Ganatra had to drop out of school soon after his brother's death. Today, at the age of 59, he is not a professional fireman but has fought over 100 fires in the densely populated, chaotic city of Kolkata – working tirelessly to douse flames, rescue people and clean up debris.
Photo Source
"Fires talk to you. They come in red and blues. The blue ones are more lethal. And the roar tells you so much about what exactly the blaze is feeding on," Ganatra said to BBC in an interview.
The wiry man lives alone in a tiny flat, keeping a keen look out for reports of fire incidents in the city. He watches television and listens to the radio regularly for any breaking news about fires, often staying up late into the night to do so. He also keeps calling Kolkata's fire brigade headquarters often for updates.
Whenever the news of a blaze breaks, he calls up the fire brigade HQ and immediately takes a taxi to the site. There have been instances when he has reached the fire location much before the fire brigade itself. For someone without formal knowledge of fire-fighting, Ganatra has become so adept at negotiating his way through fire-ravaged buildings that the authorities don't try and stop him anymore.In 2009, the fire department honoured Bipin Ganatra with a volunteer's metallic ID card ( a rare award) for his selfless service.
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As a child, Ganatra would run out of the door whenever he heard the frantic, clanging bell of a rushing fire engine. He would chase the shiny red coloured vehicles as they made their way through Kolkata's congested lanes to reach the site of fire. He would then hang around, watching the firefighters work, helping them and eventually learning from them. He first lent a hand to firemen during a blaze in a bank in 1978 and has never looked back since then. According to reports, Kolkata is a city of frequent fires. A total of 347 people died and 1,749 were injured in some 2,000 fires in 2014. Last year, there were more than 1,600 fires, leaving 143 people dead and 974 injured in the sprawling megapolis. It's not so surprising then that the city's firemen are among the most overworked in India. This is also the reason why Bipin Ganatra is seldom out of work – he has attended to as many as three fires in a single day!Also Read: 170 Brave Firemen Battled Blaze at Delhi Museum Fire. 6 Had Close Brush With Death
A few years ago, Ganatra almost lost his life when he entered a burning warehouse in Kolkata’s Strand Road to haul out two gas cylinders that could have caused great damage had they exploded. Once, when a four-storey building was on fire, he scaled the walls to the first floor and then went up the stairs to persuade a pregnant woman not to jump off the terrace. He stood with her till the firemen arrived and then helped the firemen make an improvised stretcher to move her across to an opposite roof.
Another time, during the notorious 2011 fire in a private hospital (it claimed the lives of 89 patients), Ganatra entered the hospital building through a smoke-filled stairwell to saved the life of a still alive patient who was stuck in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit.
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Among other incidents in the past, Ganatra was also involved in the rescue operations after the Bow Bazar bomb blasts in 1993, as well as the 100-hour Nandaram Market fire in 2008. Ganatra has often been injured, burnt and caught under the rubble during rescue operations, but he has never let this stop him from heading out to help at a new fire in the city. Even today, he can be seen fighting flames in Kolkata, wearing a 21-year-old khaki uniform (gifted by a fire official), a safety torch (bought by friends) and a yellow plastic helmet (another gift by well wishers). The humble man, who barely earns Rs 1,000 a month by working as an electrician, gets by with a little help from his friends; they give him 2,500 rupees every month. That he often does not know where his next meal is coming from has not dampened this extraordinary man's zeal. When there isn’t a fire, he can often be seen at the MG Road-CR Avenue crossing in Kolkata, helping cops manage traffic.“I lost my brother. But I don’t want others to lose their dear ones. My efforts are directed towards bringing peace to the soul of my dead brother,” says Ganatra.Affectionately known as ‘Bipin Da’ among locals, Ganatra is the only person, apart from fire brigade officials, who has been to almost every fire accident site in Kolkata in the last 40 years. Not ready to hang up his boots anytime soon, he is determined to help put out fires till his last breath. Bipin Ganatra may not wear a cape, but this gritty 59-year-old firefighter is definitely a super hero we all need to thank.
