Sunday Column: Characters & Colours

A whiff of monsoon, greenery everywhere, the aroma of wet mud in Odisha and the womenfolk here are eager to celebrate the festival of Raja that is round the corner....

The second wave of COVID-19 pandemic is creating waves of despair all over India. Amid ripples of gloom in Odisha and at a point in time when everyone is talking...

Often considered as a ‘Victorian realist’, Thomas Hardy is one of the most influential writers of the Victorian Age. Hardy had unconventional perspectives about subjects like religion, education, marriage and...

Born on May 13, 1916, prolific writer Sachidananda Rautray, popularly known as Sachi Rautray, came to the limelight mostly after the publication of his long poem ‘Baji Rout’. His poem...

Actress Gilda Susan Radner calls motherhood “an act of infinite optimism”. On this International Mother’s Day, Radner’s saying conjures up in my mind the figure of an ‘exceptionally brave’ mother...

A doyen of Odia literature, Manoj Das left millions of his ardent admirers shattered as he left for his heavenly abode on April 27. A writer par excellence, Das, 87,...

On the 85th birth anniversary of well-known writer J.P. Das, I remember his short story ‘The Mantra’ and his carefully-conceived character Suhasini. Apparently, Suhasini might seem to be a simple...

With the 107th birth anniversary of eminent writer Gopinath Mohanty just round the corner (April 20), one of his less-discussed characters Kamala comes to mind. The character appeared in his...

 It was the birth anniversary of Jnanpith award winner Ashapurna Devi a couple of days ago (Jan 8).  Also, a Padmi Shri awardee in 1976 and a recipient of the...

On the 190th birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule, celebrated as National Women’s Day, exemplary Odia writer Fakir Mohan Senapati’s Rebati comes to mind. Born on January 3, 1831, Savitribai is...