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Amit Chaudhuri's delicate, evocative prose has found expression through a new world -- a world inherited by the same bourgeoise milieu of ...

Amit Chaudhuri’s delicate, evocative prose has found expression through a new world — a world inherited by the same bourgeoise milieu of Calcutta (which figures in most of his works), but, here, basic human communication is snapped.

A New World, Chaudhuri revels in `absence’. Or so it appeared from the author’s comments on the book and the few extracts he read out at Fountainhead, Crossword last week. On a slightly more detailed reading however, this book too, like A Strange and Sublime Address, Afternoon Raag and Freedom Song, does not escape Chaudhuri’s preoccupation with the physicality of his characters and situations — the modern writer’s attention to detail. Which Chaudhuri says, he doesn’t make an effort to achieve — "it could just be my love for cinema" — but neither does he claim to be a `spontaneous’ writer.

"It all starts with an idea, a concept. It brews for a while, then takes concrete shape. The writing process begins when I come up with an anthology of images — of people and situations from memory or life, which can be associated with the idea." And then begins the actual writing, when, on most occasions, a dilemma crops up — "to adhere to the original idea or just go with the flow. The craft is really in striking a balance and doing justice to form and characterisation." In fact, Chaudhuri is particularly keen on "playing with the texture of the form". Probably one reason why he has been lured into writing short stories. "I don’t know why, but for some odd reason, I want to get away from the novel for a while."

The "lazy, dilated architecture" of a novel isn’t as exciting for Chaudhuri as playing with the tight structure of the short story. Does that mean readers would have more of Chaudhuri in the next few years? Well, he does hope to be back from London for good.

‘Double bonanza for poor, middle class’: PM’s swadeshi pitch ahead of new GST roll out

India3 hr ago

PM Modi announced the rollout of new GST rates, calling it a "GST bachat utsav" and promising cheaper prices for medicines, insurance, and daily essentials. He emphasized that these reforms would ease doing business, attract investment, and benefit the poor, middle class, MSMEs, farmers, women, traders, and youth. He urged citizens to promote swadeshi goods.

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