Also Read: This 40-Year-Old Braveheart Lost His Life While Trying to Save Two Drowning Girls in Mumbai
Mask makers in Purulia.[/caption]
Performers practicing before the show[/caption]
Purulia Chou practised by the countryside.[/caption]
Purulia Chau performed near the Durga Pandal (Image by Saumalya Ghosh)[/caption]
Want to cover inspiring stories of change and make a substantial difference in the social sphere? Then click 
Naya village[/caption]
A Patachitra[/caption]
A Patachitra scroll[/caption]
Swarna Chitrakaar, a patua artist of Naya[/caption]
A display at the Pot Maya festival[/caption]
The Dakshineshwar Temple, Kolkata (Image Source: 
Another bustling day in the City of Joy (Image Source: 
Model of a horse-drawn tram in Kolkata (Image Source: 
Statues in an artisans’ community in Kolkata (Image Source: 
An 1887 impression of Kalighat Temple (Image Source: 
The Metropolitan Building, Esplanade, Kolkata (Image Source: 
The ‘Ain-i-Akbari’ (The Chronicles of Emperor Akbar) (Image Source: 
Kalighat Temple and its bazaar today (Image Source: 
“Material support is necessary to secure student participation & community involvement,” shares Harish Chandra Bera, Head Teacher of this government Primary School. He should know, since he has played a critical role in the gradual process of behavioural change in this school with material as motivation under Goonj’s School to School (S2S) initiative.
School to school (S2S) is about addressing the educational needs of thousands of schools and Anganwadis in remote and resource-starved village/slums by channelizing under-utilized school material from affluent city schools in a dignified and impactful way.
The scheme uses school material from urban schools in village schools, as a tool, as motivation, for behavior change on key parameters like hygiene, attendance, learning, etc. This philosophy was implemented at Andharisole primary school as well. The process started by establishing a proper library in the school, with the responsibility to maintain it given to the school. When this met with success, a computer was provided to the school. It was the first computer not only in the school, but in the entire area. The initiative’s workers arranged an exposure visit for the School Head Teacher to some of the best Kolkata schools.
As a result, some important changes started in this school around inculcating basic habits among the students. The students were slowly involved in the day-to-day activities of school maintenance and cleanliness.
Today, the school has a student council of its own, consisting of a Prime Minister and other ministers who look after food, health & sanitation, sports, cultural activities, and other aspects. On the school’s 36th anniversary, it opened a community resource centre where students from outside the village come and learn. This change affected the local community as well, motivating and involving people in clearing up the path to the village. The villagers used the cut down bushes to build a boundary fence for the school.
People also made the school kitchen garden (providing nutrition for 36 students) in return for family kits. As a result, the community’s interest and involvement in the children’s studies and parent-teaching meetings increased. The Gram Pradhan promised to include the school’s bamboo fencing in MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme). Recently (April 2015), they fulfilled the promise by completing a brick boundary wall from the Panchayat funds. That’s the result of mobilizing the community!
Child development specialists say that the environment a child gets in their early years leaves a lasting impact. The primary school in Andharisole is giving its students something we all want our children to learn in their schools. Dedicated teachers like Harish Chandra Vehra make a big difference in the quality of learning for their students. Material facilitated the behavioral change in the students while the students took the initiative to change their own learning experience.
While gaps in village schools are obvious, highlighting this makes urban children more responsible, sensitized, and aware citizens.
In the last many years the S2S initiative has engaged children from over 200 city schools across India. They learned some important life lessons about compassion, the joy of giving, saving our environment, and taking action for change.
It’s this ongoing participation which makes the impact in many schools like Andharisole possible. The idea is simple – when children in cities become more sensitive, they too can play a positive role. With simple ideas they will grow to realize the value of things that they take for granted.
To know more, visit Goonj’s 
In January 2015, seven undergraduate students of IISER started working on a project with the aim of providing quality education to underprivileged children living in and around their college campus and in the nearby villages. Today, the project has turned into an on-going effort called Ek Pahal, under which college students teach children on a regular basis. The students conduct classes using modern tools and infrastructure available at IISER.
Started by Shubham Chaudhry, Prithvi Raj, Preethi Thomas, Abhinash Kumar, Sai Madhav, Rohit Bhagawat, and Jayshree Deheria, Ek Pahal is a team of over 100 volunteers now. The seeds of this idea were sown about two years back when the founders decided to celebrate Diwali with people living near the IISER campus. They distributed sweets and lit candles in the neighborhood and it was here that they came across numerous children. A brief survey of the area revealed that most of these children were not going to schools because they could not afford to pay the fees, or because they couldn’t understand what was being taught.
Ek Pehal has adopted a mechanism to educate children in a structured manner. Students between the ages of 10-18 years (Class 5-12) are welcome to join. First they sit for comprehensive Maths and English exams, after which they are sorted into courses depending on their marks. The courses include basics, intermediate, and advanced. The students are also divided into Bengali and Hindi medium batches. Volunteers conduct classes from Tuesday to Thursday for the Bengali medium batch and Friday to Sunday for Hindi medium batch. There is a game night every Monday for all kids to engage in games, dance, puzzles, origami, painting sessions, experiment demonstrations, computer workshops, etc.
From teaching the wonders of Vedic mathematics and ancient history, to organising science games and experiment sessions, the students do it all. Kids participate in fun learning games and are also taught about the importance of sports for self-development. They get a chance to utilise the smart classroom facilities of the college. Other than the general subjects taught at school, they are also taught astronomy and geological sciences. These are aside form classes on personality-development and communication skills.
Lessons taught by IISER scientists and researchers make the project one-of-its-kind and this helps. Currently, Ek Pahal has around 250 registered students. One of them is a girl who was unable to clear her Class 10 board exams for two consecutive years due to her medical condition and financial troubles. She joined Ek Pahal last year and has finally cleared her exams. She has regained her confidence and wants to continue studying.
They are also working on making communities aware of the need for education to fight poverty, for the economic growth of families, and to unleash the full potential children. Positive efforts like these coming from each and every citizen of the nation can indeed lead to a beautiful world tomorrow.
(Written by Abhilash Borah)
In addition, the environmental impact is huge as well: food waste is the single largest component going into municipal landfills, and quickly generates methane, a greenhouse gas that has an impact 25 times greater on climate change than carbon dioxide. Thus, food waste on such a large scale is not only an economic loss, but it is also socially and environmentally unjustifiable.
Chandra Shekhar Kundu distributing excess food collected from college canteens to underprivileged kids[/caption]
He and some of his students have taken the initiative of collecting excess untouched food from hostel canteens, restaurants and cafeterias and are distributing them among under-privileged children and elderly people four times a week.
Once, while paying the bill for his meal at the college canteen, Chandra Sekhar Kundu (a teacher at Asansol Engineering College) noticed that a huge amount of was being wasted. Shocked by the sight, he enquired about it and was told that not only was food wastage a normal occurrence at the canteen, it was also much less compared to the hostels.
Finding the pervasive practice of wasting food sharply at odds with the number of people who need it, Kundu began convincing students not to take more food than they will actually eat. He also asked the canteen owners to take steps to minimise food wastage in the kitchens.
Kundu (extreme left) with friends[/caption]
Kundu and some of his students convinced the owners of the canteens, cafetarias, and nearby restaurants to donate excess uneaten food that would then be collected and distributed to under-privileged children and elderly people four times a week. The beneficiaries are mostly beggars and street dwellers. Other than setting up a Facebook page to spread the message, the team also shot three short films to highlight the food wastage taking place and steps that could be taken to minimise it.
Kundu also wrote to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to know how to go about his initiative. On October 21, 2016, the organisation made Kundu a partner in its Save Food programme. The programme does not offer monetary help but allows each partner to use its official logo on the letterhead of his or her organisation.
