Dibyajyoti Sarma's Blog

Poetry at Sangam now has a new home at poetryatsangam.co...

 Poetry at Sangam now has a new home at poetryatsangam.com.

To celebrate the revival, the poet Nabina Das recommends two poets who appeared in the pages of Poetry at Sangam, including your truly (featuring three translations of the Assamese poet, Lutfa Hanum Salima Begum).

Glad to be sharing the space with Anjali Purohit whose work I adore. Her book, Go Talk to the River: the Ovis of Bahinabai Choudhari (Yoda Press, 2019), is an underappreciated gem. 

Thank you, Nabina, for the shoutout. 

And thank you, Priya, for everything that you do for poetry. 

Nabina Das: http://poetryatsangam.com/2013/09/nab...

Nabina Das selects:

Anjali Purohit: http://poetryatsangam.com/2019/09/anj...

Dibyajothi Sarma: http://poetryatsangam.com/2023/03/dib...

      

So, since I am not sleeping well, I am having these vivid...

So, since I am not sleeping well, I am having these vivid dreams. 

In last night’s dream, I was with Priyanka. She is now a big shot, doing some kind of wheeling-dealing, some kind of wish-granting voodoo queen, operating from a fancy hotel in a fancy city. I meet her because I have some money issues–I always have money issues, and we leave the hotel to go to my place, or her place. I think I am in a hurry. So, instead of getting a cab or other transport, we decide to take a walk. Soon, we leave the shiny city behind. First, we go through an unkept park, with large trees and foliage, and broken benches and swings, and then we reach a hilly terrain with loose gravel on the road. Priyanka says it reminds her of Udaipur. 

There, on the road, I see a large rose-like flower made of wool, or maybe it’s a fancy hat. As is my wont, I pick it up. It feels nice, I think I will keep it. Then my fingers touch something slimy, like spit, like mucus. I throw it away and wipe my fingers on my trousers. I do not tell Priyanka about it. 

We chitchat about something or other, nothing serious, all good, something about Soumya Agarwal getting married again. We wish her well.

Then I start to feel weird, woozy. Like I haven’t eaten in days. Like I would fall asleep right now.

Then we reach a huge temple courtyard. As we reach the temple, Priyanka notices one of her friends. Not her friend exactly. She calls her one of her readers, whatever that means. The friend is excited to see her and drags her to meet her in-laws. She is surrounded by a whole lot of older women. 

I want to go find a tea stall. I think some tea will do me good. I want to tell Priyanka that I will be back in a jiffy, but I am faced with a stern-looking older woman. I tell her to tell Priyanka that I will be back, but I doubt that she would. 

There are no tea shops in the large temple complex. So I enter into one of the small gullies, like the gullies of Benares. I find a small tea shop in a hole in the wall, with just the old tea seller, and his black cat. I ask for tea and he immediately gives me a glass of lukewarm tea. I ask him to make another cup and ask if he has khari to go with the tea. He shows me an assortment of locally-made breads and cakes, all of which look unappetising. So, he says he will make me a cheese sandwich. 

The sandwich tastes especially good, soft, melts in the mouth, the way I like it. Even the lukewarm tea feels nourishing. 

As I savour the sandwich, the aforementioned cat inches close to me and tries to take the sandwich away from me. 

In response, I bite into his outstretched paw and suddenly, the cat turns into a child, about six years old, naked except for a diaper. Then he says in a clear voice, ‘Ouch! You bit me. Why?’

‘Because you wanted to bite me,’ I reply, oblivious to the metamorphosis. As if the child was always there and there was never a cat.

‘Now, I will bite you,’ the child says. He grabs my right hand and bites my ring finger. His teeth are sharp. My finger pricks and a drop of blood falls on the mud floor between the kid and me. And oh, we are both sitting on the floor.

Now, suddenly, I feel better. Now, I want to get back to the temple knowing that Priyanka would be concerned about me and she has no way to reach me. I pay the shopkeeper and get ready to leave.  

Then the child holds my hand and asks me to wait. I need to do something first before leaving. 

Thus, begins a hero’s journey, I suppose, but I woke up!

AvanavVirchand Dharamsey, edited by Hemant Dave Released ...

Avanav

Virchand Dharamsey, 

edited by Hemant Dave 

Released last week, the 46+312-page (including general index of 20 pages in three columns) book contains 22 articles plus two interviews with Virchand Dharamsey, and 150 photographs.

Published by Asiatic Society of Mumbai, and printed by India Printing Works, the book also includes an exhaustive introduction situating Virchand Dharamsey’s contributions and the intellectual climate of his times.

The subjects include Bhagwanlal Indraji and the history of Indian archaeology, Parsi theatre, silent cinema and contributions of Gujaratis to it, the advent of sound in cinema, Sagar Film Company, Satyajit Ray, sculptural and pictorial art and depiction of death. 

The other subjects include tribal art, history of Gujarati painting traditions, contributions of Parsis to Gujarati language and literature, the cultural history of Mumbai, Forbes and his Rasmala, and interviews with Nalini Swali and Prabhakar Barve.

Virchand Dharmasey (1935-2023): A self-taught scholar who built a priceless repository of knowledge

Read Murali Ranganathan’s tribute to Virchand Dharmasey here. https://scroll.in/article/1047068/vir...

The book this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma isVine...

The book this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma isVineet Gill’s Here and Hereafter: Nirmal Verma’s Life in Literature

Published by Penguin Random House India; typeset in DanteMT Std by Jojy Philip; printed at Replika Press

The book this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Vin...

The book this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Vineet Gill’s Here and Hereafter: Nirmal Verma’s Life in Literature

Published by Penguin Random House India; typeset in Dante MT Std by Jojy Philip; printed at Replika Press

Thebook this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Salm...

Thebook this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Salman Rushdie’s Victory City

Publishedby Penguin Random House India (Hamish Hamilton); typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro;printed at Thomson Press

The book this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Sal...

The book this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Salman Rushdie’s Victory City

Published by Penguin Random House India (Hamish Hamilton); typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro; printed at Thomson Press

Thebook this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Yash...

Thebook this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Yashaswini Chandra’s The Taleof the Horse: A History of India on Horseback

Publishedby Picador India (Pan Macmillan); typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro by R Ajith Kumar;printed at Replika Press 

The book this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Yas...

The book this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Yashaswini Chandra’s The Tale of the Horse: A History of India on Horseback

Published by Picador India (Pan Macmillan); typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro by R Ajith Kumar; printed at Replika Press 

Thebook this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Lamb...

Thebook this week recommended by Dibyajyoti Sarma is Lambee Kahaniyan: Hans Ke PacheechBarchon (1986 se 2001) Ka Chayan (Long Stories: Selection from 25 Years (1986-2001)of Hans), series edited by Rajendra Yadav and edited by Archana Verma

Publishedby Vani Prakashan; printed at Om Offset, Delhi