As Day Is Breaking

Subhash Mukhopadhyay (1919-2003) was one of modern Indias most brilliant poets and he earned both the Sahitya Academy Award and the Gnanpith the countrys two highest literary awards. Padatik his first book of poems published when he was twenty-one remains a milestone in Bengali poetry. His refreshingly original diction his sparkling wit his incredibly sure command of metre and rhyme patterns and his unfailing ear for the music of the spoken word marked him out as an outstanding poet even among his illustrious contemporaries. A political activist almost all his life he spent many years as an organiser among factory workers in several industrial towns around Kolkata. The tumultuous forties and fifties of the 20th century over which World War Two famine the partition ghastly communal riots and gigantic migrations of whole population groups loomed large shaped his persona and his poetry. His oeuvre includes Agnikone Phul Phutuk Jato Durei Jai Kaal Modhumas Ei Bhai Chheley Gechhe Boney and Ektu Pa Chaliye Bhai - poetry books that are classics of Bengali literature. He also wrote luminous prose: fiction travelogue childrens history and journalistic memoirs were all part of his repertoire. Described as a truly political being in the deepest sense of the term Subhash was adored by all that knew him for his vivacity sense of humour and humaneness.