Tandon should also request the teachers to withdraw their resignation letters.

The association demanded proper upkeep of security on the campus so that such incidents do not recur in the future.

“We want Nehu to strengthen the security of the teachers and staff on duty so that they do not have to be subjected to such a shame,” Prasad added.

Indo-Myanmar highway to better ties - 100km road from Mizoram to neighbouring port to cost Rs 600cr

Silchar, March 30: The Centre will build a modern highway spanning 99.82km between Lawngtlai town in south Mizoram to Sittwe port in northwest Myanmar on the Bay of Bengal to establish a sea link between several states in the Northeast, including Mizoram, Assam and Manipur with other parts of the country.

Union minister for national highways and transport Kamal Nath will arrive in Aizawl on April 24 to lay the foundation of the multi-modal road transport project in Lawngtlai, 335km from Aizawl. Though this project was approved four years ago after New Delhi got the clearance of Myanmar, the subsequent delay led to the escalation of the cost of the scheme from Rs 420crore to a whopping Rs 600crore.

This road, whose construction will be completed in two years, will unveil a transit access for goods and people between India and Myanmar as part of the Open Asia policy among the nations of the continent.

Sources in Aizawl said more fresh schemes for the improvement of road infrastructure and sea links are now in the pipeline, and the official delegations between India and Myanmar are busy in giving shape and finding out resources to give a go-ahead to some of the schemes. The sources added that other schemes envisaged area network of roads between towns in the Chin hills and Arakan Yoma, including Paletwa and Tiddim on Myanmar’s borders with Mizoram and Manipur to facilitate trade, cultural exchanges and tourism between the two countries and upgrade the waterways of Kaladan river flowing through Mizoram’s southern borders to Myanmar.

The sources also said improvement of the Sittwe port was on the cards. At present, Indian and Myanmarese businessmen exchange produce of the two countries in a Rs 12crore international trade centre at a village near Champhai in west Mizoram.

While India trades in cement, bicycle parts, medicines and horticulture products of Mizoram, from Myanmar handicrafts and clothes, apart from electronics goods and shoes, arrive in plenty.

Manipur mulls pre-paid power supply

Manipur is set to introduce ‘pre-paid’ power supply mechanism to control power theft in the state.

Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh indicated the new measure to check power theft to group of press persons after inspecting Thoubal Multi-purpose project at the adjoining areas of Ukhrul, Senapati and Imphal east districts,45 km north-east of state capital on Monday.

“We’re planning to introduce pre-paid power supply system and discussions are on in this regard,” Ibobi said .”Laying of underground cable is also in full swing”.

Checking theft of power becomes all the more imperative as the state has a shortfall of 35 MW to 40 MW in its peak hour requirement. The state hopes that once the three projects -- 2000MW Lower Subansiri (Arunachal Pradesh),750MW Bongaigaon (Assam) and Palatana (Tripura) -- are commissioned in March 2011, its power woes would be minimised.

Preparing ahead, Manipur has also initiated upgrading the exisiting 132 KV Yurembam power supply transmission station near Imphal. But the project is facing opposition from locals, who do not want to part with their agricultural land for the project.

"We'r not opposing expansion of the sub-station, but we don't want to sacrifice our paddy fields", Kh Somorendro,a resident of Yurembam village said. "Construction activities on agricultural lands would affect food security when we are speaking of things such as Right to Food.”

Kaziranga guards attacked

Guwahati, March 30: Militants believed to belong to a Karbi breakaway faction attacked an anti-poaching camp at the Kaziranga National Park last night and snatched a rifle, a walkie talkie set and a searchlight from the forest guards.

The incident took place at Panbari reserve forest, which is a part of the national park, on the foothills of Karbi Anglong hills along National Highway 37.

Police said the raiders could be members of the breakaway faction of the recently surrendered Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF). The same group, the police said, was involved in the kidnapping of an official of a private company from Bokajan recently.

Kaziranga divisional forest officer D. Gogoi said there were three personnel — a forest guard, a home guard and a casual worker — present at the camp near National Highway 37 when the raid took place. The forest personnel were deployed at the camp to prevent rhinos from straying out of the national park.

“It was around 11.30pm when the armed raiders descended on the camp and forcefully took away a 303 rifle, a walkie talkie set, a searchlight and a mobile phone. The attackers were there at the camp for not more than 30 minutes before they vanished into the adjacent Karbi Anglong hills. They warned the guards not to inform anyone till the morning,” Gogoi said.

Park authorities, who came to know about the incident half-an-hour later, immediately launched a manhunt to apprehend the culprits with the help of police. However, they failed to locate the raiders.

A forest official blamed the BSF for not helping the forest department in last night’s operation.

“We informed the BSF immediately but they never came,” he said.

The official said the forest guards, especially those posted near the Karbi Anglong hills and near the national highway, had to face a lot of risks to keep vigil during the night.

“With just a 303 rifle, the guards are no match for the militants armed with AK-47s,” he added.

A police official at Bokakhat said there was no doubt that the group comprised members of the breakaway faction of the KLNLF, who had refused to surrender arms.

“There are reports of this group’s involvement in anti-social activities in both Karbi Anglong and Golaghat districts,” he added.

Last night’s incident was the third such attack on anti-poaching camps by militants at the national park, which is also a World Heritage Site.

About two years’ back, militants attacked the Paharline camp at the Kohora range of the park and took away weapons from the forest guards.

Rebels had also carried out a similar attack at the Hatidandi camp of the Bagori range.