Chronicler of chaos

A pall of sadness fell over Durga Puja festivities all over India as news of the demise of one of Bengal's most illustrious writers spread. Sunil Gangopadhyay was a path breaking poet, novelist, critic and essayist who spearheaded the new wave in Bengali literature in post-Independence India. Along with his friends Dipak Majumdar and Ananda Bagchi, he founded the epoch-making poetry magazine Krittibas in 1953, which forever changed the landscape of Bengali poetry. Their famous rasta rokos on the streets of Kolkata drew attention to their brand of experimental poetry, which was infused with the ethos of socialism and the verve of Beat poetry. Gangopadhyay was one of the early participants of the International Writers' Workshop at Iowa, which brought him into close contact with some of the biggest names in Beat poetry, including the celebrated Allen Ginsberg. He often recounted how powerful his drive to write in Bengali was. It forced him to tear himself away from a comfortable life in America and accept the uncertainties and insecurities of living by the pen in the confusion and chaos of a newly independent India. But Gangopadhyay succeeded like few other writers did, and left an indelible mark on post-Independence Bengali — and Indian — literature.

A prolific writer, who, in his youth, carried reams of paper in his jhola, to write "whenever he could, wherever he could", Sunil Gangopadhyay authored over two hundred books. This includes novels, collections of poetry and essays, travelogues, criticism, and children's fiction. He wrote not only as Sunil Gangopadhyay but also under pen names like "Nil Lohit", "Sanatan Pathak" and "Nil Upadhyay". His most popular poetry collections, such as Smritir Sahar and Ami Kirakam Bhabey Bechey Achhi, celebrate his singular voice: alive with the intelligence of the common man, aching with nostalgia and smouldering with moral indignation. His Neera and Nikhilesh poems are household names in West Bengal and Bangladesh. In his children's fiction, he created the character of Kakababu, the detective on crutches, who rivals Satyajit Ray's famous sleuths, Feluda and Professor Shonku, in popular appeal.

... contd.

ALSO READ

Everyone loves food security

'We don't appreciate each other... When people ask me to quit, do you think it doesn't affect me? And how often do you want me to resign?'

National Interest: BJP's troubled House

No yuan for growth