A tête-à-tête event with massively popular writer Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay was held at Baatighar Dhaka, on the seventh floor of Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, on Monday. The event was moderated by Dipankar Das, the proprietor of Baatighar.
Shirshendu began the event by saying that Bangladesh is his birthplace. Whenever he visits, he feels that he is in his native country. Since childhood he has been quite mischievous. During the partition he also moved far away from his family. Since that time, he always felt this urge to create an identity for himself. Because he did not know anything besides reading and playing, he chose writing as a profession.
He said: "Bangladesh has five to seven times more readers than that of West Bengal. However, regrettably due to piracy, deserving respect from royalty is unattainable here."
Shirshendu likes to appear ordinary, so much so, that many in the audience had to ask if he really was the great writer. Regarding his writing Shirshendu said that he never worries too much about the number of printing plates while writing; the character writes itself through him. Many films were adapted from his books such as "Goynar Baksho," and his characters such as Shabor were shown on the screen. Shirshendu said he considers them average.
Among the Bangladhesi authors Shirshendu likes: "Humayun Ahmed is there, Imdadul Haq Milan is there. I like Al Mahmud the most from Bangladesh. Such a powerful poet is rare in West Bengal. There is another poet who does not write as much. He writes now and then. Through Shobdo Ghor, a poet named Jewel Mazhar published his poems. He is a reporter. He wrote extraordinary poems. I found him after searching for him extensively."
Shirshendu also mentioned the authors he likes from West Bengal; Prachet Gupta, Ullas Mallick, Krishnendu, Sourav, and the like. He specially reminisced about his contemporary Sunil Gangopadhyay. Rabindranath, Jibanananda, and Satinath Bhaduri are his all time favourites. Among English authors he likes Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov.
Shirshendu is quite worried about the environment. He said: "We are destroying the very world in which we are living. For example, the fire in the Amazon rainforest. I actually think that someone deliberately lit the fire in the Amazon. US President Donald Trump says, 'Since there is extreme cold in our country now, how am I to acknowledge global warming.' He is not understanding the difference between climate, and weather. If he does not understand the difference, one is likely to make such comments."
For the new writers, Shirshendu said, one cannot write without internalization. Otherwise the result is not literature, but garbage or suicidal writing. He himself was quite worried about his own writing at the beginning. Initially no one could tolerate his writing. However, the current generation is accepting his writings. Hence, he has nothing more to achieve in Literature.
The entire tête-à-tête lasted for one and a half hours. At the end of the conversation, the famous author signed autographs for his readers.
