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Calcutta Diary
The essays in Calcutta Diary first appeared in the Economic and Political Weekly during the infamous 21-month Emergency imposed in India between June 1975 and March 1977. Interestingly, Ashok Mitra had worked with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who had imposed the Emergency. The essays recount aspects of a unique and particularly difficult phase in contemporary Indian history.
This new edition includes a foreword by eminent social scientist, Partha Chatterjee, and a concluding commentary by the celebrated historian of South Asia, Ranajit Guha. It offers an unparalleled portrait of Calcutta (now Kolkata) in all its grime and glory in a way few writers have been able to capture life and longing in this infuriatingly memorable metropolis in eastern India.
This new edition includes a foreword by eminent social scientist, Partha Chatterjee, and a concluding commentary by the celebrated historian of South Asia, Ranajit Guha. It offers an unparalleled portrait of Calcutta (now Kolkata) in all its grime and glory in a way few writers have been able to capture life and longing in this infuriatingly memorable metropolis in eastern India.
338 pages, Paperback
First published May 19, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 8, 2022
Calcutta Diary by AM
It was almost a passion during my younger days. I used to wait for the week to end; so that Economic and Political Weekly will be published and despite being very short of cash those days, I would somehow manage my purse to ensure that I get a copy of the weekly EPW and rush to AM's Calcutta Diary. Half a century later, the excitement was still the same. The author's encyclopediac knowledge of almost every subject and his enviable command of the English language turned his columns into political poetry. Miss him.
It was almost a passion during my younger days. I used to wait for the week to end; so that Economic and Political Weekly will be published and despite being very short of cash those days, I would somehow manage my purse to ensure that I get a copy of the weekly EPW and rush to AM's Calcutta Diary. Half a century later, the excitement was still the same. The author's encyclopediac knowledge of almost every subject and his enviable command of the English language turned his columns into political poetry. Miss him.
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September 5, 2018"More poets per square kilometer than even football fans."
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews