In the early 1960s, Kolkata was in the grip of major food shortages, an
insecure and incompetent government and disillusionment amongst the
young intelligentsia with the post-colonial political establishment. It
gave rise to the so-called '
Hungry Generation' , a band of irreverent and articulate angry young
men (and woman) who cocked a snook at the establishment.
Alan Ginsberg (1926 - 1997) was an active supporter.
Source
Quote:
The Hungry Generation (Bengali: হাংরি
জেনারেশান) was a literary movement in the Bengali language launched by
what is known today as the Hungryalist quartet, i.e. Shakti
Chattopadhyay, Malay Roy Choudhury, Samir Roychoudhury and Debi Roy
(alias Haradhon Dhara), during the 1960s in Kolkata, India. Due to their
involvement in this avant garde cultural movement, the leaders lost
their jobs and were jailed by the incumbent government. They challenged
contemporary ideas about literature and contributed significantly to the
evolution of the language and idiom used by contemporaneous artists to
express their feelings in literature and painting.[1]
The approach of the Hungryalists was to confront and disturb the
prospective readers' preconceived colonial canons. According to Pradip
Choudhuri, a leading philosopher and poet of the generation, whose works
have been extensively translated in French, their counter-discourse was
the first voice of post-colonial freedom of pen and brush. Besides the
famous four mentioned above, Utpal Kumar Basu, Binoy Majumdar, Sandipan
Chattopadhyay, Basudeb Dasgupta, Falguni Roy, Subhash Ghosh, Tridib
Mitra, Alo Mitra, Ramananda Chattopadhyay, Anil Karanjai, Saileswar
Ghosh, Karunanidhan Mukhopadhyay, and Subo Acharya were among the other
leading writers and artists of the movement.
An example, transcribed by me, below.
"So", by Samir Roychoudhury
O Sir, nobody uses the Jadhavpur Subway for a road crossing.
During the night, the aristocrat lunatics sleep there
A passenger queried, "Is the taxi-meter okay?"
I delivered a counter, "Is the country okay?"
The poem that tipped the balance against the movement was "
Stark Electric Jesus", by Malay Roychoudhury. The authorities never got the meaning of the words The '
Hungryalists',
(as they termed themselves,) were accused of obscenity and conspiracy
against the state, and many lost their jobs and some were imprisoned for
a while.
The Hungry Generation
Quote:
Allen Ginsberg arrived in early 1960s
Calcutta to discover a collective of angry young poets whose
anti-establishment antics were uncannily reminiscent of his own past.
This is the story of the so-called Hungry Generation.
Fifty years later, we follow in the footsteps of the Beat Generation to
the literary centre of India and go in search of the Hungryalist poets.
Who were they? Where did they fit with a rich Bengali literary tradition
that includes the great Rabindranath Tagore? What eventually led to
their arrests, imprisonment and disbandment?
The Hungry Generation were a special breed - born in the slums, but
highly educated and primed for a revolution in both literature and
society. Through their verse, they broke strict rules of Bengali poetry
as well as social taboos. In their actions they rubbished 'bourgeois'
Bengali polity - consciously acting without manners or etiquette,
burping, farting and using bad language.
They also used clever stunts to attack local officials and politicians,
and held readings in socially unacceptable venues such as brothels,
opium dens and graveyards. Hungryalist poets, such as the Roychoudhary
brothers, and Utpal Kumar Basu, stood for the outsiders of society.
Eventually the authorities had enough. Hungryalists were rounded up and
arrested on charges of obscenity and conspiracy against the state.
Ginsberg attempted to intervene, sending letters of support. US literary
journals carried the story and printed Hungryalist poetry. The movement
floundered.
But despite this, we discover that the Hungryalist anti-establishment
spirit is very much still alive in modern-day Calcutta today.
Produced by Dom Byrne
A Blakeway production for BBC Radio 4.
According to
Malay Roychoudhury, even fellow movement poets, Utpal Kumar Basu,
Saileswar Ghosh, Subhash Ghosh and Shakti Chattopadhyay testified
against him at his trial.
One of the presenters is Utpal Kumar Basu's son, Feroz Basu,
The other presenters are
Ipshita Chanda and
Deborah Baker, with Samir and Malay Roychoudhury's comments.
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