প্রক্সি
আস্তে আস্তে কথা বলত ধৃতি। আমি যতটা ছটফটে, ও ততটাই ধীরস্থির। কী ভাবে যে অসম চরিত্রের দু’জনের এমন বন্ধুত্ব গড়ে উঠল, স্বয়ং ঈশ্বরই জানেন।
ছবি রৌদ্র মিত্র।
ছন্দা বিশ্বাস
শেষ আপডেট: ৩১ মার্চ ২০২৪ ০৫:২৯
বেরিয়ে পড়লাম বাতাসপুরের উদ্দেশ্যে। মনে অনেক দ্বিধা, অনেক দ্বন্দ্ব, তবু উপায় ছিল না।
অনেক কষ্টে খোঁজখবর করে একটা ঠিকানা জোগাড় করেছি ধৃতির। ধৃতি আমার ছোটবেলার ইশকুলের বান্ধবী। ওর সঙ্গে আমার পরিচয় হাই স্কুলে আসার পরে। ক্লাস ফাইভের বি সেকশনে আমি আর ধৃতি রোজ সেকেন্ড বেঞ্চের দেওয়ালের দিকে পাশাপাশি বসতাম। আস্তে আস্তে সেটাই আমাদের স্থায়ী জায়গা হয়ে গেল। ধৃতির গায়ের রং কালো ছিল, কিন্তু ওর চোখ দুটোতে ছিল গভীর মায়া। ঘন আঁখিপল্লবে ঢাকা চোখ দুটোর দিকে তাকালে মনে হত শান্ত ছায়াঘন এক দিঘি।
খুব আস্তে আস্তে কথা বলত ধৃতি। আমি যতটা ছটফটে, ও ততটাই ধীরস্থির। কী ভাবে যে অসম চরিত্রের দু’জনের এমন বন্ধুত্ব গড়ে উঠল, স্বয়ং ঈশ্বরই জানেন। টিফিনে একটাই আইসক্রিম কিংবা আলুকাবলি ভাগ করে খাওয়া শুধু নয়, কখনও-সখনও স্কুল কামাই করলে রোলকলের সময়ে ও আমার হয়ে প্রক্সি দিত। সকলের চোখ বাঁচিয়ে, যথেষ্ট ঝুঁকি নিয়ে।
আমাদের মফস্সল শহরটার গায়ে তখন একটু একটু করে আধুনিকতার ছোঁয়াচ লাগছে। তা সত্ত্বেও সে সময়ে লুকিয়ে প্রেম করা ছিল চরম অপরাধ। প্রেমের পথে তখন নানা বাধা। জাতপাত, বিত্ত, স্টেটাস কত রকমের বাধা যে পেরোতে হত, তার হিসেব নেই।
আমি তখন ক্লাস নাইন। সেই মধ্যযুগীয় আবহাওয়ার ভিতরে হঠাৎ খবরের শিরোনামে উঠে এলাম আমি, সবাই জানল গাঙ্গুলিবাড়ির ছেলে বাঁধনের সঙ্গে সাহাবাড়ির মেয়ে রতির, অর্থাৎ আমার, প্রেম চলছে। সেই সংক্রান্ত আলোচনা ছড়িয়ে পড়ল প্রায় সমস্ত চেনাজানা মহলেই। ছোট জায়গা, আলোচনার মুখ অনেক, কিন্তু উপযুক্ত রসালো খবরের সংখ্যা তুলনায় কম, ফলে যা হয়!
আমাদের প্রতিবেশী রুমাকাকিমা মায়ের কাছে বলে দিলেন ব্রিজের নীচে আমাদের দু’জনকে দাঁড়িয়ে কথা বলতে দেখেছেন।
মা প্রশ্ন করলেন, “ছেলেটা কে?”
মায়ের কপালে ভাঁজ স্পষ্ট হচ্ছে দেখে কাকিমা ব্যাখ্যা করতে আরম্ভ করলেন, “আরে চিনতে পারছ না, ওই যে ভাল ফুটবল খেলে, গেল বার আমাদের ক্লাবের হয়ে খেলে শিল্ড নিয়ে এল বারাসাত সম্মিলনী ক্লাব থেকে, ওই যে গো, যাদের বাড়িতে প্রথম টিভি এসেছে, মহাভারত দেখার জন্যে বাড়ির উঠোনে লোকের ঢল নামত, আকাশবাণীতে গান গায় শিল্পী রুমেলা গাঙ্গুলি... সেই ওদের বাড়ির ছেলে বাঁধন।”
প্রতিবেশী রুমাকাকিমা তাঁর কাজ সেরে চলে গেলেন। মা অপেক্ষা করতে লাগলেন আমার টিউশনি থেকে আর বাবার অফিস থেকে ফেরার জন্য। মেঘের পরে মেঘ জমেছে বুঝতে পারিনি সে দিন। আমার বাড়ি থেকে কঠোর অনুশাসনের খাঁড়া নেমে এল।
আমাকে সরাসরি কেউ কিছু বলল না। মা আর বাবার রুদ্ধদ্বার বৈঠকের শেষে আমার অজান্তেই নানা ব্যবস্থা গৃহীত হল।
এর পরে বাড়িতেই গৃহশিক্ষক রাখা হল। স্কুলে মায়ের সঙ্গে যাই আর আসি। বাড়িতে এমন ভাব করে থাকি, যেন সব চুকেবুকে গেছে।
কিন্তু যে নদী এক বার সাগরের ডাক পেয়েছে, তাকে ঠেকিয়ে রাখে কার সাধ্য। নদীর স্রোত বহু পাথরের বাধাবিঘ্ন এড়িয়ে বইতে শুরু করল।
এমন একটা পরিস্থিতিতে ধৃতি আমার হয়ে বড়াইবুড়ির কাজ করত। চিঠিপত্রের আদানপ্রদান থেকে শুরু করে বাঁধনের সঙ্গে দেখা করা, ওর কাছ থেকে কিছু জিনিস নেওয়া বা পৌঁছে দেওয়া ইত্যাদি।
আমি মায়ের সঙ্গে স্কুল থেকে রিকশায় বাড়ি ফিরছি, দেখি বাঁধন রাস্তার এক পাশে দঁড়িয়ে ধৃতির সঙ্গে সাবলীল ভঙ্গিতে কথা বলছে।
মা মুখ বেঁকিয়ে সটান বলে দিল, “নিজের চোখে দেখ এই সব ছেলেদের চরিত্র! আজ তোকে, তো কাল অন্য মেয়েকে প্রস্তাব দিচ্ছে! যত সব লক্ষ্মীছাড়ার দল!”
