SOWMEN MITTER | সৌমেন মিটার

This was but expected. This is perhaps, provided the report is authentic, the first ever toll of the politically motivated exercise about to be launched in a few days' time. As I hear, from the 4th of November onwards.... And I'll not be surprised if many more such people succumb to their anxieties as a result of this. This can also assume very sinister proportions unless otherwise checked in a sane manner. In a country like ours where so many people, particularly those living on the margins, do not have access to proper documents, this entire thing called the Special Intensive Revision might prove to be a Damocles' sword for the powers that be.  But then the dispensation at the centre is confident. With the tens of thousands of their IT cell trolls and the subservient godi media across the country, they know they can help themselves tide over any such imminent crises like they did during those Covid times as well when no deaths nor anything could deal the desired blow to t...

You may call me a provincial chauvinist or whatever; but these scoundrels, and the party at whose behest they dare do this need to be dealt with properly. I'm not here to promote parochial identity-politics (which I'm severely opposed to as a matter of principle); but then, I'm afraid that if such aggressive overtures are allowed to go on like this for long, there will soon come a time when us Bengalis would have to live in perpetual fear of them, haunted by a sense of total insecurity in our own homeland. Such incidents appear to be gradually and steadily on the rise; and can no longer be ignored or wished away as just occasional instances of aberration. We must rise to the occasion ...

Circa 2009/10. Yes, these intelligent scoundrels exercised their democratic rights that day by aiding and abetting the terror machine that left hundreds of socially marginalized Left activists gruesomely mutilated and killed, many of whose corpses were left to rot for days on end without being attended to for a dignified farewell.  Yes, these self-important members of the so-called civil society were certainly decisive in their posturing at that time, and later, effusive in celebrating and presiding over the decimation or "demise" of the Left in Bengal. In collusion with the deep state and vested interests of all sorts and hues - ranging from the saffron or ochre to the deep "revolutionary" scarlet red! 😀  And now, when one of these clever ravens - known for his freewheeling 'conscience-keeping' - is again opening up to state who is "confused" - u know he is again out to scavenge for carrion flesh. Yes, my use of the phrase is deliberate. Corpses...

Very few people outside of my immediate family know that I was nicknamed 'Bapu' after the Father of the Nation, for which I constantly bore a grudge against my father throughout my entire youth and even afterwards until it no longer mattered. My father was a man of the Left, very much a politically oriented man; though, as I realise now, abject poverty and familial obligations had compelled him to withdraw himself from activism. But I'd rather not dwell on that part now. Early youth saw me gradually being drawn into political activism in student and youth fronts where, for no particular reason, I found myself hating the colossus for being 'a Congressi', for not having condemned the hanging of Bhagat Singh "the way he should have." My father never bothered to explain to me why he adored the "half-naked fakir" so much, nor was it cool in those days for the Bengali youngsters to be adoring anybody but Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose for the l...

Amitav Ghosh. My most favourite author in Indian English literature. The sweep of his knowledge, the kind of rigorous and elaborate research he puts in before weaving a story are simply breathtaking. When you read him, you know what pure literature is all about. I think he has few parallels in the contemporary Indo-Anglian genre.  He has been named the 2025 recipient of the Pak Kyongni Prize, often referred to as Korea’s Nobel Prize in Literature. The award is presented to the "truest writer of our time who has upheld the essential values of literature and made a profound impact on world literary history."  Congratulations, sir! ❤️

এই নাও বাম হাত তোমাকে দিলাম। একটু আদর করে রেখো, চৈত্রে বোশেখে খরা আর ঝড়ের রাত্রিতে মমতায় সেবা ওশুশ্রূষা দিয়ে বুকে রেখো, ঢেকে রেখো, দুর্দিনে যত্ন নিও সুখী হবে তোমার সন্তান। এই নাও বাম হাত তোমাকে দিলাম। ও বড়ো কষ্টের হাত, দেখো দেখো অনাদরে কী রকম শীর্ণ হয়েছে, ভুল আদরের ক্ষত সারা গায়ে লেপ্টে রয়েছে, পোড়া কপালের হাত মাটির মমতা চেয়ে সম্পদের সুষম বন্টন চেয়ে মানুষের ত্রাণ চেয়ে জন্মাবধি কপাল পুড়েছে, ওকে আর আহত করো না, কষ্ট দিও না ওর সুখে সুখী হবে তোমার সন্তান। কিছুই পারিনি দিতে, এই নাও বাম হাত তোমাকে দিলাম।

A film on religion and superstition by one of the greatest rationalists and humanist directors the world has ever seen. -  Gautam Benegal "It is a haunting melody of cultural conflicts,irrational enthusiasm, obsession.belief in God by asceticism (instead of rational thought )"-  Nida Ghatte

A film on religion and superstition by one of the greatest rationalists and humanist directors the world has ever seen. -  Gautam Benegal "It is a haunting melody of cultural conflicts,irrational enthusiasm, obsession.belief in God by asceticism (instead of rational thought )"-  Nida Ghatte

And the riot-mongers know how to go back on their promises made some six months ago, in the run-up to the polls. Actually they knew it all along. From containing price rise to bringing back black money stashed away in foreign banks and sundry other issues on which they were so very critical of their predecessors!!! Now just keep fanning the beast within..! Leave the rest to Time, and some manipulation as well. The 'sabre-matie', or for that matter any other X-press will do to  make it to the destination.  Only that our techie-literati, the glitterati included, and the so-called libertarians (who evidently take pride in their un-addled [or, sun-addled?] superiority of their brains) would never know this was what their tomfoolery led to. And now, as a corollary, the diktat-mongers too have a heyday, with their beards flowing and wagging all the way. 

Rally, and then a counter rally of the fundamentalists, or rather the bigots from both the minority and majority blocs, and that too so quick in succession, are pointers to how things are going to shape up in the days to come vis-a-vis Bengal's political scenario. What havoc can parochialism wreak - we have, time and again, been witness to in the developments that have so often claimed so many lives, rocked the very foundation of humanity, held our values to ransom... And then u see, if of course u want to, how it was so different here not so long ago, in those 'bygone' days!

Peter Thomson Well, you learn something every day... IRISH: THE FORGOTTEN WHITE SLAVES They came as slaves: human cargo transported on British ships bound for the Americas. They were shipped by the hundreds of thousands and included men, women, and even the youngest of children. Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished in the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by their hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment. Some were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the marketplace as a warning to other captives. We don’t really need to go through all of the gory details, do we? We know all too well the atrocities of the African slave trade. But are we talking about African slavery? King James VI and Charles I also led a continued effort to enslave the Irish. Britain’s Oliver Cromwell furthered this practice of dehumanizing one’s next door neighbour. The Irish slave trade...

Sowmen Mitter Jack, you know Things change with the times As changeth you along the lines Preordained? Me, cynic and atheist, Non-believer; - have still some proxy wars to fight. The credo now seems to falter As never before. Never before did you know This much of gore. Never before did you sow Noxious weeds any more. Never before did you wail this much, Never before did she scream as such. Never before did the child feel so lorn. Still I've one more battle to fight Long drawn, for those that wield their might Must be shown the door ... Promise me Jack, you'll be there As you had been, tears afire, Holding out, holding off the baton.. Paul too would be there, and so would Rip Viva la Cinderella, my Gaza Strip!

Sowmen Mitter [To AB, my 'anonymous bystander' who'd hardly have an inkling... ] And no, - It's not the voyeur only That leers at you. Someone else - Someone you've known this long - The one that you once let you cuddle, Wary - some other might look at it Through some other prism; Uneasy, for it might come across as Some sort of incest. Leery that you might give in too much, Had urged you to linger on? And you, lain face down And the nether curled up as if To invite, incite, ignite the primeval loins, Kept doodling away and on. Or may be that was just my reading! Cos you flowers are always innocent! And we men -creepy aphids!! But the cleft, veiled under, hugging the mounds Lay there, throbbing, anticipating a rush As even the Niagra would bemoan. And it lies here still in my cells, Shorn of the threads, Oomph oozing out of dense desire, That heady, musky odour, And you sighing away ..

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...

“ You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. ” - Maya Angelou

Born: 26 September, 1820 Died: 29 July, 1890 Contributions Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar is considered as one of the pillars of Bengal renaissance. In other words, he managed to continue the reforms movement that was started by Raja Rammohun Roy. Vidyasagar was a well-known writer, intellectual and above all a staunch follower of humanity. He brought a revolution in the education system of Bengal. In his book, "Barno-Porichoy" (Introduction to the letter), Vidyasagar refined the Bengali language and made it accessible to the common strata of the society. The title 'Vidyasagar' (ocean of knowledge) was given to him due to his vast knowledge in almost all the subjects. Poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt while writing about Ishwar Chandra said: " The genius and wisdom of an ancient sage, the energy of an Englishman and the heart of a Bengali ...

"... In fields am I, where barbed wire now is coiling, And death goes whistling all adown the lea, Though even here the sky is black with starlings, They're starlings that have feathers made of steel. Here bombs explode, and the Sun's face is sullied, Here you can smell the blood and not the rose, It's not the dew that makes the thick grass humid, But human tears and blood that on it flow. Athwart the smoke I sometimes seek the sunlight, And with a bitter pang my heart will swell, Then on my hair the dewdrops will I sprinkle, Catching a droplet in a flower's bell. ......." - Mussa Jalil , ' The Joy of Spring '. An air strike early on Sunday (July 20, 2014) morning killed four people, including two children, according to medics [Courtesy:BBC / Story link: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28389282] At the scene: Yolande Knell (BBC) [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-mi...