petrichor: Recent Episodes
Saptarshi
Conversations that make us smile, make us think, make us nostalgic or maybe at times a bit dramatic! We will converse through poems or stories or just plain simple words, thoughts. Most of the conversation will be either in Bangla or in English, although will keep trying to extend the boundary of languages if possible. You can reach out to me on Instagram; id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola or Facebook; id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Henry James was an American-British author and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between emigre Americans, English people, and continental Europeans. James regularly rejected suggestions that he should marry, and after settling in London, proclaimed himself "a bachelor". James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Nilanjana Sudeshna 'Jhumpa' Lahiri is an American author known for her short stories, novels and essays in English, and, more recently, in Italian. Her debut collection of short-stories 'Interpreter of Maladies' won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and her first novel, 'The Namesake' was adapted into the popular film of the same name. Her second novel, 'The Lowland' was a finalist for both the Man Booker Prize. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
K. Satchidananda is an Indian poet and critic, writing in Malayalam and English. A pioneer of modern poetry in Malayalam bilingual literary critic, playwright, editor, columnist, and translator, he is the former secretary of Sahitya Akademi. He returned to teaching after retiring from Sahitya Akademi, and worked as Director and Professor of the School of Translation Studies and Training at the Indira Gandhi National Open University in New Delhi until 2011. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Amit Chaudhuri is a novelist, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, singer and music composer. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Awards for his fiction include the Commonwealth Writers Prize, the Betty Trask Prize, the Encore Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, and the Indian government's Sahitya Akademi Award. He received the Rabindra Puraskar from the Government of West Bengal for his book 'On Tagore'. He was also given the Sangeet Samman by the Government of West Bengal for his contribution to Hindustani classical music. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami was an Indian writer known for his work set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English. Narayan's short stories have been compared with those of Guy de Maupassant because of his ability to compress a narrative.Narayan received many awards and honours including the AC Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan, India's second and third highest civilian awards, and in 1994 the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
'That Calcutta, Those Bongs' is book I had never heard of and i picked just while strolling through the Kolkata Book Fair and I ended up liking it so much. The author, Ms. Mukherjee is an alum of Calcutta University and is currently based out of Kolkata where she stays with her husband. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of romanticism in the United States, and of American literature. The Mystery Writers of America present an annual award known as the Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Soumitra Chattopadhyay was an Indian film film and stage actor, director, poet, writer, singer, and playwright. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema. Soumitra was the recipient of multiple honours and awards and was the first Indian film personality who was conferred with France's highest award for artists 'Commandeur' of, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, in 1999. He was also awarded the Padma Bhushan and France's highest civilian award Commandeur de la Légion d' Honneur in 2017. He received two National Film Awards as an actor and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his work in theatre. In 2012, he received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema given by the government of India for lifetime achievement. He passed away on 15th of November, 2020. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Durga Pujo is one of the most significant festivals of the Indian subcontinent and an important festival in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism which has led to its celebration across the globe. The day of Mahalaya is marked by the Bengali community with Mahisasuramardini — a 90 minutes long All India Radio program — that has been popular in the Bengali community since its inception in 1931 and primarily involves Chandi Path by the ethereal Birendra Krishna Bhadra besides songs by legendary singers based on compositions by Pankaj Mullick. Primary celebrations begin on the sixth day (Shosthi), on which the goddess is welcome with rituals. The festival ends on the tenth day (Bijoya Dashami) when devotees embark on a procession carrying the worshipped clay sculpture-idols to a river, or other water body, and immerse them, symbolic of her return to the divine cosmos and her marital home with Shiva in Kailash. The primary goddess revered during Durga Pujo is Maa Durga but celebrations also include other major deities of Hinduism such as Maa Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth and prosperity), Maa Saraswati (the goddess of knowledge and music), Ganesh (the god of good beginnings), and Kartik (the god of war). My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Amrita Pritam was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. She is often considered the first prominent female Punjabi poet, novelist, essayist and the leading 20th-century poet writing in Punjabi. She is equally popular on both sides of the India–Pakistan border. In 1956, she became the first woman to win the Sahitya Akademi Award for her magnum opus, 'Sunehade'. She was also honoured with Bharatiya Jnanpith, Padma Shri, and Padma Vibhushan. Though she began her journey as a romantic poet, soon she shifted gears, and became part of the Progressive Writers' Movement. After her divorce in 1960, her works became more feminist and many of her stories and poems drew on the unhappy experience of her marriage. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Kamala Das was also popularly known by her one-time pen name Madhavikutty. besides her married name Kamala Das. She converted to Islam in 1999 and assumed the name Kamala Surayya. Kamala was an Indian poet in English and Malayalam, hailing from Kerala, India. Her open and honest treatment of female sexuality also marked her as an iconoclast in her generation. She in her lifetime has been a widely read columnist too writing about diverse topics from child care to politics. Besides Sahitya Akademi and several other accolades, her work also get shortlisted for Nobel Prize in Literature in 1984. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Amit Chaudhuri is a novelist, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, singer and music composer. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2009. Chaudhuri is a recipient of several awards which includes the Commonwealth Writers Prize, the Betty Trask Prize, the Encore Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, and the Indian government's Sahitya Akademi Award. He also received the Rabindra Puraskar from the Government of West Bengal for his book 'On Tagore'. He was also given the Sangeet Samman by the Government of West Bengal for his contribution to Hindustani classical music. He is an honorary fellow of Balliol College, University of Oxford and is a professor of creative writing at Ashoka University in India. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Sukumar Ray was born in a Brahmo family in Calcutta, British India. Ray was a Bangla writer and poet from the Indian subcontinent. He is remembered mainly for his writings for children. He was the son of children's story writer Upendrakishore Ray Choudhury and the father of Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Sukumar Ray delved into a unique genre of pure nonsense and gibberish, a pioneering work in Bengali literature with a few exceptions, work that was compared to Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
The original Urdu story is called 'Thanda Gosht' and was first published in a literary magazine in March 1950 in Pakistan. Manto was charged with obscenity for this story and faced a trial in criminal court. The partition of India to carve out Pakistan (then West Pakistan) and Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) was perhaps one of the most callous and gruesome acts that took place in the subcontinent and by far one of the bloodiest history from the last century. The Radcliffe line as it is called was so random that in many places near the borders, districts were confused and so were the people as in on which side they belonged to. Saadat Hasan Manto has been one of the most prominent authors to have captured the pangs and strifes of partition the way it is, and the people of Bengal and Punjab went through the horror which none wants to relive ever. Khalid Hasan was a Pakistani journalist and writer who migrated from Jammu to Pakistan after partition. He is best known for his translations of the short stories of Manto and the lyrics of Faiz Ahmed Faiz. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Haimanti Dutta Ray is an author, blogger and columnist based out of Kolkata. Prior to taking up freelance writing as a full time occupation, Ray was working with Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. Ray graduated in English literature from Calcutta University and has always been an avid reader which led to her forming a passion for story-telling. This particular story is taken from the festival edition magazine of one of India's oldest and most respected English newspaper still in publication, 'The Statesman'. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Manohar Shetty is one of the most prominent English poets of modern Indian literature. Shetty's poetry is widely considered an integral part of the evolution and journey of English literature in India and the passion that he oozes, the dreams that he weaves and the mood that he creates is nothing less than celebration. Shetty is based in Goa since 1985 and has been a senior fellow with the Sahitya Akademi. Shetty also has a passion for alcohol and has even his experiences with alcohol in the book 'House Spirit: Drinking in India - Stories, Essays, Poems'. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Khushwant Singh was an Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. He was very widely known for his unapologetic style of writing and voicing opinions which in many ways were so harsh and honest that created controversies. Khushwant Singh was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974; however, he returned the award in 1984 in protest against 'Operation Blue Star' in which the Indian army raided Amritsar. In 2007 he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award in India. From 1980 to 1986, Singh was a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. He was also appointed as editor of Hindustan Times on Indira Gandhi's personal recommendation. Singh was a votary of greater diplomatic relations with Israel at a time when India did not want to displease Arab nations where thousands of Indians found employment. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Ruskin Bond is often referred to as the Indian Wordsworth in prose. His first novel, 'The Room on the Roof', received the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for 'Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra'. Bond has written hundreds of short stories, essays, novellas and books for children. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014. He lives with his adopted family in Landour, Mussoorie. His book, 'Landour Days' is a beautiful account of the small and serene hill town through the twelve months of the year. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Salabega was an Odia religious poet of India in the early 17th century. Salabega occupies a prominent position among the devotional poets of Odisha, who devoted his life to Lord Jagannath. Salabega was the son of the Mughal subedar, Lalbeg. His bhajans are still popular among the devotees of Lord Jagannath. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Shrikant Verma was an Indian poet and a Member of Parliament from Madhya Pradesh as an Indian National Congress candidate from 1976 to 1982 and 1982 to 1986. Verma was born in Bilaspur city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. He graduated from Nagpur University with a Master of Arts degree in Hindi. In 1987, he was posthumously awarded the Sahitya Academy Award for 'Magadh'. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Gay pride or LGBT pride is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people as a social group. The term 'Gay Pride' was crafted by Thom Higgins, a gay rights activist in Minnesota. Brenda Howard, a bisexual activist, is known as the 'Mother of Pride' for her work in coordinating the first Pride march in New York City, and she also originated the idea for a week-long series of events around Pride Day which became the genesis of the annual LGBT Pride celebrations that are now held around the world every June. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Satyajit Ray maybe very well referred to as one of the brightest sons of India. He was a film director, scriptwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. He started his career as a commercial artist, and then was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and watching Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves. Along with Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha and Ritwik Ghatak who are all world renowned filmmakers, Ray started the new Indian cinema or parallel cinema in Bengal and as time passed the whole country followed. Alongside Golden Lion, Golden Bear and Silver Bear, Ray was also the recipient of the Academy Honorary Award. Satyajit Ray also holds the record of winning the highest number of National Film Awards and the number is a whopping 32. In 1992, he was also honoured with Bharat Ratna. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
William Sydney Porter was an American short story writer, and perhaps is one of the most celebrated short story writer in English across the globe. Better known by his pen name, O' Henry which he derived from his frequent calling to the family cat, 'Oh Henry'. Often regarded as the American answer to the great French storyteller Guy de Maupassant, O' Henry is also known for his witty style of writing and the short stories filled with surprises and twists at the end. O' Henry was an alcoholic and died almost penniless. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Javier Sologuren was a Peruvian writer and poet, writing in Spanish. He was also an accomplished translator and has worked largely towards translating Chinese and Japanese classic literature into Spanish. Sologuren was also editor and printer of Ediciones de la Rama Florida, which published 145 titles of Peruvian and foreign poetry and gave a platform to many young poets. He received a doctoral degree in Hispanic literature at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and also made postdegree studies at the Colegio de México and the University of Leuven, Belgium. The original Spanish title of this poem is 'Bajo Los Ojos Del Amor'. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
The spirit has a will of its own is what the author and enchantress Ipsita Roy Chakraverti says. While studying in Montreal, Canada, she grew an interest in wicca and is now a practitioner and scholar of the occult. This story is one of her real life encounters with the unknown as she says. The author is an adept at both the western witchcraft tradition and Indian science of dakini vidya. Her stories often give us a glimpse of the world which is way darker, deeper and more complex. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a Colombian author who wrote in Spanish. He after passing out from the University of Bogota worked as a reporter for the Colombian newspaper El Espectador. He was awarded the Nobel prize in Literature in 1982 and was someone whose writings led him to be friends with many powerful people, one of them being the former Cuban president Fidel Castro. When Gabo passed away in 2014 in Mexico City, the then President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos called him 'the greatest Colombian who ever lived'. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Kazi Nazrul Islam is often referred to as a rebel poet but there is a Nazrul beyond rebel and there are many facets to the huge empire that Nazrul had built in his lifetime or till the time he could create magic. Born in India, had been a part of the army against Britishers and is also considered the national poet of Bangladesh, this poet has a very special place in the hearts of people who have come across his works. Nazrul is an author par excellence, a song writer, a musician, a philosopher, a director, a scriptwriter, and so many other things besides being a poet whose words have the ability to ignite fire and blossom flowers. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Annie Zaidi writes poetry, essays, fiction of different lengths, and even scripts for the stage and the screen. She was nominated for the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards in the non-fiction category in 2011 for her collection of essays, 'Known Turf: Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales'. In 2012, Elle magazine named her as one of the emerging South Asian writers 'whose writing we believe will enrich South Asian literature'. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Manto was one of the greatest Urdu authors of modern times and has a body of strong, powerful works spanning more than two decades. He is one of those authors who has documented partition very graphically and has given a very realistic idea of how it all was like. Manto was a humanist and his stories live on, are still equally moving, powerful and relevant. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Rabindranath believed in an India which is inclusive, he believed in humanity beyond any religion or nationalism. The first Asian to win noble prize is a thing but being absolutely unaffected by this huge achievement is something else, you need to be in a different level of enlightenment for that. The man if called a poet or author would be very unfair, he was a polymath. This bard of Bengal has reshaped Indian literature, art and music and was one of the prominent personalities of Bengal Renaissance taking special interest in educational reform. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Bengal is a beauty like none other and it has different facets to it. The essence is not really unidirectional so one small article cannot say it all but the article does show a lot of it in few words, and ends on a very hopeful note for a better tomorrow. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Tenzin Tsundue is a voice to reckon with, a poet, writer and activist has been born and brought up in India since his parents had to flee from Tibet fearing persecution. His recent 500km walk from Dharamshala to New Delhi had garnered a lot of attention once again and he vows to keep fighting till Tibet is free. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
