ভাষা নিয়ে, বিশেষ করে বাংলা ভাষা নিয়ে, কিছু বলতে আমি বেশ ভয় পাই। একে তো আমার লেখনী দুর্বল, তার ওপরে ভাষা বাবদে আমি কোনরকম জোরজার বা উন্নাসিকতার একান্ত বিরোধী। আমার এই অবস্থানকে অনেকেই মাতৃভাষার প্রতি আমার ভালবাসার অভাব বলে মনে করেন। সদ্য সদ্য আন্তর্জাতিক মাতৃভাষা দিবস পালিত হল; এখন 'ভাষা জাতীয়তাবাদ' আমাদের আচ্ছন্ন করে রেখেছে।... Continue Reading →
VISITING THE CELLULAR JAIL – A UNIQUE PILGRIMAGE
A friend pointed out sometime back that post retirement I was going on too many pilgrimages, and that's why I was aging fast. He was referring to photos of some places in Uttarakhand, Karnataka and elsewhere that I shared . All these were either sites known for scenic beauty or were immensely important from historical,... Continue Reading →
Temple Art of the Hoysalas – A Rhapsody in Stone
On the last leg of our tour of Karnataka we visited the temples at Halebid (Halebeedu) and Belur. My friend Ananthakrishna was emphatic that our tour of the world famous temples of Karnataka would be incomplete without a visit to the most ornate temple at Somanathapura near Mysuru. We, therefore, included it in our programme.... Continue Reading →
Deepawali in Delhi without Noise – Dwarka shows the Way
Year before last we were in the Dwarka sub-city of Delhi during Deepawali. For several months before the festival there began a movement against fire crackers and "bombs" of different kinds which caused both atmospheric and noise pollution. The highest court of the land pronounced a judgement against this annual ritual of denying the citizens... Continue Reading →
Satyabrata Pal – An Exceptional Diplomat and Human being
If the epitaph "An Officer and a Gentleman" could be applied to some members of the Indian Foreign Service, the late Satyabrata Pal would no doubt be the foremost among them. With his passing on 24 September 2019, we have lost a rare human being. Endowed with all the attributes expected of members of the... Continue Reading →
The Mystery of the Missing Cop
The events surrounding the mysterious disappearance of Mr. Rajeev Kumar, the former Police Commissioner of Kolkata are no less dramatic than mystery of "The Purloined Letter", that famous creation by Edgar Allan Poe. Only, in this case it will be too much to think that someone would have "stolen" the man who, in fact,... Continue Reading →
Who is afraid of Books?
The clarification that it was not Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, but a little known title "War and Peace in Jungle Mahal" authored by a journalist that was found objectionable by the police among other 'incriminating documents' in the much publicised case does little to cheer one up. Historically, rulers have always had a strange... Continue Reading →
A Journey to the Lap of Nature
When a friend told me that there was a hill station in the state of Haryana I couldn't believe it. Even some friends from Haryana itself were ignorant about its existence. Thinking of Haryana the image that comes to mind is of a predominantly agricultural province, with some highly industrialised and modern cities, glittering... Continue Reading →
Lok Sabha Elections 2019 – Predicament of a Bong outside Bengal
An election in Delhi is quite a drab and lifeless affair. It seems to be more so in this sprawling sub-city where I live. Even the warmth - let alone the fury - of electioneering was hardly felt here. Except for a few, very few, posters of the main warring sides and one small procession... Continue Reading →
