Somdatta Mandal

Sabiha Huq's 'The Aviary': History depicted by three Mughal princesses and a Kashmiri queen

Sabiha Huq excavates and discusses overlooked texts written by Muslim women and questions the position of women within Islamic cultures in South Asia at large.

2y ago

Bashabi Fraser’s Critical Lives: Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) needs no introduction for us. As a polymath, he was the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1913.

3y ago

Educating Lak-shmi, My Maid

When I got married and came to live in my husband’s home in Salt Lake, I found a very efficient maid called Lakshmi already employed there. Unlike other helping hands she stayed for a long period of time in our house and would volunteer to do extra household chores

5y ago

The Thai Massage

We had gone on a package tour to South East Asia and on the last day of our trip we spent the whole day in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.

5y ago

The College Professor

My cousin Nirmalya was born and brought up in Delhi. He would visit us in Kolkata occasionally while visiting his ancestral home and

5y ago

The Marriage Proposal: A True Story

When my son turned into a marriageable age, all our friends, relatives and acquaintances started asking the inevitable questions, “When will he get married?”

6y ago

THE SMOKE ALARM

Since it was my fourth or fifth visit to the US, I considered myself a pro there. When I reached my cousin's home in Hicksville, Long Island on a Monday morning, she was busy preparing to leave for office.

6y ago

OF WEDDING GIFTS

After a month's respite, with the inauspicious Pous being over, the Bengali wedding season has come back with a big vengeance, so to

6y ago
May 19, 2022
May 19, 2022

Sabiha Huq's 'The Aviary': History depicted by three Mughal princesses and a Kashmiri queen

Sabiha Huq excavates and discusses overlooked texts written by Muslim women and questions the position of women within Islamic cultures in South Asia at large.

April 3, 2021
April 3, 2021

Bashabi Fraser’s Critical Lives: Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) needs no introduction for us. As a polymath, he was the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1913.

September 28, 2019
September 28, 2019

Educating Lak-shmi, My Maid

When I got married and came to live in my husband’s home in Salt Lake, I found a very efficient maid called Lakshmi already employed there. Unlike other helping hands she stayed for a long period of time in our house and would volunteer to do extra household chores

July 27, 2019
July 27, 2019

The Thai Massage

We had gone on a package tour to South East Asia and on the last day of our trip we spent the whole day in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.

April 6, 2019
April 6, 2019

The College Professor

My cousin Nirmalya was born and brought up in Delhi. He would visit us in Kolkata occasionally while visiting his ancestral home and

August 20, 2018
August 20, 2018

The Marriage Proposal: A True Story

When my son turned into a marriageable age, all our friends, relatives and acquaintances started asking the inevitable questions, “When will he get married?”

June 9, 2018
June 9, 2018

THE SMOKE ALARM

Since it was my fourth or fifth visit to the US, I considered myself a pro there. When I reached my cousin's home in Hicksville, Long Island on a Monday morning, she was busy preparing to leave for office.

April 28, 2018
April 28, 2018

OF WEDDING GIFTS

After a month's respite, with the inauspicious Pous being over, the Bengali wedding season has come back with a big vengeance, so to

March 31, 2018
March 31, 2018

EXAMINATION WOES

With the examination season on, people feel pity for the stressed students burning the midnight oil as well as for their parents who, in

February 3, 2018
February 3, 2018

Crossing Borders

In one of my trips to the USA, I had a ticket on Royal Jordanian Airlines with a stopover at Amman. I halted there for three days, saw