Subimal Basak

Subimal Basak, the most original fiction writers among the Hungryalists (the group is known as Hungry Generation in English, Kshudhito Projanma in Bengali and Bhookhi Peedhi in Hindi in India), hails from a Bengali weavwer caste family, though his father Taraknath Basak, who came to India from Kaltabazar, Dhaka (now in Bangladesh) during partition of the country, chose the job of a gold bullion broker. Gold bullion business attracted Taraknath to gambling, resulting into insolvency and eventually, suicide. Taraknath drank 750ml nitric acid. With Taraknath's suicide the family shifted to Lodipur, a notorious lower caste ghetto in Patna, Bihar. Being the eldest son, Subimal Basak did his graduation while working as a bike mechanic, bartender, poster sticker, press-compositor, proof reader, auto spares salesman, stenographer, election campaigner, primary school teacher, social welfare worker, clerk etc., and raised his three brothers and a sisterSubimal Basak was born in Patna on 15th December 1939. His mother, Madhumalati, also belonged to weaver caste.

Induction into Hungry Generation

The first Hungryalist bulletin was printed at Patna in November 1961. Prior to that Subimal Basak did not know Malay Roy Choudhury, the creator of Hungryalist Movement, or Malay's elder brother Samir Roychoudhury who, along with Shakti Chattopadhyay and Debi Ray were involved in the issuance of the first bulletin. Subimal Basak, who had, since 14 years of age, maintained a personal scrap book to record his experiences in experimental prose, chanced upon to get a copy of the Hungry generation bulletin, and met Malay at his father's photographic studio.
Malay Roy Choudhury was quite impressed with Subimal Basak's choices of words, mix-up of words and expressions used by lower and upper castes, usage of Bangladeshi diction, composition of sentences and life in Lodipur ghetto. Since Subimal Basak was shifting his base to Calcutta (Kolkata) to seek literary outlets, Malay immediately inducted him into the Hungryalist Movement.

Hungryalist Quartet and Troika

Shakti Chattopadhyay, Samir Roychoudhury, Debi Ray and Malay Roy Choudhury were known as Hungryalist Quartet till January 1963 when Shakti Chattopadhyay left the movement to join Ananda Bazar Patrika, an anti-Hungryalist paper in those days. Thereafter Subimal Basak, Debi Ray and Malay Roy Choudhury became famous as Hungryalist Troika because of their anti-Establishment activities in Calcutta (Kolkata), as well as the posters and drawings plastered all over the city, which attracted the attention of Indian politicians and West Bengal administrators. Their cartoons appeared in such newspapers as The Statesman, The Searchlight, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Dainik Jugantar, Dainik Basumati, Saptahik Janata, Darpan etc. News about the Hungryalist Troika appeared in such periodicals as Link, Dharmayug, Dinaman, Saptahik Hindustan, Blitz, Yugaprabhat, Amrita, Chatushparna, Adhikaran, Jalsa, Bharatmail, Desh, Naranari, Asso, Now, Maral, Lahar, Sanmarg, Jansatta, Gyanodaya, Ingit, Anima, Galpo Bharati, Vatayan, Malayali Manorama, Nayee Dhara etc. It was this Hungryalist Troika, specially Subimal Basak, who brought Pradip Choudhuri, Basudeb Dasgupta, Tridib Mitra, Alo Mitra, Subo Acharya, Anil Karanjai, Karuna Nidhan Mukhopadhyay, Rajkamal Choudhary into the fold of the movement. It was virtually a literary avalanche in Bengali culture.

Chhatamatha:New Prose

Subimal Basak's first fiction is titled Chhatamatha.Published in 1965, the author calls it a counter-novel. The open-narrative which does not follow a logical sequence and fixed identifiable characters or a protagonist in the conventional sense, uses the spoken dialect of the horse-cart drivers of precolonial Dhaka (now capital of Bangladesh), though the dialogues are in cultured Bengali diction of upper-caste Calcutta (Kolkata) homes. Critics and literature students, both in West Bengal and Bangladesh, have praised its heteroglossia, idiom, native irony, elusiveness, configuration, kinesthesia and dictional intricacies.There is no equivalent English word for Chhatamatha. Chhata means both umbrella and fungus; Matha means both head and brain. Neither the entire book nor its title is translatable, even in other Indian languages, though Malay Roychoudhury had translated some passages with the help of Prof Howard McCord and Carl Weissner during the high noon of Hungryalist movement (1961-1965). Somewhat simpler prose of Subimal Basak have appeared in US/UK magazines such as Salted Feathers edited by Dick Bakken, City Lights Journal edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Klactoveedsedsteen edited by Carl Weissner.In an interview to Shankar Kundu and Chiranjeeb Sur (Alochana Chakra, August 2001, Kolkata) Subimal Basak has recalled his candle-lit nights when he wrote the pieces of jigsaw-prose of Chhatamatha, and thereafter how he assembled and reassembled them.