Explaining how college campuses can play an important role in preventing food wastage, Kundu says higher education should be the first place where food recovery is the norm, not the exception.
Kundu has also started a hotline through which people can call for their extra food to be picked-up and delivered to local communities in need. Inspired, students of IIT Kharagpur have also started a similar initiative to reduce food that is wasted regularly in their hostels. Its been almost a year since the initiative first started their work and Kundu says that students from other engineering colleges across West Bengal have also evinced interest in joining his campaign against food waste.
Caterers at weddings, engagements and other events have also been given the numbers of Food, Education & Economic Development (FEED) volunteers. In case, they have excess uneaten food left after the event, all they need to do is inform the volunteers who then come, collect and distribute the food to hungry people on the streets. Two corporate companies in Kolkata have also tied up with students in Kolkata. Excess food from their office canteens will be distributed among the street dwellers in Gariahat.
Asked about the challenges he has to face in this line of work, Kundu says that the biggest challenge is time management to ensure that food is collected and distributed before it gets spoiled. According to him, its totally worth the effort as he believes that other than stopping food wastage, such initiatives can also play an important role in sending street kids to school. By ensuring food for their families, parents can be convinced to send their kids to school instead of begging on the roads. He now plans to run a campaign to collect funds and build a school for such children.
Also on Kundu's agenda is collaborating with Indian Railways to tackle food waste on trains. He wants to develop a systematic network of volunteers through which uneaten food trays and packages can be collected from train coaches and distributed among the under-privileged families who live near railway stations.
Somen Debnath[/caption]
He plans to visit 191 countries by 2020 and is currently at the southern tip of Argentina in the town of Ushuaia. From here he will continue on his journey to Antarctica.
Somen comes from a small village called Basanti in the Sundarbans, West Bengal. His concern about the neglect and unawareness surrounding HIV started growing after he read an article about AIDS at the age of 14. The article said that AIDS was even deadlier than cancer and told the story of a homeless AIDS patient who was abandoned by his village, left to die alone. He decided he wanted to do something about it, then and there. He just didn’t know what or how.
Somen with the students of San Cayetano School, Bahia Blanca, Argentina[/caption]
Pahala Rasgulla[/caption]
The other variant of rasgulla that Odisha is famous for is the one from Salepur (yet another rasgulla making hamlet in Odisha near Cuttack). Bigger, softer, creamier with a velvety cream like appearance, this variation of khira mohana was developed by a local confectioner, Bikalananda Kar. The technique of steaming the cheese balls and then allowing them to slowly rise in the sugar syrup was a technique that was mastered by him. The Odias believe that this is how the modern-day rasgulla originated.
Nabin Chandra Das[/caption]
The ubiquitous rasgulla[/caption]
From chenna to rasgulla[/caption]
Tathagata on a walk at Park Street Cemetery, Kolkata[/caption]
“I grew up in Kolkata, and all of this time I wished that there were some opportunities to explore Kolkata’s rich tapestry of cultural heritage,” says Tathagata, a University of Exeter alumnus who has switched from teaching to pursuing this full-time. “The tours on offer were largely targeted at a foreign audience and were expensive beyond the reach of locals. This is when I thought about starting something on my own which — while of course welcoming tourists from across the world — is mainly targeted at the locals.”
The primary objective of Heritage Walk Calcutta is to offer well-researched, affordable walking tours and workshops in Kolkata to spread community awareness about the city’s cultural heritage. Tathagata’s archaeological background ensures that the walks and workshops are thoroughly researched and off the beaten track.
An old building in China Town, Kolkata[/caption]
You could also step back in time and retrace the steps of Lt Col Markwood, who drew the first (and earliest surviving) map of Calcutta’s European settlement in 1784. And there are more to come. “Watch out for the one on murder and mayhem in colonial Calcutta!” he quips.
