DOCSLIB.ORG

Speculation on Racing Odds in India

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Speculation on Racing Odds in India Speculation on Racing Odds in India Puri, Stine Simonsen Published in: Economy and Society DOI: 10.1080/03085147.2020.1712856 Publication date: 2020 Citation for published version (APA): Puri, S. S. (2020). Speculation on Racing Odds in India. Economy and Society, 49(1), 170-186. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2020.1712856 Download date: 29. sep.. 2021 Economy and Society ISSN: 0308-5147 (Print) 1469-5766 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/reso20 Speculation on racing odds in India Stine Simonsen Puri To cite this article: Stine Simonsen Puri (2020) Speculation on racing odds in India, Economy and Society, 49:1, 170-186, DOI: 10.1080/03085147.2020.1712856 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2020.1712856 Published online: 14 Feb 2020. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 151 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 2 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=reso20 Economy and Society Volume 49 Number 1 2020: 170–186 https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2020.1712856 Speculation on racing odds in India Stine Simonsen Puri Abstract Horse racing has existed in India since the British established race clubs across the continent as places for socializing and legal gambling. Today, betting on horses in Delhi is a form of speculation, where bettors not only calculate probabilities of horses, but try to figure out insider knowledge of rigged races by observing the odds. This becomes particularly evident when betting odds on a particular horse suddenly change with an accelerating speed because people start betting for the same horse – a phenomenon, in finance, known as ‘herding’. Inspired by Clifford Geertz’ study of the connection between betting odds and deep play, the study identifies deeper causes of market volatility, beyond market strat- egies and crowd psychology, in the cosmology of uncertainty of the society in which the speculative market is located. Keywords: gambling; speculation; horse racing; odds; India; acceleration. Introduction Betting on horses at the Delhi Race Club might seem to be a very particular prac- tice of speculation, but this paper suggests that it resembles futures trading (in particular before this went online) and broader popular practices of using social imaginaries to calculate the future. Betting on horses takes place in a space of con- densed market information where the process of decision-making, actual exchange and evaluation occurs within short periods of time. This is interspersed with pauses between races that lead participants into wider conversations about Stine Simonsen Puri, Department of Cross-cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Karen Blixensvej 4, Building 10, 2300 Copenhagen, Denmark E-mail: [email protected] Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Stine Simonsen Puri: Speculation on racing odds in India 171 social life. Every 30 minutes, 10 minutes before the horses are due to take off, bettors go to the betting ring to observe the constantly shifting odds. Based on this, they make their final decision on which horse(s) to bet on. The Delhi Race Club provides a highly significant microcosm from within which to study practices of speculation on moving numbers for profit. This speculation centres around a particular kind of numerical calculation of odds. In general usage, odds is often used as another word for probability, but in gambling, odds also refer to the pay-out ratio, which changes according to what others are betting. Initially, odds are set based on the probability of the horses winning based on their past performance. However, the numbers change as soon as the bookmakers start receiving bets. They are adjusted according to how much betting has taken place on the various horses, so that bookmakers can manage their risks (or pari-mutual betting systems can make their margins). They thus end up being a reflection of what others are betting. In India, odds are called bhav, which refers to a price or rate at a particular point in time. This price constantly changes according to supply and demand or relations between buyers and sellers. Odds therefore mimic the dynamic forms of pricing of commodities or legal instruments in financial markets. Importantly, like the prices of financial commodities and instruments, the odds at the Delhi racecourse are highly volatile. Just a few minutes before the horses are about to spring out of their gates, the odds on one of the horses can take off in an accelerating spurt. This results in bettors from diverse social backgrounds frantically running around the ‘ring’, placing bets with the bookmakers lined up in a circle. The bookmakers constantly adjust the odds as more and more bets are placed. This sudden acceleration can turn things around, and make a poorly rated horse into the crowd’s favourite. With odds below one, in this situation bettors are willing to stake more money than they are able to make as profit. The accelerated betting means that odds start to polarize. This creates a regular situation in which one horse has very short odds with a small pay-out ratio and the rest have relatively long odds. This creates the possibility that one can win up to 30 times what one has staked. This potentiality emerges as the bettors all start betting on the same horse. In economics, such extreme market volatility has been understood as a process of ‘herding’, where financial traders copy what others are doing. Classic theories argued that this was the irrational behaviour of people acting collectively out of emotion rather than clear-headed calculations of facts (Borch, 2007). In later literature, ‘rational herding’ is identified