‘To write a poem upon a grassy knoll, with a zephyr, a gentle breeze, playing in the branches of pine, is to live the poem even as you write it. And today, looking back over the years, I can hear the breeze and feel it, and listen to the sound of the system, and the song of the forest, and it is the poem of all my days.’
‘In India, the watershed moment for Zoom parties was the birthday of a certain Ridhima Sahni, who turned 40 in 2020. Her husband Bharat came up with the plan of getting relatives to dance to ‘Aap Jaisa Koi,’ a song that was the rage in 1980. The video that resulted went viral and inspired many to follow suit. The only hitch was unlike you and me, Riddhima had consistently beautiful and graceful relatives.’
‘The day of oath-taking dawned and he had prepared his outfit with care. He wished to attend to his duty with his attire reflecting cultural pride – daura surual and birkey topi with khukuri intact at the waist. Thus in the company of a slightly built Jyoti Basu, Ratanlal, at almost a feet taller, sauntered up to the southern entrance of the Bidhan Sabha Bhawan.’
‘Animals seek food (Lakshmi) and power (Durga) to get that food, or to ensure one does not become food. Without food and power, no one can survive. In social sciences, the study of Lakshmi becomes economics and study of Durga becomes politics. The study of Saraswati becomes philosophy.’
‘The term unheimlich was first used by German psychiatrist Ernst Jentsch in his essay ‘On the Psychology of the Uncanny’. ‘Unheimlich’, which literally means ‘un-homely’, is the German word for uncanny. Unheimlich suggests that the uncanny builds its nest in the most normal circumstances, such as the home, and at some point, something that feels recognisable becomes completely alien.’ The mundane extraordinary in Satyajit Ray’s short stories.
‘We are also witnessing the inclusion of these self-appointed musicologists on jury committees of several organisations, and some even fulfil the roles of curators and selectors for various organisations and events. How ethical is it for the same individual to curate an event, select the participating artistes, and then write a glowing review of the same event for a publication?’ Critics, then and now.
‘Using an adage from Rajbangshi, the language of a people that the Bangla establishment is committed to proving as a dialect, Debesh Roy is doing two things very subtly: giving an oral tradition space in the written (proverbs are largely oral in origin), and showing where his political commitment lies.’ Of writing against the flow.
‘Jingle Bells is not a Christmas carol, despite being one of the staple songs sung during Christmas. If you hear carefully, there is no mention of Christmas, or any scenes from the Nativity, in the song. It is only a song describing the spirit of the season.’ Of Christmas carols and more.
‘…Even in the popular music categories or in the case of world music or new age tracks, Indian artistes, tracks and albums that make it to the Grammy arena are usually initiated, supported and produced by non-Indian entities.’ The long, uphill struggle of Indian indie.
‘We live in times where there seems to be a fracture between consciousness and morality. Consciousness has become the realm of the guru and morality the realm of the activist and the policeman. This has perhaps the result of making consciousness expansion a private activity, rather than a social one.’ Of society, religion and the moral compass.
‘When Anand started playing, he had no benchmark whatsoever in India. We only had one or two International Masters – he was India’s first Grandmaster. He was first of and in basically everything. Not just that. He rose out of nowhere and completely dominated that world at a time when the Soviets were ruling.’ Surya Shekhar Ganguly speaks on his friend, mentor and icon, Viswanathan Anand
‘What I was looking for, the new answers I was looking for – the modernity of his cinema, breakaway films, the difficulty placed on him as a star, the Atlas-like figure which is inevitably not good for a film culture – were really there in his films, not in any interview.’ Sayandeb Chowdhury on his debut book, ‘Uttam Kumar: A Life in Cinema’.
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