A young Bijaya Ray

In the winter of her life she took up her pen and wrote an intimate account of one of the best-known families in Bengal, the Rays. Bijaya Ray, alias Mankudi, is happy that her serialised articles in Desh have been edited and brought out in the form of a book, Amader Katha by Ananda Publishers.

“I never thought I would get to see the book in my lifetime,” said the nonagenarian. Flipping through the pages with a ghost of a smile, Bijaya relived some of the moments that she penned painstakingly over two years, salvaging facts and events from her diary that she had written since the birth of her son, Sandip, till the death of her husband, Satyajit.

In a small ceremony at her Bishop Lefroy Road residence, Amader Katha was released by her in the presence of her son Sandip, grandson Souryadeep and daughter-in-law Lalita.

It was a rushed affair with Sandip leaving for Hong Kong for his Tintorettor Jishu shooting that very night. However, he had a lot to do with editing the book in its present form.

“We worked on her previously published articles, cutting out the repetitive portions, and researching the proper names of the nicknames that she had used liberally throughout the book. And my mother gathered some really rare and unpublished photographs from her album and some from relatives,” said the son.

“A truly good book, it will help future research scholars and will serve as an exemplary reference book on my father, his times, his film-making. It is informative and at the same time entertaining,” he added.

Close family friend late Partha Basu also helped with the research on names.

Legend landmark

Manna Dey releases the documentary on his life, directed by Satarupa Sanyal (extreme left), in the presence of his wife Sulochona. Picture by Aranya Sen

This week saw a landmark event in the history of Indian music. Manna Dey turned 89 on May 1, in a year that also registers 65 years of his singing career.

“Sometimes, I myself feel overawed thinking how a man can sing for so many years. But that has happened. It was in 1943 when I recorded my first song, for the film Tamanna in Mumbai. My co-artiste was a bright little girl called Suraiya,” Dey recalled, on his birthday-eve.

Two programmes were held on Wednesday to mark the occasion the day after. Saregama India (owners of the erstwhile label HMV) brought out a collection of 74 select songs — from Koto Dure Niye Jabo (1953) to Coffee Houser Sei Addata (1984) — priced at Rs 500. The four CDs demonstrate the versatility of Dey, being classified into Rabindrasangeet, film songs, modern songs and the other genres — Atulprasad, Rajanikanta, Nazrulgeeti...

But that’s not all. “I have sung even in Gujarati, Marathi and Bhojpuri,” the octogenarian laughed.

The second was the launch of a documentary on his life entitled Jiboner Jalshaghore. Recollecting the years when he set up base in Mumbai with his uncle-cum-music tutor Krishna Chandra Dey, he said how people would tell him: “Arey Bangalibabu, idhar kya kar rahe ho? Jao, jao, Kalkatta jao, rasgulle khao (Hey Bengali mister, what are you doing here? Go back to Calcutta, have rosogollas).”

But his success silenced all critics. “Sachin katta (Dev Burman) would tell us to keep our minds fresh and young. Even now I watch cricket matches all day. And if it’s a good game of football, I can even take the field,” he said, as listeners broke into peals of laughter.

“His sense of humour is intact as is his memory,” says Satarupa Sanyal, who has directed the 72-minute Jiboner Jalshaghorey, with a script based on Dey’s autobiography of the same name. Sanyal shot for over four months, interviewing Dey, when he would come to Calcutta from Bangalore, and his colleagues, including music director Suparnakanti Ghosh and singer Haimanti Shukla.

Some of them came over to Nandan to greet him — composers Asima Mukherjee, Rotu Mukherjee and Mrinal Banerjee, actor Soumitra Chatterjee and singer Arati Mukherjee being among them.

“I am not an actor, nor am I good-looking. God knows how the film has turned out,” said the singer as the lights dimmed for the screening.

But there would be no curtains on Dey’s legacy. Manna Dey Sangeet Academy, which funded the film, has also taken up the duty of archiving his recordings.

Dawn market

The dawn market near Rambagan on Chittaranjan Avenue. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

Men and women carrying loads of utensils do make the rounds of homes, where they hand out stainless steel ware in return for old clothes. In Chittaranjan Avenue, there is an entire market where old clothes are sold everyday.

This market is on the road itself along the Liberty cinema stretch near Rambagan, and lasts a few hours every day from early in the morning. The old clothes dealers sleep on the road, and the market begins at the crack of dawn.

This is the only market where the desperately poor can afford to buy clothes, and traders come from far and near attracted by cheap rates. Old clothes make good dusters and mops and are sold wholesale to factories as well.

(Contributed by Anasuya Basu, Sudeshna Banerjee and Soumitra Das)