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Bengali

Quintessentially Bangali?

Bangaliyana is a light-hearted journey to grasp a culture forever infused with nostalgia and nestled close to the heart.

An adventure of discovery

To meet a deadline or in anticipation of one, I sometimes write two or three columns for a publication. After writing three columns in succession for an English publication, when I turn to write an article in Bengali, I feel a strong resistance within me. In fact, it appears to be an unpleasantly difficult chore. I have to remind myself that it is my first language and I have written a book in it before I can persuade myself to sit down and write a piece in Bengali.

Spotlight on Bengal

It is highly likely that a bhadralok-promoted Bengali exceptionalism grew in direct proportion to the decline of West Bengal, but such exceptionalism never became a mass phenomenon, not even in the heyday of ‘progressive‘ Left rule