Quarterly Magazine of

Emirates Bengal Club of India , UAE

Issue 1 2018

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

Message from President -

My dear EBCI family,

I am deeply honoured to be the president of the Emirates Bengali Association of India, a very active
and well-organized association which is paving the way of good relationships among the members,
organizing cultural programs and thus providing joy and happiness to all members. I take this
opportunity to thank the committee members and the entire EBCI fraternity for their continuous
support and look forward to our teamwork in making EBCI a perfect platform for their wholehearted
participation and exploration of ideas in all arenas of activities. As a member for many years, I have
witnessed the club’s steady growth, thanks to the efforts of all its highly enthusiastic members. I
would like to express my recognition for the excellent work and tireless efforts of our executive
members. I am also grateful to the members for showing their interest to showcase our culture and
actively participation in the Bengali traditional festivals like Festival of colour, annual sports, Basanta
Panchami etc.

Coming to the point of publishing the E magazine Proyash, this EBCI journal was initiated few years
ago. The primary aim of the journal was to explore the linguistic and other skills related to literature,
arts and other studies. The possibility is endless and can be a perfect platform for such initiatives.
Unfortunately, it could not be continued due to lack of participation and other reasons beyond our
controls. Good news that our members are very keen to restart the process of publishing the
Magazine again. My special thanks to Mr. Mantosh Bhattacharya, whose strong belief and keen
interest to revive this magazine inspired me and EC team to go this again. I strongly believe that it is
a good time to restart and my expectation is that all our members will give nod to this initiative by
actively participating in sending articles, short stories, poems, Sketches, recipes etc. we will be glad
to publish little explorers’ thoughts and expressions. I am personally very excited to be involved in
this activity and will encourage all participants to provide their expressions/ thoughts to improve the
contents of each and every article of this e magazine. A single flower does not have the ability to
make a garland. It is the togetherness of flowers which makes it happen. The e magazine is also may
not be possible without active participation of individual members. While technology and social
media efficiently delivers daily stories, inspiring thoughts and articles to our laptops, desktops,
tablets and mobiles, this e-magazine are all about context: How ideas and images are presented in
relation to one another and under a specific group of peoples. And under successful progression, it
may deliver ideas in broader perspective. We can say it is the budding point of future leaders. I do
not want to lengthen my words and feel you tired of reading, just to convey that it is my privilege
and pleasure to get involved in reviving the magazine with all of your active and wholehearted
participation.

Get going !!!

Amaresh Majumder.
Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018
 Contributions - ( In alphabetical order )

1. Master Adhiraj Ray

2. Ms. Anisha Roy

3. Mrs. Anindita Ghosh

4. Ms. Anouska SahaRoy - Maximum number of contributions !!!

5. Mr. Hitesh Ray

6. Mr. Prithu Das

7. Dr. Ruma Bhargava Chakravorty

8. Mr. Sanjeev Das

9. Master Soumik Chaki

10. Mrs . Sonali Ray

Cover page art - “Goddess of tenth dimension”

courtesy - Mrs . Sonali Ray

Edited by - Mantosh Bhattacharya

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

Why were Homo Sapiens the only human species to survive?

-Anisha Roy
University of London, Royal Holloway College in Biological Sciences.

Approximately six million years ago, the human species saw its phylogenetic tree split from
the chimpanzees – with it separated the last grandmother that humans and chimpanzees
shared (Harari, p. ix). Three and a half million years after that, the Homo genus first came to
be on the continent of Africa. Only half a million years after that, the different species began
to evolve, including but not limited to: H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis, and of course, H.
sapiens (Grine et al., 2015). Despite the diversity in our genus, Homo sapiens are the sole
surviving species since the demise of the penultimate surviving species, the Neanderthal,
around 40,000 years ago (Higham et al., 2014). This begs the question: why were humans,
as we know them today, the fittest of them all? The following essay will discuss the
hypotheses regarding the circumstances under which sapiens have been able to thrive.

One of the distinguishing characteristics between the genus Homo and the rest of the great
apes was their propensity to use primitive stone tools. The earliest evidence of this can be
traced back to 2.8 million-year-old specimens of Oldowan stone tools (named after its place
of origin, Oldoway Gorge in Tanzania); near these tools were found the remains of the
species Homo habilis, ‘habilis’ being the Latin word for ‘handy’ (Dorey, 2015). It’s theorized
that it was this ingenuity that drove evolution amongst the Homo species’. The sapiens’
closest (albeit extinct) relative, the Neanderthals, were as adept as the forefathers of
sapiens at utilizing tools.

In conjunction with the capacity to use stone tools, H. erectus, Neanderthals, and sapiens
had the ability to harness fire as a means of cooking raw food, providing warmth, and
warning away predators. An inadvertent implication of the domestication of fire was that
cooked meat allowed for less energy consumption during digestion and made way for
cranial development – a result of the shortening of the intestines, as both the intestines and
the brain were massive consumers of energy (Harari, p. 14). However, sapiens still drove the
last of the Neanderthals to extinction more than 40 millennia ago, since arriving in Europe
5000 years before the extinction of the doomed species.

It is hypothesized that Neanderthals died out due to competition of natural resources, a

competition that sapiens evidently won. The leading theory as to why sapiens won is
believed to be the unique attribute sapiens possess – culture. The study “An eco-cultural
model predicts Neanderthal extinction through competition with modern humans” (Gilpin
et al, 2016) posits that although the Neanderthals inhabiting Europe were a far larger
population than the sapiens who had migrated from east Africa to Europe, sapiens were
more culturally advanced and therefore displaced the less culturally advanced population of
the Neanderthals. A feed-back loop was created, resulting in the advanced culture becoming
more dominant, and the more dominant culture ultimately outcompeting the weaker
competition (Yirka, 2016).

