শঙ্খ ঘোষের স্মৃতিমূলক রচনায় জীবন ও সময়/ Sankha Ghosh’s Memoirs : Life and Times

Abstract

Shankha Ghosh was a distinguished representative of post-Jibanananda Bengali poetry and an avid reader of his time. In his memoiristic writings, he recalls contemporary literary figures not merely as repositories of information but as living presences from whose memories he distils inner human emotions, joy and sorrow, decay and accumulation, love and estrangement. Figures such as Buddhadeb Basu, Subhash Mukhopadhyay, and Shakti Chattopadhyay appear alongside Shambhu Mitra through dramatic dialogue; Mahasweta Devi arrives with stories that break conventions; and Sanjida Khatun embodies dedication to music.

           Ghosh captures both the warmth and tensions of personal relationships while also acknowledging the internal currents and ideological differences within contemporary literary movements. His memoir prose bears witness to how individual lives remain intertwined with broader social history.

            From the Durga Puja images across the border in ‘Sokalbeler Alo’ (1972), through the refugee footprints in ‘Supuriboner Sari’ (1990), to the Partition pain and college memories in ‘Ekhon Shob Alik’ (1994), he revisits cultural personalities in ‘Shomoyer Jolchhobi’ (1998). The flute-notes of ‘Ei Shohorer Rakhal’ (2000), memories gathered in ‘Samanya Osamanya’ (2006), ‘Chhera Canvaser Bag’ (2007), ‘Shohorpother Dhulo’ (2010), ‘Alposholpo Kotha’ (2016), and ‘Nirahong Shilpi’ (2017), unfold in lucid prose, as dealt in this essay.