as a conscious strategy, because in the end, markets move where people go. In this body of work, it is assumed that people calculate at a meta-level that they can profit by following the crowd, so herding is rational (Devenow & Welch, 1996). In all of these economic approaches (and in more recent accounts of algorithmic machine trading) such volatility is considered a central threat to market stability, as it can cause both bubbles and market crashes (Borch, 2016). In this paper, I will radically depart from this economic literature by using ethnographies of gambling to understand market volatility. This is a ‘forbidden’ 172 Economy and Society move since economics is always at pains to separate out gambling from the ways in which formal financial markets discover prices. This distinction was at the core of the interventions of colonial and other states in the regulation of exchange, as well as at being at the heart of neo-Keynesian and neoliberal econ- omics (Birla, 2009). To achieve this move I will draw on Clifford Geertz’ (1973) piece on gambling on cockfighting in Bali. In the long paragraph titled ‘Odds and even money’, Geertz bridges his early economic anthropology and his later interpretative analysis to connect the patterns of odds with the cultural context. In this discussion, Geertz shows how the numbers in a speculative market develop out of a cultural ‘depth’ or from a cosmology. Crucially, the betting odds are not tied to the cockerels fighting in the ring. Instead, they emerge in accordance with what others are betting, and ultimately from the status and connections between the men who own the cockerels. For those present, the cockfight and betting drama constitutes a meta-commentary on their own culture, society and masculine status within it. Geertz builds his argument on a distinction between status and money gam- bling. The first occurs where there is a lot of masculine prestige at stake and is manifest in balanced odds close to even money. In this situation, the two cock- erels about to fight are backed equally as their owners and their kin place large amounts of money on the bird independent of its physical chances of winning. In this case, the cockerels are being bet on as symbols of male power. In contrast, with money gambling another order takes over and less status is at stake. The odds tend to change once the betting gets started and then polarize, with odds going up for one and down for another bird. What is interesting is that it is only in the absence of calculations of honour and status that the odds end up differentiating from one another. Geertz’s analysis is helpful in that it alerts us to the significance of masculinity and status in betting, but, as I will show, it has a dichotomous representation of status versus money gambling. The case of the Delhi racecourse, where prices are highly volatile and odds become stretched, does not just demonstrate a ‘rational’ calculation of the phys- ical potential of horses. Instead, something more akin to masculine status betting occurs; except what is being bet on is the imagination of forms of masculine sociality associated with the informal, corrupt economy of urban life. Alongside this, concepts of cosmology are at work, of betting as an already rigged game, as it is represented in Indian mythology. Significantly odds, and by implication all sorts of market prices, are not made volatile by pure rational calculation as in Geertz’s model or by irrational herding as in economic theories. They are made volatile by imaginings of uncertain, hidden social and cosmological orders behind the surface of prices. Betting on horses at the Delhi Race Club is thus a form of speculation, characterized by an engagement with uncertainty, which is more oriented towards the unknown – and the potentially hidden – than towards known facts (Bear et al., 2015). Importantly this makes betting in this context perhaps part of a broader global social shift towards financialisation (Miyazaki, 2013; Zaloom, 2003).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • NEWS..2,3 What's
    Club no. 16150 Vol. 54 no. 16 Saturday, 5th December, 2020 President : Aloke Kumar Kanodia Secretary : Amar Kumar Malhotra Editor : Ajay Khanna ....2 DECEMBER IS DISEASE PREVENTION Event ....2 AND TREATMENT MONTH Minutes ... 2 What’s NE WS ..2,3 Glimpses of Joint Meeting with Rotary Club of Singapore Heartlands Topic: A I Technology in Medical Facilities District Foundation Seminar at a glance Contd ... page 2 Trustee chair’s message - December 2020 On a foggy Christmas Eve in Victorian London, the old miser people we have never met and will sits at his desk. never see, for those who are not so Bitter and disillusioned with the world, Ebenezer Scrooge has fortunate as we and could use a helping only one interest: his bottom line. He declines his nephew’s hand. The miracle of giving that Scrooge invitation to Christmas dinner, refuses to support the poor discovered on Christmas Eve is exactly and deprived, and reluctantly grants his underpaid clerk, Bob what The Rotary Foundation does 365 Cratchit, time off for Christmas Day. days a year. After he arrives home, strange things begin to happen. Jacob Our Foundation serves simultaneously as charity and performer Marley, his deceased business partner, appears as a ghost in the field; Rotarians are on the ground, volunteering their tethered to a chain, telling Scrooge to change his self-centered skills and business expertise in support of grants that are ways, lest he meet the same fate. funded by you. In this way, we carry out some of Rotary’s most important work, such as protecting mothers and their That is the premise of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’ babies and helping communities recover from the shocks of classic tale of a man’s transformation from hardened recluse to COVID-19.
