It is satisfying to see a 75-year-old Bengali writer, and not some media savvy upstart, finding some international glory in London. The author, Mani Sankar Mukherjee who just goes by his middle name is discovering the joys of being feted by London’s cognoscenti for his 47-year-old book ‘Chowringhee’ which has now been translated into English.
"For 47 years I had this typically Bengali arrogance about me.'Let them come to me,' I said, 'I won't go to them'," Sankar told Dipankar De Sarkar, the London correspondent of IANS.
"That is what happened. And now I feel relaxed. You know, it's been worth the wait," said Sankar with a broad smile.
"When 'Chowringhee' was first published and became a bestseller, many people in Kolkata began gossiping, 'Oh, he is an illiterate. What does he know about writing'."
Does he feel vindicated perhaps?
"No, no. Not vindicated. I feel relaxed, just relaxed."
"It's an utter treat," proclaimed Boyd Tonkin, literary editor of The Independent.
"I won't be quite alone in claiming that this half-century old novel translated from the Bengali might, to many eyes, supply more unashamed, reader-transporting enjoyment than any other fiction of the year."
Of course, in his native Bengal and elsewhere in India Sankar is a big literary figure and needs no vindication.