Binoy Majumdar is a powerful poet of six decade. He had been applauded while jeevanand, Vishnu De, Shankha, Shakti and others were writing. But the recognition came very late, since he is the first Dalit Poet from Bengal, though he does not belong to Dalit movement. But the caste hindu supremacy sidelined him well. Academy award is not a great thing, but in Bengal where the Dalits have no space in any sphere of life without a quota, this is a very significant development, Palash Biswas
Binoy Majumdar >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jump to: navigation, search Binoy Majumdar (born 1933, Calcutta, India), a brilliant and controversial Bengali poet of the mid-twentieth century, is noted for his somewhat offbeat poetic ouevre. Binoy Majumdar received the prestigious Sahitya Academy Award in 2005, amidst senility, ill- health, and years of social reclusion. A Mechanical Engineering graduate from Bengal Engineering College, Calcutta, Binoy turned to Poetry later in life. Mathematics was Binoy's passion from his early youth. He completed 'Intermediate' (pre-University) from Presidency College, Calcutta. When Binoy took to writing, systematic observation and scientific enquiry of objects found a place, quite naturally, in his Poetry. Binoy Majumdar's most famous piece of work is Phire esho, Chaka (Come back, O Wheel, 1960), which was written in the format of a diary. The book is dedicated to Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, a fellow-Calcuttan and contemporary of Majumdar. The book opens with the lines: (transliterated) March 8, 1960 ekti ujjwal maachh ekbar ure drishyata sunil, kintu prakrita prastabe swachchha jale punoray dube gelo - ei smita drishya dekhe niye bedonar gaarho rashe aapakka raktim holo fal which, translated, reads: One bright fish flew once Only to sink again into the visibly blue, but truly Transparent water - catching this pleasing sight The fruit blushed red, ripening in a deep abyss of pain. 1958-1962 was the period when Binoy's poetry thrived. Apart from Phire Esho, Chaka, he wrote other books, such as: Nakshatrer Aaloy (In the light of the stars), Eeshwariyo (Godly), Adhikantu (Excessive), Aghraaner Anubhutimala (The emotions of the month of Aghran), Balmikir Kabita (The Poetry of Balmiki). An anthology of Binoy's poems was published by Dey's Publishing House of Calcutta under the name Binoy Majumdarer Srestho Kabita (Selected Poems of Binoy Majumdar) in 1981. In the 1980's and 90's, Majumdar was affected by severe illness of the mind. It went to the point of failed suicidal attempts. His poetry came to a standstill. The medical treatment he received was inadequate. He moved to the outskirts of Calcutta, and to this date, lives with local town folks, a stranger amidst strangers, far from the madding crowd and glare of publicity that pervades Calcutta. Binoy has often been regarded by critics as a true successor of Jibanananda Das, the poet who revolutionized Bengali Poetry in the post-Tagore era. Like Jibanananda, Binoy drew his material from bountiful nature, the fields and the jungles and the rivers and the fauna of Bengal. But Binoy's originality lay in his attempt to relate the various elements of nature to one another through objective logic and scientific enquiry. In this respect, some refer to the genre of his work as scientific field journal. Binoy Majumdar was bold and revolutionary in the depiction of Sexuality in Poetry. He abundantly used vivid imageries which were sensually potent and Freudian in essence. In a series of pieces (Aamar Bhuttay Tel etc.), where he gives an explicit and graphic description of sexual intercourse, Binoy, once again, lays strong emphasis on the physiology of the process, and takes to a journalistic narration. Binoy has always been somewhat obscure among readers of Bengali Poetry. He was quite ahead of his time in breaking norms of contemporary literature. Some of his poems are difficult to decipher at the first go, and require multiple readings. His writings are unconventional because they often appear as neutral scientific reportage, and not poetry in its usual romaticized self. In this, Binoy readers can perhaps trace back his background as a Mathematician. Binoy builds up all his imagery, nuances, lyricism, and poetic discovery on the skeleton of scientific reasoning and factual observations, in a very toned-down manner. Binoy presently lives in Thakurnagar, on the outskirts of Calcutta. Senile, forgotten, and in utter negligence, all by himself. He doesn't have a family, and has no social interaction. It is as if the poet retreated unnoticed into exile, and retired from Poetry, thereby severing ties with his readers, with no hue and cry from the media. Binoy Majumdar, till this day, remains as controversial and enigmatic as ever. [edit] References http://www.kaurab.com/kau10/kau10_gadya_saxatkar.html http://www.kaurab.com/kau10/kau10_pro_binay.html This article about an Indian writer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binoy_Majumdar"; Categories: Bengali people | People of Kolkata | Poetry of India | Indian writers | Indian poets | West Bengal | Bengali writers | Bengali poets | 1933 births | Indian writer stubs «¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥««¤»¥«¤»§«¤» This is ZESTCaste whose members watch India's painful journey to society's de-casteisation. Members are encouraged to post messages to ZESTCaste@yahoogroups.com If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join ==theZESTcommunity====================================== [1] ZESTCurrent: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCurrent/ [2] ZESTEconomics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTEconomics/ [3] ZESTGlobal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/ [4] ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/ [5] ZESTPoets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/ [6] ZESTCaste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ [7] ZESTAlternative: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTAlternative/ [8] TalkZEST: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TalkZEST/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
