Kiriti Sengupta's Blog

Initiation into Self-realization

Kiriti Sengupta

A preamble excerpted with permission from Sadhana: the realisations of life by Rabindranath Tagore, published by CLASSIX (an imprint of Hawakal Publishers)

I was pleasantly surprised as a few weeks ago, Bitan Chakraborty expressed his keen interest to re-introduce Rabindranath Tagore’s Sādhanā: the realisation of life through CLASSIX. He wanted to disseminate Tagore’s invaluable teachings that, he thought, the world needed to acquire anew...

On the inaugural issue (2020-2021) of the Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English, edited by Sukrita Paul Kumar and Vinita Agrawal

A lecture delivered on June 25, 2021, at the online event hosted by India International Centre (IIC), Delhi.

Thank you, India International Centre, for inviting me to this event on the Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English. I’m a contributor to this collection, representing Hawakal, the publisher of this book. Before I say about the book or its making or ...

I wanted to see him for a considerable period, of course, for a purpose. I wished to offer him a few of my poetry books—not because I had read a whole bunch of his poems and considered him a great poet, but because alongside my poems, my books featured paintings and illustrations by a few talented artists from Calcutta. I wanted his remarks on the artwork, for the person in this context was the Padma Bhushan awardee Jatin Das, an Indian artist who rightfully deserved to be portrayed as a legend....

Initiation into Self-realization Kiriti Sengupta A preamble excerpted with permission from Sadhana: the realisations of life by Rabindranath Tagore, published by CLASSIX (an imprint of Hawakal Publishers) I was pleasantly surprised as a few weeks ago, Bitan Chakraborty expressed his keen interest to re-introduce Rabindranath Tagore’s Sādhanā: the realisation of life [...]

On the inaugural issue (2020-2021) of the Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English, edited by Sukrita Paul Kumar and Vinita Agrawal A lecture delivered on June 25, 2021, at the online event hosted by India International Centre (IIC), Delhi. Thank you, India International Centre, for inviting me to this [...]

How do we perceive light? How do we intuit its source? It can be cockcrow, it can be the candle we float in the river, it can reasonably be the lantern Ma placed at my study when there was a power cut, or it can reasonably be literature that illumines our faculties. It is imperative to recognize the light that allows a respite from prevailing darkness. Respite isn’t the right word, I guess. Radiance liberates us from the murk. One must remember, it’s the shimmer that sustains lucency. Let me cla...

How do we perceive light? How do we intuit its source? It can be cockcrow, it can be the candle we float in the river, it can reasonably be the lantern Ma placed at my study when there was a power cut, or it can reasonably be literature that illumines our faculties. [...]

As I began working on Hibiscus, I advised my co-editors, Anu Majumdar and Dustin Pickering, to send me a few verses on the chosen theme. To maintain ethical standards, I didn’t publish them, nor did I include mine in this collection. But I liked their works and discussed them in the introductory passage. In the last few days, I’ve critiqued briefly four poems. I won’t write a critical analysis as I conclude the session. I’ll let you peruse their poetry instead.

Happy reading! — Kiriti Sengupt...

As I began working on Hibiscus, I advised my co-editors, Anu Majumdar and Dustin Pickering, to send me a few verses on the chosen theme. To maintain ethical standards, I didn’t publish them, nor did I include mine in this collection. But I liked their works and discussed them in the [...]

All great poets succeed in creating euphony; Sanjeev Sethi isn’t an exception. He is an exceptional wordsmith with a profound consciousness of letters. The following poem opens with the title itself: a practice Sethi commonly employs, and integral to the stylistics of his works.

Inducement | Sanjeev Sethi

Instructions are installed
in our core:
there’s no toggle to turn.
Happiness is a wallet
I left at a lover’s vault.

Cheerlessness is my chaperon.
What’s my catalyst
to keep on truckin’?
His o...