Apon Katha: My Story

Apon Katha captures the world of colonial Bengal during the last decades of the nineteenth century through the recollections of the author. Abanindranath Tagore, who is said to 'write pictures', paints moods, thoughts and scenes of a bygone era, recalling his childhood and ancestral home with meticulous detail and gentle affection.


Excerpt

These are all I remember of the first part of my life: tumbling into daylight from the cocoon of my blanket, hiding beneath it once more, at night the milk bowl, the jhinuk, the safe, the oil lamp, Padma dasi, the ghost-like figures in the darkness of the night. And from the day, I remembered sounds that would make one start—a slammed door, the jhinjhin of a bunch of keys. But for these, there is nothing, no one at all in my memory. Beginning from the day of Janmashtami, 1871, eleven minutes past 12 to a few years into life, my senses knew and held onto these few, ordinary things. Apart from eating and sleeping, I did nothing. Then, suddenly one day I encountered an event, absolutely alone.


REVIEWS

Chatterjee’s English conveys the fineness and whimsicality of Abanindranth’s Bengali, making this delightful, but elegiac little book an important literary work and historical document.
- The Telegraph

This autobiography, about the author’s growing years in the creative hothouse that the Tagore house was, is very compellingly written. With his artist’s eye for detail, each incident is vividly recreated.
- The Hindu


Non-Fiction/ Memoir
Paperback • 197 x 127mm
104 pages
All rights available
£5.99 / $8.95 / Rs.150