V Ramaswamy

Oct 1, 2024 | scroll.in | Manoranjan Byapari |V Ramaswamy

Perhaps the news spread through the railway station and its vicinity, in the neighbourhood and the railside squatter settlement more speedily than a flame in a forest turns into raging forest fire. Jibon is back! Our Jibon-da has returned! Pa-khara Kedar, or Lame Kedar, who ran the small tea shop at the western end of Platform No. 2 of the railway station, was the first to spot Jibon, and he passed on the news to everyone. “When I first saw him, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Was I seeing right?

Aug 31, 2024 | scroll.in | Manoranjan Byapari |V Ramaswamy |Sayari Debnath

A youth walks into the Jadavpur railway station. Very soon, the denizens there – liquor vendors, rickshaw drivers, squatters, beggars, ragpickers, pickpockets – recognise him as Jibon, the daring young man who had done them many a good turn. And those who were certain he had perished in a deadly bomb blast in the city’s red-light area are astounded. His memory lost, this Jibon finds himself a stranger to his own self.

Oct 20, 2023 | apdirect.in | Manoranjan Byapari |V Ramaswamy

The shortlist for the 2023 JCB Prize for Literature was announced on Friday. Authors Manoranjan Byapari and Perumal Murugan are on the shortlist for the third time. Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, who was previously shortlisted for the Prize as an author, has been shortlisted this year for his debut book as a translator. Vikramajit Ram has been shortlisted for his debut novel. Tejaswani Apte-Rahm and Hindi language writer Manoj Rupda have been shortlisted for the first time.

Oct 20, 2023 | scroll.in | Manoranjan Byapari |V Ramaswamy

The shortlist for the 2023 JCB Prize for Literature was announced on Friday. Authors Manoranjan Byapari and Perumal Murugan are on the shortlist for the third time. Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, who was previously shortlisted for the Prize as an author, has been shortlisted this year for his debut book as a translator. Vikramajit Ram has been shortlisted for his debut novel. Tejaswani Apte-Rahm and Hindi language writer Manoj Rupda have been shortlisted for the first time.

Oct 8, 2023 | scroll.in | Manoranjan Byapari |V Ramaswamy |Sayari Debnath

A few weeks ago I met Manoranjan Byapari and his translator V Ramaswamy for coffee and conversation at a cafe in South Kolkata. It was an old building once – a club, more precisely – which was renovated recently into a coffee spot for the fashionable crowds of the city. It was Byapari’s first time at the cafe but the place looked familiar. He asked Ramaswamy – they are not far apart in age – if this place used to serve dosa and “South Indian” food many years ago. Ramaswamy nodded in affirmative.