Reflections

Sunil Ganguly died on Nabami during the just concluded Pujas. I will not go into the tasteless lack of gravity during his funeral, though I must admit that now I realize how sensible Saoli Mitra was to have organized the cremation of her father, Sambhu Mitra, before announcing his death to the world. This avoided the circuses that seem to accompany the death of cultural icons in Bengal. The fracas during Satyajit Ray’s funeral is still green in my memory. Be that as it may, I only want to record a discussion I had about his work with some friends and relatives during this time. It seems important to try to analyse why his novels were so popular and I will do it by trying to see what it was in his novel Purba Paschim that made it so significant. This novel, beloved of most if not all Bengalis records the life and times of a well off Hindu family based in eastern Bengal who have to move to Calcutta during Partition and their life and struggles. It encompasses a broad area, the prep...