A 19th-century British Salt Factory in Howrah[/caption]
“Community archaeology creates a way for experts in history, archaeology, heritage conservation, and even museum professionals, to share their knowledge with members of the community – who are then empowered to properly maintain and manage their local cultural heritage,” says Tathagata. “This is important because the people in the community, who live around aspects of local history and interact with it every day, are the ones who can really make significant contributions to how that history is treated and conserved. Therefore, it is essential for experts like us to come out of our comfort-zones, engage with the community and provide them with advanced knowledge and professional training so that they can properly interact with, and preserve various aspects of, cultural heritage in a time of rapid urban development.”
The key to imbibing this spirit of conservation lies in facilitating early exposure to archaeology, heritage and conservation. Along with curated walks, HWC aims to partner with educational institutions to offer interactive, practical and age-specific workshops to spread awareness for community participation in the recording, protection and conservation of heritage.
Chitpore Road[/caption]
There is little information available on these structures, even to locals. Tathagata highlights areas such as Chitpore Road and Bhowanipore that are in dire need of restoration, but also empathises with the government’s manpower and funding limitations. In such circumstances, empowerment and training can ensure that residents eagerly undertake the preservation of the cultural heritage of their own neighbourhoods. “While it is impossible to protect every old building, we can at least work towards recording them before some are destroyed,” he says.
In walks curated in preparation for HWC’s formal launch, Tathagata has received a favourable response from locals, especially youngsters. In the preliminary walks, organised in and around Kolkata, only two participants have been foreigners and the rest locals. Tathagata is currently seeking sponsors and collaborators for the walks. “We are also happy to hear from any early career researchers or academics in history, heritage, archaeology or related fields who are willing to lead research-based walking tours,” he says.
East Kolkata Wetlands[/caption]
East Kolkata Westland[/caption]
The famed fisheries of the Kolkata wetlands that are locally known as bheries.[/caption]
A bird's eye view of East Kolkata Wetlands (Artistic Representation)[/caption]
Dhrubajyoti Ghosh[/caption]
East Kolkata Wetlands[/caption]
The fisher folk of East Kolkata Wetlands[/caption]
Operational in a renovated family home, Amra Odbhuth is the brainchild of a group of friends looking for a queer-friendly place. Leading the pack are Upasana, a queer activist and artist who organises Take Back the Night, Kolkata, and Nandini Moitra, a queer activist and artist.
They are joined by Raina Roy, a veteran trans activist and one of the co-founders of Samabhabona (an organisation working to empower the grassroot LGBTQ community), where Upasana and Nandini also work, and Pritam Bhaumik, an academic, writer, and secret artist. There’s also 17-year-old Abhimanyu who handles all the difficult, not so fun aspects of managing the space.
Around April 2016, the group was on a quest for spaces that were open to queer readings and performances. Upasana says, “For a while we discussed it and wrote to a few cafes. They were interested but wanted to view the performance to determine whether it met their standards. We thought this might lead to censorship, and externally imposed ideas of good and bad.
The Amra Odbhuth team[/caption]
During a frantic search for the right space, Nandini suggested using an old family home on Ibrahimpur Road (a residential part of Jadavpur, close to Jadavpur University). The friends agreed and immediately began work on the repairs. With limited time and resources, they did everything themselves, starting from decor and cooking to repairs and accounting.
“We are located in a rather youth-centric space in Kolkata, of course we are not aiming just at young people either,” says the team. “There is a very vast community and we want their voices to be heard too. We feel that so far we have experienced larger non cis male presence than most other LGTBQ spaces in Kolkata, barring Trans and Lesbian Organisations which have separate events.”
In keeping with their inclusive approach, the team opted for a Bengali name for the cafe. Amra Odbhuth translates to “we are queer,” a phrase from Rabindranath Tagore’s famous play Taasher Desh (Kingdom of Cards).
A film screening at Amra Odbhuth[/caption]
“We want to think of this as a space for queer artists, designers, communities that exist in the districts surrounding Kolkata as a space to showcase and sell their work and gain maximum profit without being exploited,” says Upasana.
