Hello....Namaskaar....................
Finally I have taken the plunge and am all ready to setup my webpage. I had been toggling with the idea of frames but finally decided to make it a plain web page (no frames).
So here goes.
The Bengali Fonts I used are available atBengali Fonts Page at the Bengali Dot Org Page. I am thankful to the creators of the Adarshlipi Bengali fonts who in a very short notice replied to my mail and let me use their fonts. Please do visit their site.
My Self
My name is Babu Roy 
. I am
from New Delhi, the capital city of India. I was born in Hyderabad, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh, on the 9th. of March. I was in Hyderabad for a
few months and then I moved over to West
Bengal. I was in West Bengal till I was about a year old and then I shifted
to London. I left London when I was nearly three and came to Delhi. 
I have been
to Pune, Trivandrum and Singapore. My education was completed in Delhi and in
January 1999 I came over to the US.
My family comprises of my parents 
Mr. S. N. Roy,is a
retired government officer. He retired as DDG Building Works from the Ministry
Telecommunications, New Delhi in 1990. My mother, Mrs. Maya Roy, is a
housewife. My brother, Bonku Roy is studying in NIIT, New Delhi. 
In Delhi I stay in a place called Mayur Vihar. It is a Trans-Yamuna Area. According to the legends and historians, Mayur Vihar and adjoining areas belonged to the Indraprastha referred to in the Mahabharata.
I work in a software firm called Nucleus Software Exports Limited in New Delhi. I have been with this firm since December 1995. I basically am a Lotus Professional; I work in Lotus Notes/Domino and I am a Principal Certfied Lotus Professional. Prior to working in Nucleus, I used to work with Eicher GoodEarth Limited, New Delhi in Oracle6.0/Forms2.3. It is through Nucleus that I am currently in the US.
In the US, I have been stationed in Atlanta, New Jersey 
, New York, Boston and
San Francisco.
Currently I am in San Francisco.
Boston
San Francisco
I love reading. My earliest memories are of books. Till sometime back there
were these rag books at home which I used to read when I was in London. They
were rag books (made of cloth), and one was about Alphabets and the other was a
collection of Nursery rhymes.
The Alphabet book was a Walt Disney
Publication, with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Bambi were there with a host of other
characters. I don't remember whether I learnt my alphabets then, but I fell in
love with the Disney Characters.
Mickey Mouse fascinates me. Ever since I
remeber, comics have always been a part of my reading. The
first comics that I have read may have been the Phantom or the Mandrake Comics
or the Amar Chitra Katha comics. Though I do remember that the Amar Chitra Katha
comics did help give a thorough understanding of the Indian Culture, Heritage
and Mythology. I don't exactly remember which which was the first comic I had
read. Today, my comic reading is resrtricted to 
Archie Comics
, Asterix 
and
TinTin comics . 
Indrajal Comics, which used to bring out the Phantom 
and Mandrake 
comics are not there any more. Other than comics, I read a lot of fiction.
Whodunnits fascinate me, I am a big Agatha
Christie fan. After being in the US, I have seen a quite a few of the filmed
versions of the Agatha Christie novels - had a chance to see Miss Marple and
Hercule Poirot walk around and solve mysteries. I also read a lot of Sidney
Sheldon - I think I have read all of them. I loved reading Stephen Hawking.
There is a Web Site dedicated to Stephen Hawking - The Stephen Hawking Page
I like
travelling.
That doesn't mean I am always ready with a bag packed. I have travelled a lot in
India. I have stayed in Maharastra, in Kerala, in Singapore, in Europe and now
in the US
Food
fascinates me. I love eating. Maybe the Bengalis love eating. Its would be
criminal if I say that I have stayed in Maharshtra and have not Pooran Poli,
stayed in Kerala and not had Avial and stayed in Singapore and not had the
Singapore Curry Puff.
I also like listening to music. More on music on my music
page.
