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Seville

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SEVILLE Sevilla After living up to some wonderful moments at Granada, the birthplace of the renowned Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, we decided to further our coadventure through the heartland of the southern Iberian Peninsula, composed of lowlands, mountains and valleys. You’ve got it right. To arrive at Seville, we traversed the fascinating Spanish heartland. The landscape presented some vistas composed of rustic plains, lowlands, winding roads through the Sierra and then vast stretches of olive orchards. About 200 years back, a couple of decades after Napoleon’s army plundered and destroyed parts of Alhambra, an American diplomat and writer, Washington Irving and his Russian counterpart traversed the path from Seville to Granada. It was highly adventurous then, because of the fact that the transport system at that time was horse-drawn carriages and muleteers. It was such that they could ‘wander among the romantic mountains of Andalusia’ (Tales of Alhamb...

PORTUGAL

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  -the land of Francesinha and Pastel de Nata Lisbon’s Santa Apolonia Train Station is the city’s oldest station. Located in the historic district of Alfama, this simple and stately façade stands close to the bank of the beautiful and serene river Tejo. The station is conveniently connected by public transport from Marques de Pombal, at the heart of Lisbon. From here the high-speed deluxe trains, adorned with bright colored curtains and carpets inside, take two and a half hours to Porto. Porto’s Campanha station. Porto alias Oporto. Sweet sounding names for a sweet city. Famous for sweet wine exclusively from the grapes of Duoro Valley. Grapes nurtured from the time of Jesus. Like Lisbon, Porto also seems to have been crafted out from the hilly terrains all around. Most of the old parts of both the Portuguese cities have a maze of steep and narrow cobbled streets, narrow roads, and connecting walkways of extremely steep gradients. Like in Lisbon, which is ...

A Bengali Short Story by Dr. Amitava Datta

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    " ভালোবাসা কারে কয়"  অমিতাভ দত্ত '  ভালোবাসা কি  ?   আমি এখনো বুঝি না , '  বললো আমার স্ত্রী। তাও আবার বললো বিয়ের প্রায় পনেরো বছর পর ,  এক বিকেলে ,   আমাদের বন্ধু বান্ধবীদের সাথে গল্প করতে করতে। অন্য সবাই মিলে ওকে বোঝাবার চেষ্টা করলো যে ভালোবাসা কি ,  তা না বোঝবার কি আছে ,  তাও বিয়ের এত দিন পরে ! এ ত খুব সহজ ব্যাপার । ওরা এও বললো যে ,  সবাই তো জানে এবং পরিষ্কার ভাবে দেখতে পায় যে ,   আমাদের পরিবারে ভালবাসাই হচ্ছে জীবনে চলার মূল মন্ত্র। আমাদের বিয়ে হয়েছিল ,   আজকের ভাবাদর্শে খুবই অদ্ভুত ভাবে।    বিয়ের আগে আমরা কেও একে অপরকে দেখিনি।    মোবাইল ফোন তখন ছিল না  ,  তাই কথাও বলা হয়নি।    আমি ত আবার চিঠি ও লিখতে পারি না। মা - বাবারা আমাদের ছবি দেখালেন ,   আর তাই দেখেই আমরা বুঝতে পারলাম যে ,   আরে ! এই ত সেই ,   যার জন্য সারা জীবন আমরা অপেক্ষা করে আছি । বিয়ের পর বুঝলাম যে আমরা একে         অন্যের জন্য    অনে...

The Forgotten Light Sources

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Prof Warren Julian's views on the forgotten light sources Daylight used to serve as the primary source of light throughout human history. Unfortunately, with the advent of electric light in the last century, the consideration of daylight while setting up or designing new buildings has been pushed into a remote corner. So remote, that its a forgotten light source now as per Prof. Warren Julian, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Architecture, University of Sydney.  Last year when I went To Barcelona I was amazed by the architecture of  La Sagrada Basilica. The work conceptualized and started by the most celebrated architect Gaudi in the late nineteenth century has daylight elements for every nook and space inside. Prof Warren Julian's excellent and lucid rendition on the concept of daylight presented in the ISLE webinar is here. My sincere thanks to Prof Warren Julian for sharing his PowerPoint presentations.