Krittibas magazine was launched by and for the youth in the early 1950s; it shot into fame because of the haunting honesty and romanticism that coloured its contents and its innate ability to stay off beat.

Krittibas completed 50 years of its fiery existence — setting new trends, speaking the truth and experimenting with language, all the while putting the city’s literati somewhat on guard with its pathbreaking thoughts and expression. Its vivacious and colourful journey into middle age was celebrated over two days (July 31 and August 1) at ‘Krittibas Panchas’, with seminars, book releases and poetry reading sessions.

Krittibas associate editor Pradip Chandra Basu condu-cted the programme at Sisir Mancha on the inaugural eve-ning, when poets writing in Bengali and other Indian languages read verses of social and cultural relevance. Sarmila Roy and Divakar Go-el set a different mood with Yes, I Do in English and Man ki Sapney in Hindi, while Krishna Basu was revolutionary in approach and immensely sensual in presentation, in Aranya and Jatismari.

Nirendranath Chakrabarty, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Sou-mitra Chattopadhyay, Naba-nita Deb Sen, Shankha Ghosh, Tarapada Roy and others participated in the celebrations.