    [Show full text]
  • Daily Cause List for 07.01.2021
    Appellate Jurisdiction Daily Supplementary List Of Cases For Hearing On Thursday, 7th of January, 2021 CONTENT SL COURT PAGE BENCHES TIME NO. ROOM NO. NO. HON'BLE CHIEF JUSTICE THOTTATHIL B. 1 On 07-01-2021 1 RADHAKRISHNAN 1 DB -I At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE ARIJIT BANERJEE 16 On 07-01-2021 2 HON'BLE JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL 10 HON'BLE JUSTICE ANIRUDDHA ROY DB - II At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE I. P. MUKERJI 3 On 07-01-2021 3 16 HON'BLE JUSTICE MD. NIZAMUDDIN DB - III At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE HARISH TANDON 2 On 07-01-2021 4 19 HON'BLE JUSTICE KAUSIK CHANDA DB- IV At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE SOUMEN SEN 12 On 07-01-2021 5 25 HON'BLE JUSTICE SAUGATA BHATTACHARYYA DB-V At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE SUBRATA TALUKDAR 5 On 07-01-2021 6 28 HON'BLE JUSTICE SUBHASIS DASGUPTA DB - VI At 10:45 AM 25 On 07-01-2021 7 HON'BLE JUSTICE TAPABRATA CHAKRABORTY 39 SB - I At 10:45 AM 4 On 07-01-2021 8 HON'BLE JUSTICE ARINDAM SINHA 47 SB - II At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE DEBANGSU BASAK 36 On 07-01-2021 9 60 HON'BLE JUSTICE DEBANGSU BASAK SB - III At 10:45 AM 38 On 07-01-2021 10 HON'BLE JUSTICE ASHIS KUMAR CHAKRABORTY 64 SB - IV At 10:45 AM 30 On 07-01-2021 11 HON'BLE JUSTICE SHIVAKANT PRASAD 73 SB - V At 10:45 AM 13 On 07-01-2021 12 HON'BLE JUSTICE RAJASEKHAR MANTHA 77 SB - VI At 10:45 AM 8 On 07-01-2021 13 HON'BLE JUSTICE SABYASACHI BHATTACHARYYA 93 SB - VII At 10:45 AM 26 On 07-01-2021 14 HON'BLE JUSTICE SHEKHAR B.
    [Show full text]
  • Quarterly Newsletter
    January-March 2020 Quarterly Newsletter Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre 1, Convent Lane, Tangra, Kolkata-700015, West Bengal, India Newsletter for Jan-Mar 2020 (For private circulation only) Page 1 KMWSC stands firm towards its commitment even at times of global crisis The outbreak of CORONA and the WHO declaring it as a global pandemic affecting mankind throughout the world. The world witnessed hundreds of death on a daily basis. In the absence of any vaccine for COVID-19, the only option is to prevent the virus from spreading through social distancing as announced by the Indian Government. In its effort to prevent the virus from spreading into the community, the State Government declared a total lock rd in West Bengal for a period of seven days starting 23 March, 2020. This was followed by a nationwide lock down order from the Central Government for a period of 14 days, which was further extended to 21 days. This lock down can be extended even further depending on the situations. As of now, the future is very uncertain. Field level activities of every project of Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre have been immensely affected owing to the global pandemic. As a socially responsible Organization, KMWSC has to take every step that it can prevent the spread of COVID-19. To create social distancing, classes at our Brick Field Schools in Nadia, North & South 24 Parganas have to be suspended. Our Multi Activity Centres (MAC) all over Kolkata has also been shut down. The centre serving children of commercial sex workers and their mothers in Sonagachhi is also closed.
