Remembering Sunil Gangopadhyay

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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. 

"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:

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	·         [Online]. [cited 2012. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunil_Gangopadhyay.
	·         [Online]. [cited 2012. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Nikhileshs-letters-and-Coffee-House-adda/articleshow/16975719.cms.
	·         [Online]. [cited 2012. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Bangladesh-remembers-pen-wielding-Liberation-warrior/articleshow/16975720.cms.
	·         [Online]. [cited 2012. Available from: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/He-had-no-sorrow-except-for-once-Secy/articleshow/16975721.cms.
	·         [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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The strange relationship between a cassette and a pencil

HUMAN BRAIN IS TOO EFFICIENT

It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are witren, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe :)

Girls vs Boys

The best starting point for discussing the difference between male and female skills is a book published in 1974 by two psychologists, Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Nagy Jacklin. They summarize and critically evaluate a large body of work on the psychology of sex differences, concluding that at least eight different claims for sex differences (see left-hand column in the table) were disproved by the results of then available scientific studies and that the findings about seven other alleged differences (see middle column) were either too skimpy or too ambiguous to warrant any conclusions at all, but that sex differences in four areas—verbal ability, visual-spatial ability, mathematical ability, and aggressive behavior—were "fairly well established".

However a meta-analytic Review of sex differences in aggressive behavior, using 63 studies reported in the social psychological literature found that although men were somewhat more aggressive than women on the average, sex differences were inconsistent across studies. The magnitude of the sex differences was significantly related to various attributes of the studies. In particular, the tendency for men to aggress more than women was more pronounced for aggression that produced pain or physical injury than for aggression that produced psychological or social harm. In addition, sex differences in aggressive behavior were larger to the extent that women, more than men, perceived that enacting a behavior would produce harm to the target, guilt and anxiety in oneself, as well as danger to oneself. It is suggested that aggression sex differences are a function of perceived consequences of aggression that are learned as aspects of gender roles and other social roles.

Typhoid

Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid is an infection caused by a bacteria called Salmonella typhi (S. typhi) (1). The disease has received various names, such as gastric fever, abdominal typhus, infantile remittant fever, slow fever, nervous fever or pythogenic fever. The name "typhoid" means "resembling typhus” and comes from the neuropsychiatric symptoms common to typhoid and typhus (2). Typhus comes from Greek word typhos meaning smoky or hazy, describing the state of mind of those affected with typhus (3).

Transmission:

It is transmitted mainly by faeco-oral route through poor hygiene habits and public sanitation conditions, and sometimes also by flying insects feeding on feces (2). A person may become an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever, suffering no symptoms, but capable of infecting others (2). Approximately 5% of people who contract typhoid continue to carry the disease after they recover (2).

The most famous asymptomatic carrier was Mary Mallon (commonly known as "Typhoid Mary"), a young cook who was responsible for infecting at least 53 people with typhoid, three of whom died from the disease. Mallon was the first apparently perfectly healthy person known to be responsible for an "epidemic" (4).

Many carriers of typhoid were locked into an isolation ward never to be released to prevent further typhoid cases. These people often deteriorated mentally, driven mad by the conditions they lived in — “For most people, the idea of being judged insane and held in a 1950s asylum is the stuff of nightmares. But to be locked up when you are sane would be regarded as an appalling injustice. And yet …. nearly 50 women were locked in an isolation ward in a mental asylum in Surrey - not because they had a mental illness - but because they carried typhoid and were deemed a public health risk. Many of those women - admitted sane - deteriorated mentally, driven mad by the conditions they lived in.   (5).”

Clinical features (6):

First week: Non specific features of malaise, headache, rising remitting fever (step wise fashion) with initial constipation followed by diarrhoea, mild cough with conjunctivitis.

Second week: Patient is toxic & apathetic; sustained high temperatures with relative bradycardia; rose spots on upper thorax; distended abdomen; hepatomegaly and/or splenomegaly.

Third week: Patient delirious with abdominal distension & profuse pea soup diarrhea.

*Remitting fever:  Temperature variation is >20C, but does not touch normal. E.g. Tuberculosis, viral fever, many bacterial infections etc (7).

*Step - ladder fever is the one where the temperature rises gradually to a higher level with every spike of temperature (7). So there is a step-like daily increase in temperature to 40-41°C (8).

*Bradycardia in an adult is any heart rate less than 60 beats per minute. Relative bradycardia is used in explaining a heart rate which, although not actually below 60 beats per minute, is still considered too slow for the individual's current medical condition (9). Usually there is a proportionate increase in heart rate with increase in temperature. But in typhoid, the increase in heart rate is less as compared to the rise in body temperature, so the condition is called Relative Bradycardia.

*Pea soup diarrhea: the stools are green with a characteristic smell, comparable to pea soup (2).

*Rose spots: Rose spots are red macules (rash) 2-4 millimeters in diameter. They appear as a rash between the seventh and twelfth day from the onset of symptoms. They occur in groups of five to ten lesions on the lower chest and upper abdomen. Rose spots typically last three to four days (10).

Differential Diagnosis: Typhoid may be confused with, Malaria, Visceral leishmaniasis (Kala -Azar), Dengue fever, Short term viral fevers, Hepatointestinal amoebiasis (6).

Diagnosis of Typhoid is made by any Blood, Bone marrow or stool cultures and with the Widal test. In epidemics and less wealthy countries, after excluding malaria, dysentery or pneumonia, a therapeutic trial time with Chloramphenicol is generally undertaken while awaiting the results of Widal test and cultures of the blood and stool (2).

