Most people do 'research' because they want to publish papers and become professors. Tapen researches because he just enjoys it. And he does it with exceptional rigour and complete honesty ... and on truly interesting themes. Curiosity rules his life.
Even when I was trying to publish papers to become a (full) professor, I did not restrict myself to a narrow hole and keep on digging. Never my style. One external reviewer once wrote "he lacks focus". I did not give a rat's ass :).
Coming back to writing about Ghanada stories, the seed of the idea of this piece was planted in 2003 when I first visited Addis Ababa. Premendra Mitra described the city in terms a particular smell. It checked out! I was completely floored. Ever since then, I have been planning to write about Mitra's science fiction.
He also wrote a motherload about an ancestor of Ghanada - who was sold as a slave in South America. A lot of that involves the history of the region. Mitra's telling, while good, has some gaping holes. More glaringly, his use of Spanish (in Bengali script) is lacking. Having lived in the Mexico for over two decades and traveling to *every* country south of Mexico - in all modesty - I know a little better. Mitra - sitting in Calcutta - did not have that luxury.
Executive takeaway: Given how little he actually traveled, it is astonishing how accurately he wrote about things in faraway places he never visited.
Most people do 'research' because they want to publish papers and become professors. Tapen researches because he just enjoys it. And he does it with exceptional rigour and complete honesty ... and on truly interesting themes. Curiosity rules his life.
Thanks for the compliment!
Even when I was trying to publish papers to become a (full) professor, I did not restrict myself to a narrow hole and keep on digging. Never my style. One external reviewer once wrote "he lacks focus". I did not give a rat's ass :).
Coming back to writing about Ghanada stories, the seed of the idea of this piece was planted in 2003 when I first visited Addis Ababa. Premendra Mitra described the city in terms a particular smell. It checked out! I was completely floored. Ever since then, I have been planning to write about Mitra's science fiction.
He also wrote a motherload about an ancestor of Ghanada - who was sold as a slave in South America. A lot of that involves the history of the region. Mitra's telling, while good, has some gaping holes. More glaringly, his use of Spanish (in Bengali script) is lacking. Having lived in the Mexico for over two decades and traveling to *every* country south of Mexico - in all modesty - I know a little better. Mitra - sitting in Calcutta - did not have that luxury.
Executive takeaway: Given how little he actually traveled, it is astonishing how accurately he wrote about things in faraway places he never visited.
An excellent reserach indeed