Bengali Culture interests me a lot. I have grown up outside West Bengali and consider myself a true Probashi Bengali. I want to know more about the culture, language, history etc. about Bengali language, culture and Bengalis themselves. Sometimes I feel that a more avid lover of h¡wm¡than many others.
I enjoy reading. It doesn't have to be anything special. My normal day starts with with the newspaper. More than the main news in the Times of India and the Statesman which we get at home in Delhi, I am interested in the comics. So, I am intersted in Dennis, Archie, Hagar the Horrible, Calvin Hobbes, Garfield etc.
I still remember the Indrajal comics which used to bring out Phantom and Mandrake. In March 1964, the publisher of The Times of India, Bennet, Coleman & Co., launched a new series called Indrajal Comics. The first 32 issues contained The Phantom stories, but thereafter, the title alternated between various King Features characters, including Mandrake, Flash Gordon, and Buz Sawyer.
Indrajal Comics commenced with a monthly schedule. The first 10 issues devoted 16 pages to The Phantom, so many of the stories were edited to fit this format. Twelve pages were devoted to general knowledge (Gold Key style) and other stuff. The next 19 issues were 20-24 pages. Beginning with issue #29, Indrajal standardised on the conventional 32 page format. The series switched to fortnightly publication from #35 on 1 Jan 1967 (released on the 1st and 15th of each month). Mandrake made his first of many appearances in #46 (15 Jul 1967).
The cover artwork for the first 50 or so issues of Indrajal Comics was done by B.Govind, with the back cover featuring a pin-up poster. Govind's painted covers are highly regarded amongst Indian Phantom fans, and are on par with those of George Wilson for the Gold Key series and the Avon novels from the USA. The Indrajal Comics were a full-colour production from #8 onwards, with The Phantom's costume being coloured blue for the first 10 issues in the series, but thereafter the colour was changed to the more traditional purple. Several of the covers (eg. #1, #9, #10 and #13) even dared to show The Phantom's eyes!!!
Because of The Phantom's close connection to India, the editors made several "politically correct" changes to places and names -- Bengali became Denkali (there are no pygmy people in Bengal, which would have puzzled Indian readers); the Singh Brotherhood were known as "Singa" pirates; and Rama (the murderer of the 20th Phantom) became Ramalu, even though Ramalu is also a common Indian name.
From about 1980, Indrajal began to produce their Phantom comic in at least a dozen Indian dialects. One of the first was Kannada (called Canarese by the English), spoken in the state of Karnataka, in South India. The first Kannada Phantom was published on 1 May 1980 (see below), commencing with a 3-part version of the daily story Return to Tarakimo (D138) retitled as Return of the Ghost. Amusingly, "The Phantom" was called "Bethala" (pronounced as bay-ta-la) ... or "Ghost" in Kannada. After a few issues, the editors at Indrajal must have realised their mistake and thereafter called him "Fantom" for a while before finally settling on "Phantom".
Indrajal Comics changed to a weekly schedule from #385 (1 Nov 1981) that lasted until 1989. Each issue was individually numbered until 2 Jan 1983 when the editors decided to use a volume and number typical of periodical publications. Hence, #444 was identified as Vol.20 No.1 (see cover above). The front cover design was also changed, with the introduction of the distinctive Indrajal Comics banner.
Starting with #789 on 20 Aug 1989 (Vol 26 No 33), the series briefly returned to a fortnightly schedule with 36 pages each, before the publishers decided to cancel the series in their 27th year of production. The last issue was #805 on 16 Apr 1990 (Vol 27 No 8). A total of 803 Indrajal Comics were published, excluding #123 and #124 which were not printed due to industrial strike action. More than half of these issues contained Phantom stories.
