Deb Sen's last rites performed, admirers bid tearful adieu

Kolkata: Friends, students and admirers bade a tearful farewell to litterateur Nabanita Deb Sen on a rainy Friday.

Sen's last rites were performed at Keoratala crematorium. Deb Sen died at "Bhalobasa," her ancestral house, on Thursday evening. She was 81 and had been suffering from cancer for quite some time.

Hundreds of Sen's admirers came to her residence to pay their last respect. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar went to her house and placed floral wreath on her mortal frame. He spoke to Sen's daughters Antara and Nandana. Poets Shankha Ghosh, Srijato, singer Srikanta Acharya, litterateur Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay visited her house and paid their last tributes.

Her mortal remains were taken to Jadavpur University where Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das placed floral wreath.Sen did her post graduation from Jadavpur University and later joined the teaching faculty of the Comparative Literature department. She was a very popular teacher. Litterateur Abdul Basar said: "Her death sounded the end of an era. Her inimitable style took her to travel through the different paths of literature with ease."

Her mortal remains were then taken to Nandan complex and Bangla Academy where hundreds of her admirers bade her farewell.

Condoling her death, Nobel laureate Abhijit Vinak Banerjee said it is his personal loss. Banerjee visited her house during his brief stay in Kolkata in October. Amartya Sen in his condolence message said she was admired by people for her indomitable courage.

Sen was the first woman president of the Presidency Alumni Association and was the editor of "Autumn Annual" of Presidency College.

She had written around 80 books in Bengali. Her first collection of poems Pratham Pratyay was published in 1959. Her travelogues Karuna Tomar Kon Path Diye and Truckbaahane Myakmahane.