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Other theories for the wipe out include sapiens introducing foreign, fatal diseases to the
Neanderthals, them being unable to adapt to changing climates, as well as the grim
possibility that sapiens may just have killed off the species for being different – a reality that
is paralleled in today’s world. Although Homo sapiens have proven to be the fittest of them
all, the blood of our ancient ancestors still course through our veins, as non-African sapiens
are believed to have between 1.8% to 2.6% Neanderthal DNA according to the latest studies
(Prüfer et al., 2017).

Bibliography

 Dorey, F. (2015). HOMO HABILIS. [online] australianmuseum.net. Available at:

https://australianmuseum.net.au/homo-habilis [Accessed 14 Jan. 2018].

 Gilpin, W., Feldman, M. and Aoki, K. (2016). An ecocultural model predicts

Neanderthal extinction through competition with modern humans. Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences, 113(8), pp.2134-2139.

 Grine, F., Fleagle, J., Strait, D., Henke, W. and Tattersall, I. (2015). Handbook of
paleoanthropology. 2nd ed. Springer, pp.1989-2014.

 Harari, Y. (2011). Sapiens. London: Penguin Random House, pp.ix, 13-14.

 Higham, T., Douka, K., Wood, R., Ramsey, C., Brock, F., Basell, L., Camps, M.,
Arrizabalaga, A., Baena, J., Barroso-Ruíz, C., Bergman, C., Boitard, C., Boscato, P.,
Caparrós, M., Conard, N., Draily, C., Froment, A., Galván, B., Gambassini, P., Garcia-
Moreno, A., Grimaldi, S., Haesaerts, P., Holt, B., Iriarte-Chiapusso, M., Jelinek, A.,
Jordá Pardo, J., Maíllo-Fernández, J., Marom, A., Maroto, J., Menéndez, M., Metz, L.,
Morin, E., Moroni, A., Negrino, F., Panagopoulou, E., Peresani, M., Pirson, S., de la
Rasilla, M., Riel-Salvatore, J., Ronchitelli, A., Santamaria, D., Semal, P., Slimak, L.,
Soler, J., Soler, N., Villaluenga, A., Pinhasi, R. and Jacobi, R. (2014). The timing and
spatiotemporal patterning of Neanderthal disappearance. Nature, [online]
512(7514), pp.306-309. Available at: http://10.1038/nature13621 [Accessed 14 Jan.
2018].

 Leytham-Powell, C. (2016). Survival of the Socially Fittest - SAPIENS. [online] SAPIENS.

Available at: https://www.sapiens.org/evolution/survival-of-the-socially-fittest/
[Accessed 14 Jan. 2018].

 Prüfer, K., de Filippo, C., Grote, S., Mafessoni, F., Korlević, P., Hajdinjak, M., Vernot,
B., Skov, L., Hsieh, P., Peyrégne, S., Reher, D., Hopfe, C., Nagel, S., Maricic, T., Fu, Q.,
Theunert, C., Rogers, R., Skoglund, P., Chintalapati, M., Dannemann, M., Nelson, B.,
Key, F., Rudan, P., Kućan, Ž., Gušić, I., Golovanova, L., Doronichev, V., Patterson, N.,
Reich, D., Eichler, E., Slatkin, M., Schierup, M., Andrés, A., Kelso, J., Meyer, M. and
Pääbo, S. (2017). A high-coverage Neandertal genome from Vindija Cave in
Croatia. Science, [online] 358(6363), pp.655-658. Available at:
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6363/655 [Accessed 14 Jan. 2018].

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  Yirka, B. (2016). Model suggests Neanderthal extinction occurred due to human
cultural superiority. [online] Phys.org. Available at: https://phys.org/news/2016-02-
neanderthal-extinction-due-human-cultural.html [Accessed 14 Jan. 2018].

About Anisha Roy -

Anisha Roy joined EBCI in 2007 June along with his younger sister Amolika and her parents.
She took part in many dance drama events and even a fashion show in EBCI . She took part
in all the sports day competitions and Durga Puja celebrations. Anisha studied in Australian
International School in Sharjah from class 3 to class 12. She graduate with excellent IB
results in 2017 and joined University of London, Royal Holloway College in Biological
Sciences. Anisha was the school captain for AIS and won a Model Student award. She took
part in a school building activities in remote Tanzania Village. They had to live in tents in
open air, build the school using cement and bricks, paint the school and cook their own
food, She was in charge of finance and was handling all the money for the Group, around
11000 USD. Anisha has always volunteered in many activities across her school life and
enjoys reading and swimming.

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

Featuring - Dr Ruma Bhargava Chakraborty, MBBS,MD,DNB, DGO,DICOG,MBA in
Healthcare. Specialist Obstetrician and Gynecologist , Specialist Reproductive Medicine
and Infertility . Advanced training in Infertility from Homerton hospital, London, UK
Birthday - Shares birthday with likes of Fyodor Dostoevsky, George S. Patton, Leonardo Di Caprio
!!!

Path chosen to be good Samaritan - After she had her wonderful kids ( Ramita & Rajit ) , she
realized that motherhood is the greatest achievement of a woman. “My heart used to go out to
those childless couples craving to have a baby. So I decided to give a twist to my career and
specialize in infertility and IVF” - Dr Ruma says .

