God appeared at midnight: Three poems by Bitasta Ghoshal

“वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् “                                                           “शृण्वन्तु बिश्वे अमृतस्य पुत्रा:“

BHASHA SAMSAD –an Endeavour to focus on the ONENESS of the Universe

In the late ’50s & early ’60s, a young man in his 20’s, strongly influenced and inspired by Swami  Vivekananda’s wanderings across India,  himself became a ‘Parivrajaka’  traveling all over the country.

During one of his travels this young man, Baishampayana Ghoshal reached  Kerala  .  Very tired, he asked a lady carrying a  pot on her head the way to the local school where he wanted to rest for the evening. The lady gestured him to follow her. He was surprised to find that the lady with the pot on her head was actually the headmistress of that school. She told that the world does not have one language, rather it is having multiple languages. We exhibit unnecessary pride by knowing one or two languages without even knowing properly the languages and culture of our own country.  And,   Baishampayana used to say- “ then she told me about the various works of Tagore, Sarat Chandra, Tarashankar, Bibhutibhusan  – and even more astonishingly –  modern masters like Manik Bandapadhyay, Buddhadev Basu, Bishnu Dey, etc. Then she asked me if I knew anything about   Malayali, Tamil, or other  South Indian literature.  It came like a slap on my face “.

He admitted with the reverence that he had not read any of these even in translation. Then she explained to him the necessity of translation literature which will connect people across the globe.

And thus it all started.

He traveled back to Kolkata and contacted Mr. Annada Shankar Roy  ICS, the very eminent Bengali litterateur,  and his wife Ms. Lila Roy, herself a well-known translator,  to discuss this. Greatly encouraged by them finally on 26^th January  1975, with all his meager savings,  Ghoshal brought out the 1^st edition of  ‘Anubad  Patrika’.

Mr. Annadashankar  Roy himself presided over the release of the 1^st copy of  Anubad Patrika in the presence of many distinguished writers and journalists.  Baishampayan  Ghoshal was the first editor.

Literature is the mirror of society and the one and only thread that connects people across the globe

irrespective of their language and culture, thus creating understanding and promoting peace and harmony in this world of unrest and disorder. So the foundation of Anubad Patrika was laid to reflect  Indias Rishi Vani – “Shrinwantu Vishwe Amritasya Putra”  and “Vashdhaiva  Kutumbakam”.   Its main objective was-  and continues to be- of National Integration and International understanding and to reflect the unity in diversity of India through translations.

With the foundation of Anubad Patrika being laid in 1975, one more platform called  Bhasa Samsad was created by Mr.Ghoshal, in the year 1979, for cultural exchange of various regions across India.  Bhasa Samsad also used to conduct various workshops on Translation – literature and later it became a publishing house to promote promising young writers.

In the beginning, Anubad Patrika started as a quarterly magazine &  later in 1987 it became monthly.

During this period   various works of many   major writers of India found their place in this magazine,

Which by that time has already reached the zenith of its popularity. It was at this very stage that  Baishampayan Ghoshal withdrew into himself to focus on spiritual matters.

After a brief lull, his elder daughter Bitasta Ghoshal took up the responsibility of Anubad  Patrika and Bhasha Samsad, after giving up her carrier as a part-time lecturer in a college.

AWARDS:

During his lifetime Baishampayan Ghosal received many awards viz the very prestigious   ‘Ananda Purushkar’,   ‘Mata  Kusum kumari  International Award’ (Hariyana)  ‘Bangla Academy award’ etc. to name a few, for his immense contribution to literature for the cause of National Integrity and International understanding.

Incidentally, Baishampayan would have been particularly happy at the awards that his daughter Bitasta received from Bangladesh.viz. ,  “Dui-Banglar sera kobi samman” -2016, “ Chalantika “ award -2018.

Bitasta has also received  Bangla Academy award 2012, Ekantor Samman -2014. She is now an increasingly popular author and poet.