Reflections - A Journey Through Life

Would you know me? All over the world, across the cyberspace or across a few inches between two persons sitting on a park bench, in silence with intense loudness or in whispers this question is asked, yesterday, today and tomorrow—as long as relationship would matter. We assume things about a person that may be partially right or fully wrong, there is really no other alternative. She may not say anything significant about herself to let you know, she may not even know herself let alone let you know or she may intentionally let you know what she is not. On top of that lies the uncertainty embedded in human language—you want to say something, instead you say some other thing and she understands something else. You have to assume always. Depending on the quality of pairing between you and her, you understand her or she understands you. But finally, it is your assumption about her with all its uncertainties built-in. Is it a tragedy? Is it helplessness? I think not. Even if ...

Don't doubt reality..it's him For decades I didn’t read any serious literature, for that matter I hardly read any literature. Most English and Bengali classics I finished by then (that was what I thought), encountered only thrillers near at hand and got disenchanted. I sampled the state-of-art Bengali literature religiously for a few years by going through the leading Bengali literary magazines. Ultimately I had to give up – no more, no more. The times must have changed terribly for the worse when no further worthwhile literature is being written anymore – I concluded. Many years later by sheer chance I chanced upon The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh. I had heard Amitav’s name as a renowned writer, that’s all. Casually I started reading again after a long long time. The beginning felt a little dull, but I carried on. At that moment I didn’t have any other compulsions. Slowly the storyline tightened up, the small chapters, interleaved events gradually hastened o...