It was January, 2021, I was headed to Thakurnagar, a small town about four hours away from Kolkata. Thakurnagar lies on the India-Banglades...
It was January, 2021, I was headed to Thakurnagar, a small town about four hours away from Kolkata. Thakurnagar lies on the India-Bangladesh border, and is a political hotspot, thanks to the presence of the Matua community who have garnered a lot of attention for their decisive vote in Bengal politics.
The Matuas belong to a group of Hindu Dalits who had sought refuge in India post partition and have ever since being fighting for citizenship status. But I digress, since my reason for visiting Thakurnagar ahead of the polls in Bengal wasn’t political, but had more to do with poetry, for it was home to one of Bengal’s greatest poets, Binoy Majumdar.
Bengal has produced plenty of poets, in fact some of the biggest names in Indian poetry have come from this land. And yet there are few like Binoy Majumdar. The 1960s were an era of great social turmoil and Majumdar, whose finest work, Fire Esho Chaka, was released in this period, wasn’t exempted from the drama that surrounded the politics of literature of the times.
Outcast, outcaste
Perhaps in an effort to form some kind of camaraderie, Majumdar joined the Hungryalist group of poets on the invitation of fellow poet Shakti Chatterjee. The group...
