Shibram Chakraborty

Chakraborty was born into the well-known Chanchal Rajbari (royal house of Chanchal) family, although his ancestral home was in Malda. However the ancestral seat of the Chakrabarty family was at Choa in Murshidabad District.[4] He was born at his maternal uncle's house at Nayan Chand Dutta Street, Darjipara in Kolkata, the capital of British India.[5] His father was Shibprashad Chakrabarty. A spiritualist by nature, Shibprashad would often speak of the road. Shibram inherited his wanderlust from his father.[3]

In school, he played an active role in the Swadeshi movement (part of the struggle for Indian independence and as a result jailed, which resulted in his inability to sit for the matriculation exam. Despite not progressing further with his education, Chakraborty studied on his own and was knowledgeable in a variety of subjects.

He spent most of his life in the second-floor rented accommodation, only consisting of a bedstead & bedsheet at Muktaram Babu Street in Kolkata. He turned its walls into a hand-written calendar, documenting his time there. He never married and was known as a "free spirit" and was generous to his friends.[3] He did not maintain proper records or preserve the manuscripts of some of his works.

His initial foray into literature was as a poet. His first book of poems was called Manush (Man). He worked as a feature writer in daily newspapers and magazines such as Basumati (বসুমতী), Ananda Bazar Patrika (আনন্দবাজার পত্রিকা) and Desh [দেশ]. These were tinged with humour and got him noticed in the public eye. Subsequently, he started writing stories and novels.[3]

His writing is noted for use of literary puns as a key story vehicle – speculated to be a first in Bengali literature. He is also noted for his self-deprecating humour. An example of this is the convoluted way in which he would spell his name in Bangla in his stories: শিব্রাম চকরবরতি (Shee-bram Cho-ko-ro-bo-ro-ty).[3] He would often put himself into his stories amongst fictional characters. The most famous and recurring characters in his stories are the brothers Harshabardhan [হর্ষবর্ধন] and Gobardhan [গোবর্ধন] and his sister Bini. He also created a detective character named Kalke Kashi. Advertisements for his books often bill him as the King of Laughter.[6] Aside from funny stories, his other notable writings include the dramatisation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel Dena Paona (দেনা পাওনা) under the title Shoroshi [ষোড়শী] (Sixteen Year Old Girl), the political work Moscow bonam Pondicheri [মস্কো বনাম পন্ডিচেরি] (Moscow Versus Pondicheri;) and the play Jokhon Tara Kotha Bolbe [যখন তারা কথা বলবে] (When They Will Speak). His (so called) autobiography Eeshwar Prithibee Valobasa (ঈশ্বর পৃথিবী ভালবাসা) (God Earth Love) is also regarded as one of his best works. During his 60-year career he authored more than 150 books.[3]

Shibram spent his early days in Paharpur and Chanchal. In his boyhood days, he once ran away from home.[6] This experience would later inspire his novel Bari Theke Paliye [বাড়ি থেকে পালিয়ে] (Runaway), which was made into a film by Ritwik Ghatak.[7]

In the last phase of his life, he ran into serious financial difficulties and the West Bengal Government put him on a monthly allowance. He died in Kolkata in 1980. Very few people attended his cremation, including a few of his very close friends like Shakti Chattopadhyay and Sunil Ganguly.

• Bari Theke Paliye [বাড়ি থেকে পালিয়ে] (Runaway): A novel
• Bari Theke Paliyer Por [বাড়ি থেকে পালিয়ের পর] (After Runaway): A novel, sequel to Bari Theke Paliye.
• The Merry Adventures of Harshabardhan and Gobardhan. (Translated by Arunava Sinha. Hachette India, New Delhi, 2014)
• Eeshwar Prithibee Valobasa [ঈশ্বর পৃথিবী ভালবাসা] (God Earth Love), 1974: (So called) autobiography.
• Valobasa Prithibee Eeshwar [ভালবাসা পৃথিবী ঈশ্বর] (Love Earth God), 1976: Another (so called) autobiography.
• Aaj O Agamikaal [আজ ও আগামীকাল] (Today & Tomorrow), 1929: A collection of short stories.
• Ekti Swarnaghotita Apokeerti [একটি স্বর্ণঘটিত অপকীর্তি] (An Misdoing Due to Gold): Drama
• Debotar Jonmo [দেবতার জন্ম] (Birth of God): Short story
• Jakhan Tara Katha Bolbe [যখন তারা কথা বলবে], (When They Will Speak): A play.

• "Though that may be not the ultimate goal, but the communists do have an extreme goal, and that is All for one and one for all."
• "The history of human civilisation is sub-divided into two kinds of people. One who is selfishly screaming that all of this earth belongs to me. State – that's me! I will benefit—this happens to be the biggest thing of this world. The other is sacrificing himself by exiling into the forest or on the cross; they said, I have come for all; I have sacrificed myself to all. Both of them show the incompleteness of the civilisation."
• "My respect for Rabindranath is not because he is a so-called superman, but because he is a complete human being."
• "The basis of a human being's completeness lies in the maturity of body, mind and intellect ... the bottom line of completeness is congruence, harmony."
• "To earn the freedom of a nation, a freedom fighter has to sacrifice his own freedom."
• "After years of hard contemplation I have reached the conclusion that all this excitement about "New Year" is meaningless, because in my experience, it has never lasted more than a year." (Paraphrased and translated from Bengali)

• Shibram Chakraborty at IMDb