The dhole (Cuon alpinus), also called the Asiatic wild dog or Indian wild dog, is a species of canid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the only extant member of the genus Cuon, which differs from Canis by the reduced number of molars and greater number of teats. The dholes are classed as endangered by the IUCN, due to ongoing habitat loss, depletion of its prey base, competition from other predators, persecution and possibly diseases from domestic and feral dogs.

The dhole is a highly social animal, living in large clans which occasionally split up into small packs to hunt. It primarily preys on medium-sized ungulates, which it hunts by tiring them out in long chases, and kills by disemboweling them. Unlike most social canids (but similar to African wild dogs), dholes let their pups eat first at a kill. Though fearful of humans, dhole packs are bold enough to attack large and dangerous animals such as wild boar, water buffalo, and even tigers.

Since these canids are called dholes only in English, the etymology remains unclear, but it probably may come from Kannada: tōḷa (‘wolf’). Some 19th-century authors connected this word with Turkish: deli ‘mad, crazy’, and erroneously compared the Turkish word with Old Saxon: dol and Dutch: dol (cf. also English: dull, German: toll), which are in fact from Proto-Germanic *dwalaz ‘foolish, stupid’.

Alka Yagnik (born March 20, 1966 in Kolkata, West Bengal, India) is an Indian singer. Among the best-known playback singers of Hindi cinema, she is a record seven-time winner of the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer from a record of 35 nominations, a two-time recipient of the National Film Award as well as several other music awards listed below. Further, as many as 20 of her tracks feature in BBC's "Top 40 Bollywood Soundtracks of all time" review.

Alka Yagnik was born in Kolkata on March 20, 1966. Her mother Shubha Yagnik was a singer of Indian classical music. She received her school education from Modern High School for Girls. At the age of 6, she started singing for Akashvani (All India Radio), Calcutta. At age 10, her mother brought her to Bombay as a child singer. She was advised to wait until her voice matured, but her mother remained determined. On a subsequent visit, Alka got a letter of introduction to Raj Kapoor from his Kolkata distributor. Kapoor heard the girl and sent her with a letter to noted music director Laxmikant. Impressed, Laxmikant gave her two alternatives — an immediate start as a dubbing artist or a later break as a singer; they settled for the latter.

Indrani Sen is a Bengali Indian exponent of Rabindra Sangeet and Bengali songs. She studied at the Bengal Music College, a music training college affiliated with the prestigious University of Calcutta.

She is the daughter of noted singer Sumitra Sen, she trained in Rabindra Sangeet under singer, Debabrata Biswas, and subsequently received training in classical music from Bibhuti Dutta, and in Nazrul Geeti from Purabi Dutta.

Babul Supriyo (Bengali; born in Kolkata) is an Indian playback singer. Babul Supriyo was born Supriya Baral, and spent his early childhood, and even graduated from university with that name. He would change his first name's spelling from Supriya to Supriyo as the former signified a female name, and the latter a male name. Later he would call himself simply Babul Supriyo as that signified a caste-less identity, and allowed for a greater scope of familiarity and popularity with his audiences.

Babul Supriyo's grandfather, NC Baral, was a well-known composer in West Bengal. Under pressure from his father (who worked in a bank), he took up a job with Standard Chartered Bank after securing a Master's degree from University of Calcutta. In 1991, he came to Mumbai to try his luck in Hindi Cinema.Kalyanji (of Kalyanji-Anandji composer duo) gave him a break, and he soon got noticed by other composers. Besides playback singing, he has also done several stage shows across the globe. Babul has sung some memorable Hindi film songs such as Kaho na Pyar hai(Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai), Pari Pari Hai ek Pari (Hungama), Hum Tum (Hum Tum) and Chanda Chamke (Fanaa). He is the anchor of the hit television show "K for Kishore". Babul is also known for singing the opening themes of well known Balaji Telefilms serials. He has recorded an album of Tagore's songs titled "Jodi Jantem". He is one of the judges of a Bengali TV reality show on music, named Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs.