On Children’s Day, a look at two men whose Bengali rhymes for children became proverbs Hattima Tim Tim, tara mathey parey dim Tader khara duto shing, tara Hattima Tim Tim. (Untranslatable, but we’ll try: ‘In a field they lay their eggs, they are Hattima Tim Tim/ They have
October is the month of the Nobels. This is the time when the Royal Swedish Academy announces the names of the Nobel laureates. For Bengalis, however, this October has been a month of heartbreak. A hundred and thirteen years after Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel win, Bengal had
The mere mention of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay evokes a reflective pause in any reader. His narratives, particularly that of Aranyak, are capable of altering our view of the world around us. They encourage us to notice rustling leaves, assorted bird songs and even gentle rivers. With the words
Humans usually migrate for livelihood. But Bengalis’ relationship with Banaras (Varanasi) is not exactly that. Over time, they have indeed come here for education and trade, but mostly to make Kashi their permanent home. There is no clear record of when Bengalis first started considering Kashi
"Bhogobaaner guptochor, mrityu eshe baandhuk ghor/ chhonde ami kobita chharbo na!" Alokranjan Dasgupta seemed to have learned rhythm from the womb itself. He wanted to bind the whole world through the magic of words. His childhood was spent in Santiniketan. With his classmate Amartya Sen, he published a
Around 2008, Alice Walker’s daughter Rebecca Walker wrote: “Strangely, my mother thought of herself as very maternal. She would travel the world campaigning for women’s rights, portraying them as oppressed. She would set up organizations for abandoned girls in Africa—presenting herself as the very embodiment
In Bengali families, it was once customary to compose verses for weddings. Surprising as it may sound, this tradition was very much alive even forty years ago. And it wasn’t limited to Kolkata alone—other districts practiced it too. On wedding evenings, when guests gathered, colorful printed copies in
Jibanananda Das’s most popular poem, Bonolota Sen, has captured the imagination of generations—from his contemporaries to the present, from the common reader to the literary connoisseur. In the hearts of Bengalis, Bonolota Sen appears sometimes as mysterious as Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and sometimes as the proclamation of
“Bhautik bhitir mul shudhu pratyakkher agochar bastabkayahin sattar astitwa kalpanar hoyni. Praner nissongo ekakittwer moulik asohay bhitir moddhei er bij royechhe. …Nisshahay ekakittwer ahetuk bhiti ei-i bhuter bhoy prabriti anirdeshya atonker bij.” (Golper Bhut / Sukumar Sen) Bengali is a born chatterbox. When these three traits meet,
Among Indian deities, perhaps none is as widely worshipped, admired, and adored as Lord Krishna. Krishna’s worship takes many forms, and he is encountered in numerous distinct regional traditions, either as the ‘historical’ or the ‘mythical’ one. Interestingly, Lord Krishna has come up in Bengali