SOWMEN MITTER | সৌমেন মিটার

The news of an Amazonian Indian tribe trying to make contact with the outside world, beyond the confines of the thick of the forest they have been dwelling in for generations and somehow still surviving the onslaught of civilization has come to the fore and very obviously, jolted some of us out of the slumber, or rather smug indifference with which we have looked up to things thus far. It has set us thinking about how we are going to deal these indigenous people who have, so far, remained so detached and removed from the influence of the sophisticated world that it seems, it's not only unlikely for them to get along with it, but instead, will also be highly prone to falling prey to the germs their system has not developed any immunity to. But what led them to try to establish contact with the settled population living in the flanks of the forest? It is alleged that it is because of the drug traffickers that they were compelled to go and seek help from the people living somewhat c

It was while browsing the net that I came across this piece about ' langur menace ' in the India Today web edition dated 31st July, 2014. And these langurs are such creatures whom you can hardly afford to ignore, let alone not getting scared; unless, of course, you are one of those professionals who have willy-nilly accepted it as their fate to ape the apes - whether to entertain their fellow homo sapiens or to con their lesser brethren away. And now the Parliament House, the Indian law-makers' haven, seems to be too perturbed to wish this menace, as posed by these primates, away. Such has been their insolence that even the corridors of power have failed to tame them. Irrespective of the presence of grandiose and overbearing details of power, they have remained unfazed. And lo! what a nuisance, they don't even recognize there could be something as what they call 'tacit understanding'. They would rather go about looking for food or fun, whatever it is they feel

Nabarun Bhattacharya , noted Bengali author and a man of letters passed away today at the age of 66. He was battling cancer for quite some time, to which he finally succumbed despite the best of efforts put in by doctors, first in Kolkata, and subsequently in Mumbai where he was shifted following a deterioration in his condition.  Nabarun, born to Bijan Bhattacharya and Mahasweta Devi, both writers of acclaim, had perhaps inherited the social consciousness that characterized the respective works of his parents. His father Bijan will go down in the annals of Bengali literary history as the man who had authored the much revered and celebrated play 'NABANNO' in the backdrop of the infamous, imperialist-sponsored and thereby man-made Bengal famine of 1943 which reportedly claimed some four million lives and is often referred to as the greatest genocide to have ever been committed by the British imperialists. Nabarun rose to fame with his novel 'Herbert' which won him th