আমি যে ধৃতির হাতে দীর্ঘ চিঠি লিখে পাঠিয়েছি, সেটা মায়ের জানার কথা নয়। আজ দেখা করার কথা ছিল, পারলাম না।
সেই কারণে ধৃতি আজ আমার হয়ে প্রক্সি দিচ্ছে।
ধৃতির সফল দৌত্যের ফলস্বরূপ আমি চিরজীবনের জন্যে বাঁধনের বাহুডোরে বাঁধা পড়লাম। আমি তখন সবে কলেজে বিএ ক্লাসে ভর্তি হয়েছি, বাঁধন ব্যাঙ্কিং সার্ভিস কমিশন এগজ়াম ক্র্যাক করেছে। বাড়ির লোক আর তেমন সমস্যা করল না, যখন বুঝতে পারল যে অনেক চেষ্টা সত্ত্বেও নদীস্রোতে বাঁধ দেওয়া সম্ভব হয়নি।
কিছু দিনের ভিতরে ওর পোস্টিং হল আলতাগঞ্জে। বিয়ের পর সেখানেই আমরা সংসার পাতলাম। কেটে গেল পাঁচটা বছর। বাঁধন দেখলাম, একটা বাচ্চার জন্য বড্ড উতলা হয়ে পড়েছে।
আমাদের জীবনের সুখের চাবি হারিয়ে গেল সে দিন, যে দিন শুনলাম আমি আর কখনও মা হতে পারব না। ডাক্তারের চেম্বার থেকে টলোমলো পায়ে বেরিয়ে এলাম। বর্ষার কিউমুলোনিম্বাস মেঘে ঢেকে গেল আমার আকাশ।
এর পরে আরও চার-পাঁচটা বছর লোকে যে যা বলেছে, তাই করেছি। কিন্তু কাজের কাজ কিছুই হল না। আমার যখন পাগলপারা অবস্থা, এমন সময়ে এক দিন গঙ্গার ঘাটে এসে বসেছি আমি আর বাঁধন। মরুঝড়ে যখন বিপর্যস্ত, বাঁধন বলল, “আজ ডা. মাইতির চেম্বারে গিয়েছিলাম, উনি খুঁটিয়ে খুঁটিয়ে সমস্ত রিপোর্ট দেখে জিজ্ঞেস করলেন, আমাদের সারোগেসিতে আপত্তি আছে কি না।”
আজকাল সারোগেসির মাধ্যমে বহু দম্পতি সন্তানের মুখ দেখছেন।
শান্ত নিরিবিলি গঙ্গার ঘাট। আশপাশে তেমন কেউই নেই এই পৌষের সন্ধ্যায়। তার উপরে আজ ভরা পূর্ণিমা। গর্ভবতী নারীর মতো সুডৌল গঙ্গা। পূর্ণ নদীটা যেন আমার নিঃস্বতা আরও গভীর ভাবে চোখে আঙুল দিয়ে দেখাতে লাগল।
নিরুপায় আমি প্রবল বেগে বৃষ্টি হয়ে ঝরে পড়তে পড়তে বললাম, “আমি রাজি।”
গর্ভ ভাড়া নেওয়ার জন্যে এ বারে উপযুক্ত মহিলার খোঁজ শুরু হল। অনেকের সঙ্গে ইন্টারভিউ হল। কাউকেই আমার পছন্দ হচ্ছে না। বাঁধন বুঝতে পারছে আমার ভিতরে মানসিক সমস্যা চলছে। সেটা স্বাভাবিক ধরে নিয়ে ও আমার উপরেই এই দায়িত্বটা ছেড়ে দিল।
জীবনের এই চরম সন্ধিক্ষণে আজ আবার ধৃতির কথা মনে পড়ে গেল। বিয়ের পর থেকে তো আর ওর সঙ্গে যোগাযোগ রাখা হয়নি!
এমনই একটা সময়ে খবরের কাগজে বাতাসপুরের খবরটা পড়লাম। খবরের কাগজে ফোন করে বিস্তর অনুরোধ করে ঠিকানাটুকু জোগাড় হল। সেইটুকু সম্বল করে এক দিন বেরিয়ে পড়লাম।
ধূসর রঙের এসইউভি ছুটে চলল মহানন্দা অভয়ারণ্য, সেবক বাজার, কালীবাড়ি, করোনেশন ব্রিজ ছাড়িয়ে কালিম্পং-এর দিকে। ঘুরে ঘুরে ক্রমশ উপরের দিকে উঠছি। মাইলের পর মাইল জনহীন অঞ্চল পেরিয়ে অবশেষে বাতাসপুরে পা রাখলাম। পাহাড়চুড়োয় উঠে আবার কিছুটা নীচের দিকে নামতে হল। একটা ছোট্ট জনবসতি। মূলত আদিবাসী মানুষের বাস। পথের পাশে পাইন গাছে ঘেরা ছোট্ট একটা কাঠের বাড়ি। গেটের ঠিক সামনে দু’টি লম্বা কাঠের উপরে টিনের রংচটা একটা সাইন বোর্ড। আশ্রমের নামটা পড়তে পারলাম না। আমাকে দেখে এক জন মহিলা এগিয়ে এলেন। এই আশ্রম আর ধৃতির নাম ও ছবি খবরের কাগজে দেখেই এখানে আসা।
ধৃতি আমাকে দেখে ছুটে এসে জড়িয়ে ধরল।
আশ্রমের ব্যালকনিতে বসে কত জমানো কথা উপচে পড়ছে তখন। প্রায় বারো বছর বাদে দু’জনের সাক্ষাত হল। ধৃতির মুখে শুনলাম, বিএ পাশ করার পরে ওর বিয়ে হয়েছিল বাড়ি থেকে সম্বন্ধ করে। পাত্র বেনারসের প্রবাসী বাঙালি, রেলে চাকরি করে। বিয়ের দু’মাস বাদে এক দিন জানতে পারল ছেলেটি লিউকোমিয়ার পেশেন্ট। কোনও এক জন জ্যোতিষী বলেছিলেন, বিয়ের পরে এ রোগ ভাল হয়ে যাবে। তাই রোগ গোপন করে এই বিয়ে। তিন মাসের মাথায় ছেলেটি মারা যায়। রেলে চাকরিটা পেলেও ও করেনি। সব ছেড়ে দিয়ে এক দিন ঘুরতে ঘুরতে এই জায়গায় থিতু হয়েছে।
ধৃতি বলল, এই সব শিশুদের নিয়ে ও বেশ আছে।
এ কথা-সে কথার পরে আসল কথাটা বলে ফেললাম।
ধৃতি কঠিন দৃষ্টিতে আমার মুখের দিকে তাকিয়ে বলল, “হঠাৎ আমাকেই বেছে নিলি কেন? আমি কি সারা জীবন, সব জায়গায় তোর হয়ে প্রক্সি দিয়েই যাব?”
আমি ধৃতির হাত দুটো ধরে বললাম, “আজ আমি তোর কাছে ভিক্ষে চাইতে এসেছি ধৃতি। আমাকে তুই ফিরিয়ে দিস না। তুই তো ধরিত্রীমা, পারবি না আমাদের বীজ তোর গর্ভে ধারণ করতে, জল-মাটি-বাতাস দিয়ে তাকে পৃথিবীর আলো দেখাতে? আমি চাই তোর মতো সুন্দর একটা সন্তান। আমাকে ফিরিয়ে দিস না ধৃতি। মাত্র তো একটা বছর...”
