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Sunil
Gangopadhyay (or Sunil Ganguly), the renowned Indian poet and novelist passed
away at 2:05 AM on 23 October 2012 at his South Kolkata residence, following a
massive heart attack. He was suffering from prostate cancer for some time
and had gone to Mumbai for treatment, returned to Kolkata on the day of Mahalaya. Gangopadhyay's
body was cremated day at Keoratola crematorium, Kolkata. The crowd of
mourners to crematorium was lead by West Bengal's Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee.
Indian President Pranab
Mukherjee condoled the death of Gangopadhyay saying– ‘Gangopadhyay had
enriched Bengali literature through his unique style. He was one of the best
intellectuals among his contemporaries. The vacuum created by his death cannot
be filled.’
Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee, the former Chief Minister of West Bengal, who was closely
associated with the writer since 1964, said that Bengali literature would
remain indebted to him.
Born in
Faridpur, Bangladesh, Gangopadhyay obtained his Master's degree in Bengali from
the University of Calcutta. In 1953 he with few of his friends started a
Bengali poetry magazine Krittibas. Later he wrote for many different
publications.
Ganguly created
the Bengali fictional character Kakababu and wrote a series of novels
on this character which became legendary in Indian children's literature. In
1982 he received Sahitya Akademi award in 1985 for his novel Those
Days (Sey Samaya). Gangopadhyay used the pen names Nil Lohit, Sanatan
Pathak, and Nil Upadhyay.
Last evening at
a "Swaran Sabha”, thespian Ashok Mukherjee sighed, "It's an
absurd existence without Sunil-da. The Kolkata skyline suddenly looks
incomplete without Sunil-da."
Mukherjee
recalled the youthful days, “We were being herded by Ajitesh Bandopadhyay. The
Sunil-Shakti duo was already an established phenomenon. We found ourselves
joining them and others (including poet Mohit Chattopadhyay) at the United
Coffee House. We would head for our homes when the adda folded up around 11pm.
Sunil-da and Co it would move on to a different venue ... their adda continued
till the wee hours." Not a soul
knew where this enlightened group went. Mukherjee
wondered, "Did Sunil-da go to Dik Shunnyo Pur (the directionless land),
just as Neellohit did?"
It was as if, he
had unwittingly hit upon a heart-rending truth. All those on the dais,
backstage and among the audiences seemed to have launched an inward search,
seeking the Sunil in them. "There was a Sunil in every youth, and a Neera
in every woman. Why, an entire generation took towards bohemianism after
reading Atma Prakash where Sunil-da talks about Indira Gandhi's 'unkissed'
lips," said talk theatre artiste Urmimala Basu. To the audience she read
out one of Sunil's letters which was about him falling head over heels in love
with a "shy girl named Swati". The letter instantly reminded one of
the passionate Nikhilesh. But then, Urmimala would rather think of the lover,
who had turned into a doting husband for Swati Ganguly. "Not very
long ago, someone had asked him about his lady love and he had said resignedly,
'I guess it's Swati. I'm too old (for escapades) now'."
Those who knew
him personally remembered how the poet-novelist loathed being asked "kemon
achho" (how are you). "I am fine, and will always be fine,"
Sunil had been saying for the last decade - to forget the illness that was
slowly consuming him.
Ask his
associates what they missed about him most, this evening. "We are missing
his presence. He would play the perfect host during all social meets organised
by him and Swati-di," said Urmimala.
Sunil
Gangopadhyay's death on Tuesday went unreported in many newspapers in Kolkata,
thanks to the 'Puja vacation' virtually imposed on the print media, but in
Bangladesh, it made front page headlines in nearly every daily. According to
noted Bangladeshi author Belal Chaudhuri, even newspapers with an
extreme-right philosophy covered Gangopadhyay's death. Chaudhuri, who attended
a condolence meeting in Kolkata on Friday evening, brought nearly 30 newspapers
from his country and handed them to Gangopadhyay's secretary.
"There was
widespread grief in Bangladesh when people came to know that Sunil
had passed away. Everybody remembers his contribution to the Liberation War and
his fight to uphold secularism. He was one of the most popular authors in
Bangladesh. There was a time when festival numbers from India were banned in
Bangladesh. If people came to know that Sunil had contributed in one of them,
the books would get smuggled across the border. His novels were regularly
pirated in Bangladesh. Efforts were made to stop this but nothing could be done
due to the demand," Chaudhuri said.
The Bangladeshi
author has been close to Gangopadhyay since 1960 when the two met in Kolkata. "Do you know that we got arrested
together as chicken thieves at Belpahari in East Midnapore? Every year, during
the Pujas, we would go to Belpahari on vacation. It was 1965 and India and
Pakistan were at war. As was our habit, we got off the bus near a village and
entered somebody's house. After having our fill of mahua we went for a bath to
the village pond. When we returned to the house where we had stopped, the
villagers seemed extremely agitated and asked us to leave. We didn't know what
had gone wrong but took shelter in a nearby field. Suddenly, we were surrounded
by armed security personnel," said Chaudhuri. It seems that a youth from
the village named Rashid had crossed over to East Pakistan. "A few days
after his disappearance, Pakistani aircraft strafed the Kalaikunda air base and
everybody suspected that Rashid had provided the necessary bearings. The
security personnel suspected us to be spies." The security men left after
ordering them to return to Kolkata. However, later in the night, villagers led
the police to them all over again, accusing them of stealing chicken. "We
were arrested and locked up in Binpur police station. It was only after the OC
looked at us that we were released and given a royal treatment. His wife seems
to have been reading a novel by Sunil," the Bangladeshi author said.
