Annaprasan ceremony

Yesterday evening I went to attend the annaprasan ceremony of Nabaneeta Deb Sen's daughter Antara's baby at Snehalata Bhavan. There I met many of the city's literary fraternity including Sunil Ganguly, Dibendu Palit, Pavitra Sarkar, Sankho Ghosh, Mrinal Sen (file photo) and others.

It is good to see Sankho Ghosh in a social function. I remember my recent visit to his house to invite him and I found that some others were already there to invite him to be the Chief Guest of their program. Sankho da very politely excused himself saying that he had never attended any inaugural function as the Chief Guest or Guest of Honour. Members of the team visiting him were visibly surprised and said how he managed to do this. Sankho da said "It has been so for the past 30 years and lets see how long I can manage keep it that way." I have heard from many quarters that Sankho da has actually declined to be the chief guest of many major events and functions over the years and attended these programs as an invitee only.

After the delegates left, I requested Sankho da to attend the Asian Women Writers' function as an invitee. He said yes but insisted that his name should not be printed in the guest list. I took his permission to print his name as a participant only to which he agreed. Though he could not make it to the program due to a mishap in the family, meeting him in his residence was a different experience for me. I have never met such simple a person who is also the senior most poet of Bengal. I have heard a lot about him since my first meeting with him in Nandan few days after he had resigned from the Bangla Academy (picture).

At the annaprasan ceremony, I was in no mood to eat but Nabaneeta di, like a true Bengali mother, made sure that I ate from the vegetarian buffet spread. I met Nandana who had come down from Mumbai for the ceremony and she introduced me to her fiancé.

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