অনেকটা সময় কেটে গেল নীরবে। এক সময়ে কিছু না বলে ধৃতি উঠে গেল।
আমি বুঝতে পারলাম, খুব কঠিন পরীক্ষা আমাদের সামনে। আমার চেয়ে ধৃতির পরীক্ষা অনেক বেশি কঠিন। বেশ কিছু সময় পর দেখি ধৃতি ধীর পায়ে আমার কাছে এসে আমার কাঁধে একটা হাত রাখল। আমি শ্রাবণের ধারার মতো আছড়ে পড়লাম ওর বুকে।
তার পর ধৃতিকে নিয়ে আমরা ফিরে এলাম কলকাতায়।
ইনফার্টিলিটি সেন্টারে নিয়ে গেলাম ওকে। সঙ্গে বাঁধনও ছিল।
সব ঠিকমতোই হল। বছর খানেকের মাথায় আমাদের একটা ফুটফুটে কন্যাসন্তান হল। নাম রাখা হল মাহিরা।
বাঁধন খুব খুশি। কয়েক মাস পর মেয়ের মুখেভাত হলে ধৃতি বলল, “এ বারে আমাকে ছেড়ে দে...” বলতে গিয়ে ওর ঠোঁট কেঁপে উঠল। ছুটে চলে গেল ওয়াশরুমে।
যাওয়ার আগের দিন সন্ধ্যায় আমি ধৃতির জন্য কিছু জিনিসপত্র কিনতে শপিং মলে গেছিলাম। এসে দেখি ছোট্ট মাহিরাকে জড়িয়ে ধরে কাঁদছে। আমি এই ভয়টাই পাচ্ছিলাম। খুব বেশি দিন হয়ে গেলে আরও বেশি মায়ার বাঁধনে জড়িয়ে যাবে বুঝতে পারছি। আমার ভিতরেও একটা ঝড় চলছে। ভয় হচ্ছে, এর পরে আরও খারাপ কিছু না ঘটে যায় আমার আর বাঁধনের জীবনে।
ধৃতিকে আজকাল আর খুব বেশি সময় মাহিরাকে কোলে নিতে দিই না। ব্রেস্টফিডিং কমিয়ে দেওয়া হয়েছে ইচ্ছে করেই। কারণ এর পরে ওকে তো বাইরের খাবার খেতে হবে।
কিন্তু ধৃতি দেখি সুযোগ পেলে মাহিরাকে কোলে নিয়ে ব্রেস্টফিড করাচ্ছে। মাহিরা ওর নরম হাত দিয়ে ধৃতির বুক আর মুখ ছুঁয়ে ছুঁয়ে খেলা করে। তখন ধৃতির চোখেমুখে অপার্থিব বিভা ছড়িয়ে পড়ে। সেই দৃশ্য দেখে আমার ভিতরে দারুণ জ্বালা শুরু হয়। আমি ওর কোল থেকে জোর করে মাহিরাকে টেনে নিয়ে আসি। মাহিরা ঠোঁট ফুলিয়ে কাঁদে। চিৎকার করে। ধৃতিও।
“কী করছিস তুই রতি? ওর খিদে পেয়েছে, দে আমার কাছে।”
“ও খাবে”, “ও এখন ঘুমোবে” ধৃতির মুখে এই সব কথা শুনলে আমার গা জ্বালা করে।
এমনই এক দিন, মাহিরার কান্না শুনে বাঁধন পাশের ঘর থেকেছুটে এল।
ধৃতির দিকে চোখ পড়ে গেল বাঁধনের। ও সেই সময়ে হাউসকোটের ফিতে লাগাচ্ছিল। ওর বুকের কাছটা দুধে ভিজে যাচ্ছে। বাঁধন সে দিকে তাকিয়ে চোখ সরিয়ে নিল। আমার মাথার ভিতরে আগুন জ্বলছে সেই দৃশ্য দেখে। আমি বন্ধ্যা, তাই আমার স্তনও বন্ধ্যা। কোনও দিন জানতেই পারলাম না মাতৃত্বের স্বাদ কেমন।
মাহিরা চুপ করছে না দেখে ধৃতির সে কী কাতর অভিব্যক্তি, “দে না রে এক বার...”
আমি বললাম, “ধৃতি, এ বারে তোর চলে যাওয়া দরকার বুঝতে পারছি। আমাদের সম্পর্ক ভাল থাকতে থাকতে তুই চলে যা।”
প্রতিবাদ করে ধৃতি, “আমি এখন কিছুতেই যাব না। আরও কিছু দিন আমায় এখানে থাকতে হবে মাহিরার জন্য। আমাকে না পেলে ও খুব কান্নাকাটি করবে, তুই থামাতেপারবি না।”
ধৃতি দৃঢ় স্বরে জানিয়ে দিল ওর সিদ্ধান্ত। তবুও আমি চুপ করে আছি দেখে বাঁধন এসে বলল, “থাকুক না আরও কিছু দিন। বুঝতেই পারছ, মাহিরাকে ছেড়ে চলে যেতে মন চাইছে না। হাজার হোক, মা তো...”
বাঁধনের কথায় আমার ধৈর্যের বাঁধ ভেঙে গেল। আমি সমস্ত কৃতজ্ঞতা ভুলে ধৃতিকে বললাম, “দেখ, আমি শুধু তোর গর্ভ ভাড়া নিতে চেয়েছিলাম। বিনামূল্যে নয়, রীতিমতো টাকা দিয়ে নিয়েছি। তোর আশ্রমের নামে পাঁচ লাখ টাকা পাঠিয়ে দিয়েছে বাঁধন, দেখে নিস।”
হতবাক দৃষ্টিতে তাকিয়ে ছিল ধৃতি, “টাকার বিনিময়ে আমি এ কাজ করলাম! তুই এ কথা বলতে পারলি?” কান্না ভুলে বিস্ফারিত চোখে ও আমার দিকে তাকিয়ে থাকল বেশ কিছু ক্ষণ।
আমি নিজের ভুল বুঝতে পেরে কী করব ভেবে না পেয়ে ঘর থেকে নিঃশব্দে বেরিয়ে এলাম।
আমার বাদলদিনের গল্প কিন্তু এখানেই শেষ হয়নি। এর পরে আরও দশ বছর কেটে গেছে। মাহিরা এখন ক্লাস ফাইভে পড়ছে কলকাতার একটা নামী স্কুলে।
কিছু দিন বাদে আমাদের জীবনে আবার একটা ঝড় উঠল। সুনামি আছড়ে পড়ল, সংসার-তট ক্ষতবিক্ষত। মারণ রোগ তলে তলে বাসা বেঁধেছে আমার শরীরে, একটুও টের পাইনি এত দিন।
সে দিন ব্যালকনিতে দাঁড়িয়ে আছি। বাঁধন তখনও ফেরেনি। কয়েক দিন বাদেই দীপাবলি। সমস্ত শহর সেজে উঠেছে আলোকমালায়। শুধু আমার ভিতরে জমাট বেঁধে আছে গাঢ় অন্ধকার। আর মাত্র কয়েক মাসহাতে আছে আমার। তার পরে এই পৃথিবীর রূপ রস বর্ণ গন্ধ ফেলে চলে যেতে হবে।
ভাবছি, আমি তো চলে যাব, কিন্তু মাহিরার কী হবে?
কে দেখবে ওকে? আমি মারা গেলে বাঁধন যদি আর কাউকে ঘরে নিয়ে আসে মাহিরাকে দেখাশোনার জন্য, সে কি মাহিরাকে যত্নে রাখবে?
সংশয়ের মেঘ ঘনীভূত হচ্ছে ক্রমে। মাহিরার কথা ভাবতেই প্রবল একটা ঢেউ আছড়ে পড়ল পায়ের উপরে। চলে যেতে যেতে বলে গেল, মায়ের মতো আর কেউ পারে না রে।
মুহূর্তে আমার ধৃতির কথা মনে এল। সত্যি তো! ধৃতির মতো আর কেউ পারবে না মাহিরাকে ভালবাসতে! পারার কথাও নয়! এক বার চেষ্টা করে দেখব? কী ভাবে প্রস্তাবটা রাখব, বুঝতে পারছি না। ধৃতি কি এখনও বাতাসপুরেই আছে? সেটাও তো জানা নেই। আমার কথায় আঘাত পেয়ে সেই যে ও চলে গেল, তার পর তো আর ওর খোঁজ রাখা হয়নি! ও-ও আর যোগাযোগ করেনি!
কাল সারা রাত দু’চোখের পাতা এক করতে পারিনি। ভোরের দিকে একটু তন্দ্রামতো এসেছিল। স্বপ্নে দেখলাম একটা উত্তাল নদীর পাড়ে আমি আর ধৃতি দাঁড়িয়ে আছি।
আমি ধৃতির হাত ধরে বললাম, “শেষ বারের মতো আমার হয়ে প্রক্সি দিতে পারবি না?”
ধৃতি শান্ত চোখে আমার দিকে তাকাল। কিন্তু ও কিছু বলার আগেই প্রচণ্ড শব্দে নদীর পাড় ভেঙে পড়ল জলে, সেই সঙ্গে যেন চোখের পলকে তলিয়ে গেল ধৃতিও।
আমি চিৎকার করে উঠলাম, “ফিরে আয় ধৃতি, হারিয়ে যাস না, শুধু এ বারের মতো, এই শেষ বার...”
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"You" and / or "Your" and / or "User" shall include and mean the person who is accessing the aforesaid website www.anandabazar.com through any means available now and / or maybe available in the future.
You (the user) agree to access "the Site" and "Mobile Apps", subject to the terms and conditions of use as set out here.
ABP Pvt.Ltd., the owner and / or publisher of www.anandabazar.com may add to or change or update these Terms of Use, from time to time entirely at the its own discretion. You are responsible for checking these Terms of Use periodically to remain in compliance with these terms. Your use of a Site after any amendment to the Terms of Use shall constitute your acceptance of these terms and you also agree to be bound by any such changes/revisions. By using this site you hereby represent and warrant that you are hereby bound by these Terms of Use and it's any amendments thereof and further represent that you are more than 18 (eighteen) years of age and otherwise competent to bound yourself into a valid contract as per the Laws of India. In the event you are below the age of 18 (eighteen) years then it shall be deemed that you are using this site under the guidance and supervision of your natural parent and / or guardian.
Governing Law and Meanings:-
These Terms of Use are being governed by the Laws of India and meaning of words used herein in connection with the use of the said website shall bear the meaning as may be envisaged and interpreted by the Information Technology Act, 2000 and any of its Amendment Acts.
Changes
ABP Pvt. LTD. reserves the right to suspend / cancel, or discontinue any or all channels, products or service at any time without notice , make modifications and alterations in any or all of the content, products and services contained on the site without prior notice. Such changes will be posted to "www.anandabazar.com" for your reference and convenience so as to enable you to understand your responsibility as a user.
Charges
ABP Pvt. LTD. reserves the right to charge subscription and / or membership fees from a user in respect of any product, service or any other aspect of this Site. Such charge of fees may be without any prior intimation at the sole discretion of ABP Pvt. Ltd.
Copyright and Trademarks
Unless otherwise stated, copyright and all intellectual property rights in all material presented on the site (including but not limited to text, audio, video or graphical images), trademarks and logos appearing on this site are the property of ABP Pvt. Ltd. Limited, its parent, affiliates and associates and are protected under applicable Indian laws. You agree not to use any framing techniques to enclose any trademark or logo or other proprietary information of ABP PVT. LTD.; or remove, conceal or obliterate any copyright or other proprietary notice or any credit-line or date-line on other mark or source identifier included on the Site / Service, including without limitation, the size, color, location or style of all proprietary marks. Any infringement shall be vigorously defended and pursued to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Limited Permission to Copy
ABP Pvt. Ltd. grants you permission to only access and make personal use of the Site and You agree not to, directly or indirectly download or modify / alter / change / amend / vary / transform / revise / translate / copy / publish / distribute or otherwise disseminate any content on ABP Pvt.Ltd.'s Site / Service, or any portion of it; or delete or fail to display any promotional taglines included in the Site / Service either directly or indirectly, except with the express consent of ABP Pvt. Ltd.
However, you may print or download extracts from these pages for your personal / individual, non-commercial use only. You must not retain any copies of these pages saved to disk or to any other storage medium except for the purposes of using the same for subsequent viewing purposes or to print extracts for personal / individual use.
ABP Pvt. Ltd. forbids you from any attempts to resell or put to commercial use any part of the Site; any collection and use of any product listings, descriptions, or prices; any derivative use of the Site or its contents; any downloading or copying of account information for the benefit of any other merchant; any renting, leasing, or otherwise transferring rights to the Site / Service; displaying the name, logo, trademark or other identifier of another person in such a manner as to give the viewer the impression that such other person is a publisher or distributor of the Service on the Site, or any data gathering or extraction tools; or any use of meta tags. You may not (whether directly or through the use of any software program) create a database in electronic or structured manual form by regularly or systematically downloading and storing all or any part of the pages from this site.
No part of the Site may be reproduced or transmitted to or stored in any other web site, nor may any of its pages or part thereof be disseminated in any electronic or non-electronic form, nor included in any public or private electronic retrieval system or service without prior written permission.
Individual Registration, Access and Exchange of Information
For certain services such as email, personal web pages, contests and shopping, registration by the visitor is required. To register for these services you have to open an account by completing the registration process (i.e. by providing us with current, complete and accurate information as prompted by the applicable registration form). You also will choose a password and a user name. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account and shall be responsible for the security of the connection and / or network that you are using. By registering, you agree to the following terms in addition to any other specific terms which shall be posted at an appropriate location of the Site. Each registration is for a single individual user only.
To access these services, you will be asked to enter your individual User Name and Password, as chosen by you during your registration. Therefore, we do not permit any of the following:-
• Any other person sharing your account and Password;
• Any part of the Site being cached in proxy servers and accessed by individuals who have not registered with www.anandabazar.com as users of the Site; or
• Access through a single account and Password being made available to multiple users on a network.
If ABP Pvt. Ltd. reasonably believes that an account and Password is being used / misused in any manner, ABP Pvt. Ltd. shall reserve the right to cancel access rights immediately without notice, and block access to all users from that IP address.
Furthermore, you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify ABP Pvt. Ltd. immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. ABP Pvt. Ltd. will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of someone else using your password or account. However, you could be held liable for losses incurred by ABP PVT. LTD. or another party due to someone else using your account or password.
No unlawful or prohibited use
As a condition of your use of the Services, you will not use the Services for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these terms, conditions, and notices. You may not use the Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair any ABP PVT. LTD.'s server, or the network(s) connected to any ABP PVT. LTD.'s server, or interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of any Services. You may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any Services, other accounts, computer systems or to any of the Services, through hacking, password mining or any other means. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through the Services.
Material Posted/transmitted at www.anandabazar.com by the user and /or any third party:
All information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages or other materials ("Content"), whether publicly or privately transmitted / posted, is the sole responsibility of the person from where such content is originated (the Originator). By Posting any material which contain images, photographs, pictures or that are otherwise graphical in whole or in part ("Images"), you warrant and represent that (a) you are the copyright owner of such Images, or that the copyright owner of such Images has granted you permission to use such Images or any content and/or images contained in such Images consistent with the manner and purpose of your use and as otherwise permitted by these Terms of Use and the Services, (b) you have the rights necessary to grant the licenses and sublicenses described in these Terms of Use, and (c) that each person depicted in such Images, if any, has provided consent to the use of the Images as set forth in these Terms of Use, including, by way of limitation, the distribution, public display and reproduction of such Images.
You represent that you have valid rights and title in any and all Content/Images that you submit on the Site, that you have not infringed on any IPR belonging to any party and further that you will indemnify ABP PVT. LTD or its affiliates for all claims arising out of any content that you post on the Site.
ABP PVT. LTD. accepts no responsibility for the said Content / Images. However, you understand that all Content / Images posted by you becomes the property of ABP PVT. LTD. and you agree to grant/assign to ABP PVT. LTD. and its affiliates, a non-exclusive, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable and sub-licenseable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content / Images (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed throughout the world".