    [Show full text]
  • Appellate Jurisdiction
    Appellate Jurisdiction Daily Supplementary List Of Cases For Hearing On Thursday, 18th of February, 2021 CONTENT SL COURT PAGE BENCHES TIME NO. ROOM NO. NO. HON'BLE CHIEF JUSTICE THOTTATHIL B. 1 On 18-02-2021 1 RADHAKRISHNAN 1 DB -I At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE ARIJIT BANERJEE HON'BLE JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL 16 On 18-02-2021 2 21 HON'BLE JUSTICE ANIRUDDHA ROY DB - II At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE I. P. MUKERJI 37 On 18-02-2021 3 37 HON'BLE JUSTICE MD. NIZAMUDDIN DB - III At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE I. P. MUKERJI 3 On 18-02-2021 4 38 HON'BLE JUSTICE MD. NIZAMUDDIN DB - III At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE HARISH TANDON 2 On 18-02-2021 5 42 HON'BLE JUSTICE KAUSIK CHANDA DB- IV At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE SUBRATA TALUKDAR 11 On 18-02-2021 6 52 HON'BLE JUSTICE SAUGATA BHATTACHARYYA DB - VI At 10:45 AM HON'BLE JUSTICE TAPABRATA CHAKRABORTY 28 On 18-02-2021 7 56 HON'BLE JUSTICE TIRTHANKAR GHOSH DB - VII At 10:45 AM 28 1 -02-2021 8 HON'BLE JUSTICE TAPABRATA CHAKRABORTY For 9 77 SB - I At 03:00 PM HON'BLE JUSTICE ARINDAM SINHA 4 On 18-02-2021 9 80 HON'BLE JUSTICE SUVRA GHOSH DB - VIII At 10:45 AM 4 On 18-02-2021 10 HON'BLE JUSTICE ARINDAM SINHA 87 SB - II At 03:00 PM 38 On 18-02-2021 11 HON'BLE JUSTICE ARIJIT BANERJEE 90 SB At 10:45 AM 36 On 18-02-2021 12 HON'BLE JUSTICE DEBANGSU BASAK 116 SB - I At 02:00 PM 13 On 18-02-2021 13 HON'BLE JUSTICE RAJASEKHAR MANTHA 119 SB - III At 10:45 AM 8 On 18-02-2021 14 HON'BLE JUSTICE SABYASACHI BHATTACHARYYA 132 SB - IV At 10:45 AM 39 On 18-02-2021 15 HON'BLE JUSTICE MOUSHUMI BHATTACHARYA 156 SB - VI At 10:45 AM 15 On 18-02-2021 16 HON'BLE JUSTICE RAJARSHI BHARADWAJ 157 SB - VII At 10:45 AM 19 On 18-02-2021 17 HON'BLE JUSTICE SHAMPA SARKAR 194 SB - VIII At 10:45 AM SL NO.