Arm twisting with Odds - “In 2010, misfortune struck us and I lost my husband due to cancer. I
lost my best friend, partner and my inspiration”- Dr. Ruma recalls . Her kids gave her the reason to
move on with on in life. With parents (Mr Rabindranath Chakraborty and Mrs Manju Chakraborty)
relocated to Dubai and with support from brother Sudip and his wife Sonali she came back with
more grits to move on in life.

Dr. Ruma ( second from your left )

Intangible delights - Dr. Ruma says -“ I take pride in my work to realize the dreams of numerous
childless couple”. Her daughter Ramita has followed her footsteps and is studying Medicine. They
are determined to make this world a more happier and healthier place to live.

Hobbies - Reading, listening to music, watching movies and socializing with selected friends . “In
spite of a busy schedule, I don’t fail to catch up on a movie with my kids or attend parties and EBCI
events on weekends to rejuvenate . I am an avid traveller as well “ Dr Ruma says.

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

 Thou shalt not die
- Prithu Das

During the early 90’s a young engineer just passed out from his college & his only vision in life was to
grow & to rise steadily in the corporate ladder. To achieve his goals, he joined an engineering
company as Commissioning engineer.

He was posted in a fertilizer industry in Punjab-India for commissioning of material handling

equipment. One day after finishing his days’ work, he genuinely felt content that the task given to
him was almost complete & he could go back to Delhi , his hometown . But his fate was destined
elsewhere . That same evening while coming out of the company premises of the fertilizer unit, he
deflected a few meters from the main walkable road, without knowing there was an open pit which
contained a mixture of Sulfuric acid and rock phosphate, a raw material required for the fertilizer
industry.

There is an old saying that you cannot change your destiny and that’s exactly what happened with
the young engineer that evening. He could not identify the pit & fell right into it.

It was an 25% burn. Doctors pronounced that he would not be able to walk . Even if he does, he will
not be able to work anymore.

However, he never gave up & he never quit.

The young engineer is me & today my body parts are in perfect condition & I not only walk but also
play football. It’s my sheer faith and confidence in the Almighty & enormous will power that pulled
me out of such a terrible accident. If I would have quit that day , I would have been lying confined to
bed for the rest of my life & cursing my fate. But I stood up against all odds & won the battle.

Quitters are never winners & winners are never Quitters. That’s my experience of life & today I am
going to share the same with you.

There are numerous examples of great success, we cannot discuss all of them in this forum due to
space constraint, however I am sharing a few of them with you all.

A candidate for a news broadcaster’s post was rejected because of his voice.
He was also told that with his long name he would never be famous.
The fellow never gave up & became the king of Indian show business.
He is Amitabh Bachchan.
In 1944, director of the Blue Book Modeling agency, USA told a hopeful young lady, ‘You better
learn secretarial work or else get married’’.
But that aspiring model never gave up & later on became the Queen of Hollywood.
She was Marilyn Monroe.
In 1954 , Manager of the Grand Ole Opera fired a singer after his performance . He told him “ You
are not going anywhere son, you ought to go back to driving a truck”

The fellow never gave up & became a star singer of this world.

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He was Elvis Presley.

Failures is part of life. Everybody in this hall has experienced failures at some point in their lives. But
after every failure you have witnessed a ray of light which gives hope of success. Isn’t It?

However, if you quit the task after each failure, you may not experience the winning piece of cake.

Coming back to my experience once again, right from child wood I have experienced many failures,
but that could not stop me from performing.

Some miserably bad results in school, could not qualify for NDA due to my flat feet, although my
parents were very happy at my rejection. On a few occasions I failed in my corporate life also, but in
spite of all failures I have not lost the will to grow. My principles are very clear, never to quit under
any situation. You may fail or pass, the result is not in your hands, but if you quit, the sheer motion
of going forward will be cut short. You never can prosper.

Abraham Lincoln faced many challenges, defeats, and failures before he became the President of
the United States in 1860. If he had quit the task, America would not have gotten such a great
leader.

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years incarcerated as a political prisoner before he was released and
became the President of South Africa in 1994. Most of us would have quit long before tolerating 27
years of imprisonment.

Last year Dipa Karmakar was the only Gymnast to qualify for the Rio Olympics from India. An Indian
Gymnast had qualified after 40-50 yrs in Gymnastics category which is a history.

In the preliminary round of Vaults, out of 30 candidates she managed to merely qualify for the finals.
Her position was last among the 8 qualified competitors. All of us were very sure that she had no
chance in the finals as the competition is very tough.

But she never doubted her capability and gave her best. She practiced day & night before the vault
finals trying to perfect her jump. After her final vault round, she stood 4th, only after USA, Russia &
Switzerland scoring just 0.26 point less than the bronze medalist. It’s her sheer will power &
determination to excel that made her reach this position. Although she has not won a medal, she is a
winner having won the heart of millions of Indians as she comes from a small north eastern state of
India, where they don’t have advanced facilities like other Indian metropolitan cities. If she would
have quit on the 1st day due to the odds against her, she would have never seen this success.

………And this comes straight from my heart -

My father came to Delhi in the early forties from a small village of Bengal. In his initial days he faced
lots of difficulties to settle down and find a suitable job. He used to tell me that there were days
when life was so tough that he has no option but to think of going back to his small village. But he
kept his morale high & survived the struggle to finally settle in Delhi. If he would have quit that day,
we would have not seen the life that we were blessed in our childhood. I got all the facilities any
middle class boy would have gotten in his life time. So never Quit.

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

My initial days in UAE 14 years back was also not without struggle. If I would have quit that day, I
would have not enjoyed today’s life style. May be my sons will thank me one day for staying on just
the way I thank my parents.

Remember, an effort only fully releases its rewards after a person refuses to quit.

