by Kaliprasanna Sinha
Translated by Chitralekha Basu with a foreword by Amit Chaudhuri.
1860s Calcutta. Twenty-one year old Kaliprasanna Sinha – philanthropist, playwright and irreverent intellectual – assumes the persona of the Night Owl aka Hootum to write a series of sketches on the society and culture of a city caught in the throes of tumultuous historical shifts. From the sacrificial arena at community Durga Puja celebrations to the pleasure houses of the filthy rich, from an upstart Anglophile’s overflowing cup of brandy to a caterwauling fisherwoman’s wicker basket – Hootum, the Owl, takes in everything that he sees, putting it all down with a graphic imagination and a macho swagger that few have been able to match since.
Sketches by Hootum (Hootum Pyanchar Naksha, published between 1861 and 1868) is considered a foundational text of modern vernacular Bengali. Now readers are giving in all over again to the unbeatable pull of this vivid and vibrant world of sensory perceptions, its fascinating array of historical allusions, intense inter-textuality, the captivating pastiche of practically all available generic and linguistic models, from the classical European belles lettres to Calcutta cockney.
Thanks to Chitralekha Basua’s triumphant translation, Sinha’s revolutionary text can now inspire a new generation of English readers.