Limitations of Liabilities
Any transactions relating to sale/purchase of goods or services not directly offered by ABP PVT. LTD. are to be settled inter-se between the parties to such transaction and all warranties express or implied of any kind, regarding any matter pertaining thereto, including without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement are disclaimed by ABP PVT. LTD.
ABP PVT. LTD. merely endeavors to provide a platform where you and other party may interact, exchange information or carry out sale/purchase transactions on such terms and in the manner mutually agreed between you and the other party. ABP PVT. LTD. does not have any involvement in the actual transactions between the buyers and sellers in any way. It is only you, who is entirely responsible for all the activities, arising out of the transactions of sale/purchase of goods or services offered by any other party and not ABP PVT. LTD. ABP PVT. LTD. will not be liable for any loss that you may incur, while selling or purchasing goods /services of the third party.
Under No circumstances will ABP PVT. LTD. be held responsible or liable, in any way, for any content which in Legal opinion is derogatory, threatening, defamatory, obscene or offensive or offends public sensibilities or morals and shall also not assume liability for any errors or omissions in any content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any content posted or uploaded on the Site, or any infringement of another's rights, including intellectual property rights. You specifically agree that ABP PVT. LTD. is not responsible for any content sent using and/or included in ABP PVT. LTD.'s site/service by any third party.
Individual Registration and Access
Certain Services offered by the Company through www.anandazar.com platform, such as email, personal web pages, contests and shopping, require prior registration by the User. To gain access to such Services, You will be required to create an account by completing the registration process. As part of such registration process, You will be required to provide Us with current, complete and accurate information pertaining to such details as prompted by the applicable registration form. You will also be required to choose a unique password and a user name, which shall be entered by You every time You wish to gain access to the said Services. You shall not be entitled to gain, and shall not facilitate, access to www.anandabazar.com platform through a single account and password, by multiple users on a network. You agree and understand that We do not permit any part of www.anandabazar.com platform being cached in proxy servers. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of Your password and account.
If the Company reasonably believes that Your account and/or Password is being/ has been misused in any manner, the Company shall reserve the right to cancel access rights immediately without notice, and block access to all users from that IP address.
You shall not share your account information and password with others or use anyone else’s account. You are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under Your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. In such an event, we shall do our best to help you recover your account; however, we cannot guarantee that your account will be restored or the content contained therein will be recovered. We will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of unauthorized use of your password or account. However, you could be held liable for losses incurred by the Company or another party due to someone else using your account or password.
International Users
You agree and understand that the Services are controlled and operated by the Company from its offices in India. You agree that: (i) the Services shall be deemed solely based in India; and (ii) the use of the Services do not give rise to personal jurisdiction over the Company, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than India. You agree that the laws of India, excluding India’s choice of law rules, will apply to this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and all other policies and guidelines provided by the Company and to the provision of Services by the Company.
Access to www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services from jurisdictions other than India where the same are illegal is prohibited. The Company reserves the right to block access to www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services by such prohibited access by international users. If you access www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services from a location outside India, you waive any right available under laws of jurisdictions outside of India.
Individual Registration and Access
Certain Services offered by the Company through www.anandazar.com platform, such as email, personal web pages, contests and shopping, require prior registration by the User. To gain access to such Services, You will be required to create an account by completing the registration process. As part of such registration process, You will be required to provide Us with current, complete and accurate information pertaining to such details as prompted by the applicable registration form. You will also be required to choose a unique password and a user name, which shall be entered by You every time You wish to gain access to the said Services. You shall not be entitled to gain, and shall not facilitate, access to www.anandabazar.com platform through a single account and password, by multiple users on a network. You agree and understand that We do not permit any part of www.anandabazar.com platform being cached in proxy servers. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of Your password and account.
If the Company reasonably believes that Your account and/or Password is being/ has been misused in any manner, the Company shall reserve the right to cancel access rights immediately without notice, and block access to all users from that IP address.
You shall not share your account information and password with others or use anyone else’s account. You are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under Your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. In such an event, we shall do our best to help you recover your account; however, we cannot guarantee that your account will be restored or the content contained therein will be recovered. We will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of unauthorized use of your password or account. However, you could be held liable for losses incurred by the Company or another party due to someone else using your account or password.
International Users
You agree and understand that the Services are controlled and operated by the Company from its offices in India. You agree that: (i) the Services shall be deemed solely based in India; and (ii) the use of the Services do not give rise to personal jurisdiction over the Company, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than India. You agree that the laws of India, excluding India’s choice of law rules, will apply to this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and all other policies and guidelines provided by the Company and to the provision of Services by the Company.
Access to www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services from jurisdictions other than India where the same are illegal is prohibited. The Company reserves the right to block access to www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services by such prohibited access by international users. If you access www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services from a location outside India, you waive any right available under laws of jurisdictions outside of India.
Termination of Account
ABP PVT. LTD. reserves its right to refuse service, restrict, suspend, terminate your account; (Terminate this Agreement; Terminate or suspend your access to the ABP Web Sites; Refuse, move or remove for any reason any Content / Image that you submit on or through the Services; Refuse, move, or remove any Content / Image that is available on or through the Services; Deactivate or delete your accounts and all related information and files in your account; Establish general practices and limits concerning use of the Services) at any time and, remove or edit contents or cancel orders (entered by you) in its sole discretion with or without cause, and with or without any prior notice for any violation of the Terms of Use. Upon such termination or suspension, your right to use the ABP PVT. Ltd.'s Web Sites will immediately cease.
You can terminate Your account at any time by writing to service@anandabazar.com but your information may remain stored in archive on Our servers even after the deletion or the termination of Your account.
User Conduct and Obligations
You hereby agree and assure ABP PVT. Ltd. that the Site/Services shall be used for lawful purposes only and that you will not violate laws, regulations, ordinances or other such requirements of any applicable Central, State or local government or any other international laws. You further concur that you will not, through Site/Service:
• post, distribute, or otherwise make available or transmit any software or other computer files that contain a virus trojan horses, time bombs, bots, botnets, malicious content, content theft, data manipulation, threats or any other harmful programs or elements or component;
• delete from the Site any legal notices, disclaimers, or proprietary notices such as copyright or trademark symbols, or modify any logos that you do not own or have express permission to modify;
• not use the Site / Service in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair and not to undertake any action which is harmful or potentially harmful to any ABP PVT. LTD.'s server, or the network(s), computer systems / resource connected to any ABP PVT. LTD. server, or interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of the Site/Service;
• obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through the Site/Service;
• engage in any activity that causes / may harm minors; or
• perform any activity which is likely to cause such harm;
• impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, ABP PVT. LTD.'s official, forum leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
• take any action which encourages or consists of any threat of harm of any kind to any person or property;
• carry out any "denial of service" (DoS, DDoS) or any other harmful attacks on application or internet service or;
• make any inappropriate, illegal or otherwise prohibited communication to any Newsgroup, Mailing List, Chat Facility, or other Internet Forum;
• use the Site/Service for illegal purposes;
• disrupt, place unreasonable burdens or excessive loads on, interfere with or attempt to make or attempt any unauthorized access to any ABP PVT. LTD website or the website of any ABP PVT.LTD.'s customer;
• transmit through the Site, any unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene, libelous, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind or nature. This includes text, graphics, video, programs or audio, etc;
• collect or attempt to collect personally identifiable information of any person or entity without their express written consent and you shall maintain records of any such written consent throughout the terms of this agreement and for a period of 2 years thereafter;
• engage in antisocial, disruptive, or destructive acts, including "flaming," "spamming," "flooding," "trolling," and "griefing" as those terms are commonly understood and used on the Internet
• forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any content transmitted through the Site.
• upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," duplicative messages or any other form of solicitation.
• encumber or suffer to exist any lien or security interest on the subject matter of this Agreement; or
• make any representation or warranty on behalf of ABP PVT. LTD.
You agree not to post, distribute, transmit or otherwise make available any data, text, message, computer file, or other material that infringes and/or violates any right of a third party or any domestic or international law, rule, or regulation, including but not limited to:
• infringement of any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other proprietary rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, the unauthorized copying of copyrighted material, the digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books, or other copyrighted sources, and the unauthorized transmittal of copyrighted software;
• Right of privacy (specifically, you must not distribute another person's personal information of any kind without their express permission) or publicity;
• Any confidentiality obligation.
Unless otherwise permitted, you will: (i) display the Service on your Site in the exact form received by you, and not modify or edit any of the foregoing without ABP PVT. Ltd.'s prior written consent; (ii) ensure that the fundamental meaning of the Service is not changed or distorted; (iii) comply with all applicable laws and all limitations and restrictions (if any) placed by ABP PVT. Ltd. on the use, display or distribution of any Service and (iv) not archive any of the Service for access by users at any future date after the Service has been removed from your Web site. You acknowledge that the service must link and redirect to the appropriate ABP PVT. Ltd.'s Web page when a user clicks on the Service (e.g. a headline). You shall not display the Service in such a manner that does not allow for successful linking and redirection to, and delivery of, ABP PVT. Ltd.'s Web page, nor may you frame any ABP PVT. Ltd.'s Web page.
No Controlling Spam Policy or Unsolicited E-mails
You will not use any communication tool or other means available on the Site to transmit, directly or indirectly, any unsolicited bulk communications (including emails and instant messages). You may not harvest information about users of ABP PVT. LTD. for the purpose of sending or to facilitate the sending of unsolicited bulk communications. We may terminate your access or use of the Site immediately, with or without any notice, and take any other legal action if you, or anyone using your access details to the Site, violates these terms. We may adopt any technical remedy (including any filtering technology or other measures) to prevent unsolicited bulk communications from entering, or remaining within our computer or communication networks. Such filtering technology or other measures may block, either temporarily or permanently, some e-mail sent to you through the ABP PVT. Ltd.'s Web Sites.
Disclaimer of Warranties and Liability
limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, workmanlike effort, title and non-infringement are disclaimed and excluded.
ABP PVT. Ltd. and its parent, affiliates and associates shall not be liable, at any time for any, direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special, consequential, damages (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business projects, damage to your computer system or damages for loss of profits, damages for loss of use, data or profits, arising out of or in any way connected with the use or performance of the ABP PVT. Ltd.'s sites/services, with the delay or inability to use the ABP PVT. Ltd.'s sites/services or related services, the provision of or failure to provide services, or for any information, software, products, services and related graphics obtained through the ABP PVT. LTD. sites/services, or otherwise arising out of the use of the ABP PVT. LTD. sites/services) arising in contract, tort or otherwise from the use of or inability to use the Site, or any of its contents, or from any act or omissions a result of using the Site or any such contents or for any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to, alteration of, or use of information contained on the site. No representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever are made by ABP PVT. LTD. as to the (a) accuracy, adequacy, reliability, completeness, suitability or applicability of the information to a particular situation; (b) that the service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; (c) the quality of any products, services, content, information, or other material purchased or obtained from the website will meet your expectations or requirements; or (d) any errors in the website will be corrected.
Links to Other Sites
All the contents of this Site are only for general information or use. They do not constitute advice and should not be relied upon in making (or refraining from making) any decision. Any specific advice or replies to queries in any part of the Site is/are the personal opinion of such experts/consultants/persons and are not subscribed to by this Site. The information from or through this site is provided on "AS IS" basis, and all warranties and conditions, expressed or implied of any kind, regarding any matter pertaining to any goods, service or channel, including without Certain links on the Site lead to resources located on servers maintained by third parties, these sites of third party(s) may contain ABP PVT. LTD.'s-logo, please understand that it is independent from ABP PVT. LTD., over whom ABP PVT. LTD. has no control or connection, business or otherwise as these sites are external to ABP PVT. LTD. You agree and understand that by visiting such sites you are beyond the ABP PVT. LTD.'s website. ABP PVT. LTD., therefore neither endorses nor offers any judgement or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability for the authenticity, availability, suitability, reliability, accuracy of the information, software, products, services and related graphics contained, of any of the goods/services/or for any damage, loss or harm, direct or consequential or any violation of local or international laws that may be incurred by your visit and/or transaction/s on these site(s), as the same is provided on "as is" without warranty of any kind. ABP PVT. LTD. gives no warranty and makes no representation whether expressed or implied, that the information contained in this site is error free. ABP PVT. LTD. shall not be responsible nor liable for any consequential damages arising on account of your relying on the contents of the advertisement. Before relying on the material, users should independently verify its relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice.
Material Submitted by Users
Certain elements of the Site will contain material submitted by users. ABP PVT. LTD. accepts no responsibility for the content, accuracy, conformity to applicable laws of such material. You will indemnify and hold harmless ABP PVT. LTD. against all third party claims, demands and actions brought against ABP PVT. LTD. which arises from or relates to the material submitted by you.
Advertising Material
Part of the Site contains advertising information or promotion material or other material submitted to ABP PVT. LTD. by third parties. Responsibility for ensuring that material submitted for inclusion on Site complies with applicable International and National law is exclusively on the party providing the information/material. Your correspondence or business dealings with, or participation in promotions of, advertisers other than ABP PVT. LTD. found on or through the Website, including payment and delivery of related goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between You and such advertiser. ABP PVT. LTD. will not be responsible or liable for any claim, error, omission, inaccuracy in advertising material or any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of such non-ABP PVT. LTD. advertisers on the Website. ABP PVT. LTD. reserves the right to omit, suspend or change the position of any advertising material submitted for insertion. Acceptance of advertisements on the Site will be subject to these terms and conditions.
Data Protection
ABP PVT. LTD. may send information and offer products and services to you from time to time. For further details relating to our policy relating to such offer please refer to our privacy statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, ABP PVT. LTD. reserves the right to disclose any information in response to / that it is required to be shared, disclosed or make made available to any governmental, administrative, regulatory or judicial authority under any law or regulation applicable to ABP PVT. LTD.
Further, ABP PVT. LTD. can (and you authorize ABP PVT. LTD. to) disclose your name, street address, city, state, zip code, country, phone number, email, and company name to Intellectual Property rights owners, as we in our sole discretion believe necessary or appropriate in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringement, piracy, or other unlawful activity.
Relationship
None of the provisions of the User Agreement shall be deemed to constitute a partnership or agency between you and ABP PVT. LTD. and you shall have no authority to bind ABP PVT. LTD. in any manner, whatsoever.
Force Majeure
ABP PVT. LTD. shall have no liability to you for any interruption or delay, to access the Site irrespective of the cause.
Indian Law
The Agreement shall be governed by the Laws of India. The Courts of law at Kolkata, West Bengal, India shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes arising under this agreement.
Entire Agreement
These Terms of Service constitute the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes and replaces all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, regarding such subject matter.
Right to remove inappropriate messages
We reserve the right to remove any messages we deem to be inappropriate, i.e, racist, sexist or threatening. Messages using inappropriate language will also be removed. We do not wish to be censors, but our forums must remain civilized and respect the rights of others.