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave
up as told by the famous scientist Thomas Alva Edison. So never Quit.

And finally, Life can’t beat the person who won’t give up.

Here is Mr. Prithu Das for you !!!

My Hobby : travelling

My passion : football ( which I cannot play now any more)

Best place in this world : New Delhi

Fav. Actor : Amitabh Bachchan

Fav. Singer : Asha Bhosle

Fav.Movie : Guns of Navarone , Where eagles dare, The Longest day, Saving Private Ryan

Fav. Book : All Novels of Chetan Bhagat specially half Girlfriend

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*KINDA WEIRD …???….
1.Mauro Ramos with Jules Rimet World Cup ………but who is using a cell phone in year
1962?

2.Catedral Nueva Salamanca, Spain . Building began in 1513 and the cathedral was
consecrated in 1733. How a 20th Century Astronaut came to be carved by a 12th Century
stonemason?

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

 Daddy's Little Girl
- Anouska SahaRoy
My hair's drenched,

Cleansed with the scents of lavender

Dripping off, lining my nape with rainbows

As the two o'clock sun dances with it.

The blow dryer does a decent job but,

Nothing dries my rebellious curls

Better than you

As I'd stand in front of with scented hair

Sprawled all over my face

As you'd be sipping away at your weekend cup of tea.

I was always the coffee person,

And the fourteen year old me took pride

In making your best cup of coffee.

The eighteen year old me still does.

Mutterings of discipline and time;

Dinners served with debate;

You see, you taught me

And you taught me to teach myself

You blown wind under my wings,

Letting me fly,

Letting me fall and, fly again

And sometimes reminding me

Of the ground to never leave behind.

Good night pecks and, morning walks;

Breakfast and, homework;

Pampering and, valuing;

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 You taught me balance along with calculus.

And though they say I'm Ma's reflection,

I'll always be Daddy's little girl.

NAME’S SAKE
- Anouska SahaRoy

The five o'clock twilight is right around the corner. You can see it painting the white dining
table in hues as though the sun's hiding behind the black trench coat in the corner of the
room like a child with a missing milk tooth. The room smells of freshly baked chocolate chip
cookies. It's been two years since I've been here and, I never realized how much I missed
this place till she opened the mahogany door. Her smile is still the same. It's just that there's
a few more grey strands and the wrinkles have grown deeper. But the smile is still the same.
And she still wears the same shade of red, lined with a subtle maroon, highlighting her
cupid's bow in the most powerful way possible. You'd think she'd be delicate but her hugs
embrace you with warmth and firmness. Do you know those hugs that are like a safe haven?
The ones that make you feel safe? Like nothing could go wrong? Her hugs were like that;
joining every broken fragment within you together.

She complains about the two years first but then quickly moves on to ask me how work is
going on, if I've been taking care of my health, whether I like the new place, does the cold
bite me too much and so on. I've never felt the crevices of my back relax so soothingly like it
today as I plopped onto the fuchsia sofas, stretching my tired legs briefly before I sat cross
legged amongst the colourful cushions that stood out on the sofa and yet brought out its
colour too. The cookies tell me why I've never been able to quite call the cookies of the
baker round the corner my favourite even though everyone else did. I can say she's been
painting these days; you could too if you were here. New canvases have replaced the older
ones. She fiddles with her silver bracelet as she gently keeps her cup of tea on a coaster of
mandalas. I can sense the reason behind her hesitation as she rubs her palms against her
thigh absent mindedly, speaking of the loud woman next door and the angelic child her
daughter-in-law takes out to the park in a blue pram at six in the evening. She tells me how
the man comes home by seven thirty and how the house is exploding with giggles and
happiness. She tell me how the other day she heard him argue with his mother, thinking
that perhaps it was the stereotyped curse of old age and generation gap creeping in on

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

them. But then later she gets to know it was cause the loud woman hadn't been having her
blood pressure medicines on time. She tells me how she would scold you sometimes when
you barely reached her hips for not finishing the tiffin you took to school. Her eyes get lost a
little. She asks me how you're doing; if you still skip lunch. I assure her that you're doing well
and, never miss a chance to eat nowadays. She tells me how she's started to grasp our
technological ways of keeping touch but then the time difference always catches you at the
wrong time. She laughs and tells me it's a good thing it didn't catch up with me at least. I can
hear her pain echoing in her laughter; you could too if you were here.

I'm not sure why you didn't come along but, I wish you did. I'm not sure why you can't call
more often but, I wish you did. She thought you'd surprise her today; that you didn't forget
today. There's a jar of freshly baked oatmeal cookies for you on the kitchen slab. Half a
century is quite the milestone, isn't it? She brushes off your absence saying you'll probably
call as soon as you get off work and perhaps even drop by as soon as you get a leave. But I
know it's an hour past our office hours and you're at home, relaxing on the cream couch,
thinking about having Chinese for dinner because they make Chili Garlic Noodles on the
specials today and sleeping early since you have to leave for a hike over the three day
weekend, early tomorrow morning. Her eyes keep turning towards the door. Perhaps she
thinks you'll still make it. I wish I could tell her you are, but it breaks my heart to know else
wise.

