MASTER Story Teller Ramapada Chowdhury is No More

RAMAPADA Chowdhury, eminent Bangla novelist and short story writer  in post Sarat Chandra Chattapadhyaya era, has passed away,  in a Kolkata  hospital following  old age  related  ailments and a cardiac arrest. He was 95 and his survived by wife and two daughters .Kharagpur born Ramapada was a master in English literature from Kolkata’s prestigious Presidency College. He was associated with the Ananda Bazar Patrika’s Supplement edition as its Associate Editor for several years and had taken voluntary retirement. Ramapada, who breathed his last on July 29, 2018, was a regular contributor to Desh, a sister publication of the ABP group. His most creative period is between 1950 and 1980.  Harano Katha, claimed to be his last creation, was published in 2015. His ‘Abhimanyu’ was based on the life and work of Dr Subhas Mukhopadhyay who created India’s first and the world’s second test-tube baby in 1978. Director Tapan Sinha turned the story into an award winning Hindi film ‘Ek doctor ki maut’ in 1990. Mrinal Sen’s Hindi film ‘Ek din achanak’ (1989) was also based on Chowdhury’s story ‘Beej’.He had also penned famous literary works such as ‘Pratham Prahar’ (1954), ‘Banpalashir Padabali’ (1960), ‘Ekhoni’ (1969), ‘Kharij’, ‘Bari badle jay’ (1988). He was honoured  with the Sahitya Academy award for ‘Bari badle jay’ in 1988.Several of his works were  made critically acclaimed Bengali films  such  as ‘Dwiper nam tiarang’ (1963), ‘Ekhoni’ (1970), ‘Picnic’ (1972), ‘Banpalashir Padabali’ (1973), ‘Je jekhane danriye’ (1974) and ‘Kharij (1982) and  Lalbai .He was also the recipient of Rabindra Puraskar, Ananda Puraskar and Rabindranath Tagore Memorial International Prize. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said in his demise, Bangla literature has lost  a genius writer .(image  : courtesy : The Statesman) .