Eminent Personalities

Rabindranath Tagore

A multi-faceted, unrivalled genius Poet, novelist, playwright, philosopher, social reformer.

Received Nobel prize for literature in 1913. Also a painter of distinction. Founder of Vishwa Bharati. His two songs are the national hymns of two countries, India and Bangladesh.

Saurav Ganguly

Cricketer and former captain of the Indian Cricket Team.

Regarded as one of the finest batsmen in the world and an effective medium pace bowler. Made a century on his debut at Lord; and followed up with another test hundred. Nicknamed "Prince of Calcutta" by Geoffrey Boycott.

Jyoti Basu

Former Chief Minister of West Bengal, Eminent Communist Leader.

A Communist and one of the most charismatic figures in Indian politics. Created a record by serving West Bengal as Chief Minister from 1977 to 2002. Missed the Prime Minister's chair by a whisker.

Dhritiman Chatterjee

Talented actor, debator and ad-wizard.

He will be remembered for his performances in the films of Satyajit Ray and Aparna Sen.

Siddhartha Shankar Ray

Former Chief Minister of West Bengal, renowned barrister and politician.

A leading barrister, he was the Chief Minister of West Bengal, from 1972 to 1977. Also former Governor of Punjab and former ambassador to the USA. Played an active role in curbing militancy in Punjab.

Purushottam Lal

Poet, teacher and publisher.

One of the finest teachers of English literature in Bengal. Engaged in a life-long project of translating Mahabharata from original Sanskrit script to English. Promoted Indian literature in English by publishing the works of many young writers from Writers Workshop, a publishing house run by him.

Jagadish Chandra Bose

World-renowned scientist.

The great scientist who invented the radio before Mar-oni and showed that plants, too, could feel in their own way. Though he was highly interested in biology, famous physics professor Fr. Lafont inspired Bose with the love for physics.

B.M. Khaitan

Owner of the Williamson Magor Group, this captain of industry is a Kolkata thoroughbred. A gentleman industrialist, a pucca sahib to the core, he is humility personified. Khiatan once told a customs official who wanted to know his identity, I own a tea stall at Mangoe Lane.

Harsh Goenka

A scion of the RPG Group, this Goenka scion, residing in Mumbai, presides over the vast Ceat company. He is not only a dynamic industrialist but he also is a well-known art collector. Keeps a rather low profile and manages to stay away from the limelight compared to the others of his ilk.

Shashi Tharoor

The Former under secretary-general at the UN, Tharoor has authored articles, short stories and novels, the last of which Riot was published in 2001. In 1998, he was named as a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Shashi Tharoor has recently won the Lok Sabha seat from the Kerala capital, Thiruvanathapuram, by an unprecedented margin.

Premjit Lal

One of the longest serving Davis Cuppers, he was part of the Indian team that defeated Brazil at the semis in Kolkata in 1966. Lal reached the junior Wimbledon final in 1959 and played one of the longest tie-breaks with Bjorn Borg on the Centre Court.