It's nine and the sky is empty with just half a moon glowing behind winter clouds. She's kept
the jar of oatmeal cookies inside the cabinet and I see her sigh silently as she keeps the
phone on the slab, screen facing downwards. Perhaps she's started accepting that you
might not turn up. She turns around and asks me how long I'll be staying. I tell her till the
end of the long weekend. Her eyes lit up but, I'm not too sure if it's with happiness or
surprise. We're talking about anything and everything under the sun; about politics and
drama; about work and whether the house needs another layer of paint; about her; about
me; about you; about us. She asks me about you again but this time, she asks me if there's
someone in your life. She whispers this and I can tell she's not sure if she wants to know the
answer or not. I tell her I don't know. But, you see, I do. I know you're still with her; the one
who you left me for. It's been two and a half years and I can feel the lump slowly starting to
choke me. I can feel her staring at me as I stare at my plate of untouched food. I wonder if
she'd like her; I wonder if she'd be as welcomed to the family as I was. I'm not sure why but
the possibility of the answers to those being yes pricks my heart as sudden and briefly as an
injection. I look up to her and can tell you she's wondering the same. We're two women
who love the same man and both our love tossed aside. She's gazing at me with a question
in her eyes I'm not able to read.

"Why? Why do you still send me tulips every full moon like you did when you were married
to my son? Why do you still never forget to ask me if I've taken my tablets every night
before going to bed? Why is it that I am still a part of your life even after the person joining
us isn't?"

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I won't lie to you, she took me by surprise. But it was that endearing confusion in her eyes
that melt my heart. You see, love is very powerful but it also very innocent. It's pure and it is
that purity that I saw in her eyes and her questions.

"Because he was merely the bond that brought you into my life not the one that kept you
there."

About Anouska -

Anouska SahaRoy is a young engineer in the making by day and a writer at all times awake
or asleep. She runs a blog of her own and has published over a hundred pieces of literature
and art so far. A proud feminist and a strong believer of liberalism and equality, she has
constantly voiced her beliefs and contributed towards them with her work on various
platforms, be it as a columnist on The Logical Indian, Poetry Slams, blog posts or more. She
thrives to use the medium of art to learn, educate and project her beliefs to contribute
towards a brighter future.

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

This 14th March evening one and all was talking about Stephen Hawking and brooding over
his sad demise and how he could not realize the probabilistic theory of extra-terrestrial
presence in universe . Seldom know that in general theory of relativity, the Raychaudhuri
equation, or Landau–Raychaudhuri equation ; adds a new dimension to the Penrose–
Hawking singularity theorems and it offers a simple and general validation of our intuitive
expectation that gravitation should be a universal attractive force between any two bits of
mass-energy in general relativity, as it is in Newton's theory of gravitation.

Dr Raychaudhuri was born in Barisal, (now in Bangladesh), on September 14, 1923 to

Surabala and Sureshchandra Raychaudhuri, he was just a child when the family migrated to
Kolkata. He had his early education in Tirthapati Institution and later completed
matriculation from Hindu School, Kolkata. He earned B.Sc. from the Presidency College in
1942 and M.Sc in 1944 from Calcutta University and he joined Indian Association for the
Cultivation of Science (IACS) in 1945 as a research scholar; in 1952, he took a research job
with the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), but to his frustration was
required to work on the properties of metals rather than general relativity. Despite these
adverse pressures, he was able to derive and publish the equation which is now named for
him a few years later.

Some years later, having learned that his 1955 paper was highly regarded by notable
physicists, such as Pascual Jordan, Raychaudhuri was sufficiently emboldened to submit a
doctoral dissertation, and received his Doctor of Science degree at the University of Calcutta
(with one of the examiners, Prof John Archibald Wheeler recording special appreciation of
the work done) in 1959. During his teaching days , he was used to be worshipped by his
students to an extent that everyone used to purchase “chanachoor” from the vendor from
whom Dr. Raychoudhury used to purchase assuming a certain alchemy behind it !!!

He was elected member of the International Committee on General Relativity and

Gravitation for the period 1974-83.

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Still life- Tomatoes, medium - water colour by Mrs. Anindita Ghosh .Mrs. Ghosh is a
prolific painter and has presented her works in numerous exhibitions in India , UAE and
recently in Italy .

Flowers -by Mrs. Sonali Ray . Mrs . Ray has been actively designing and executing the
installation of EBCI puja pandal with her novel ideas and superlative artistic bent .

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

 Amitabha -by Ms. Aoushka SahaRoy - A promising artist from EBCI group

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 *Silently , madly ….yet truly
"Now farewell, darling, be quite happy and if you come across nice flowers, bring me
some." - Mileva Maric in a letter to Albert Einstein, May 2, 1901
A true understanding of as both a man and a genius, is impossible without a detailed study of the
woman who loved him so deeply with an emotional and intellectual bond that bore a very rare
fruit.
History has not been kind to Mileva Marić Einstein, the first wife of Albert Einstein. Numerous
biographies that have dealt with Einstein have contributed little to a deeper understanding of
Mileva Marić and why she failed to realize her potential in her own right. While Mileva Marić
preserved most of Einstein’s letters to her, most of her letters to him have been lost or destroyed,
along with evidence of her contributions to Einstein’s scientific achievements. Those letters that
have survived , resonate with a compelling voice.

