SOWMEN MITTER | সৌমেন মিটার

🟥 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...

I grew fond of Nana Patekar after I saw Prahaar: The Final Attack. Following that, I sought out some more of his films, in which he played either the protagonist or an important character. An actor extraordinaire, he had almost acquired the status of a cult figure during those days when we were barely out of college. There was something unusual about his screen presence. He was not the conventional Bollywood hero: he did not depend upon glamour, romance or physical perfection. His appeal came from somewhere else—from intensity, authenticity and an ability to embody the anger and anxieties of ordinary people. That is perhaps the most interesting way of understanding Nana Patekar sociologically. His career coincided with a period when Indian society was undergoing enormous transformation: rapid urbanisation, economic liberalisation, political instability, communal tensions, the growth of organised crime, weakening traditional institutions and the emergence of a more assertive middle clas...

🟥 There is a striking paradox in contemporary India. At a time when politics across the world is increasingly associated with aggression, polarisation, instant outrage and the relentless battle for attention, a section of India’s youngest citizens appears to be rediscovering an older vocabulary of politics: truth, peaceful resistance, moral courage, collective action and accountability. In this sense, one may argue—without claiming that every young Indian consciously follows Mahatma Gandhi—that the political instincts visible in India’s recent Gen Z movements bear a remarkable resemblance to the path shown by Gandhi. The comparison has acquired particular force in 2026. India has witnessed a major youth-led protest movement emerging around examination irregularities, unemployment and questions of governmental accountability. The movement subsequently broadened into concerns about democratic participation and electoral rolls. Reports describe the protests as largely peacefu...