Oxford

Now working in Bodleian, Oxford. One of the most fruitful research works I have done. And Oxford is so beautiful now..so much light and joy! Enjoyed the poets' meeting.

Documentaries of the Central Institute of Indian Languages

I have anchored on-screen the following documentaries on Indian Literature for the Bhasha-Mandakini project of the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore. Rabindranath Tagore (Letters) Arun Mitra Buddhadeb Bosu Krittibas Ojha Kaliprasanna Singha Peary Chand Mitra Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay

Wiki mischief

After my recent title of Knight of Arts and Letters, a few gentlemen from another University have mutilated and vandalised the Wikipedia article on me! This can happen only in Bengal. They have chopped off the Times of India's comment on me as "India's best-known French scholar" and omitted the passage on Derrida's admiration for me, elaborately reported in Times of India and Hindustan Times after his visit. This reminds me of the Bengali gentleman who had actually gone to court to prove that Amartya Sen hadn't won the Nobel Prize!!

Mrinal Sen

I have just given the voice-over for a Films Division documentary on Mrinal Sen. And I am translating into Bengali Mrinal da's book on Chaplin.

My favourite moments

Yes, I love teaching, I savour every minute of my lectures. And I love to sculpt my articles, and I know I have created my own style in Bengali prose. But if you ask me to choose the best option, I shall surely go for a film by Ray or Bunuel.

Cyclone in A P and Odissa

The indifference of the Bengalis to the imminent cyclone in Andhra Pradesh and Odissa is a shame.

Remembering Eliot

The tribute to Eliot by the 2nd year M.A. (English) students of Calcutta University was a memorable event. Everyone was outstanding. I am sure very few universities of the world--if any-- paid homage to Eliot in this manner.

We shall read Eliot's Poetry

Today my students at Calcutta University will read poems from T S Eliot's works. Could there be a better homage to a man who turned 125 last week? A man who transformed poetic diction?

T S Eliot 125

I am so happy to write about T S Eliot on his 125th birthday 26 September 2013 in Ei Samai. See edit page. It is strange that no one remembered him in the last one year except Professor Sandipan Sen.

Tagore and Rolland on Music

Today I spoke on the conversation between Tagore and Romain Rolland on music at the Viswa-Bharati seminar on Rabindra Sangeet at Kala Kunj, Kala Mandir, Kolkata.

Recent articles

Have written an article in the Puja number of Ei Samai on the recently published explosive diaries of Romain Rolland during the Second World War. And my most recent articles in the column Ghumer Darja Thhele in Robbar are on Shelley, Toru Dutt and Blaise Cendrars (15 September 2013).

Forthcoming book: an album of translations of Jacques Prévert. Forthcoming article: apart from the column Ghumer Darja Thhele in Robbar, a major article on Romain Rolland's explosive journal of Vézelay, published in France by Bartillat in 2012 in Ei Samai (TOI).

I am so happy to discover a new style since I was requested to begin a new column in Robbar in January 2013 by Rituparno Ghosh. Ghumer Darja Thhele has enabled me to look into the mirror. I warmly thank the countless readers from different parts of West Bengal and even from all across the globe. If you don't get the hard copy, you can find it online by simply clicking Robbar.