Mileva Marić was the only woman to enter the Section of Mathematics and Physics at the elite
Polytechnic in Zurich in 1896. By the end of their classes in 1900, Mileva and Albert had similar
grades (4.7 and 4.6, respectively) except in applied physics where she got the top mark of 5 but
he, only 1. She was a person of extraordinary intelligence and talent. However, when Mileva met
Albert Einstein that year, her fate became bound to his life and ambition. Raised in a patriarchal
Serbian family, she was willing to sacrifice her own academic career and even her visibility to the
dream of achieving something greater, together. Mileva’s decision to put her exceptional talents
in the service of Einstein’s career led to her invaluable contributions to his scientific
achievements. After having spent five weeks to complete the article containing the basis of
special relativity, Albert “went to bed for two weeks. Mileva checked the article again and again,
and then mailed it”.
But in 1912, he started an affair with his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal while visiting his family who had
moved to Berlin. They maintained a secret correspondence over two years..
This caused their marriage’s collapse. Mileva moved back to Zurich with her two sons on 29 July
1914. In 1919, she agreed to divorce, with a clause stating that if Albert ever received the Nobel
Prize, she would get the money. This was poetic justice, for it represented a symbolic measure of
recognition for her contributions to Einstein’s scientific achievements.
When she did, she bought two small apartment buildings and lived poorly from their income. Her
son, Eduard stayed frequently in a sanatorium. He later developed schizophrenia. Due to these
medical expenses, Mileva struggled financially all her life and eventually lost both buildings. She
survived by giving private lessons and on the alimony Albert sent, albeit irregularly.

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From the eye of a lens - SANJEEV DAS

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From the eye of a lens - HITESH RAY

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 Crescendo ….muted
- Sanjeev Das

Darryl: Mascarenhas is joining our band tomorrow, it’s been years I’ve seen him, you know.

Pammi: Who Mascarenhas? That person from Mangalore? Don’t tell me he’s staying with us. Last
year, we had this friend of yours staying with us, how much he eats, woof... I’m not cooking this
time, period.

Darryl: No Pam, he’s not staying with us, staying at his uncle’s. We’ll straight head to the hangar,
there’s hardly any time left, we must run a few rounds of rehearsals before the show.

Pammi: Is Ana with you people? I am sure she is. See, I don’t like you to be so pally-pally with her…

Darryl: Pamy, come on, you know there is nothing like that. Listen, remember the first day of our
honeymoon, when we landed in Mangalore, and the poor chap Mascarenhas was waiting for us at
the bus station. He’s such a sweetheart.

Pammi: Yes.

Darryl: And the grand lunch his mother cooked for us, fresh ‘idlis’ with rich chicken curry, you sure
ate like a buffalo.

Pammi: Buffalo? Look at your tummy, who else beats the buffalos? But the food was super delicious.
And in the evening, we went to the ice cream parlor, it was so huge. That’s when I tasted ‘gadbad’
for the first time. And later ‘American-Chop suey’, ‘Ceylone-parota’, ‘Chicken-65’ in the dinner, all for
the first time. Yes, we ate like…by the way buffaloes don’t eat much, they chew big time. And for
god’s sake who goes to Mangalore for honeymoon. Dary, you are such an idiot.

Darryl: What is wrong with Mangalore? There are so many beautiful places to go around, sea,
jungles, mountains, waterfalls, temples, churches, you name it. Not like your Chandigarh, only city
and city.

Pammi: For God’s sake, Mangalore? I have not ever met a person who spent her honeymoon in
Mangalore, period. Ok, stop the car, and ask the first person we hit, Mangalore or Chandigarh?
People from all corners come to North India. Can you beat the beauty of Dalhousie, Leh, Manali,
Ranikhet? We have snow Dary, snow. And we have the mountain rivers, fresh air, and the winter.
Our children love these places, you see. Let’s ask the kids. Rohan? Natasha? Well, no use, they won’t
speak. They don’t like any place anyway.

Darryl: How much chatter-chatter you can do? It’s difficult to drive with so much noise pollution.

Pammi: I am making noise pollution? Then what’s your band doing? Is that music or chaos? [Silence].
Its only you, I like. When you sing, it is magic. I don’t talk then, I only listen. And it frees me
completely. Dary, you are so cute.

[The car pulls over]

Pammi: Well, there we are, Alwyn uncle is at the door. Natasha, Rohan, take your bags and get
down.

Alwyn: Hey Dary, so nice to see you. Alone today? Where are the kids?

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Darryl: They are off to their grandparent’s for a couple of weeks. I just came in to pick a few of my
stuff, you know, guitar and all. Then, I am off to the airport to receive Mascarenhas. He’ll stay over
for the night. Yes, he’s such a chatterbox, and such a lovely singer. [Silence]. Since you sister left us
last year, I have not been listening much.

*[‘gadbad’ is a very popular ice cream served in the ice cream parlors of Mangalore]

 Favourite Actor: Smita Patil, Sonali Kulkarni

 Favourite Singer: Kishoreda, Sheryl Crow
 Favourite Movie: Chachi 420, Forrest Gump
 Favourite Book: English August, An Equal Music, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard,
Tales from Firozsha Baag, The Hungry Tide, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The
Moon & Sixpence

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

Bengal has produced many great leaders. Preetilata Waddedar was one of them. She was a
great freedom fighter who is less known than others. I will discuss here, her life, her journey
as a freedom fighter and finally how she gave her life for the love of her countrymen. I want
to bring some points about her that is unknown to people.

Born to a Bengali family on 5th May,1911, Preetilata was a very brilliant student. She
graduated from a very well-known institute, Bethune College, Kolkata. The certificate of
merit was finally conferred posthumously by the University of Calcutta only in 2012 !!! Being
a graduate at that time was very difficult, especially for women. Lot of pressure used to
come on a girl child in those days to get married at a very early age. But Preetilata was not
one to succumb to that pressure. She was born in a middle class family, where her father
was a clerk and mother a housewife. She could have either got married or continued with
her great job and settled down.

