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Showing posts from August, 2014

Prof. Bipan Chandra, apostle of secular values, passes away..

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The SOWMEN MITTER Initiative for Language ENGLISH & Related Studies (SMILERS) mourns the passing away of Prof Bipan Chandra , one of India's pre-eminent historians and ardent crusader against distortion of History and a powerful voice against communalism at this time when an augu st body like the Indian Council of Historical Research may, for obvious reasons, be used to make us believe that the two epics - the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are events of History. His death at this crucial juncture means a great loss not only to the academia and cultivation of history as a discipline to seek out the truth, but also to the overall secular ethos of the Indian literati and society in general. We respectfully pay our homage to this secular soldier of Modern Indian History.  

SMILERS mourns the passing away of U.R.Anantha Murthy

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The SOWMEN MITTER Initiative for Language ENGLISH & Related Studies (SMILERS) mourns the passing away of U.R.Anantha Murthy , renowned writer and social activist. Ananthamurthy had created a style of writing with social relevance in Kannada which had a big impact on Indian literature. A socialist by conviction, Ananthamurthy was a firm advocate of secular values, pluralist culture and social justice. In his death, the country has lost a public intellectual of great calibre. The SMILERS conveys its heartfelt condolences to his wife, daughter and son .    

Nabarun Bhattacharya: A Tribute

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Sowmen Mitter http://sowmenmitter.blogspot.in/2014/07/nabarun-bhattacharya-tribute.html Nabarun Bhattacharya , noted Bengali author and a man of letters passed away today at the age of 66. He was battling cancer for quite some time, to which he finally succumbed despite the best of efforts put in by doctors, first in Kolkata, and subsequently in Mumbai where he was shifted following a deterioration in his condition.  Nabarun, born to Bijan Bhattacharya and Mahasweta Devi, both writers of acclaim, had perhaps inherited the social consciousness that characterized the respective works of his parents. His father Bijan will go down in the annals of Bengali literary history as the man who had authored the much revered and celebrated play 'NABANNO' in the backdrop of the infamous, imperialist-sponsored and thereby man-made Bengal famine of 1943 which reportedly claimed some four million lives and is often referred to as the greatest genocide to have ever been commit...