SynopsisThe Bengalis are the third largest ethno-linguistic group in the world, after the Han Chinese and the Arabs. A quarter of a billion strong and growing, the community has produced three Nobel laureates, world-class scientists, legendary political leaders and revolutionaries, iconic movie stars and directors and an unending stream of writers, philosophers, painters, poets and musicians of the first rank. But, bald facts aside, just who are the Bengalis? What is the community all about, stereotypically and beyond stereotype? In order to find the answers to these and related questions, the author (a Bengali born and steeped in his own culture but objective enough to give us a balanced reckoning of his fellows) delves deep into the culture, literature, history and social mores of the Bengalis. He writes with acuity about the many strengths of the community but does not flinch from showing us its weaknesses and tormented history. He points out that Bengalis are among the most civilized and intellectually refined people on earth but have also been responsible for genocide and racism of the worst kind. Their cuisine is justly celebrated but few remember the cause and effect of millions of Bengalis dying of famine. Renowned for their liberal attitudes, they are also capable of virulent religious fundamentalism. Argumentative and meditative, pompous and grounded, hypocritical and wise, flippant and deep... Bengalis are all this and much, much more. With erudition, wit and empathy, this book manages to capture their very essence. Unarguably, it is the definitive portrait of one of the world’s most vibrant and distinctive communities.
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Binding: HardBack
About the author
udeep Chakravarti began his career in journalism in 1985 at the South Asia bureau of Asian Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company. In 1988, he moved to Sunday magazine, then the second largest newsweekly in India, published by Kolkata-based Ananda Bazar Patrika Group, where he was Business Editor.
He joined India Today as Business Editor in 1991, in time to witness the kick-start to India’s economic liberalisation. Until he left in end-2002 he held a variety of positions with India Today Group, progressively as Business Editor, Senior Editor, Deputy Editor, and Executive Editor in a multi-tasking role that encompassed print, the Internet, television, and the Group’s then-nascent books division. He was also Director of the India Today Conclave, a global platform for dialogue that he blueprinted and established. After briefly consulting for the private sector, he joined Hindustan Times as Consultant Editor in mid-2003. Here, he was part of the Group’s think-tank. He acted as a bridge between the CEO and Chairperson’s offices, and editorial, marketing and advertising departments.
He has edited numerous special volumes (among them, a three-volume Millennium Series for India Today) and a book, The Other India (Books Today, 2000), and co-edited The India Today Book of Cartoons (Books Today, 2000), and The Peace Dividend: Progress for India and South Asia (Lotus Roli, 2004). Sudeep is a Professional Member of the World Future Society, a Washington D.C.-based organisation of futurists. He was earlier invited to the Club of Asia by Strategic Intelligence; and in 2004, to the Indo-German Young Leaders Forum by the BMW-Herbert Quandt Foundation. He attended Mayo College, Ajmer, Rajasthan, and St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, where he obtained an Honours degree in History.
