Warm but clumsy with babies: Sen’s ex-wife

She recalled Sen’s scholarliness made him “a bit unmindful of everyday matters on running of houses… but as a husband, Amartya was responsible, warm and loving.” Debsen, who married Sen in 1960 and formally separated in 1976, said, “Although our marriage did not not last for ever, we had a long and happy married life. We are still very good friends.” She has two daughters from the marriage — Antara and Nandana.

“Whenever hewent outside India, he used to send cards everyday for the three of us. And during our courtship one letter everyday to me,” she said.

Debsen who met Sen at Jadavpur University where he was the head of the department of economics and she a student of comparative literature said, “We came close as I was a debater and he the chairperson of the debating society of the university. He formally proposed to me at Cambridge in 1959”.

“Amartya was quite lost with the babies as he did not not know how to handle them. But he later developed perfect communication with all his children as they grew up,” she said. “There was, however, no lack of affection and concern. Amartya tried to contact our daughters once a week and surely twice a month despite his busy schedule,” said Debsen.

who is also the executive committee member of the international semiotic studies association.

To a question, Debsen said, initially Sen worked on `choice of techniques’ and `collective choice’.

His campaign for health,education and empowerment of women as envisaged in welfare economics developed later. “But the seed was sown very early in his life,” said Debsen who delivered the Radhakrishnan Memorial Lectures at the Oxford University in 1996-97.

Talking about Rabindranath Tagore’s influence in Sen’s life, she said `his interest in working with villages falls in line with Tagore’s tradition”. Incidentally, both Amartya and Nabanita were christened by Tagore.

Sen who loves Bengali dishes enjoys indulging in bengali adda. “When he visits Santiniketan every December, Sen indulges in `adda’ at the famous `Kalo’s tea shop,” she said.