But she chose the life of hardship and fight the British. She was appointed as the first
Headmistress of an English Medium school in Kolkata. Such a career is not only of sheer
brilliance but also is a mark of safe and mirthful life. But the life of a freedom fighter is a
one of tolerance, sacrifice, bloodshed and hardship. It is this life that she chose. She felt the
pain of so many Indians fighting for their freedom. She wanted to be a part of it and she
became one. It was Master-da Surya Sen who took a notice of this fine leader and let her
join his revolutionary group. In those days female freedom fighters were very less. Thus it
was thought that if a female joined such a group and helped with the different activities of
the revolutionaries then at least the British people will not suspect her as a freedom fighter.
The event that was life changing, or if I may say life destroying for her, was the European
Club attack done in the year 1932.

For European Club attack Master-da chose her as the leader. Master-da planned to attack
the club on 23 September 1932. But before going on the mission Master-da handed
potassium cyanide to Preetilata and to the others of her group.

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This was done so that if anybody from the group got caught then he or she will not
surrender to the British. Instead they will consume the cyanide and kill themselves for
Mother India.

Preetilata took the guise of a Punjabi male and reached the club with her fellow
revolutionaries. There were armed policemen in the club. A huge shootout took place there.
A wounded Preetilata got surrounded by the police and it was then that she consumed the
cyanide and gave her life for the country. The martyrdom of Preetilata inspired many
Bengali women to get themselves directly associated with revolutionary movement.

*KITCHEN TIPS AND TRICKS FOR FORTUNATE FORCED BACHELORS !!!

 Separating bananas and wrapping them in plastic wrap make them last longer. If you
need the banana to ripen fast, wrap it in newspapers.
 Need to peel garlic? Take two bowls of the same size and close the garlic inside.
Shake the bowls as hard as you can, your garlic will be peeled in a few seconds.
 If you hate peeling potatoes we have a solution for you. Boil the potatoes and then
give them a quick ice bath, the skin will separate from the potato and all you have to
do is pick it off.
 Keep onions fresh after cutting them with a little butter
 If you overdid it on the salt, turn off the heat and throw a piece of eggplant or potato
into your dish
 To avoid crying when cutting onion, put the onion in the fridge for a few minutes
before you start cutting it. Spray your chopping board or knife with a little lime juice
before chopping onions.
 If you want to surprise your guests with golden hard boiled eggs, give the eggs a
thorough shake before boiling. The egg white will mix up with the yolk, adding a
golden-like color to the egg.
 To avoid the mess and frustration, roll citrus fruits and/or microwave them for a
minute for easy peeling
 Peel multiple hardboiled eggs at a time by shaking them in a lidded container.
 Keep birthday cake fresh for days -Dug into a cake and didn’t finish the whole thing?
Save it from drying out by securing a slice of bread to the exposed portions with
toothpicks. The bread holds in the cake’s moisture

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

 “Melancholy”
Artwork by Master Adhiraj Ray

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn
Battuta

Here is the story from Neel - filled with awe and mirth
Last year, during my summer holidays my father planned a short trip to Coorg and Ooty. I
was very excited to have a trip with my grandparents. The driver Nagesh uncle was waiting
with the car outside Bengaluru airport. We started our journey and reached Coorg in the
afternoon .Oh lo behold...our resort was in the midst of the dense forest .The moment I got
down from my car I could hear the chirping of the birds and the insect chorus in the late
afternoon with the zing-zing sound coming from the trees thrilled me .We got a hearty
welcome at the reception and I was really mesmerized to see the beauty of nature. Since it
was already dark, we checked into our hotel rooms. The next day morning, we went for a
plantation walk. We saw coffee plants and got a brief idea about coffee plants, black pepper
plants and we heard the guide saying that even the wild elephants come down to these
areas!!! Though I became scared but I couldn’t stop my excitement of seeing more. Then we
went to a place called Dubare. I was little curious that what more is hidden. We had to cross
the flowing river Kaveri and what I saw you know, there were many elephants with people
feeding them and also the elephants taking bath in the river and splashing water to the
onlookers.

I also fed a small baby elephant. It was such a beautiful experience. Next we visited the
Abbey falls. I could hear the roaring of water from a long distance. Near the Abbey falls, a
small creature really distracted my attention. It was a small colorful snail crawling slowly
amid the hustle and bustle of the people. I captured a few pictures of the snail. The next

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day, we went to Raja’s seat where we could see an amazing view of the valley. Basically
what I heard is that the Raja of Madikeri used to sit there and watch the beauty of the hills.
Then the next trip destination was Ooty. In the morning we had our breakfast and checked
out from the resort very reluctantly. On our way we visited the great Bandipur Tiger
Reserve. There we went inside the dense forest and could see so many deers, wild
elephants, peacock, wild boars, bisons…..alas we couldn’t spot the tiger. We also crossed
the Mudumalai National Park and Sanctuary and our car had to stop two three times as
herd of deers were crossing the road….it was so so exciting. We reached Ooty in the
evening. Ooty is a mountain range of the Nilgiris. It is also known as ‘the queen of the hill
stations’. The hairpin turns amazed and thrilled me. It was already dark and chilly when we
reached our hotel. Our hotel name was Sherlock situated in a hillock. The hotel looked like a
haunted house as the lights were dim. The rooms were named after Sherlock Holmes cases.
The ambience was a little scary but amazing.

