Poetry Workshop
The students of Calcutta University were enthralled by the arrival of the acclaimed poet Dr Bashabi Fraser on 6th of January on the College Street campus. For every student of Literature it seems like a wonderful opportunity to meet a poet because it helps them come to terms with the depth of life and what's better than a poetry workshop held in the University itself.
Known to specialize in Post colonial Literature and theory, her writings reflect an amalgamation of various diaspora with themes like culture and identity, dislocation and relocation, feeling of belonging and otherness, nostalgia and so on. Now she is a permanent member of the Edinburgh Napier University's Literature department.
The workshop started off with zeal from the poet herself as she read out her best poems one of which was From the Ganga to the Tay which is a contemporary epic poem in the form of a conversation between the two rivers regarding their shared history. Also gave a lecture on her book Bengal Partition Stories: An Unclosed Chapter which represents the gap existing in the western discourse on Bengal border. However the loudest applaud came as she read out her poem on modern Krishna on the theme of Holi, the festival of colours. Also equally interesting were the Letters she had written to her mother after her death which spoke about the plight of the women in orthodox countries.
The workshop came to a short halt with a coffee break of about ten minutes giving a break to the respected faculty present and the students. After being energized by the tinge of coffee in blood the workshop took on a different level now. It was now the time for the students to showcase their talent. Each student was asked to write a poem on the breakdown of the modern world by becoming either a bird or an animal or a river and write his or her experience on the theme given. It was quite a sight to see all the creative minds working together
