Get Set Go:Children of Stepping Stone Montessori get ready for a balance race at their annual sports day in Salt Lake where Bengal Ranji captain Deep Dasgupta also dropped by as a guest

Voices on verses

What is poetry? “If you ask me, I know not, if you do not ask, I know” — this was the general perception of the participants at the UGC-sponsored national-level seminar on “Indian Poetry in English — Many Voices and the Problems of Canon” held at Ramakrishna Mission College, Narendrapur, in December.

The event was attended by litterateurs like Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharya from Sahitya Akademi, Niranjan Mohanty of Viswa Bharati University, Ranjit Hoskote, a Mumbai-based poet, Sumit Chakraborty of Rabindra Bharati University and Amit Chaudhuri, novelist and anthologist.

The seminar began with Bhattacharya tracing the growth of Indian poetry, the problems of English becoming an increasingly popular medium of expression and the difficulty of anthologising today’s Indian poetry in English.

Jharna Sanyal, professor of English at CU, chaired the first session, between Mohanty and Hoskote. She spoke in defence of the early Indian poets writing in English.

Hoskote then articulated the anxiety of “belonging” a poet feels when he embarks upon composition. He said that anthologising and canon-forming are next to impossible because of the anthologist’s individual subjectivity.

Mohanty, on the other hand, concentrated on whether or not Indians can write in English. Replied to the allegation that the early Indian writers in English were imitators of the West, he reasoned that imitation was necessary because the early Indian poets had no Indian tradition of English poetry to build on.

The second session was presided over by Swapan Chakravorty, professor of JU, and Arya Ghosh from the host institution. Sumit Chakraborty presented their papers.

Ghosh deliberated on the role of anthologies in canon formation. He pointed out the elements of assumption and judgment that are inherent in the task of preparing an anthology. On a different note, Swapan Chakravorty spoke on the poetry of Lakshmi Kannan and the emergence of the woman poet.

In the final session, Chaudhuri spoke about the thought process behind the making of his Picador anthology.

Before wrapping up the seminar, the principal of the host college, Swami Suparnananda, said: “Poetry is an echo asking the shadow to dance.”

Dipankar Paul,
3rd yr English (hon), Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur

 

Legal talk

The second UGC-sponsored refresher course on law for teachers started in end-December. Held under the aegis of the department of law, Calcutta University, Hazra campus, the programme was inaugurated by Supreme Court judge Altamas Kabir.

In his address, the judge remarked on issues like corporate governance and its importance. Calcutta University registrar Samir Kumar Bandhopadhyay was lauded by the audience for his realistic take on cyber laws. Up next was a lecture by M.P. Singh, vice-chancellor of National University of Juridical Sciences. He explained the concept of public laws and human rights in the context of corporate and intellectual property laws.

Delegates from Punjab, Maharashtra, Orissa, Jharkhand and other parts of India participated in the session. The closing ceremony and valedictory session of the programme will be held on January 13.

Suchita Sahal,
3rd yr law, CU

 

Cultural medley

The students’ union of Pratap Chandra Memorial Homoeopathic Hospital and College organised its annual cultural programme, Pragati 2006, at Netaji Subhas Institute Hall in Sealdah in December.

The students put up a cultural show on Day One. Bangla band Chandrabindoo rocked the crowd the following day. The day ended with the audience jiving to hip-hop beats along with a dance troupe.

THE DIARY

Living a lie

Dream on, you silly child, it shall not last.
What stories have you been told
of far, far away?
Dragons, unicorns, magic wands...
What will happen when you know,
that they don’t exist?
That they were red hot lies
That you’ve been fed since you were a child?
What do you do, when you realise
that your whole life has been
a finely woven web of lies?
Those simple lies that you were told...
so that you did not cry?
You cried, nevertheless...
You cried aloud when your peacock died...
and also when the sun didn’t shine when you wanted it to.
Was it worth it?
Was it worth telling you stories that would silence
you momentarily
but haunt you till the end of time?

Reeti Roy,
Class XII, Modern High School For Girls

Sealed cynicism

The sky trembles, the earth shrinks an inch,
woe covered hills shift focus to
the dull moon hovering over the night sky.
The ravens prey over human sentiments,
over raw blood, over us.
Silence that persisted has been woken
by the glaring eyes searching for vulnerability
Skies seem to be shattering,
blinking, dropping tears,
then thundering fears away.
Mutilated shadows, sabotaged happiness,
peeled off skins, slaughtered beliefs
haunt my days, follow my nights,
bring forth, light to thee…

Barkha Sharda,
JU