How can I understand a man and his vision? To fully understand what drives a man like Mr Mondal – his work and vision – you need to spend time in his environment for a while. He sent me some links to websites on the internet. Still I had problems to really comprehend and understand the scale of is work. During the first days in Ullon village I was just amazed and didn't fully understand. Not until I sat eye to eye with him.
Mr Mondal is a man you must meet as well as observe on some distance for a couple of days. This is because he is a very humble man who never emphasizes himself. What is his driving force?
During a week I got the opportunity to work as a teacher in VSSU International school in Ullon. Personally, I love to see people with smiles on their faces. Once Mr Mondal asked me whether the children in the school looked happy to me. They did, I told him, because everywhere I see smiling faces. So what makes Ullon village special?
Well, the first thing that strikes me is all the amazing buildings I come across in the middle of rice paddies, ponds and clay huts. Big, white painted, multi-storied buildings that are very far from my image of a rural village in West Bengal. While returning from my sightseeing I noticed another, more normal, rural image. Village people slowly cruising by on bicycles, and suddenly comes a man walking, carrying an enormous pile of rice husks on his head.
When sun is about to set I meet a huge gathering of young Bengali women returning from the industrial sewing school located in a nearby building. They are about to relax and have dinner at the boarding complex where I also stay. Soon the air is filled with voices and laughter and the sound of the bigscreen TV that has been put out on the inner yard. Reciting songs and drums from the temple is heard throughout the night. Accompanied by fire flies and frogs. It is kind of magic for a person from Sweden, like me.
It had to be followed by development for the village and the district and to get local people proud to get involved in the process. Today VSSU has 126 persons employed, working with an almost uncountable number of projects. One branch in this organization is the international school, VSSU International School. Today the school has 135 students, and 40 of them stay at the boarding complex.
In January 2016 VSSU started yet another project, a government-sponsored tailoring, computer and spoken English training program involving 4,000 underprivileged young men and women from five rural districts in West Bengal.
Mr Mondal is a man of visions who is working for the good of his village and the district, he hope to attract investors and is dreaming of a sustainable, modern and developed district. These dreams include, among other things, self-sufficiency regarding electricity. A small hospital is also on the list.
Today there is a woman doctor who is visiting the village three days per week, examining her patients in the local library. She goes around the village on foot, visiting people who are unable to come to the library.
"People here must rise from poverty and stay in this rural area. Everything we need is here. We just have to educate everyone to develop it. My dream is simply a Bengal smart village," Mr Mondal explains to me.
In the middle of all this is the hard working Mr Mondal, struggling. Against banks for instance who are not so fond of the VSSU micro-financing project. Today, Mr Mondal is fighting eight cases in court regarding licenses and income tax. And this is done to a man who never asks for a single thing for himself. When travelling he is only spending one dollar or two, including a simple bed in a cheap hotel.
Mr Mondal works 16 hours per day and almost never rests. He has received several awards and deserves all the attention he can get. His father planted 6,00,000 trees, which give shade, bind the earth and provide firewood for cooking.
Mr Mondal gives hope to a forgotten part of the world. And he makes me believe in humanity. Every day, he gathers strength to be able to do what he is doing. And no – he never rests.
When watching him I ask myself – what can I do? What can you do?
(Written by Tina Justesen-Flensburg, Pictures by Anders Edgren)
Know more about VSSU 
Image for representation. Photo source: 
Ultadanga is one of the first neighbourhoods in Kolkata to have the biogas bus. Source: 
(L-R) General Tojo. The Panel of Judges during the Tokyo Trials
Judges of the IMTFE, Tokyo, Japan, 1946-1948. Back Row (Left to Right): Radhabinod Pal-India, B.V.A. Roling-Netherlands, Edward Stuart McDougall-Canada, Henri Bernard-France, Harvey Northcroft-New Zealand, and Delfin Jaranilla-Philippines. Front Row (Left to Right): Lord Patrick-UK, MG Cramer-U.S. Replaced US judge John P. Higgins in July 1946, Sir William Webb-Australia, Ju-ao Mei-China, and MG I.M. Zarayanov-Soviet Union (Russia).
