April 19, 2018

Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award 2018

With Prafulla Roy, Keshari Nath Tripathi and Nabaneeta Dev Sen

19 April, 2018: Yesterday I attended the 55th session of An Author’s Afternoon with guest author Joshua Pollock. He was in conversation with Varuna Shunglu. a practitioner of yoga and a law graduate. She works with NGOs and has started her own wellness community Kyogi.

With Joshua Pollock, Varuna Shunglu and Kanak Rekha Chauhan

This session of An Author’s Afternoon was a tad unusual in the sense it began on a meditative note. The author, an expert violinist who has evolved his own meditation style called “Heartfulness”, wanted the audience to have a glimpse of that experience one feels during meditation.

With Neil and Bashabi Frazer

He guided the audience with basic relaxation techniques of calming the mind and getting prepared for the inner journey that lies ahead and also relate to his book “The Heartfulness Way”

With Keshari Nath Tripathi, Prafulla Roy, Swati Ganguly and The Bengal team members Agnimitra, Usha Uthup, Bickram Ghosh, Dona Ganguly, Arindam Sil, Jogen Choudhury, HM Bangur, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Nayantara Pal Choudhury and Goutam Ghose.

Just as we have to make an effort to go to a rail station to catch a train which takes us to our destination. We have to make an effort to calm our mind and the rest the inner journey would follow, the author explained. A mix of effort in order to achieve a kind of effortlessness was the key message. The audience asked some interesting questions pertaining to his style of meditation, the author said that we all have to experience meditation in our own way Pollock said.

With Usha Uthup and Keshari Nath Tripathi

Today evening, the third Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award event was held at the Raj Bhavan. Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi conferred the 2017 Award on Prafulla Roy, a leading litterateur of Bengal. His work on subaltern societies is laudable. A citation, shawl and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh was given to the author by the Governor. The earlier recipients of this Award are Nirendranath Chakraborty, Shankha Ghosh, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay and Joy Goswami.

With Prafulla Roy and Arindam Sil

The Bengal members were in full strength to attend the event. Usha Uthup rendered Ganesh vandana to start off the proceedings. Actor-director Arindam Sil read out excerpts from Sunil Ganguly’s renowned novel ‘Protham Alo’. Director Gautam Ghosh recited e poetry on a dead river by Late Sunil da. Agnimitra Paul conducted the whole ceremony.

With Swati Gangopadhyay

Chairman of The Bengal, H M Bangur delivered a speech on behalf of The Bengal along with Nabaneeta Dev Sen. Other members of The Bengal present on
the occasion included Bickram Ghosh, Dona Ganguly, K Jawed Yusuf, Nayantara Pal Choudhury and Jogen Choudhury. Mrs Swati Ganguly, wife of Late Sunil Ganguly was also present. About thirty senior citizens from Pronam also attended the event.

With Dona Ganguly

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