SOWMEN MITTER | সৌমেন মিটার

🟥 Indian theoretical physicist Professor Ashoke Sen has been named the recipient of the prestigious 2026 Oskar Klein Medal, becoming the first Indian to earn this distinguished recognition. Instituted in honour of the eminent Swedish theoretical physicist Oskar Klein, the medal has been awarded annually since 1988 by Stockholm University in association with the Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Its illustrious list of previous recipients includes some of the most influential figures in modern physics, among them Stephen Hawking, Peter Higgs, Chen-Ning Yang, Steven Weinberg and Hans Bethe. As part of this honour, Professor Sen delivered the Oskar Klein Memorial Lecture on October 22 at the AlbaNova Centre of Stockholm University. His lecture, titled “Gravity from Strings and Strings from Gravity,” explored ideas at the frontier of contemporary theoretical physics. The award acknowledges Sen’s groundbreaking work in string theory, an appro...

🟥 খুব স্বাভাবিক কারণেই আইডেনটিটির বা পরিচিতিসত্তার রাজনীতিতে আমি কখনো বিশ্বাস করিনি। কোনরকম কোনো আইডেনটিটির রাজনীতিতেই না। কিন্তু, সাম্প্রতিক বেশ কিছু ঘটনায় আমার মধ্যেকার সেই সুপ্ত প্রাদেশিক আইডেনটিটির বোধ ক্রমশ তীব্র হচ্ছে। চোরবাগানের পুজোর গুরুত্বপূর্ণ কর্মকর্তাকে এবিপি আনন্দের সাংবাদিক হিন্দীতে প্রশ্ন করছে। সে বাংলা বলতে পারে না? না পারলে, কেনো পারে না? বাংলায় থাকে না? বাঙালীর পুজোয় দাদাগিরি করবে, গায়ের জোর দেখিয়ে পুজোর মাসখানেক আগে কমিটি দখল করবে; অথচ বাংলা বলবে না? পুজোর আগে দেখছিলাম, কোনো এক প্রমোদ দুবে তার রাজনৈতিক প্রতিপক্ষের উদ্দেশে রণহুঙ্কার দিচ্ছে। সেও কোনো এক পুজো কমিটির নেতা, এবং অবশ্যই শাসক দলের অন্তর্বাসের ভেতরে লুকোনো কেশরাশির কোনো একটি। আনন্দবাজার পত্রিকা অফিসে যারা তাদের পছন্দের রাজনৈতিক রঙ করতে গিয়েছিলো - কারা তারা? একজনও বাঙালী। একজনও ঠিকঠাক করে বাংলা উচ্চারণ করতে পারে?  পুজোর এই দু'তিন দিনে, নাগেরবাজার, হাওড়া সহ বেশ কয়েকটি যায়গায় যারা বইয়ের স্টল ভ্যান্ডালাইজ করলো, তাদের অনেকের জিভ তো এখনো বাংলা বলার জন্য তৈরীই হয়নি। বংশপরম্পরায় বাংলায় থাকবে, অথচ ...

🟥 Smita Patil left us far too soon, at just 31. Yet, in that tragically brief life and career, she accomplished what many actors fail to achieve in decades: she transformed the very idea of what a woman could represent on the Indian screen. Born on this day in 1955, Smita Patil was much more than an exceptionally gifted actress. She was an artist with a remarkable instinct for inhabiting the lives of women whose stories mainstream cinema often chose to ignore. Her performances carried the weight of social realities—class oppression, gender discrimination, economic exploitation, sexual politics and the quiet, persistent struggle for dignity. She did not merely portray characters; she seemed to understand the historical and social circumstances that had shaped them. Consider Manthan, where the collective struggle of rural dairy farmers becomes a story of empowerment and social transformation. In Bhumika, she explored the emotional complexities of a woman attempting to negotiate her iden...

🟦 An economist who ventured beyond the classroom to make economic thought an instrument of social transformation. There are economists who study poverty, and there are those who attempt to understand the people who live through it. There are scholars who analyse hunger through statistics, charts and theoretical models, and there are those who ask why, in a country capable of producing enough food, millions can still be deprived of adequate nourishment. Professor Jean Drèze belongs to the latter category. A development economist of Belgian origin who became an Indian citizen, he has devoted much of his life to examining the relationship between poverty, hunger, public policy and social justice. His contribution to India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, popularly associated with the employment guarantee programme, exemplifies his conviction that economics must not remain an academic exercise detached from the realities it seeks to explain. Jean Drèze's inte...

🟦 Introduction Published in 2005, The Book Thief by Australian novelist Markus Zusak is a remarkable work of historical fiction set in Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Combining the experiences of ordinary German citizens with the persecution of Jews, the horrors of war and the redemptive possibilities of literature, the novel explores the complexities of human nature. Its protagonist, Liesel Meminger, is a young girl whose relationship with books develops against a background of political oppression, personal loss and widespread suffering. Unusually, the story is narrated by Death, personified as a reflective and compassionate observer of humanity. Through this imaginative device, Zusak examines the paradox that human beings are capable of both extraordinary cruelty and profound kindness. 🟥 Historical Context and the Plot The story unfolds largely in the fictional German town of Molching, near Munich, during the Nazi era. Adolf Hitler's totalitarian regime s...

🟦 Bengal's greatest annual celebration, Durga Puja, is much more than a religious festival. Although its mythological foundation lies in the worship of Goddess Durga and the triumph of good over evil, its contemporary significance extends far beyond the boundaries of religious belief and ritualistic observance. For millions of Bengalis, Durga Puja represents a collective expression of cultural identity, social solidarity, artistic creativity and human togetherness. It is a celebration in which the religious and the secular coexist, often so seamlessly that the distinction between them becomes almost immaterial. 🟥 Beyond the Boundaries of Religion The religious significance of Durga Puja cannot, and need not, be denied. The Goddess is worshipped as the embodiment of feminine power, courage and the ultimate victory of righteousness over evil. The annual homecoming of Durga, accompanied by her children, is also popularly interpreted as the return of a beloved daughter to her parenta...