My forays into the world of Bengali writing

I have already mentioned that my first Bengali story was published in the monthly magazine Mashik Romancho. Subsequently, they published some more of my stories and, when next I visited Kolkata I decided to drop in on them and have a face-to-face direct interaction with the editor.
Accordingly, I located the address in north Kolkata – and was surprised to discover that it was a family affair. The magazine had been started by a person who had links with the All India Radio and, therefore, some big names of the world of radio used to write for the magazine. However, the present editor was his son and he had his offices on the ground floor of their ancestral building in a lane of north Kolkata. It was near the Hedua Park.
In those days it was the age of letter press printing and there would be compositors who would compose the matter for every page based on the handwritten manuscripts. Obviously, neat handwriting was important as well as the ability of the compositor to decipher the words.
After the pages were composed, the matter would be printed one off and submitted to the proof reader – he would check the accuracy and correct the matter where needed before the matter was sent for final printing. This was done in a 16-page format – that means eight pages on each side. Later the formats would be arranged, printed and bound into magazine form. The last step was the distribution to book stalls and other outlets, including the railway stations like Howrah station.
Getting to know the intricacies of printing a magazine was a great help to me as I learnt many years later when I printed magazines from Nashik – yes, Bengali magazines printed from Nashik, thanks to language software, computers and photo offset process.
Anyway, the editor of Mashik Romancho encouraged me to write on topics like spying – it was the age of James Bond and other characters like him and I also went ahead a created a Bengali version of James Bond. (to be continued …)


Another interesting blog - Violence and atrocities

Another interesting blog - Citizen Journalist

Links to some more interesting stories –


Nashik Kumbhmela 2015 – a once in 12-years pilgrimage

Trip to Nashik should take in Shirdi and the Ajanta and Ellora caves

First Russian woman cosmonaut returns to Earth after six-month stay in ISS


My Boss wanted me to become a detective


My job interview over a cup of coffee


Train travel to and from Kanpur to Kolkata


I gamble away my month’s earnings before Diwali


I finally join the MiG factory in HAL Nashik