Treatment of Typhoid:

Typhoid fever is treated with antibiotics that kill the Salmonella bacteria. Several antibiotics are effective for the treatment of typhoid fever. Chloramphenicol was the original drug of choice for many years. Because of rare serious side effects, chloramphenicol has been replaced by other effective antibiotics. The choice of antibiotics needs to be guided by identifying the geographic region where the organism was acquired and the results of cultures once available. (Certain strains from South America show a significant resistance to some antibiotics.) Ciprofloxacin is frequently used for nonpregnant patients. Ceftriaxone, is an alternative for pregnant patients. Ampicillin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole are frequently prescribed antibiotics although resistance has been reported in recent years (11).

With antibiotics and supportive care, mortality is around 1%-2% from the fatality rate was 20% which was seen prior to the use of antibiotics. With appropriate antibiotic therapy, there is usually improvement within one to two days and recovery within seven to 10 days (11).

Home based supportive care includes complete bed rest. Patient should be kept on a liquid diet of orange, barley juice and milk. Orange juice, especially, hastens recovery as it increases energy, promotes body immunity and increases urinary output. Administer warm water enema regularly. Apply cold compress to the forehead if temperature rises above 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Alternatively, wrap the body and legs twice with a sheet wrung in cold water and then cover it with a warm material. The pack should be kept for an hour and renewed after every 3 hours.  Fresh fruits and easily digestible foods can be given after once the fever subsides and body temperature comes down to normal. Plain water or unsweetened lemon water can be used for drinking. Gradually start a well-balanced diet (12).

Chronic carrier of Typhoid:

 Chronic carrier is a person excreting S.typhi in stools or urine (or has shown repeated positive bile or duodenal string cultures) for longer than one year after the onset of acute typhoid fever (6).

The chronic typhoid carrier state can occur following symptomatic or subclinical infections of Salmonella typhi. Chronic carriers of typhoid are, by definition, asymptomatic. Transmission may occur from person-to person or by ingestion of food or water contaminated by the urine or feces of acute cases or carriers. Humans are the only known reservoir for S. typhi. Among untreated cases, 10% will shed bacteria for three months after initial onset of symptoms and 2-5% will become chronic carriers. The chronic carrier state occurs most commonly among middle-aged women (13).

Careers can be treated with Oral Amoxicillin- 3 Gms in adults (100 mg/kg in children in 3 divided doses) for 3 months or Trimethoprim /Sulphamethoxazole 8/40 mg twice daily for 3 months or Ciprofloxacin 750 mg twice daily for 4 weeks (6). Often, removal of the gallbladder, the site of chronic infection, cures the carrier state (11).

Prevention:

Sanitation and hygiene are the critical measures that can be taken to prevent typhoid. Typhoid does not affect animals and therefore transmission is only from human to human. Typhoid can only spread in environments where human feces or urine are able to come into contact with food or drinking water. Careful food preparation and washing of hands are crucial to preventing typhoid (2).

There are two vaccines licensed for use for the prevention of typhoid:  the live, oral Ty21a vaccine and the injectableTyphoid polysaccharide vaccine. Both are between 50% to 80% protective and are recommended for travelers to areas where typhoid is endemic. Boosters are recommended every five years for the oral vaccine and every two years for the injectable form (2).

References:

1.	Pubmed. [Online]. [cited 2012. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002308/.
2.	[Online]. [cited 2012. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_fever.
3.	[Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhus.
4.	[Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_Mary.
5.	Stickler A. [Online]. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7523000/7523680.stm.
6.	[Online]. [cited 2012. Available from: http://mohfw.nic.in/NRHM/STG/PDF%20Content/STG%20Select%20Conditions/Enteric%20Fever.pdf.
7.	[Online]. Available from: http://www.rationalmedicine.org/fever.htm.
8.	[Online]. Available from: http://www.meditreatments.com/diseases/enteric-fevers.html.
9.	[Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradycardia.
10.	[Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_spots.
11.	[Online]. Available from: http://www.medicinenet.com/typhoid_fever/page3.htm.
12.	[Online]. Available from: http://www.tandurust.com/natural-home-remedies/typhoid-fever.html.
13.	[Online]. Available from: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/acd/diseases/Typhoid_Carrier.pdf.

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Breakthrough in cancer cure by Kolkata Docs

Breast cancer treatment is set to take a significant step ahead, thanks to a group of city researchers who have devised a targeted therapy for the disease.

The researchers — Souvik Sengupta, Sudeshna Gangopadhyay and Ashish Mukhopadhyay — have sought permission for human trials that could begin later this year.

It was while screening young breast cancer patients that the team noticed a pattern — younger patients were suffering relapses more often than older ones. The team then experimented with target therapy drugs which had so far been used to treat liver and kidney cancer. They managed to target and destroy the cancerous stem cells effectively.

A paper produced by the three researchers will be published in the forthcoming issue of the prestigious journal ‘Clinical Breast Cancer, USA’. It has been given the status of a review article which is generally accorded to potentially pioneering research work.

Breast cancer stem cells are not merely drug-resistant; they tend to spread to the bones and lymph glands quickly. Once they do, there is very little that can be done to save the patient. Targeted therapy is the only option.

Once human trials start, it will be easier to identify the cells and the drugs that can kill them. A patient can undergo a test to identify the best possible drug for just Rs 5000.

(edited from The times of India )