The background to Sunil Gangopadhyay becoming a poet

“No one kept their word, thirty-three years have passed, no one kept their word” or ‘For a long time I have had a wish to buy a mountain”—these are lines that immediately bring to mind Sunil Gangopadhyay. Though his literary life began with poetry, it was as a novelist that he gained immense popularity.

Several more lines from his poems are still on the lips of readers of literature. Among them are: “If you exile me, I shall touch a ring to my lips/I shall drink poison and die” or “Young lad, I give you the cloudy sky of Bhubandanga/I give you a torn shirt without buttons and laughter filling the lungs.” These lines have rendered him immortal in Bengali literature.

He was among the most popular writers to readers on both sides of Bengal. At once poet, novelist, short story writer, editor, journalist and columnist, he produced countless memorable works. Just as Humayun Ahmed was enormously popular as a writer in this part of Bengal, Sunil enjoyed equal popularity across the border.

But though he became immensely famous as a novelist, his beginning was in poetry. And even his writing of poetry began as a kind of playful trick. His teacher father had a hard time keeping the mischievous Sunil under control. After his matriculation exam he had endless free time. To keep him occupied, his father devised a plan. Being a teacher, he handed his son a book of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poetry with strict instructions that every day he must translate a poem and present it for checking.

After translating and showing him for a few days, Sunil noticed that his father, without reading properly, would simply put a signature or a tick mark. A mischievous thought then crossed his mind. From then on, keeping in line with the metre of the English poems, he began composing his own verses. On the other side, his father, just as before, went on signing without properly checking his son’s exercise book.

But could Sunil simply lock up his verses in his pocket? No. So he wrote a poem entitled “A Letter”, addressed to a girl he liked, and sent it by post. He did not dare send it to the girl’s home, of course. Instead, he posted it to the address of the well-known magazine Desh.

Some days later, in an issue of popular periodical “Desh”, dated 29 March 1952, a poem appeared under the name of a young man, Sunil Kumar Gangopadhyay. But no one believed that it was written by a 17-year-old Sunil. Not even the girl for whom he had written it gave him any importance. On the contrary, she said, “So, you are passing off someone else’s poem as your own, are you?” In his youth this hurt him deeply, but later in life he would recall it all with much amusement.

This novelist always joked and spoke playfully with both young and old. Once, at a gathering, he met the eminent historian Niharranjan Ray. Sunil asked him, “Why did you not write further after ‘History of the Bengalis: The Early Period?’” Niharranjan replied, “I spent many years in prison, I had a lot of time then, so I managed to write the book. Now I am busy. That is why I cannot write more.” At this, Sunil said something that made the whole assembly burst out laughing: “Then you should be sent to prison again. That way you could finish the entire history of the Bengalis.”

This eminent writer was born on this very day in 1934, in Faridpur. Though born in what is now Bangladesh, he grew up in West Bengal, India. Several of Sunil’s stories and novels have been made into films. Satyajit Ray adapted Aranyer Din Ratri and Pratidwandi for cinema. Gautam Ghosh made a film of his novel Moner Manush based on Lalon. His popular novel Prothom Alo, based on Rabindranath Tagore, was adapted into the film Kadambari. In addition, many more of his works have been filmed.

In recognition of his literary contributions, he received the Ananda Purashkar (1972), the Sahitya Akademi Award (1985), and The Hindu Literary Prize (2011). Until his death, he served as president of India’s national literary body, the Sahitya Akademi, as well as the Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi for children and adolescents.

This distinguished twentieth-century Indian Bengali writer breathed his last on 23 October 2012 due to cardiac illness. He remains immortal among us through his creations.

Shahadat Hossain Towhid: Young writer and journalist