Sahitya Akademi awardee Sudhir Chakraborty passes away

Kolkata: Sudhir Chakraborty noted educationist, essayist and Sahitya Akademi awardee died at a city hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

He was admitted to a nursing home in south Kolkata with age related ailments and breathing difficulty. He was put on life support system and breathed his last at 4pm on Tuesday. He was 86 years old and is survived by his wife and two daughters.

A scholar par excellence Chakraborty was a researcher on folk religion, Lalan Fakir and cultural anthropology in Bengal. He was a school friend of Soumitra Chatterjee and had studied together in the post graduate level in the Bengali department of Calcutta University. Born in Shibpur in Howrah his father went to Dignagar in Nadia district during the Japanese bombarding on Kolkata during the World War II. Later, the family moved to Krishnanagar. Chakraborty was a trained singer and has to his credit 85 books. Of these books 'Sahebdhony Sampraday O tader gan', 'Sadar Mafassal', 'Gobhir Norjan Pathey', 'Bangla filmer gan O Satyajit Ray', 'Anek Diner Anek Kotha' are famous. He did his Phd on Folk Anthropology from Jadavpur University. He was a teacher in Krishnagar College.

He had travelled extensively in rural Bengal to get information on folk culture and religion and spent several years with the folk artistes across the state. The door of his house in Krishnanagar was open for students, scholars and litterateurs. He was a great conversationalist.

He will be remembered by his students, friends and acquaintances for his simplicity and amazing energy.