Bit of nostalgia

A recent visit to Kolkata brought me back in touch with the world of children's literature in Bengali. Two things happened that led to this. First: we bought a special short story issue of 'Anandamela' and the current issue of 'Kishore Bharati'. Second: I was reading the Sunday magazine of a newspaper called 'khobor 365 din' where I learned about India's first science fiction magazine 'Aashcharya'. It was thrilling to know that it was started as early as 1962 by Adrish Bardhan. Adrish Bardhan is also credited with coining the Bengali term for science fiction 'Kalpavigyan' (although fantasy and science fiction had been written in Bengali before him). Later on Bardhan teamed up with Satyajit Ray and started the first science fiction movie club of the world in Kolkata. The third person in their 'SciFi Cine Club' team was Premendra Mitra - who is well-known for his immortal creation Ghana-da.

All of this reminded me how beautiful my childhood was, thanks to these and many other Bengali authors. I didn't have a happy childhood and usually had more bullies in my life than friends. But I was a big fan of music and books, and both of these saved me from turning into a complete moron. I am sure countless Bengalis all over the world will echo similar feelings about their experience with Bengali children's literature. Just imagine how important a task all these people had taken up - creating a better childhood for millions of people, for years to come!