The small room
still remains in Amgram at Purba Maichpara in the Faridpur where Sunil was born
and 'Sunil Mela' is held there every year.
Dhananjoy Boyra,
private secretary to Sunil Gangopadhyay remembers, "Dada would never
bow his head or join his hands in prayer at any temple but Boudi is a devout
Hindu. Not a day goes by without her offering prayers to the household deities.
But this never led to any tension. Dada never tried to impose his views on
others. Even recently, on our way back from Santiniketan, Boudi got off to pray
at a temple but Dada stayed in the car."
Boyra has been
with the Gangopadhyays for nearly 35 years. Originally from West Midnapore, he
was barely 12 when a relative brought him to the writer's house. Initially, he
was a playmate of Souvik's and later tried his hand at household chores. As a
young man, Gangopadhyay started treating him as a secretary and confidante.
Boyra would even manage the late author's finances.
"I have met many great people over the years. People like Samaresh Basu, ….. To me, Dada was like God. I started off with a salary of Rs 50 in 1977. Every year, there would be an increment. I never even had to ask for it. Later, he got me a plot at Bosepukur and even built me a house there. Boudi got me married," Boyra said, fighting back tears.
Such was the bond between the Gangopadhyays and him that they couldn't tolerate any discomfort he faced. "Dada had got me a job at a printing press once. I used to work till late and return home covered in ink. Dada and Boudi would have none of this. They got me to quit. There have been many incidents like this. The moment of pride came in Boyra's life when Gangopadhyay had a knee surgery. There was need for blood and many people queued up but their blood groups wouldn't match. Finally, Boyra got his blood group tested and it was a perfect match. "I was the proudest man that day," he reminisced.
"I have met many great people over the years. People like Samaresh Basu, ….. To me, Dada was like God. I started off with a salary of Rs 50 in 1977. Every year, there would be an increment. I never even had to ask for it. Later, he got me a plot at Bosepukur and even built me a house there. Boudi got me married," Boyra said, fighting back tears.
Such was the bond between the Gangopadhyays and him that they couldn't tolerate any discomfort he faced. "Dada had got me a job at a printing press once. I used to work till late and return home covered in ink. Dada and Boudi would have none of this. They got me to quit. There have been many incidents like this. The moment of pride came in Boyra's life when Gangopadhyay had a knee surgery. There was need for blood and many people queued up but their blood groups wouldn't match. Finally, Boyra got his blood group tested and it was a perfect match. "I was the proudest man that day," he reminisced.
"He would
never get angry at anybody. He had no sorrow. Only once, when his son left for Boston,
did I notice some grief on his and Boudi's faces. He would never call anybody
'tui', not even his son. This has left a lasting influence on me. I even call
my daughters 'tumi'," Boyra said.
After Sunil
Gangopadhyay's passing, his family has started the near-Herculean task of
collating and preserving his legacy. Lines scribbled here and tucked away
there. A gem of a story printed on flimsy paper, held together by staples and
forgotten. A sheaf of short stories handled carelessly by a publisher... His
wife and son plan to catalogue all his works - published and unpublished.
The work will
start soon after Gangopadhyay's son Souvik, an IT professional in Boston,
returns to the US with mother Swati. Souvik will also build a team of his
father's writer friends to decide how to publish the treasure trove. "We
will have to look into the legal aspects and find out if my father had
agreements with publishers. The team that we plan to set up will be in charge
of cataloguing the works. They will also decide which firm should publish which
category of writings. For the moment, we aren't allowing many people to enter
the room where his works are kept. Several manuscripts are lying there. Some of
them are in pen and paper, others digitized. There are some that haven't been
published. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. We will get to it when
we are in a better state of mind," Souvik said.
Sunil
Gangopadhyay, undoubtedly, was a great writer. The way he looked at things
around him, manifested his inner feelings, his choice of words and
expressions - all carry the hallmarks of a profound thinker. He will
forever remain as a shining star of Bengali Literature.
References:
·
[Online].
[cited 2012. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Nikhileshs-letters-and-Coffee-House-adda/articleshow/16975719.cms.
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·
[Online].
[cited 2012. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Bangladesh-remembers-pen-wielding-Liberation-warrior/articleshow/16975720.cms.
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·
[Online].
[cited 2012. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/He-had-no-sorrow-except-for-once-Secy/articleshow/16975721.cms.
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·
[Online].
[cited 2012. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Family-takes-up-task-to-preserve-Sunil-Gangopadhyays-works/articleshow/16975881.cms.
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