I 1974, north Calcutta. The city was trying to shake off the aftermath of the terrible days of the Naxalite uprising. You could hear boys playing football in the fields again. On the raised concrete porches attached to the houses on the side of the footpaths, the evening chat sessions have begun again. Kali-babu’s tea stall at the central crossing of...
Read More
I met Navrang Patil in a BSF camp in North Bengal. “ Ehan baqaida achha khana banta hai,” (good food is made here following the rules of cooking ) quipped Patil as he took me into their make-shift thatched kitchen. His zest for life was infectious and the smell of fresh chapatis entered my nostrils and stirred up my appetite. Life at the camp was hard, as...
Read More
If you follow the narrow, crimson path off the state highway at Banspahari in Midnapore, if you cross the Dhenkia river and travel towards the sal and mahua forests, the serpentine path will ultimately take you to Dhenkia village at the foot of the hillocks. That path was once a concrete road — now so freckled with broken patches and potholes that for the...
Read More
Recent Comments