Past EventsKolkata

Topic: Is India Looking East? Our first programme hosted by new President, Mrs Purnima Dutta, was a great success. We had a good attendance from both members and media. MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, and ex-UN Dr Shashi Tharoor, has been a theatre buff, debator and successful actor since his school days. He is also a prolific author, columnist, journalist. His most famous work is The Great Indian Novel. His other books include Reasons of State; India: From Midnight to the Millennium; and Nehru, the Invention of India.

Sunanda K Datta-Ray, Editor of The Statesman (Calcutta and New Delhi) and the Editorial Consultant to Singapore's The Straits Times. He has also written for the Time Magazine and International Herald Tribune. His book Looking East to Look West: Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India won the Vodafone Crossword Book Award for Non-Fiction 2010.

It was a wonderful discussion about our country’s foreign policy over the years and especially it relation with the South East Asian countries; a topic for which both the speakers have years of experience to draw from. The added bonus was the presence of Mrs Sunanda Tharoor at the event.

We may be fast losing the public treasures that would have made generations of residents feel proud about their city -- Kolkata. Some of our heritage buildings, such as the University Senate Hall, have been demolished and others like the Silver Mint and Prinseps' Ghat, that create the image and character of our city, have been allowed to decay; victims of short sighted neglect.

It is time to take a stock of the situation. Government initiative and financial assistance will go a long way in ensuring that we enjoy and admire our heritage in all their beauty and grandeur. At our recent event at the Victoria Memorial Hall, speakers, Dr Jawhar Sircar, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Govt of India and Professor Chittaranjan Panda, the Secretary and Curator of Victoria Memorial Hall, spoke about both the tangible and intangible aspects of our heritage.

Members attended in 19th Century attire and were a happy to have attended this informative, intriguing and provocative discourse.

A talk and discussion session with Ms Sampa Das and Shri Arjun Chakraborty, was held in the Crystal Room of Taj Bengal. The Golden Cocoon of the East is the inimitable, glossy, silk cocoon of Assam -- the Muga. Muga silk has been identified as a silk of a distinct quality, reputation and characteristic. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that due to its low porosity, the Muga yarn cannot be bleached or dyed and its natural golden color is retained. Sampa Das has been involved with Assamese textile and handloom for a long time and has a boutique in the city showcasing Assam’s rich textile heritage. Sampa had been working with textiles and silks for some years when she was introduced to the handlooms and weaves of the East. Mesmerised and motivated she began sourcing Assamese handloom textiles like the mekhlas chadors and sarees and also their exclusive jewellery. She spoke about Muga, the weavers of Assam and briefly about the present state of Assamese handloom industry. Arjun Chakraborty, Kolkata’s well known and much loved actor and director interacted with Sampa Das on this occasion.

Enhance the Health and Beauty of Your Skin: Advanced Aesthetic Dermatology, Fortune Select Loudon, spoke about how to rejuvenate the skin and talked about the big and small secrets of skin care and repair and cleared some concerns about appearance. Dr Kohli is at present, a Consultant and Aesthetic Dermatologist with Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre and with Breach Candy Hospital Trust, both in Mumbai. She, with her team at her clinic, routinely consults and counsels patients and performs botox, fillers, chemical peels and other aesthetic procedures. Members listened with great attention to all her suggestions and tips.

Discontent, dashed expectations are some of the factors that might imprison us in a constant depressive mood. Past Life Regression Therapy uses hypnosis to help its patients to travel through time and visit their previous lives. Often they discover stories and clues, events and unresolved issues, that perhaps have stayed on with them through their many incarnations – a heavy burden that make their present lives miserable. Dr Newton and dr lakshmi completed their MBBS from the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad. However, they chose the healing of souls – as opposed to bodies -- as their life’s mission.

Dr Newton and Dr Lakshmi both specialized in Past Life Regression Therapy and Holistic Therapy and began to help people people overcome their problems.

This event saw very a good attendance and members thoroughly enjoyed the discourse on a very unique technique of therapy.

LSG ushered in the New Year with a fun-filled programme: The Gala Garden Quiz, a fun-tastic programme of quiz, music and lots of entertainment with Kolkata’s funniest bone Mir renowned for his quirky quizzing and his music group Bandage jazzing up the programme and adding to it some fresh zing. The programme was very well attended, inspite of it being a “Chaut”-day and much enjoyed by all who were present

Sri Lanka is a tourist's paradise. Wonderful pristine beaches, lush-green hills, wild life, heritage sites, exotic cuisine - Sri Lanka has everything. Travelling to Sri Lanka was a wonderful opportunity to relax, unwind and see nature at its best. We could however only have a glimpse of the country in our 5 night/6 day trip. Arriving at Kandy we began our tour immediately by a visit to Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, enjoyed a cultural show featuring various dance types of Srilanka and then visited the Temple of Tooth Relic (a tooth of Buddha is said to be enshrined here) on the very auspicious Buddha Purnima night. In the following days we visited the Royal Botanical Gardens and spent a night at The Tea Factory resort, in Nuwara Eliya, tea estate area in the central highlands of Sri Lanka with a picturesque landscape and temperate climate. We visited the Udawalawa National Park, and in our ride through the Park watched birds, buffaloes, monkeys and of course elephants.

In Colombo we stayed at Hilton, and were invited by Mr Anirban Ghosh Dastidar, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank, Sri Lanka, to lunch with the who’s who of Sri Lanka. This included Ms Shyamala Gomez, Lawyter; Dr Pramilla Senanayake, Honorary President of the Family Planning Association; Ms Rosy Senanayake, MP; Mrs Nirmali Wickremesinghe, Principal, Ladies College; Ms Shehara Rajapakshe, Editor, Lanka Women; Ms Surekha Sellahewa, CEO , Colombo Stock Exchange ; Ms Dharshi Keerthisena , Creative Director , Buddhi Batiks ;

Mrs Sharmila Kantha, wife of Indian High Commissioner Shri Ashok Kantha and daughter of former Indian Finance Minister Shri Yashwant Sinha. We of shopped and shopped and shopped some more in Colombo, at every opportunity we got !

Stem cells are found throughout the body, but especially in bone marrow, your circulating blood and in the umbilical cord. Stem cells represent an exciting area in medicine because of their potential to re-generate and repair damaged tissue. A stem cell bank is a facility, which stores stem cells for future use. Dr P Srinivasan M.D., Chairman and Founder Trustee, Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Centre, Chennai is a strong advocate for health care reforms and universal access to affordable health care. Dr Srinivasan, will introduced LSG members to the benefits of stem cell banking and the various applications of stem cell therapy that is available today and its future possibilities. Dr Srinivasan is currently promoting Public Cord Blood Banking and the need of a Public Stem Cell Bank in India to enable quick and affordable access to matching stem cells for treatment of Indian patients living globally.