Kolkata woke up to yet another tragic news on Wednesday. The news of renowned poet
Shankha Ghosh’s demise brought an end to an era in Bengali literature. The 89-year-old poet who had tested positive for Covid-19 was suffering from age-related ailments for a while.
Like thousands of his admirers, veteran actor
Paran Bandopadhyay couldn’t believe the news when we contacted him. The news left him in shock as the actor said no words can describe this loss. “We are going through a really difficult phase. There’s so much negativity. I can’t describe in words how it feels. It’s a sad day for Bengali literary world. His poems used to inspire generations after generations. His words gave a new meaning to survival, his poems have been a force to reckon with challenging all those evil acts we see each day,” A heavy-hearted Paran Bandopadhyay shared with ETimes during an exclusive chat.
Shankha Ghosh had tested positive for COVID-19 on April 14 and since then was in home isolation. On April 20 his health deteriorated and this morning he was taken off the ventilator. He passed away at around 11 am.
Shankha Ghosh was a torchbearer of an era of celebrated Bengali poets after
Jibanananda Das
’ demise. He also spent so many years teaching at
Delhi University,
University of Iowa
and
Visva Bharati
.
He had received the
Sahitya Akademi Award
in 1977 for Babar-er Prarthana. The acclaimed poet was again honoured with a second Sahitya Akademi Award in 1999. In 2011, Shankha Ghosh was conferred with the
Padma Bhushan for his contribution to Indian literature.
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