On most days, the dozen boys and girls who work with me to produce what I sell in the small craft shop I run in Santiniketan behave predictably.

Keya Sarkar: Hundred days of paradise?

Business Standard

Since Santiniketan is very close to the Jharkhand border (a two-hour drive), there is a sizeable population of migrants from the state, and from Chhattisgarh and Bihar. They are all referred to as &ldquo;Biharis&rdquo; by Bengalis. Since my childhood, it was a known fact that Biharis are much better at manual labour than Bengalis. So, when I first arrived in Santiniketan 10 years ago, I thought I must look for a Bihari lady to give me a daily massage.

Keya Sarkar: A lesson in execution

There is little doubt that there is not much available by way of &ldquo;entertainment&rdquo; in Santiniketan. There is only one movie hall in which when the audio is perfect, the video is blurred, or vice versa. There are many places to eat, but their business is matter-of-fact without worrying about creating any ambience. So, it&rsquo;s pretty much eat and leave. There are, of course, many cultural events organised by the university or alumni associations or just residents, but for those of us not used to too much Tagore, the Bong sing-song can tend to indigestion.

Keya Sarkar: The Basirhat blues

Santiniketan, located only 170 kilometres away from Kolkata, seems to have become over the last decade a preferred choice for directors of Bengali movies, serials and reality shows. So what brings the stars and starlets in their SUVs to this place? Probably the ease of getting here, the little green that is still left and the faith in Tagore&rsquo;s blessings for all things &ldquo;cultural&rdquo;.

Keya Sarkar: Lights, camera, lots of action

As I have mentioned earlier in this column, a few of us like-minded people in Santiniketan have taken it on ourselves to spread awareness about dementia. Of late, we realised that it was important to sensitise the young on the issue as part of our awareness-building drive. So, we decided to talk to students of Patha Bhavan &mdash; the school that Rabindranath Tagore started that later grew into the university that is known today as Visva Bharati.

Keya Sarkar: Mind over matters

When my partner and I had first set out to start a small caf&eacute; in Santiniketan, we had to apply to a gram panchayat for a trade licence. Our years in Mumbai had not taught us how to deal with gram panchayats, but we managed to get the licence without any hassle.

Keya Sarkar: Tour of duty in Suri

One of the good things about living in Santiniketan is that this small town has managed to keep &ldquo;visual pollution&rdquo; under control. Sure, we&rsquo;ve seen a few urban eyesores with gleaming synthetic paint sprout up of late. But the town has, by and large, maintained its old-world aesthetic.

Keya Sarkar: The sound of kirtan

As temperatures soar in this part of the country, tempers, too, fly high. It&rsquo;s about 43 degree Celsius in Bhirbhum &ndash; the district under which Santiniketan falls &ndash; and everyone is a little prickly, a little on edge. The irritability is quite palpable and we can sense it every evening in the little caf&eacute; that we run.

Keya Sarkar: Santiniketan's university blues

Like any new broom, the new vice chancellor at the Visva Bharati University is trying his best to sweep clean. So there&rsquo;s talk of more discipline, changing class timings, transfers and, of course, more construction. Needless to say, all this has attracted protests, some loud and some feeble. Amidst all the complaints, however, there is one professor who is all for the new set of disciplinary measures. But it&rsquo;s difficult to gauge whether she is ideologically tuned to a stricter regime or her current frustration with students have led her to temporarily believe in its merit.

Keya Sarkar: Test before the exams

Early last month, an Egyptian artist friend of ours arrived in Santiniketan to spend a few days with us. As we chatted about what she had been up to since we last met, and, of course, the political situation in Egypt, we also had a look at some of her recent works. She had just returned from Varanasi so a lot of her sketches were of the city in general and the ghats in particular. She told us in passing that she had been to Varanasi about 30 times! And it struck me then that despite it being an overnight train journey from Santiniketan, neither my partner nor I had ever visited Varanasi.

Keya Sarkar: Railways' dirty linen

Most people who visit my little shop in Santiniketan have a common complaint: &ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t enough things on offer.&rdquo; Those who know me badger me for this shortcoming and I guess those who don&rsquo;t probably curse me. Though I am quite happy with what I manage to produce with my colleagues and 40 artisans &ndash; and more importantly with what we earn &ndash; I dare not show my smugness to those who complain. I thank them for their patronage, apologise for our inadequacy and promise to do better till the next time they visit Santiniketan. Even as I am able to handle most criticism, I had to hide when a particular customer walked into our shop recently. It was before summer last year when I was getting double bedcovers woven that he had suggested it would be nice to have them in cream.

Keya Sarkar