For some strange reason, Ray Moore's work was never popular in India. Only a few of the stories in which Moore was assisted by Wilson McCoy, were ever published in the Indrajal Comics. Ray Moore classics such as "The Singh Brotherhood" were never heard of by the majority of Indian Phantom fans!!! Instead, the editors relied heavily on Wilson McCoy and Sy Barry stories, in addition to most of the stories from the American Phantom comics produced by Gold Key / King / Charlton. Indrajal also published one story created by Team Fantomen in Sweden (Vultures Over Vacul from Nr.18/1976 was reprinted in #341-342).
Here in the US, I normally have something or the other to read nearby. I subscribe to an Indian Newspaper, The Indian Post, which I read. Apart from the newspaper I normally have something or the other lying around me.
In Delhi, I leave home in the morning and take a chartered bus to work. There also I get a chance to read. On Saturdays, the bus is quite empty and then I take a book with me to read. So the 35 - 40 minutes that I have to sit in the bus idling away, looking out of the window, I read something. On the other days, I go standing. Then I read other peoples' newspapers. Someone or the other is always reading a newspaper. So I peep over shoulders and read.
In office, I read manuals and help files. I also read the necessary documents.
Evenings its the newspaper or a book.
So much is the fascination for books that even the dining table
and the toilet are not spared.
Here in San
Francisco, I still over shoulders and catch the headlines from the San Francisco
Chronicle which people read. This I do in the BART
I like going around. I wish I was a gypsy, seeing new lands. I would love to have a bag packed and ready and no work to do. Just travel. Meet new people, imbibe new cultures and see new places.
I liked Pune (or Poona ???) for its scenic beauty. It was about 10 years ago (late 1980s) when I was there. That time I used to love the feeling that standing anywhere in the city, I could see myself surrounded by hills. In Kerala I stayed in a place called Shastamangalam in Trivandrum. What I loved about the place was the green carpet. Stand on top of a building anywhere in Shastamangalam and look around. You would see yourself standing in the middle of a thick green carpet. Such is the magic of the coconut palms there. In Singapore I was fascinated by the fact that there was no dust around. The city is so clean. In Delhi, you don't dust your house one day and you have a very dirty house. There we used to clean once a week and then too it seemed to be a waste of effort. We cleaning for the sake of it. Even the laundry. The clothes were cleaned not to get rid of dirt and grime, but to get rid of the smell of sweat.
I love food. I relish it. Maybe because of the fact that I do not have any
inhibitions about eating vegetarian or non vegetarian, I am able to enjoy food.
Along with eating I love cooking. Actually, I think of it now, I enjoy cooking
and feeding people more than I enjoy eating. The problem is, I do not like
making the regular meals of daal/rice. I like experimenting with cooking. So its
always baking, broiling, grilling or roasting things to get something good.
I have never lived in a jont family which is something I have
always wanted to. I have stayed with my parents and my younger brother. My
father retired from Government of India service as Deputy Director General
Building Works - Ministry of Telecommunications. My mother is a housewife.
My brother is studying in NIIT. I am a Bengali but I have never stayed in West Bengal.Maybe I shouldnot use
the word never as I have stayed there when I was very small. I do not
remember that period. West Bengal for me was the place where I would go to visit
my j¡j¡
and my L¡L¡. These were visits
for periods ranging from a week to 10 days and normally was associated with some
ceremony or the other. Of late, we got a plot of land in Salt lake, Calcutta. We
started building our house. Its still under construction, but made us visit the
place, and I fell in love with the city. Dying City my foot!!!! I have never seen a
city with more life than Calcutta. Details in my westbengal
page. Breathes there a Bengali with
soul so dead Who to himself never has
said Durga Puja is my
Puja With due respect to the great English Poet, Sir Walter Scott,
(Breathes There the Man... From the Lay of the Last Minstrel), I
frame the above lines.With Durga Puja in the air which Bengali can sit quietly.
I pay my due respects and offer my humble prayers to the goddess in a
page dedicated to Her. Before I end my Home Page I pay my due respect to one of the
greatest saints of India, Shri
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, who has had a great influence in my
life. I love recieving and replying to
E-Mails. That is one way in which I can make friends. Send me an E-mail 
.
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