Geographical Memory

This piece should be read as a contemplation of what I have recently been teaching my final semester students. So I thought to myself, what are the things I see everyday? Are they my geographical memory? While teaching Mamang Dai’s poem, Small Towns and the River, I had to explain them from the beginning of

Birds and Graffiti

at the beginning I want to confess I have poor bird recognition skills. I don’t know their names, where they are from or which geolocation they are native to. However birds are really sweet in their little structures; with their feathers and claws. They are demanding at times particularly the crows which if you feed

Memories of My Beloved called Rain

A hundred times and many more, I would always, always choose to sit idle alone on a bench looking across a stretch of grassland making sounds like rubbing palms against each other. On somedays may be a river bank bench and a green river full of plankton, moss and algae and the orange sun about

On Appreciation of Farmers

It is late at night and have been away from home for a month. The first edible I need is mildly cold and clean water. The second thing I need is rice for dinner and I am terribly hungry, doubly because of my craving for rice. It is September and I am travelling right now.

Trans-Travelling

The train started riding towards south; towards my city every moment since it departed the station. It was an early morning train and my eyes were red with sleep deprivation. The sun has not risen yet. It is too early for pedestrians on the sidewalk or farmers on their field. I looked up at the

Moving Across an Autumn Forest and My Straw Hat.

A lil murmur of the stream and crunchy sound between the heap of leaves in the forest… made a shaky quiver. A hat spun with straws and his mustard shirt seemed more of the colour- ochre. It was definitely full of stains and paints; mud and scratches. Reluctant, hesitant and with wonder in his big

Where is Simplicity?

On a warm summer night I ponder upon an infinitely inexplicable concept- Simplicity. What is Simplicity ? Can it be defined as Down to Earthness? How does it feel like to be Down to the Earth ? I recall one such bare feet walk over hilly stairs, crossing a stream and later coarse bitumen. I

Cultural Polygamy of Bengal

Bengal is such a vast state one will never know until they have travelled along the roads in person. The picture is obviously clearer if it’s a first hand account of a central dweller. Being from Calcutta I often get to visit the beach almost every year, sometimes more than once. A month of extending

Staring in Awe at Orion

I can often be caught off guard, staring at the night sky. In big cities I almost mistake airplanes for stars and comets. They keep twinkling, flying over the night sky; over the dazzled cities and I try to seize them in my imagination, only to ponder upon them later. Ever since I was a

Mangoes and Memories

A tree full of Mangoes during summer at it’s peak brings back so many memories. When a Nor’wester(Kalboishakhi) strikes in the evening after a hot summer noon kids gather around and under mango trees to collect the mangoes which fell from the storm. A pickle vendor selling unripe sour mangoes mixed with a pinch of