Kiriti Sengupta's Blog, page 3

Hibiscus – a palliative measure

Painting by Gautam Benegal
Cover designed by Bitan Chakraborty

Empowerment precedes healing. Honestly, when I conceived Hibiscus, I was particularly keen on curating poems that address healing. Anu Majumdar, one of the associate editors, proposed “empowerment” to the theme. It was an eye-opening moment.

Where does healing lead to? As a clinician myself, I can tell you, healing is not all about back to normalcy, or in other words, restoration of the state of being. Healing imparts strength. ...

Do you want to be an ideal American Citizen?

Apni ki adrsha markin nagarik hote chan (Do you want to be an ideal American Citizen?) is one of the most famous poems by distinguished Bengali poet Joydeb Basu.

The Plaster Saint

Fasting isnt my cup of tea. I cant starve for long stretches: the highly acidic gastric juice demands food from time-to-time. I used to refrain from eating on several occasions: during the pujas at home, as the news of the death of someone dear to me arrived, when the guy from the nearby diagnostic center came to collect my blood sample. I didnt take food on the morning of my wedding daymy mother made sure I couldnt enter the kitchen. She had a reason to do so. Mom maintained, If the bride...

Bitan’s First Interview

I first interviewed Bitan Chakraborty back in 2015, prior to the release of his much acclaimed collection of short stories, Santiram-er Cha. The interview was then published at Dhaka Review. The journal has shut down and the piece is lost. Straight Bat comes handy as I approach the old charm.

‘আলোতে মানুষকে অবয়ব মনে হয়, আমি দেখেছি’—বিতান চকরবরতী

পরসিদধ নাটযনিরদেশক সুপরীতি মুখোপাধযায় পরতিষঠিত জঙগমে দীরঘ আট বছর থিয়েটারের পরশিকষণ। আর সেই থেকে অলপবিসতর লেখালিখির শখ মাথা চাড়া দিয়ে ওঠে।  যাদবপুর বিশববিদযালয় থেকে ইনফরমেশন টেকনোল...

Sethi pitches to Aisikk

Friends are aware I’ve been living alone for eight years now. Of course, I’ve a family, consisting of my wife and son. Work that I do regularly does not allow me to stay with them. I’m living in a rented apartment for all these years—writing, editing, translating, and publishing both my stuff and that of other authors. Honestly, all these works eat much time and leave no space for personal recreations. My family suffers and so do I. However, it is now a standard routine—each day being an ac...

From Picnic

To know about Rimi Dey I’ll let you read her words first,

There are plenty of snakes around.
Tigers as well.
These tigers are like snakes. There are also
a handful of other animals who resemble tigers.

Most of the people are aware,
I keep some of them
in my pockets
nowadays.

Rimi is a widely published Bengali poet of the ’90s. Born in a tea-estate in North Bengal, she edits Podyo, a critically acclaimed Bengali journal that deals exclusively with poetry. Rimi has authored nine collections...

The Tagore Prize

“I love poetry/poets which guide my thoughts into new directions. Dr. Sengupta is one such poet. With “Beyond the Eyes” he painted a picture in my mind using colors I’d never seen before. Quite an achievement considering the poem’s brevity,” wrote Gary Manz, a friend and poet, as he shared his review of Healing Waters Floating Lamps on Amazon on July 18, 2015. Healing Waters Floating Lamps, a collection of my poems, was released in March the same year. I can remember I dedicated this book t...