    [Show full text]
  • Agreement for Sale
    AGREEMENT FOR SALE This Agreement for Sale (Agreement) executed on this _____________ day of ____________, 2019 By and Between (1) DAMODAR ROPEWAYS & INFRA LIMITED, (formerly known as Indian Ropeways & Engineering Company Limited) (PAN No. AAACI5764L and CIN No. U51397WB1981PLC034211) a Company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 2013 having its registered office at No. 1/A, Vansittart Row, Police Station Hare Street, Kolkata 700 001, (2) ACCURATE REAL ESTATES PRIVATE LIMITED, (PAN No. AAGCA2100E and CIN No. U45200WB2007PTC113875) a Company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 2013 having its registered office at No. 45, Vivekanand Road, Police Station Girish Park, Kolkata 700 007, (3) SPLASH PROPERTIES PRIVATE LIMITED, (PAN No. AAKCS6833J and CIN No. U45200WB2007PTC113965) a Company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 2013 having its registered office at No. 2, Rowland Road, Police Station Ballygunge, Kolkata 700 020, (4) ABUNDANT PROPERTIES LLP, (PAN No. ABLFA1479M and LLP Identification No. AAL-9869) (formerly known as Abundant Properties Private Limited) a Limited Liability Partnership under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 having its registered office at No. 6/2, Moira Street, Police Station Shakespeare Sarani, Kolkata 700 017, (5) SEED PROPERTIES PRIVATE LIMITED, (PAN No. AAKCS6832K and CIN No. U45200WB2007PTC113870) a Company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 2013 having its registered office situated at No. 1/A, Vansittart Row, Police Station Hare Street, Kolkata 700 001, (6) KING PROPERTIES PRIVATE LIMITED, (PAN No. AADCK0301J and CIN No. U45200WB2007PTC114036) a Company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 2013 having its registered office at No. 6A, Tiljola Road, Police Station Tiljola, Kolkata 700 046, (7) MASON BUILDCON PRIVATE LIMITED , (PAN No.
    [Show full text]
  • 2013 Report on Prohibited Substances
    2013 REPORT ON PROHIBITED SUBSTANCES Compiled by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, Supervised by the Advisory Council on Equine Prohibited Substances and Practices of the IFHA Racing Medication and Testing Consortium 821 Corporate Drive, Lexington, KY 40503, USA Phone +1(859) 224-2844 Fax +1(859) 296-3033 rmtcnet.com I. RACING DAY SAMPLES TOTAL DECLARED TOTAL DECLARED BOTH BOTH DECLARED DECLARE DECLARED DECLARE POSITIVE TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL URINE URINE BLOOD BLOOD NUMBER TOTAL DECLARED TOTAL POSITIVE HORSES HORSES URINE & URINE & TOTAL TOTAL DECLARED POSITIVE D POSITIVE D CASES ON SUBSTANCES NUMBER NUMBER BOTH ONLY ONLY ONLY ONLY OF DECLARED DECLARED POSITIVE DECLARED CASES ON SAMPLED SAMPLED BLOOD BLOOD URINE BLOOD POSITIVES CASES ON POSITIVE CASES ON POSITIVE BOTH DETECTED IN COUNTRY OF RACES OF URINE & SAMPLED SAMPLED SAMPLED SAMPLED DECLARE POSITIVES POSITIVE CASES ON POSITIVE BOTH PRE- POST- SAMPLED SAMPLED ONLY ONLY POST- URINE CASES ON BLOOD CASES ON URINE & OTHER HORSE (flat & HORSES BLOOD PRE- POST- PRE- POST- D PRE-RACE CASES ON URINE PRE- CASES ON URINE & RACE RACE PRE- POST- SAMPLED SAMPLED RACE POST- BLOOD POST- BOTH BLOOD COMPETITIONS jumps) SAMPLED SAMPLED RACE RACE RACE RACE POSITIVE URINE RACE BLOOD BLOOD RACE RACE RACE PRE-RACE RACE URINE & POST- CASES PRE-RACE BLOOD RACE Argentina 5,475 11,432 199 10,930 313 116 116 Australia 19,626 45,384 17,823 27,561 70 52 17 35 18 1 17 Austria 122 34 34 18 18 16 16 0 Bahrain 26 223 223 88 88 135 135 1 1 1 Belgium 189 183 157 26 0 Brazil 5,570 5,570 414 414 4,836 4,836 320
    [Show full text]
  • KR Lakshmanan
    http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 28 PETITIONER: DR. K.R. LAKSHMANAN Vs. RESPONDENT: STATE OF TAMIL NADU AND ANR. DATE OF JUDGMENT: 12/01/1996 BENCH: KULDIP SINGH (J) BENCH: KULDIP SINGH (J) HANSARIA B.L. (J) MAJMUDAR S.B. (J) CITATION: 1996 AIR 1153 1996 SCC (2) 226 JT 1996 (1) 173 1996 SCALE (1)208 ACT: HEADNOTE: JUDGMENT: WITH [W.P(C) Nos.726, 1361 of 1986, 1053/87, 1028/86, 666/86, 1067/86, 1491/86, 923/86, I.A.3/92 in W.P(C) No.857/86, C.A.1715/75, CMP No.21945/86, 14162/86, 20859 & 24540 of 1986] J U D G M E N T Kuldip Singh, J. The Madras Race Club (the club) is an Association registered as a company with limited liability under the Companies Act, 1956. The club was formed in the year 1896 by taking over the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile unincorporated club known as Madras Race Club. According to its Memorandum and Articles of Association, the principal object of the club is to carry on the business of a race club in the running of horse races. The club is one of the five "Turf Authorities of India", the other four being the Royal Calcutta Turf Club, the Royal Western India Turf Club Limited, the Bangalore Turf Club LImited and the Hyderabad Race Club. Race meetings are held in the club's own race course at Madras and at Uthagamandalam (Ooty) for which bets are made inside the race course premises.
