A great poet and a great writer.

Our beloved poet is no more. A poet does not die .Long live the poet. Yet a vacuum is created in many lives. It is a personal loss for me. I never met him yet he was no stranger to me. I had grown up with him and lived with him through his thoughts and ideas till this day -my middle age, and hopefully will live with him till I die. Our poet was not just a poet . He had spread himself in novels, short stories , weekly columns , essays . I will miss his weekly write-up in ABP . Reading him was like being in conversation with him. As if he was speaking to you . I will miss his warm presence at bookfairs , on various city forums , in television coverages, his opinions , his speeches. The poet was our own. You knew him even if you had never met him personally. My dad and I were great fans of his travel writings. He could make such writing so lively by simple observations and by his great fluid style.

Newspaper reports tell that there has been a huge demand for the poet’s works since he died. I have also been trying to beat my sorrow by going back to his poetry.





We grew up with Nillohit in our youth and every festival number from the ABP group was eagerly awaited by idle dreamers like me. Nillohit captivated us. Those were the heydays of Desh the dominant ABP weekly magazine . For years we were equally mesmerised by his mega historical novels serialised in Desh magazine. We were hooked, not a single issue could be missed ,to be discussed and debated thereafter.

“ Shei Somoy”(Those Days) and “Prothom Alo”(First Light) both are classics in their own rights and have been translated . Both these works opened up a new world - a world untrodden for ages -to thousands of readers like me. We became his diehard admirers forever. He was a guru to a generation of poets and writers . I personally like him for the simplicity of his language both in poetry and prose. It is not always easy to understand poetry . However even ordinary readers like me could appreciate and enjoy his poetry . Such was the beauty of his writing.

Let the world be blessed with more poets like him.

Ref/ Acknowledgements:

http://www.amazon.com/Those-Days-Novel-Sunil-Gangopadhyay/dp/0140268529

http://www.sunilgangopadhyay.org/book2.html

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/east/bengali-writer-sunil-gangopadhyay-dead-581

Ban this book : What to read and what not to read that is the question

Talibans exist everywhere , they exist in people’s mind.The Malala incident is an eye opener and once again reinforces the power of the written word. Pen is mightier than the sword . Who would have thought that an innocent children’s book could create such a storm – a storm in the tea cup rather . The book in question is Timothy Knapman’s “ My adventure island” . A young father had borrowed the book from the library for his five year old son . The child had asked questions which you would expect any normal child to do. Now the over zealous parents had analysed the questions and come to the conclusion that the book was most unsuitable for their child. Next came the demand, placed to the shocked library authorities – remove the book from the collection.

I was compelled to read the book by public demand and I loved it. The book is part of this year’s Reading Challenge programme which is an annual reading event specially designed for children organised by the Reading Mission, UK. Every year there is a new theme and this year’s theme is Story Lab .Well the book is a fun book with lovely illustrations and a sweet message at the end. A little boy imagines doing all those naughty things in an imaginary island which he is otherwise forbidden to do – such as picking his nose, eating unhealthy stuff ,playing all day, not washing and living with a stink etc etc. Now how could these simple fun ideas influence and corrupt a child’s mind I had no clue. Fortunately I discovered that not all parents thought alike. Why have a censorship board at home – remarked another parent to my big relief. Another parent wrote on my FB status “The writers perhaps never realised in their wildest dreams that their material could cause such a flutter and debate among a certain class of readers who were never meant to read this book in the first place”.

Another lovely book which I could not resist reading was Neil Gaiman’s “The day I swapped my dad for two gold fish”. Dave Mckean’s brilliant illustrations make the book magical. The book reminded me of a Russian book which we used to treasure in our childhood days “When daddy was a little boy”. Gaiman’s note at the end of the book is equally fascinating. The book was conceived after a real life situation which Gaiman faced when his son was a small boy.

The story is about two children who swap their dad for two gold fish and then are sent by their mom to bring him back. While doing so they discover that their dad has changed hand several times and this sets them on a journey through different adventures. A remarkable book very lively and again full of fantasy and romance.

I have always been a big fan of British designers and specially book designers and illustrators. Books themselves are so colourful that you do not require any additional props when you are planning a thematic display in a public space. This simple display (pic )speaks for itself. I plan to read some more books from the Story Lab collection.

Ref:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-adventure-Island-Timothy-Knapman/dp/1407115235

http://www.amazon.com/Day-Swapped-Dad-Two-Goldfish/dp/0060587032