Limited time to bring your claim
You and ABP PVT. LTD. agree that any cause of action arising out of or related to the ABP PVT. LTD.'s web sites, only, must commence within one (1) year after the cause of action accrues otherwise, such cause of action will be permanently barred.
Acceptance of Terms & Conditions
By using ABP PVT. LTD.'s sites and services, you signify your acceptance of this Terms & Conditions. If you do not agree or are not comfortable with any term described in this Term & Conditions, your only remedy is to discontinue use of ABP PVT. LTD. sites. We reserve the right, to modify this Terns & Conditions at any time.
General Terms
Rights and obligations under the Terms which by their nature should survive will remain in full effect after termination or expiration of the Terms.
Any express waiver or failure to exercise promptly any right under the Terms will not create a continuing waiver or any expectation of non-enforcement.
If any provision of the Terms is held invalid by any law or regulation of any government, or by any court or arbitrator, the parties agree that such provision will be replaced with a new provision that accomplishes the original business purpose, and the other provisions of the Terms will remain in full force and effect.
Notice of Copyright Infringement
ABP PVT. LTD. is not liable for any infringement of copyright arising out of materials posted on or transmitted through the site, or items advertised on the site, by end users or any other third parties. Our policy is to comply with all Intellectual Property Laws and to act expeditiously upon receiving any notice of claimed infringement. If you believe that your work has been reproduced on this website in a manner that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide a notice of copyright infringement containing all of the following information:
(a)A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner for the purposes of the complaint.
(b)Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
(c)Identification of the material on our website that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity.
(d)The address, telephone number or e-mail address of the complaining party.
(e)A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.
(f)A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice of copyright infringement is accurate, and that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the right that is allegedly infringed.
All notices of copyright infringement should be sent to:
ABP Pvt. Ltd.
www.anandabazar.com
ABP Pvt. Ltd. 6, Prafulla Sarkar St. Kolkata-700001, West Bengal, India
+913322345374
WHAT INFORMATION DO WE GATHER ABOUT YOU?
The information gathered when you interact with ABP falls into two categories: 1) Personal information, which includes personal information you supply when you subscribe, order, complete a survey, register for one of our sites, enter a contest or provide your email address and 2) Non-personal information collected through technology, which includes tracking information collected by us as well as third parties.
Personal Information That You Give Us or Ask a Third Party to Share with Us
Registration Information
Registration for ABP may require that you supply certain personal information, including a unique email address and demographic information (ZIP code, age, sex, household income, job industry and job title) to register.
You may register or enhance your profile by linking your Facebook or Google accounts on ABP. By doing this, you are asking them to send us certain information from those social media accounts, and you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use what they send us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Social media registration features may collect your IP address, the page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our website. You can disassociate your ABP registration from third-party accounts any time.
Kindly note that ABP shall not responsible for any information collected by the third party from you.
User Generated Content and Public Activities (Including Comments and Reader Reviews)
We offer you opportunities to engage in public activities on ABP.com and other ABP Services. "Public activities" are any actions you take on ABP that are designed to be visible to other users, including comments, recommendations, reader reviews, ratings or any other items that you submit. Any information you disclose in your public activities, along with your screen name or ID, or any image or photo, becomes public and may be used by ABP for online and offline promotional or commercial uses in any and all media. If you choose to engage in public activities, you should be aware that any personal information you submit can be read, collected and used by other users of these areas. We are not responsible for the personal information you choose to submit in the course of your public activities and we have no responsibility to publish, take down, remove or edit any of your public activities or submissions. For more information, see Terms of Service.
Public activities may be included in our RSS feeds, APIs and other distribution formats. As a result, your public activities may appear on other websites, blogs, or feeds. Keep in mind that we are not responsible for any personal information you choose to make public via your public activities, and you agree that such sharing will be deemed to have been done by you, not ABP including but not limited to sharing of information in your connected social media accounts.
When you share or recommend links to content on a third-party platform (such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter), that action and any information you share will be covered by their privacy policy.
Contests, Sweepstakes and Special Offers
ABP collects personal information from you when you participate in sweepstakes, contests or special offers. If this information is also being collected by a third party other than ABP, we will notify you at the same time. If you do not want any personal information shared, you should not participate in the sweepstakes, contest or special offer.
Reader Surveys, Reader Panels and Market Research
ABP may collect personal information from you in connection with voluntary surveys conducted via ABP. Data may be collected through ABP, on the phone or through the mail. The information you provide may be shared, but only in the aggregate, with advertisers and partners unless we notify you otherwise at the time of collection.
Members of our Reader Panels agree to participate in surveys, polls or discussions about their readership of ABP, their household/personal characteristics and their purchase behavior.
Conferences and Live Events
We often receive information about attendees to our live events from sign-in and registration lists. We may share this information with event or promotion sponsors, in which case we will notify you when we collect the information.
Non-Personal Information Collected Using Technology
Information Collected by Us Using Technology
We use various internet technologies to manage ABP and track use of the Services. Non-personal information that we collect using these technologies may be combined with other information about you.
Device Information. We may collect non-personal information about the computer, mobile device or other device you use to access ABP, such as IP address, geolocation information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language and other transactional information.
Cookies, Beacons, Local Storage and Other Similar Technologies. We use "cookies," web beacons, tags and scripts, and other similar technologies including local storage objects such as HTML5. These technologies allow us to manage access to and use of the Services, recognize you and provide personalization, and help us understand how people use ABP. You will not be able to access certain areas of our websites, including ABP, if your computer does not accept cookies from us. We do not respond to browser-based "do not track" signals. For more detailed information about our use of cookies and local storage, and how to manage them, see Frequently Asked Questions About Cookies.
We may transmit non-personally identifiable website usage information to third parties in order to show you advertising for ABP when you visit other sites. For more information about our third-party ad server, or to learn your choices about not having this non-personal information used to target ads to you, please click here.
Local Storage Objects
We may use Local Storage Objects (LSOs) such as HTML5 to store content information and preferences. Third parties with whom we partner to provide certain features on our site or to display advertising based upon your web browsing activity use LSOs such as HTML 5 or Flash to collect and store information.
Various browsers may offer their own management tools for removing HTML5 LSOs. To manage Flash LSOs please click here:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/
documentation/en/flashplayer/
help/settings_manager07.html
Analytics, Log Files and Reading History
As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information may include internet protocol (IP) addresses (the region or general location where your computer or device is accessing the internet), browser type, operating system and other usage information about the use of ABP, including a history of the pages you view.
We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you. We do this to improve services we offer you, including customized Recommendations, advertising and currency display, to improve marketing, and to track access and use of ABP across the devices that you use to access ABP.
We have hired third parties to provide us information, reports and analysis about the usage, browsing patterns of our users. They may independently record the type of device and operating system you are using, general location information, as well as events that occur within our apps, such as how often you use our apps.
Location Information. Some of our mobile applications can deliver content based on your current location if you choose to enable that feature of the app. If you enable the location-based feature, your current location will be stored locally on your device, which will then be used by the app. If you elect to have a location-based search saved to your history, we will store that information on our servers. If you do not enable the location-based service, or if an app does not have that feature, the app will not transmit to us, and we will not collect or store, location information.
The ads in our apps are not targeted to you based on your current GPS location, but they may be targeted to you based on your ZIP code or device's IP address.
Third Parties
Some of the services and advertisements included in ABP, including on ABP and within our mobile apps, are delivered or served by third-party companies, which may collect information about your use of ABP.
These companies may place or recognize cookies, web beacons or other technology to track certain non-personal information about our website users. For example, in the course of serving certain advertisements, an advertiser may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser in order to collect certain information about your use of ABP. For another example, an advertiser or ad server may also be able to collect your device's unique identifier in the course of serving an ad. In many cases, this information could be used to show you ads on other websites based on your interests.
We do not have access to, nor control over, these third parties' use of cookies or other tracking technologies or how they may be used.
Please click here to see a list of third parties that may be using cookies to serve advertising on our websites or in our apps. For example, we use Google to serve advertisements onto ABP, which use the Google Doubleclick cookie, and in some cases, a unique device identifier, to show you ads based on your visit to ABP and other sites on the internet. You may opt out of the use of the Google Doubleclick cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.
You have choices about the collection of information by third parties on our website:
1) If you would like more about your option not to accept advertiser cookies, please click here.
2) If you would like to opt-out of having interest-based ad targeting, click here.
Your access to our websites should not be affected if you do not accept cookies served by third parties.
WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE INFORMATION WE GATHER ABOUT YOU?
Provide the Services You Request
We use the information we gather about you to enable your use of ABP and fulfill your requests for certain products and services, such as sending out electronic newsletters and enabling you to participate in and renew paid services, polls, contests and message boards.
Statistical Analysis
We perform statistical, demographic and marketing analyses of users of ABP, and their subscribing and purchasing patterns, for product development purposes and to generally inform advertisers about the nature of our subscriber base. We use this information for analysis purposes, including analysis to improve customer relationships.
Customizing Your Experience
We use the information that we collect to allow advertising to be targeted to the users for whom such advertising is most pertinent. We also use this information to customize certain features of ABP to provide you with an enhanced experienced based on the type of device you are using to access ABP, and in certain cases, provide you with requested services.
Relevant Advertising
We may use demographic and preference information to allow advertising on ABP Service to be targeted to the users for whom they are most pertinent. This means users see advertising that is most likely to interest them, and advertisers send their messages to people who are most likely to be receptive, improving both the viewer's experience and the effectiveness of the ads. We disclose information to third parties only in aggregate or de-identified form.
Email Newsletters
ABP will periodically send you email newsletters or promotional email about services offered by ABP and its advertisers. For details about ABP email, please see below:
WHAT IS OUR EMAIL POLICY?
We will not send you marketing messages if you have unsubscribed. You can choose not to receive messages in the future by following the "unsubscribe" instructions located near the bottom of each email. We will not share, sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your email address for commercial purposes without your permission. However, we will only share your email id with our registered partners in conformance with law. If you feel you have received an email from us in error, please contact newsletter.feedback@abpdigital.in
Email Newsletters. Anandabazar offers several email newsletters. If you no longer wish to receive a specific newsletter, follow the "unsubscribe" instructions located near the bottom of each newsletter.
Survey Email. We may invite you to participate in user surveys asking for feedback on anandabazar.com and existing or prospective products and services, as well as information to better understand our users. User surveys greatly help us to improve our Services, and any information we obtain in such surveys will not be shared with third parties, except in aggregate form.
Emails from You. If you send us an email, we will use your email address to respond directly to your questions or comments.
Email This Article Feature. Addresses you provide in the "Email" share feature may be saved for your convenience for future articles you may wish to email; but they are not used for any other purpose, and will not be shared with any third parties.
WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE THE INFORMATION THAT WE GATHER?
Within ABP
If you have registered to use ABP, we will not sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your email address without your permission.
In the future, we may sell, buy, merge or partner with other companies or businesses. In such transactions, we may include your information among the transferred assets.
Third Parties
Not with-standing, anything contained herein above, we may share the information provided by you with third parties (in any manner whatsoever) and such consent for sharing information with third parties maybe expressed and / or implied as may be applicable and / or indicated. For abundant caution, it is provided that your participation in our website in any form and / or manner whatsoever is an implied consent from your end to be bound by our privacy policy and a further implied consent of allowing us to share your information with third parties.
If you are a print subscriber, we may exchange or rent your name and mailing address (but not your email address) and certain other information, such as when you first subscribed to ABP with other reputable companies that offer marketing information or products through direct mail. If you prefer that we do not share this information, you may opt-out by emailing us at support@abpdigital.in, reach out to us here. Or write to us at: ABP Pvt. Ltd. 6, Prafulla Sarkar St. Kolkata-700001, West Bengal, India.
Please include your account number and phone number in the body of your email or letter, and include "Opt-out" in the subject line.
We may share information about attendees to our live events with sponsors or other third parties. If so, we will notify you when you provide us the information.
Service Providers
We contract with other companies to provide services on our behalf, including credit-card and billing processing, ad serving, shipping, email distribution, list processing and analytics or promotions management. We provide these companies only with the information they need to perform their services. These service providers are restricted from using personal information in any way other than to provide services for ABP, and they may not share, resell or use the data for their own direct marketing purposes.
We reserve the right to disclose your opt-out information to third parties so they can suppress your name from future solicitations, in accordance with applicable laws. We may occasionally release personal information as required by law, for example, to comply with a court order or subpoena.
HOW DO I CHANGE OR UPDATE MY PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Manage Your ABP Account in the My Account Area. You may review and update your ABP membership or account information and access your transaction history in the My Account area. We will respond to inquiries regarding deletion of data within a reasonable timeframe.
Data Retention. We will retain your information for at least as long as your account is active, as needed to provide you services or as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. As a matter of course, we will delete personally identifiable information associated with accounts that have been inactive for at least 15 years.
HOW DO I OPT-OUT?
If, at any time, you prefer not to receive email marketing information from us, simply follow the unsubscribe options at the bottom of each email.
If you experience difficulty with the unsubscribe process, feel free to contact us at support@abpdigital.in and provide your email address along with the name of the newsletter from which you would like to unsubscribe.
Mail or Telephone Promotions
If, at any time, you prefer not to receive mail or telephone solicitations originated by ABP Home Delivery Department, or if you prefer that we do not share this information with third parties for marketing purposes, please email us at support@abpdigital.in or write to us at ABP Pvt. Ltd. 6, Prafulla Sarkar St. Kolkata-700001, West Bengal, India. Please include your account number and phone number in the body of your email or letter, and put "Opt-out" in the subject line.
It is further provided that if you wish ABP to delete your data provided by you to ABP you are requested to send an email to support@abpdigital.in by expressly stating that the data provided by you be deleted. However ABP can only delete the data you provided to ABP and this deletion shall in no manner deem to be deletion of your data that you may have provided to your linked third party social media accounts.
Use of Third Party Personal Information
If you choose to use "email this article" or give a Gift subscription, we require the recipient's name and email address. We will automatically send them a one-time email about the service. ABP does not store this information.
IS MY INFORMATION PROTECTED?
To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy and ensure the appropriate use of information, we have put in place commercially reasonable physical, technical and administrative controls to protect the information. Please note that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure.
OTHER INFORMATION
Compliance With Legal Process
We may access, preserve and disclose personal information if we are required to do so by law or we have a good faith belief that such action is necessary to (1) comply with the law or with legal process; (2) protect and defend our rights and property; (3) protect against misuse or unauthorized use of ABP; or (4) protect the personal safety or property of our users or the public (among other things, this means that if you provide false information or attempt to pose as someone else, information about you may be disclosed as part of any investigation into your actions).
Changes to This Policy
We evaluate this privacy policy periodically in light of changing business practices, technology and legal requirements. As a result, it is updated from time to time. Any such changes will be posted on this page. If we make a significant or material change in the way we use or share your personal information, you will be notified via email and/or prominent notice.