Ebar kobita likhe ami thik Rastropoti na holeo, tripod bhumir jonno rakhbo pa uchiye.
Crudely translated this means: Even if I don’t become the President after writing my poem, I will surely lord over heaven, earth and everything else. There is no way of knowing whether these immortal lines were on Pranab Mukherjee’s mind when he condoled the death of Sunil Gangopadhyaya, but he said, ‘The vacuum created by his death cannot be filled’ .
A non-believer, Sunil Gangopadhyaya died of a heart attack in the wee hours of Tuesday (Navami) at his residence in south Kolkata. He was 78.
Gangopadhyaya, who was the president of the Sahitya Akademi, is survived by his wife Swati and son Souvik. Gangopadhyaya’s body will be kept at the funeral parlour ‘Peace Haven’ where it will be preserved till his cremation on Wednesday.
Born on 7 September, 1934, in Bangladesh (then East Bengal), the prolific Gangopadhyaya was the main draw of annual Bengali pujabarshikis (special puja periodicals) till date. The author of innumerable short stories, novels, plays, critical commentary, travelogues and children’s literature always maintained though that poetry was his first love. He started the literary magazine Krittivas in 1953 which saw the flowering of many a poet including Sankha Ghosh. ‘I have known him for six decades now. He is surely one of India’s finest prose writers of modern times. Besides that, I remember him as a large-hearted man who spread warmth and camaraderie wherever he went. We will all miss him,’ Ghosh told Millennium Post.
Gangopadhyaya, who used the pen-name ‘Nil Lohit’, won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1985 for his much-translated novel Sei Samay. His best-selling works also include Pratham Alo and Purbo-Paschim. He was also the winner of the Bankim Puraskar in 1982 and the Ananda Puraskar twice, in 1972 and 1989.
On the demise of Gangopadhyaya, Bengali poet Nirendranath Chakraborty said he has lost his younger brother. ‘I know Sunil since he was 15. Bengal lost a great author, I have lost my younger brother,’ Chakraborty said.
Gangopadhyaya’s novels Pratidwandi and Aranyer Din Raatri were also adapted into feature films by the legendary Satyajit Ray. One will also surely miss his writings and even his voice recorder saying: ‘Ami aar Swati ekhon barite nei’ (Swati and I are not at home).
But Gangopadhyaya almost always used to call back. Not any more.
Crudely translated this means: Even if I don’t become the President after writing my poem, I will surely lord over heaven, earth and everything else. There is no way of knowing whether these immortal lines were on Pranab Mukherjee’s mind when he condoled the death of Sunil Gangopadhyaya, but he said, ‘The vacuum created by his death cannot be filled’ .
A non-believer, Sunil Gangopadhyaya died of a heart attack in the wee hours of Tuesday (Navami) at his residence in south Kolkata. He was 78.
Gangopadhyaya, who was the president of the Sahitya Akademi, is survived by his wife Swati and son Souvik. Gangopadhyaya’s body will be kept at the funeral parlour ‘Peace Haven’ where it will be preserved till his cremation on Wednesday.
Born on 7 September, 1934, in Bangladesh (then East Bengal), the prolific Gangopadhyaya was the main draw of annual Bengali pujabarshikis (special puja periodicals) till date. The author of innumerable short stories, novels, plays, critical commentary, travelogues and children’s literature always maintained though that poetry was his first love. He started the literary magazine Krittivas in 1953 which saw the flowering of many a poet including Sankha Ghosh. ‘I have known him for six decades now. He is surely one of India’s finest prose writers of modern times. Besides that, I remember him as a large-hearted man who spread warmth and camaraderie wherever he went. We will all miss him,’ Ghosh told Millennium Post.
Gangopadhyaya, who used the pen-name ‘Nil Lohit’, won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1985 for his much-translated novel Sei Samay. His best-selling works also include Pratham Alo and Purbo-Paschim. He was also the winner of the Bankim Puraskar in 1982 and the Ananda Puraskar twice, in 1972 and 1989.
On the demise of Gangopadhyaya, Bengali poet Nirendranath Chakraborty said he has lost his younger brother. ‘I know Sunil since he was 15. Bengal lost a great author, I have lost my younger brother,’ Chakraborty said.
Gangopadhyaya’s novels Pratidwandi and Aranyer Din Raatri were also adapted into feature films by the legendary Satyajit Ray. One will also surely miss his writings and even his voice recorder saying: ‘Ami aar Swati ekhon barite nei’ (Swati and I are not at home).
But Gangopadhyaya almost always used to call back. Not any more.