The Blue Monk

The contribution of Annette Akroyd   to women’s educational reforms in Bengal is largely forgotten. She was born December 13, 1842, in Stourbridge, England to William and Saran Akroyd. Anette was a noted British Orientalist and a Victorian reformer. She was conservative and opposed to the Women’s Suffrage Movement ( the right of women to vote in elections by law).  To this end, she  served as the secretary of the anti-women’s suffrage league in England. Educated in Bedford College, Annette was very well-prepared to teach with her pragmatic no-nonsense outlook. Annette Akroyd with the students of Hindu Mahila Vidyalaya, 1875.  From Henry Beveridge’s India Called Them: 1947 Annette traveled to Calcutta, India in 1872 upon invitation from Keshub Chandra Sen, a notable leader of the Brahmo Samaj, a Hindu reformist sect . Sen wanted Annette to promote non-sectarian education to Hindu women. Within a year, she founded the “Hindu Mahila Vidyalaya”, located near Beniapukur Lane, Kolkata. The s

I am yet to figure out my favourite street at Montreal.  It is a difficult problem. And I think, I won't succeed in my attempt. Because there are too many options. The flavours of each street in Montreal changes with time (dawn or dusk), season (summer or fall), buildings around (churches or shops) or just on the mood of the person walking on the street. Talking about streets, I am a regular visitor of Mile-End District. The reason is quite simple. I drive there to grab my cup of coffee before the sun rises, or, simply to explore the landscape. One day, I was driving on Waverly Street (Rue Waverly) and was interrupted by a stop sign from nowhere and a signage called Groll Street (Rue Groll) - a significant street largely forgotten by many. That intersection grabbed my attention for good reasons and called for a second visit. Groll Street - Waverly Intersection Groll street resides at the core of my heart, named after Joseph-Arthur Groll, a businessman who bought a house in the vici

Montreal is a city of surprises. It never fails to surprise me when I am on a leisurely saunter. This time it was the Mile-End District on a very hot afternoon. If you already know about the Mile-end area, you may have walked on Waverly ( aka Waverly Street ). One cannot really ignore this green corridor and the beautiful houses on both sides of the street occupied by Jewish residents spanning many generations.  While walking here, I noticed some books on the sidewalk lying unnoticed in an organized manner. The books ranged from architecture to poem collections - both in English and French. I looked around to assure whether there is a price tag attached to the books. There was none. I wanted to pick up something on Montreal architecture but two other books caught my attention.  The Books on the Sidewalk Quite happily, I returned home with couple of them: 1. "Lenin and the Russian Revolution" by Christopher Hill, written exclusively for the general public and,  2. "The Y

I am not a born traveler. But, traveling to some of the places gave me the best moments of my life. I had to leave my beautiful hometown (Kolkata, India) which captures most of my childhood and period up to my graduation. In mid-20s, I lived in Delhi and Gurgaon for work. Then I moved to Canada. Traveling gave me an itchy feet and I just wanted to travel more.  I don't make rigorous travel plans. Travel mostly stems from my curiosity, inspirational stories shared by other travelers, or, travel documentaries. In fact, I try to watch at least one travel documentary a day (but that's a different story).  I don't chase popular destinations. N othing discourages me when it comes to traveling and I  enjoy all modes of travel (e.g car, metro, bus, bike, cruise etc.).  I live in Montreal, Quebec - a multicultural universe to be precise. Today, I have shared a story of an alley.  If you are in the Old Montreal, loitering at the famous  Jacques-Cartier Square or sipping coffee at “

  Introduction The concept of salvation is ubiquitous across most religions. The primary goal of all religions is to guide their followers to salvation using specific laws and techniques. In the Indian subcontinent, Hindu philosophy proposes that the Ultimate Truth can be realized by following the six schools of salvation (or,  Darshanas ). These schools belong to the orthodox ( astika ) classification because they accept the Vedas as a supreme source of knowledge. Conversely, the heterodox ( nastika ) schools of philosophy reject the Vedas. These include Buddhism, Jainism, Charvaka, and others.  In this essay, I have only focussed on the orthodox classification. The Orthodox Schools of Hindu Philosophy   Overview of the Six Systems: 1.  Nyāya This is the school of logic headed by Gautama. In India, this school flourished in the Nabadwip region of Bengal. Nyāya  focuses on the logic to delve in to the root of the problem using sixteen categories namely: Means of Right Knowledge ( Pram