<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="295" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MlaeaaxabMo&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MlaeaaxabMo&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>ECTA's latest production "Banaprastha" premiered at the Edison Valley Playhouse on May 16th in front of a full house. The play was very well received by the audience as you can see in the accompanying video.  The second show was held on May 17th. Besides the video comments, here are some of the comments sent over the email.

"<em>We thoroughly enjoyed Banaprasta. This is a very timely production. I wish this drama can be viewed by millions Indians in India in view of the fact that India is crazy about Bollywood. Once again congratulations for presenting a great drama.</em>" - Aurobindo Mukherjee

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"<em>I saw your play yesterday and I must say it was outstanding. The theme was very contemporary and acting was great! Looking forward to many more!!</em>" - Gargi Gupta

"<em>I want to encourage everyone to see the play Banaprastha. Mary and I saw it yesterday, and we both loved it. The play, entitled "Banaprastha," is about an Indian-born physician who spends is professional career in Manhattan and retires to his childhood home in India. It is performed in Bengali and English, with English subtitles. The acting and story was superb, and the cast comprised several actor's from the Jumpha Lahiri movie "The Namesake." If you go, I'm sure that you'll enjoy it as much as we did.</em>" - Jason Paul DeMont

<em><span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;">"</span></span></strong></span></em><span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></strong></span><span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I especially liked the topic that was addressed. I am one of those that believe if your spouse at old age is no longer by your side for whatever reason, one should find another companion. Perhaps my work leads me to believe that, I work with the Geriatric society in this country. Of course the crazy lifestyle which is imitated not really realized by Indians in India will cause a generation to suffer enormously. Globilization is fantastic but it does have its</span></span></strong><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;">repercussion to the ones that are not mature.</span></span></strong><em><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;">" - Sashwati Chatterjee</span></span></strong></em></span>
<h2>Bengali Webzine Urhalpool Released</h2>
<span>After the smashing success of the first edition, the 2<sup>nd</sup> edition of online bilingual (Bengali &amp; English) magazine <strong>URHALPOOL</strong> (<a onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.urhalpool.com/?referer=http://nynjbengali.com/wp-admin/edit.php?post_status=draft');" href="http://www.urhalpool.com/" target="_blank">www.urhalpool.com</a>) is out. The 2<sup>nd</sup> edition is even bigger, better and has contents covering more variety. Following are the highlights –</span>

<span> <span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><span>Urhalpool Reader Ruchira Mondal's short story &amp; Indranil Bakshi's poem</span></span>

<span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><span>Series novel from <strong>Sunil Gangopadhyay</strong></span>

<span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><span>Series poetry-novel from <strong>Tasleema Nasreen</strong></span>

<span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><span>Collection of short stories including a translated one from 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner <strong>Juno Diaz</strong></span>

<span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><span>Interview from India’s most successful cricket captain <strong>Sourav</strong> “dada” <strong>Ganguly</strong></span>

<span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><span>Special section on <strong>Feluda</strong> with interviews from <strong>Sandip Ray</strong>, <strong>Soumitra Chatterjee</strong>,<strong>Sabyasachi Chakroborty </strong>and a<strong> <span style="font-weight: normal;">f</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">ull script of unpublished one-act play on Felu-da</span></strong></span>

<span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><span>Interviews from film-star<strong> Prosenjit </strong>and<strong> </strong>multi-percussionist <strong>Bickram Ghosh </strong>(member of the Grammy award winning team for the album “Full Circle”)</span>

<span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><span>Special write-up from <strong>Nabaneeta Deb Sen</strong>, <strong>Sarat Kumar Mukhopadhyay</strong>, <strong>Sunil Gangopadhyay</strong></span>

<span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><span>Poetry from Nobel Laureate <strong>Roald Hoffman</strong></span>

<span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><span>Remaining part of the interview of <strong>Prof. Noam Chomsky</strong></span>

<span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><span>Poetry from </span><strong><span lang="EN"><span>Carolyn Forché</span></span></strong><span lang="EN">, <strong>Yousef Komunyakaa</strong></span><strong></strong>

<span><span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-<span> </span></span></span></span><strong><span lang="EN">Goutam Ghoshe’s </span></strong><span lang="EN">multimedia interview introducing his latest movie<strong> “KaalBela”</strong></span><strong></strong>

<strong><span> ..and many more</span></strong>

<strong><span lang="EN"> <span style="font-weight: normal;"><em><span lang="EN">Also for the literary minded in Kolkata and vicinity URHALPOOL printed version is available in circulation, printed and marketed by </span></em><strong><span lang="EN">“Punoscho Prokashoni”, </span></strong><span lang="EN">Kolkata</span></span></span></strong>