The actual story was in Arabic which was translated by Somerset Maugham. The actual author is still not known. William Somerset Maugham was an English playwright, novelist and short-story writer and one of the most famous of his era. Jeffrey Archer is again an English novelist and short-story writer but has been a politician and a convicted perjurer. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
It is a sad day for all the people who adored this man, this man of words, this man who could boil blood and weave magic, all with his pen. Shankha Ghosh was a stalwart of modern Bangla literature and will be remembered for his timeless works. He was also the recipient of Padma Bhushan and Sahitya Akademi Award. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
As Bengalis across the globe celebrate Poila Boishakh, here is a new episode after exactly six months. This episode is also special for another reason and that is the fact that Gandharaj Lime is an important character and it holds a very special place in my heart. The author, Ms. Mukherjee is an alum of Calcutta University and is currently based out of Kolkata where she stays with her husband. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Pink Sheep is a collection of eighteen stories that deals with relationship, love, fear, happiness, desire, bitterness and everything that comes along relationship. All the stories have one thing in common besides relationship and that is highlights about gay life. This particular story shares the name with the book and puts up a very innocent reality of modern Indian queer life. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Khushwant Singh is one of India's most well known authors and is an icon of modern Indian English literature. His unabashed writing has been often seen as provocative and controversial but nothing stopped this grand old man from speaking his heart until death at the age of 99 in 2014. This particular article is from one of his books 'Absolute Khushwant' which comprises of his love, his hate, his confessions, and everything without any coating of sugar. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Kabir is perhaps one of the most well known personality in Indian mysticism. He is someone who with ease moved way beyond boundaries of religion and caste, beyond the small confined world, to the greater and bigger world of all religions and spiritualism. This translation has been done by one of the finest poets to have treaded this earth, the first noble prize winner from Asia, Rabindranath Thakur who himself is someone who effortlessly swings between spiritualism and romance. The translations are magic and this is one such very relevant to today's world from that treasure chest of a book. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Nabaneeta Dev Sen was given her name by Rabindranath and has been someone who ruled across the hearts of people who read Bangla literature or even her translated works in other languages, and she does continue to rule even when she is no more. She was a poet, an author, a translator, a critic, a professor and a critic and this stalwart was a recipient of multiple awards in her lifetime. Bhalo Bashar Baranda on the other hand was a very popular column when it used to be published in the 'Robbaar' supplement of 'Sangbaad Protidin' and Nabaneeta came up with different flavours every Sunday. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Bond paints his stories and paints such picturesque description of nature that you feel like you can actually see it all infront of your eyes. This is one such small story which takes us to the hills, to where he stays and we can close our eyes and see Ruskin Bond doing all that's written in this small piece. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Sondesh started its journey from Bangla year 1368 and since then has been a part of childhood and life beyond. Although it doesn't have any new issues since long but many of the stories and poems published in that magazine are now considered masterpieces of children's literature in Bangla language. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Gagan Gill is a critically acclaimed poet and had sacrificed her very successful career in journalism to pursue her love for poems. In this poem like many of her other works she expresses pain with great poignancy and it strikes a chord. My Instagram id: instagram.com/the_bongo_pola My Facebook id: facebook.com/roysaptarshi
Shakti Chattopadhyay is a name to be reckoned with in modern Bangla literature. A poet par excellence and a revolutionist to say the least, the man lives on through his words.
The multifaceted personality that Gulzar is has earned him accolades ranging from Sahitya Akademi to Oscars. Partition of India was a horrific experience that has inspired several authors and poets and Gulzar is someone who has time and again revisited those times; he had experienced the horrors himself.
The stories in this book are taken from the many seminars that the author has conducted over the years and the way Neil Douglas-Klotz traverses through the stories in this book it seems like he is conversing with us. This story is one such crisp and clear work of the author.
'The Prophet' is one of the most translated books in history and it has never been out of print. Kahlil Gibran is known across the globe for this work of his, the 26 prose poetry fables are delivered as sermons by a wise man called Al Mustafa and each of these fables talk about life, questions about life. My blog URL: trulysaptarshi.blogspot.com
Gopal Honnalgere can be referred to as one of those forgotten gems of Indian literature. He passed away in 2003 and had always lived a life away from the popular media, so much so that there are no proper images available image of him on the internet. This particular poem of his says a lot using the metaphor of slippers and this thought provoking poem is my presentation for this episode.
The young Bangali poet Sukanta Bhattacharya had a short lived career but one full of memorable works and one such poem is 'Cigarette', very different and especially unusual to the times that he belonged.
'Nostalgia' is just a drop in the ocean of Hispanic literature. This beautiful poem by Jose Santos Chocano has a feeling that makes you yearn and the feeling is beautiful.
My first podcast is a short and beautiful poem by one of my favourite poets, someone I worship; Kazi Nazrul Islam.