A tortoise drunk and happy

In Sthabar, the protagonist feeds on ants’ eggs and kills a shankhachud. But Haate Bajaare was a social novel and Bhuban Shome a sweet comedy. His autobiographical story was Agnishwar, made into a film like Haate Bajaare and Bhuban Shome. Banaphool alias Balaichand Mukhopadhyay was a writer of many kinds of stories, some of which barely crossed a page but told a compelling tale.

He was an artist too. He started to wield the paintbrush at the age of 50. Following Tagore, who had inspired him in more ways than one, Banaphool painted and sketched in watercolour and oil landscapes and portraits that often have a child-like simplicity and a touch of humour about them.

On September 10, nearly 40 years after the writer’s death, a coffee table book, A Writer’s Palette, Paintings and Drawings by Banaphool, was released at the ICCR. The book is a tribute to the author by his youngest son Chirantan Mukherjee, who is the publisher. In his note, he says that to his family Banaphool “appeared as short-tempered, slightly detached, (a) gourmet, amateur cook, but not a writer. Later we came to know he used to write during (the) dead of night …” Banaphool started to paint in the Sixties after his children grew up.

Full report here Telegraph