Sukumar Sen (A Great Chronicler of Time)- Makers of Indian Literature

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At times, providence descends on us when we are not ready. This offer to pen a portrait of Professor Sukumar Sen, the Dronacarya of Linguistics and Literary Studies, came to my table like this. I have had a fascinating relationship with several Secretaries of Sahitya Akademi. Each has contributed to developing creative writing and translation in many languages. The relationship goes back to Dr. Prabhakar Machwe-the reputed Hindi poet-critic but a multilingual writer to the core. Machweji joined the Akademi in 1954 at the invitation of the then Prime Minister, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, and Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. He was well-known for his poetry, fiction, translations, collection of short stories, biographies, children's books, travelogues, satire, criticism, edited volumes, reviews, and other miscellaneous topics of general interest. He wrote with equal ease on Keshavasuta, Kabir, and Namdev. In 1968, Machweji called me in the Regional Secretary's office in Kolkata Lake Stadium. He wanted to meet 'Nachiketa' who was so young but had already authored a collection of poems in Maithili (Kavayo Vadanti, 1966). In his questions and discussions with me, I could see the gleaming eyes of a senior poet-painter in trying to find out what the new generation has been thinking and writing. When I look back, that reminds me today of the lines of a young English poet, Robert Marston Fannéy:

"In the depth, a light will grow, A silver shine no shadows know, Like wings unfolding in the sky, That circle 'round a gleaming eye, Turning darkness all away, Even depths will know their day, For every shadow has its end,

In light!

Life will return!"

Even after his retirement in 1975, I met him several times when he served at the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad at Kolkata (1979-1985). I also fondly remember Prof. Indra Nath Choudhuri-who was at the helm of affairs in Sahitya Akademi from 1984 to 1996. He spent a lot of creative and productive time, throwing many new ideas and challenges-such as translating Tagore's children's writing from Bengali into Maithili. Indra Nath Babu asked me to organize the centenary celebration of Prof. Suniti Kumar Chatterji at the University of Hyderabad, which became a grand event. My friend and one of the best-known modern poets of India, K. Satchidanandan, who used to write in both Malayalam and English with equal ease, was again Secretary between 1996 to 2006. Thanks to him, I agreed to undertake many joint projects such as the 'Katha Bharati' series of translations and wrote the primary draft of the mammoth task-'National Translation Mission'. The other secretaries, Agrahara Krishnamurthy, who had come in from 2006 to 2012, or Kelkar (1975-1984), have also been great sources of inspiration.