Once, at a Sahitya Akademi Auditorium in Kolkata the renowned professor, poet, translator and publisher P Lal (1929-2010) was being felicitated, where I was present. Delivering his address on the occasion, Prof. Lal spoke candidly, among other things, about his feelings when he received a letter from Nobel Laureate T S Eliot, poet, dramatist and …
Your favourite writers … Countless. But my most favourite writer is the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado … In fact, I like him better than I do Marquez. He’s not confined to any boundary or magic realism or whatever. For some strange reason, you usually don’t get his books in India. Some of his books have …
How did you remember the day-to-day conversations you had with people so many years ago with such enviable accuracy? My family often tells me that, you know. I can’t say I remember everything, but most of it, yes. I usually remember all the details. How can you forget? I even remember my childhood conversations. Like …
It’s our maiden trip to Tarapith Temple Town in the first week of this New Year for a night’s stay. Tickets for the return journey were on the waiting list when we arrived there by Kavi Guru Express late afternoon, and we forgot all about it till the last moment. The next morning, while it …
It was at the back of a run-down palace beside a pond. He was sitting on a bench placed among plants of varied hues, a branch above his head hung with golden yellow guavas. The air was thick with a divine smell—a pregnant hush. Unnoticed by anyone of his clan, and partly hidden among the …
It often strikes me how a certain strand of memory is triggered by a particular sight or scene or scent or sound. Recently, while running an errand to purchase a tuft of Chandra Mallika flowers (Chrysanthemum), I ran into a gentleman sitting on an elevated spot by the side of a public pool, feeding a …
A year or so ago, we were invited to a marriage ceremony at Brahmapur in South Kolkata. Due to a lack of space at the relative’s house, I was placed in a rented one-room flat at an apartment located fifteen-twenty minutes away by auto. Usually I stick out like a sore thumb in a crowded …
What kind of feeling do you get when you finish a piece of writing and it goes out into the world? It feels great when I physically come to the end of a book and write the final sentence in a fury of passion. Afterwards, it’s gone. When the book comes back to me months …
Two Questions with Nature Writer, Poet & Essayist GRETEL EHRLICH Read More »
Of all the wild places you visited, which one, according to you, was the most interesting? The most amazing experience, I’d say, would be Antarctica, for sure. It’s so inhospitable. You feel your own pulse, because there’s that quiet space and harshness in everything there. You feel your life much more acutely. But the scariest …
Two Questions with the Canadian Explorer, Nature Writer and Photographer Kate Harris Read More »
Your music reflects a free flow of divine feeling. Some listeners say that they feel a sort of stirring of God in them when they listen to your music. How do you create this sublime effect on the mind of the audience? When you visit a temple, and stand in front of the deity, some …
Two Questions with Tabla Maestro Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri Read More »
