Nirjan Setu

This memoir will loudly tell the next generation that one must not run away from life, but love it with the deepest tenderness. In the first half of the last century, a young widow defied the restrictions of her household and joined the freedom movement. From the veil-bound world of a secluded woman to the vastness of this world—over a hundred years of life she felt no exhaustion. Through remarriage, her connection with the Communist movement made her deeply committed to humanity. That sense of duty and responsibility was so profound that even after leaving her husband, her convictions never faltered. She faced adversity eye to eye and understood life on her own terms. Each page of this book teaches us, with humility, the foundational lessons of the human sciences. Even while bearing the weight of the deaths of loved ones and the stone of grief on her chest, her only cry in life was: “The verses of joy and sorrow are deeply embraced / our swift-flowing river is today eternal flowing. / A few radiant faces call out to each other, saying, listen— / we never speak of death.” This memoir was first published in Telugu. Later, the English edition The Sharp Knife of Memory was translated into fluent Bengali by Sagnik Bhattacharya and Asim Chattopadhyay. Sagnik Bhattacharya is currently employed in the Education Department of the Victoria Memorial. Asim Chattopadhyay is a well-known figure in Bengali literature.