Protnobeej:Seeds of Antiquary

His second novel Protnobeej (Seeds of Antiquary) was published after thirty years of Chhatamatha, in 1995. In an interview to Rinku Sharma (Milon Yearly, 2007) Subimal Basak has explained that since he wanted to write completely different from Chhatamatha, he took time to reinvent himself by falling back on on his childhood experience in Lodipur ghetto. In Protnobeej he has hybridised diasporic Bengali with ghetto Hindi, and constructed a new prose style to enable the narrative to take carry the fiction to displaced persons' flight. Because of its prose structure, Protnobeej also is untranslatable. However, he himself was bestowed with Sahitya Academy Award, India's highest award for translation.

Compendium of Superstitions and Marriage Songs

Subimal Basak has been continuously criticised for Hungryalist Troika activities, often compared to the Dadaists. In order to prove himself, he travelled throughout West Bengal and visited Bangladesh countryside post-Chhatamatha, and collected and published two compendia: one on superstitions in Bengali society, another on songs sung by elder women during Hindu marriages. These two books have since been extensively utilised by academicians, film makers and cultural aficionados. In fact, this field research has given a special place to Subimal Basak in the legend of Hungryalist pantheon.Anyabhumi magazine published a commorative issue in 2004 on Subimal Basak's literary achievements.

Poetry and Polemics

Subimal Basak has also published two poetry collections, which vent his anger and helplessness in the background of prevailing socio-political climate of West Bengal: Habijabi and Bakbakani. He has also published prose skits in polemical vein which have variations in narrative experiments: Atmar Shanti Du Minit,Guerilla Akrosh and Casual Leave. Covers of all his books and illustrations therein have been designed by Subimal Basak himself. A large number of little magazine covers, since 1960s have been designed by him. His sketches drawn during the Hungryalist movement are reprinted quite frequently even after 40 years.

Sources

Van Tulsi Ki Gandh by Phanishwarnath Renu. Published by Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi-2, India. (1984)

Hungry Shruti & Shastravirodhi Andolon by Dr Uttam Das. Published by Mahadiganta Publishers, Kolkata, India. (1986)

Salted Feathers edited by Dick Bakken, Portland, Oregon, USA. (HUNGRU Issue, 1967)

Intrepid edited by Carl Weissner, Buffalo, NY, USA. (Hungry Issue, 1968)

Milon: Subimal Basak Special edited by Biswajit Nandi, Tura, Meghalaya, India. (2007)

Encyclopedia in Assamese (Vol VII) edited by Rajen Saikia. Published by Assam Sahitya Sabha, Jorhat, Assam. (2007)

E-Kaler Gadya Padya Andoloner Dalil by Satya Guha. Published by Adhuna, Kolkata, India. (1970)

Bangriji Sahitye Khudhito Bangsha by Jyotirmay Datta. DESH Literature Issue. Kolkata, India. (Bengali Year 1375)

External links

* [http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_generation] Article on Hungry Generation.
* [http:www.kaurab.com/english/bengali poetry/Hungry-Generation] Photographs of Hungryalists with Introduction.
* [http:/www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,830799,00.html] TIME magazine News about Hungryalists.
* [http://www.library.northwestern.edu/spec/pdf/hungrygeneration.pdf] Hungry Generation Archive.
* [http://hungryalistgeneration.blogspot.com] Articles on Hungry Generation by Howard McCord, Nissim Ezekiel, S Modgal, Indrajit Bhattacharjee.
* [http://www.kaurab.com/english/bengali-poetry/malay.html] On Malay Roychoudhury, the creator of Hungry alist movement.
* [http://www.enwikipedia.org/wiki/Shakti_Chattopadhyay] On Shakti Chattopadhyay, leader of the Hungry Generation movement.
* [http://www.tudo.co.uk/pradip/shell/contents/pphoo_magazine/2003_01_jan/pages_04.html] On Pradip Choudhuri, a major Hungryalist poet.
* [http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falguni_Ray] On Falguni Ray, an outstanding Hungryalist poet.
* [http://www.books.google.co.in/books?isbn=8126008733] Who's Who of Indian Writers.
* [http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/holland/masc/finders/cg578.htm] Howard McCord Archive containing Subimal Basak Papers.
* [http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Roychoudhury] On Hungryalist Poet & Philosopher Samir Roychoudhury.
* [http://www.thewastepaper.blogspot.com] Hungryalist Influence on Allen Ginsberg.
* [http://www.findaids.library.northwestern.edu/fedora/get/inu-ead-spec-0022/inu:EADbefll/getListOfContents] Carl Weissner Archive with Subimal Basak Papers.