    [Show full text]
  • Full Text: DOI
    Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities (ISSN 0975-2935) Indexed by Web of Science, Scopus, DOAJ, ERIHPLUS Themed Issue on “India and Travel Narratives” (Vol. 12, No. 3, 2020) Guest-edited by: Ms. Somdatta Mandal, PhD Full Text: http://rupkatha.com/V12/n3/v12n332.pdf DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v12n3.32 Representing Kolkata : A Study of ‘Gaze’ Construction in Amit Chaudhuri’s Calcutta: Two Years in the City and Bishwanath Ghosh’s Longing Belonging: An Outsider at Home in Calcutta Saurabh Sarmadhikari Assistant Professor, Department of English, Gangarampur College, Dakshin Dinajpur, West Bengal. ORCID: 0000-0002-8577-4878. Email: [email protected] Abstract Indian travel writings in English exclusively on Kolkata have been rare even though tourist guidebooks such as the Lonely Planet have dedicated sections on the city. In such a scenario, Amit Chaudhuri’s Calcutta: Two Years in the City (2016) and Bishwanath Ghosh’s Longing Belonging: An Outsider at Home in Calcutta (2014) stand out as exceptions. Both these narratives, written by probashi (expatriate) Bengalis, represent Kolkata though a bifocal lens. On the one hand, their travels are a journey towards rediscovering their Bengali roots and on the other, their representation/construction of the city of Kolkata is as hard-boiled as any seasoned traveller. The contention of this paper is that both Chaudhuri and Ghosh foreground certain selected/pre- determined signifiers that are common to Kolkata for the purpose of their representation which are instrumental in constructing the ‘gaze’ of their readers towards the city. This process of ‘gaze’ construction is studied by applying John Urry and Jonas Larsen’s conceptualization of the ‘tourist gaze’.
    [Show full text]
  • Recollections of Calcutta for Over Half a Century
    Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a Century Montague Massey The Project Gutenberg EBook of Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a Century, by Montague Massey This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a Century Author: Montague Massey Release Date: June 14, 2004 [EBook #12617] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECOLLECTIONS OF CALCUTTA *** Produced by Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders. Produced from images provided by the Million Book Project. [Illustration: Montague Massey] For the benefit of the Red Cross Fund Recollections of Calcutta for over half a century By MONTAGUE MASSEY WITH ILLUSTRATIONS CALCUTTA Livros Grátis http://www.livrosgratis.com.br Milhares de livros grátis para download. 1918 DEDICATED TO THE LADY CARMICHAEL THE FOUNDER OF THE BENGAL WOMEN'S WAR FUND INTRODUCTION. I think it would be advisable for me to state at the outset that these reminiscences are entirely devoid of sensational elements, in order to prevent any possible disappointment and remove from the minds of those, and I know several, who have conceived the idea that I am about to disclose matters that, as far as I am concerned, must for ever lie buried in the past. There are certain startling incidents still fresh in my memory that I could relate, but they would be out of place in a work of this nature.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. This Case Can Now Be Disposed of As All Contentious Issues Have Been
    BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI Original Application No. 56/2017 (EZ) IN THE MATTER OF: Subhas Datta Vs. State of West Bengal & Ors. CORAM : HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE S.P. WANGDI, JUDICIAL MEMBER HON’BLE DR. NAGIN NANDA, EXPERT MEMBER Present: Appellant: Mr. Subhas Datta in person Respondents: Mr. Bikas Kargupta, Advocate Mr. Dipanjan Ghosh ,Advocate Mr. Samik Kumar Chakraborty ,Advocate : Mr. Pratik Shanu, Advocate Date and Orders of the Tribunal Remarks Through Video 1. This case can now be disposed of as all contentious Conferencing Item No. issues have been dealt with on different dates as would 03 appear from the narration of facts which shall follow. On October 08, 2018 the last date leave had been sought for on behalf of the HB & DV respondent no. 4, Royal Calcutta Turf Club (RCTC) to file additional affidavit which had been granted to be filed before this day. No additional affidavit has been filed as permitted. Time has been sought for on the ground of inability of Ld. Senior Counsel for the respondent no. 4 to be present today, but having regard to the facts and circumstances, we do not find it necessary to adjourn the case and is, accordingly, taken up for hearing and disposal. 