Satyajit Ray in the year of his Father’s death centenary

In 1973, I was only 4 year old, but still remember listening, with awe & wonder, to Sukumar Roy’s nonsense poems. It was joy to know, that he had unlocked that freaky & totally nonsense sense of Bengali language. His poetry definitely did not have the effortless lilt & cadence of Kobiguru Ravindranath Tagore (unfair comparison? hell - yes!), but unleashed the punch and power, which, perhaps, was never before to such a degree (even after?).

He was unique to Bengali language & literature even in that golden era of Kobiguru and likes of steller storytellers & poets like Bankim Chandra, Ashapurna Devi, Mahesweta Devi, Kaji Nazrul Islam, Sharat Chandra, Satyandra Nath Dutta & others.

However, I continue to wonder, how much of this is projected by the great edifice of Satyajit Ray. After all, Eiffel Tower is Eiffel tower because of what we can see & celebrate above ground - not because of the unseen foundation. Similarly, orange or apple is not famous because of the tree trunk, but because of the taste & smell of fruits.

It may be really unjust to the memory & spirit of great Sukumar Ray & his limitless contributions in his very limited life of 36 years. However, I cannot help but wonder that if Mr.Satyajit Ray was not been there to pull up & bookmark the contributions of Ray family to Bengali culture, the Ray family, and thus, Sukumar Ray may not have stood the test of time.?Cannot express my immense respect to the family, and gratitude to their contribution to my mother tongue.

#Satyajitray #Sukumarray #aboltabol