Illustrator of My Soul - A tribute to Sunil G.

This weekend was Allen Ginsberg's b'day.

I'm not a fan of Allen, I only heard the name after Sunil Gangopadhyay, my writing idol, mentioned him in one of his notorious books, Shudur Jhornar Joley (In a waterfall far away). The story goes that Sunil moves in with Allen and his partner Peter Orlovsky in a NY apartment in the days of free love, and makes enough of an impression that his name is mentioned in Ginsberg's poem about Bangladesh Liberation War, September on Jessore Road,

"Is this what I did to myself in the past?
What shall I do Sunil Poet I asked?"

Sunil, like myself, is a virgo (This Sep 07, he'll be 72). His career is vast and illustrious, I've read and re-read Shei Shomoy (Those Times) at least 10 times, and I spent 36 hours without food or sleep reading Prothom Alo (First Light) in 2000.

But my most favorite writing of his, is this short story called Moneesha'r Dui Premik (Two lovers of Moneesha). It is one of the stories that provide great insight into human mind, and also teaches you how to think, act and love.

The writer is in love with Moneesha. She is in love with someone else, let's call him T. Because the writer thinks that he is inadequate for Moneesha - he wants her to be happy - he wants to make sure that T treats her right. And he thinks that as the recipient of Moneesha's love, T should act and behave like the ideal person that Moneesha sees T as. The writer makes sacrifices to ensure that T remains the great person in the eyes of Moneesha and that Moneesha is not hurt. Love is that overpowering.

I never understood this nature of love until I experienced it first hand. Like the writer, I met My Moneesha (MM), who is/was involved with someone else, let's call him PP. Since PP makes MM happy, I automatically resigned myself as the cheerleader for PP-MM reunion, even suggesting ways to rekindle the spark in their relationship.

Luckily for me, unlike the short story, my Moneesha eventually came back to me.

Sunilji, loving someone is great. But there's no feeling like being loved in return.