2. The original application was filed primarily on the ground that Royal Calcutta Turf Club located is in the Hastings area of Kolkata owns about 500 Horses which are kept and tended in different stables. It is alleged that untreated effluents are being discharged from two stables and that the veterinary hospital maintained for the treatment of Horses by the Club, also releases bio- medical waste.
    [Show full text]
  • Major Attractions in Kolkata Kolkata&Rsquo
    Major Attractions In Kolkata by newsdesk Kolkata’s lungs are the vast expanse of lawns called the Maidan, bordered by the Hooghly river at one end and the elegant boulevard, Chowringhee, at the other. Towering over the northern end of the maidan is the Shahid Minar, a 48m column erected in 1828 in an intriguing combination of Turkish, Egyptian and Syrian architectural styles.Around the maidan are many of Calcutta’s historical landmarks -- the magnificent Fort William still out of bounds for visitors, St. John’s Church, the Royal Calcutta Turf Club and Eden Gardens, which has a cricket stadium to seat 100,000 persons - a site where many a great sporting battle has been contested. Eden GardensHigh Court At the southern end of the Calcutta Maidan is the imposing white marble Victoria Memorial, built by the British in 1921, modelled on the Taj Mahal. It is a treasure trove of Raj Relics, offers tree-lined walks in splendid parks, 'lakes' and houses a number of statues and busts of eminent people including that of Queen Victoria. The exhibits include paintings, manuscripts, firearms, statues, lithographs and furniture. The memorial was Lord Curzon's idea. No other location in Calcutta has more pleasing or more amply open surroundings. To the east of the Memorial is St Paul’s Cathedral, one of the most important churches of India with its impressive stained glass windows. The National Library in the stately Belvedere House, the erstwhile residence of the Lieutanant governor of Bengal, has the largest collection of books (one million) in India.
    [Show full text]
  • Betting on People: Bookmaking at the Delhi Racecourse
    9 Betting on people Bookmaking at the Delhi racecourse Stine Simonsen Puri Introduction A loud bell rings and in the background I can hear the voice of a commentator with a British accent announcing that the horses have left the stalls, and are off and running. I am stuck in the midst of a throng of Indian men, crammed together in front of a bookmaker’s booth, eager to bet on the horse that has emerged as the favorite. The odds on the horse have come down to ‘80 paisa’, or 80/100, which means that the potential returns are relatively small. Still, the men in the group are determined to bet on this particular horse and do not at any point turn their heads to the television screens to see how the horse is running: their focus is on the odds and the betting booth. At the Delhi racecourse where I conducted long-term fieldwork between 2009 and 2010, it is not the horses which matter to bettors, but the odds. I begin by describing how the odds inside the betting ring emerge from the interaction between official bookmakers, unofficial bookmakers and bettors, from the van- tage point of an employee of a bookmaking firm. The bookmaker takes bets at odds that are constantly adjusted and written on chalkboards in front of the booths inside the betting ring in the 20 minutes before a race. By describing the action that takes place in the betting ring in detail, I argue that the odds are formed by the idea that certain individuals have the ability to manipulate the future.
    [Show full text]