Amar Mitra says that the war is not a “answer” to problems between India and Pakistan. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
When the rays of drills rings and WhatsApp in Calcata Buzz with anxiety vibration above the eating conflict, the renowned Bengal writer Amar Mitra finds herself transported to another time – Calcutta blocked in the darkening curtains.
“I have clear memories of the 1965 Pakistan War. I can’t believe 60 years have passed,” Mitra said, talking to Hindu from his residence. “At that time I was 14. We lived in Belgachia and our window was covered with paper to escape the flashing of light. At night, the sirens were and often followed by frightening silence.”
One memory excels in the trade of theater lights – ironically, in complete darkness. “One evening, my older brother, Manoj-Day, an actor and playwright-she played a game presented at the Rabindra Sarobar Theater. We boarded a bus with a double plot to the south of Calcutta. I didn’t say the whole city.
The brother of Mr. Mitra, the late Manoj Mitra, a towering character at the Bengal Theater, who died in November 2024, introduced one of his early works that evening. For young Amar, this journey through a shaded town became a memory, which feared by the fear and fascination of the human spirit.
Six years later, in 1971, 20 -year -old Amar Mitra – the now beginning writer and employee in the land reforms of West Bengal – moved the situation of colleagues Bengali across the border when East Pakistan began to fight for liberation.
“I felt I had to do something,” he said with a quiet determination. “We have received money with our paragraph friends, bought Essentials – Dettol, Cotton, Benzen, Cookies, Rice, Tea – and headed to the border.”
They took the train to the bongaon, then went to Petrapole, the point of the crossing, now a strongly militarized, but then the porous edge of the divided Bengal. “The Indian guards stopped us, warned us against Pakistani spies. But we slipped and arrived at the Mukti Bahini camp. We gave our modest gifts.”
Amar Mitra, born in a family displaced in 1947, would become one of the most respected literary voices of Bengal with novels such as Dhanapatir Char, Aswacharit, Radcliffe Line and Kumari Megher Deh Chai. In 2022 he became the first Indian to win the prestigious O. Henry prize for the translated story and joined the ranks of international masters of short form.
Due to the current geopolitical restlessness, Mr. Mitra remains alert. “Terrorism must be uprooted from Kashmir and all parts of our country,” he said. “But war – war is not an answer. It is never. People who pay the price are always ordinary citizens, brave jawans. Religion can not dictate our policy. We are proud to be a secular nation.
As a city that loves debates about the war from reception rooms and digital screens, Mr. Mitra is firmly at memory of bus driving in the dark – and the border crossed bandages and biscuits, not bullets.
Published – May 7, 2025 9:40
