Wondrous Wrestlers: A tale of the beauty of wrestling

The book release of ‘Wondrous Wrestlers’ written by Tirthankar Roy and Prasenjit Saha and published by ‘Raunaq Publication’ was conducted at the Oxford Bookstore, Park Street, Kolkata, on March 1, 2024. The book is jointly written by Tirthankar Roy, a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Prasenjit Saha, a London-based engineer passionate about translation.

In attendance was a panel of distinguished guests from the worlds of wrestling, journalism, sports and culture. The panel discussion was flagged off by the publisher, Rupa Majumdar, the founder and publishing director of ‘Raunaq Publication’.

Veteran actor and author Barun Chanda began the panel discussion with his own experience of the wrestling culture in Calcutta. Then Rupak Saha, sports editor, sports journalist and author, continued the discussion by humorously narrating his own experience of almost being sued for a heavy sum because of an oversight in a wrestling story. Tushar Sil, ex-Mr India and ex-Mr Asia (2nd runner-up), narrated the history of wrestling in the Indian subcontinent from ancient times until the present, drawing attention to the fact that wrestling was an ancient and beautiful sport practised since time immemorial.

Joining in next was Indroneel Goho, the grandson of the famed wrestler, Gobor Goho. He related the origins of the nickname, which became the official name later, ‘Gobor’, making the audience chuckle. As a child, Gobor Goho was famously rotund in appearance and used to sit in the same place without moving much, which led to his grandmother giving him the nickname.

It’s a unique book as it lies at the intersection of sports history, Indian nationalist history and feminist history because of the presence of women wrestlers in the book. The book is edited by Moushum Ghosh and the cover was designed by Syamantak Chattopadhyay. It’s available in all leading stores and on online platforms for Rs 500 and 20 US dollars.