Apu, Ekshan, Ikebana and being Bengali
- Renaissance, uninterrupted -
Remembering Soumitra Chatterjee
Monish R Chatterjee  © 2020
Here is a YouTube recitation of this poem and its original Bengali version by Monish R Chatterjee:
youtube.com/watch?v=1epADonfSMc
I
was then 14, maybe 15, between studying English and science
Spending
seemingly interminable days waiting for the variety
Of
Puja Varshikis; back on our 3rd
floor, waiting for that magic
Moment
for the day's Ananda Bazar to drop in
a corner
Of
the verandah, launched from the street. And no sooner than
The
thud was heard, rushing to get our hands on that treasure
Trove,
hungrily wolfing down the day's cartoons and sports pages.
And
each day awakening to the heavenly sounds of Hemanta
And
Suchitra on the radio. These were the
foundations of our
Young
Bengali lives. Then, the glamour-filled
world of the cinema
Seemed
shallow, lacking in substance, hence worthy of rejection.
Yet,
right then, the task of upholding higher art in cinema fell
Upon
the capable hands of a Satyajit, a Ritwik and Mrinal,
A
Tarun and Tapan- a handful of the keepers of a higher culture.
And
there was you. Doubtless, in the
culture-conscious Bengali
Life,
the pairing of Uttam and Suchitra was the unmatched
Heartthrob-
yet, in my mind and a handful of others, you were
One
so close to our hearts. In you I have
seen the artistic intellect
An
unfathomable depth of the mind, the subtlety of sensibility
My
mind refused to engage in the meaninglessness of branding
Matinee
idols. I had met you once, entirely by
accident- I had
Yet
to see you on film. Cinema almost
entirely lay outside our
Orbit. Life had far more gravity than fluff. Yet, the names
Satyajit
and Soumitra were quite familiar- perched on seats
Of
reverence. It was 1971, as I
recall. My brother and I, in the
Company
of our Borda, had boarded Kolkata's double-decker
To
spend an evening taking in the dazzling neons of Park Street
And
the Esplanade. Soon, Borda had treated
his cousins to
The
delectable Rally's Rose Syrup. Thereafter, Borda had taken
Us
to visit the Academy of Fine Arts. Later, having completed
Our
tour of classic art, we found a distinguished looking Bengali
Gentleman
seated on a stone bench on the portico outside.
Cannot
recall if I recognized you at all. Yet
that evening became
Etched
in my memory forever, when Borda went forward
And
engaged the luminous gent in conversation. I discovered
Often
Borda knew several Bengalis of world stature. Now four
Decades
on, I retain the conviction- you were one of our own.
In
your personality there was not a trace of vanity. Before long
Borda
called us over, "Manu, Babun- come over. This gentleman
Is
Soumitra Chattopadhyay; these two are my maternal cousins."
I
first saw you on film in Ray's Teen Kanya,
as Amulya in Samapti.
Stepping
off the boat, slipping on the mud by the riverbank-
Thereafter,
witnessing the ridiculous city guy, pumps in hand,
Caked
in dirt, the nearly-obscure young Mrinmoyee's audible
Giggles.
In your company, later, Mrinmoyee's
transitioning from
A free and wild tomboy to a complete woman of beauty
and grace.
Not long after, it was likely Borda again, who had
brought home
An issue of a bi-monthly little magazine, Ekshan. Flipping its
Pages, I learned that Satyajit Ray was behind both
its name and
Its cover design. It was my first introduction to your literary side-
Then co-editing Ekshan
with Nirmalya Acharya. Over the years,
Of course, you were simply indispensable to your
cinematic
Mentor, Ray, and over the years, from Apu to Amal,
from Amulya
To Felu-da- you brought the characters of his
imagination to life
With complete ease. That sense of life as art- it
stayed with you
Until the very end- a sensibility born out of the
unmatched
Inspiration that was Rabindranath in your life (much
as he has
Been for so many of us)- the profuse creative
cascades of that
Greatest of poet-philosophers in human history. Upon your
Shoulders you have carried the burden of keeping
alive the very
Last gasps of our Renaissance. Your station was upon the highest
Echelon of our collective identity and pride- time
and again, I have
Witnessed you never compromising the higher
standards of a
Priceless culture, never once did you interchange
higher art with
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