The next morning, we went to our first destination, Doddabetta which is the highest peak of
the Nilgiris. From there we could view the beautiful hill ranges. It was really a great
experience of mine. Next, we went to the tea factory. In the tea factory, could see the
different processes of making tea. We also purchased varieties of tea products. Next, we
went to Ooty lakes and surrounding areas. We had a boat ride which was really exciting. It
was really amazing. Our next tourist attraction was the Rose garden which is one of the
largest gardens with over 3,000 varieties of roses. There were different colours of roses with
different names. It was a great time in the garden. The next morning, started for Coonoor. It

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was a toy train journey from Ooty to Coonoor. The journey was really thrilling as well as
exciting. The train moved at a very slow pace. The greenery outside was enchanting. When
we reached Coonoor, our driver uncle was waiting for us and, then we went to the tea
garden. Coonoor is famous for tea garden and the beauty of nature can be really
experienced there. We took lots of pictures inside the moving clouds and in the tea garden.
It was really chilly over there. Next day we started for Mysuru and visited the Mysore palace
and beautiful Brindavan gardens. The memories of the trip make me very happy and I wish
to visit again.

Yo !!! I am Soumik Chaki aka Neel . I am 12 years old studying in DPS Sharjah in Gr 7. I love
reading books, playing cricket and also have a great affinity in creating the architectural
Legos and yes of course I do watch the minecraft videos. I am really grateful to our club EBCI
for giving us immense opportunities by participating in various cultural programmes. I
alongwith my brother Souptik has participated in number of events like drama, dance,
sports etc.

Cracked !!! ( KINDA WEIRD ???)

1. It's a box camera, not a cell phone. It's similar in design to other box cameras in the
same shot, but because its positioning in the picture only really shows one side and
the fact the photographer is holding it up with one hand, it gives the impression of
being used like a modern cell phone to take a picture !!!

2. Catedral Nueva Salamanca underwent a restoration program in the early 1990s, and
the stonemasons decided to add a few modern figures !!!

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018

 Physics of Free Will
- Mantosh Bhattacharya

Kheyali sat with a bowl of thirty roasted nuts and I was looking into her ; trying to predict
which nut shall she pick . I mean, will she exercise her FREE WILL ?

Free Will” is a philosophical term to choose a course of action from among various
alternatives. Ability to do Otherwise is Free will . Now ,what is otherwise ? A subject
(Kheyali) and object ( roasted nut ) is connected by fixed but numerous paths . For example
Kheyali can pick a particular brown nut from a bowel having X nuts by ONLY a function of X
ways . She cannot do it differently as something (number , brownness of nuts) is controlling
her !!! But can I predict which one the nut she is gonna pick? If I can predict this , then
Kheyali does not have a free will at all !!! Or is Free will a freedom of action or freedom of
wish to do any work ? Philosophers who distinguish freedom of action and freedom of wish
because our success in carrying out our ends depends in part on factors wholly beyond our
control. All our actions are responsive to some event or situation . But all our actions have a
wide window of option where we can apply our free will .

If you could predict someone’s decisions consistently, you could conclude that he or she
lacks free will. To do that, you’d need to take a full brain scan and simulate his or her
thought processes. You can predictable only when some one has seen you many times doing
the same thing in same conditions . It is related to the light cone At each event E in space-
time light rays generate two cones. The light rays emitted by E span the future cone and
those received by E span the past cone (shaded). Ordinary particles are unable to travel
faster than the velocity of light, and their trajectories are confined to the interior of the
cones. No light ray or particle which passes through E is able to penetrate the 'Elsewhere'.
Now if you were there at past with same space-time cone with all condition exactly same ,
you can predict what shall happen in future with a high degree of probability.

In terms of subject and predicate , Who am I or who are you ? "You and I " are a product of
those conditions who is steered one way or the other by initial conditions. There is nothing
called “nothing” ; a minimum dimension is determined as Planks radius . ( You and I cannot
be smaller than this ) .

Something out there is non-deterministic, in that the outcomes of measurements are

chosen at random from the slate of possibilities which are not always black and white .
That’s why the actions in the universe cannot be defined with time-symmetric and
deterministic set of equations . Based on various results obtained during an experiment we
have we draw a probability density line to conclude our guessed results using our free will
option .

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 Space -time cone

In the physical state of the entire universe evolves as one. In pure quantum theory,
everything is entangled, and entanglement is not causality, it’s connectedness. Prediction
has a bearing over deterministic effects of your individual past, but if everything is
connected, your individual past doesn’t matter. What matters is the past of the whole
universe, and the past of the whole universe includes everything. No elementary particle
has a free will.
If a butterfly flaps its wings in Patna , does it cause a tornado in Sundarbans ?" Yes , by
theory of chaos - known as butterfly effect .Inherent to the theory is the idea that extremely
small changes produce enormous effects as the parts of this whole continuum is so
responsive .
Do we have some free will consciousness at least ? Yes, but it is limited like the branching of
a tree. There is yes and no, left and right, up and down, good and bad, life and death ,
beauty and goriness . These are our the degrees of freedom (mostly binary as yin and yang )
we naturally have here. This is fully related to spin quantum number every electron has .

As opposed to neuroscience, which explores how decisions are motivated and made,
physics seeks explanations for how decisions are caused. If the laws of physics apply to
people (and surely they do), choices are determined by those laws, operating in whatever
particular set of circumstances people find themselves in. Presumably there’s no freedom of
choice from the physics perspective, but hidden windows to disobey tyranny of
mathematical equations- just like quantum tunneling. This results to random moves by a
player , a person creates an art work or a music note or literary work . These hidden
windows lead the chaos in game theory and lead to formulate another set of equations.

You can predict an action of a person by his habit and forecast his action if you have an
advanced set of mathematical equation .

Remember Russel Crowe of movie “A beautiful mind “?

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 -

- Aoushka SahaRoy

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“Slow …but steady to be sure” - Courtesy Master Soumik Chaki

“Divinity re-defined” - Courtesy Sanjeev Das

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“Arrested Development” Courtesy Mrs. Anindita Ghosh

Proyash Issue 1 Year 2018