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Sheikh I’tisam ud Din

Bengal Sketches – India’s “First Ambassador” to Britain

Together, they show Indians not as passive subjects of European

Bengal Sketches – India’s “First Ambassador” to Britain

Together, they show Indians not as passive subjects of European

Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.

— Leo Tolstoy

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What's New

Latest readings for today

Metropolis Musings
Editorial

Towns, cities and metropoles tend to become integral parts of the people who inhabit them.

Sheikh I’tisam ud Din
,
Bengal Sketches – India’s “First Ambassador” to Britain

Together, they show Indians not as passive subjects of European history, but as travelers, observers, writers, negotiators and judges of their age.

The Bird_Leo Tolstoy
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The Bird

Serozha could not get to sleep for a long time; every time that he shut his eyes he seemed to see the bird still lying

Monsoon Music
Monsoon Music

Shantiniketan still marks the season with Barsha Mangal, an entire ritual of songs to be sung while it rains.

Quantum Entanglement and the Relational Universe
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The Tapestry of Reality: Part 2

History shows that every major scientific revolution eventually reshapes civilisation. The steam engine transformed industry. Electricity transformed society.

The City in the Rain
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The City in the Rain

Kolkata in the rain feels like a different city. Somehow, Kolkata finds a strange kind of peace.

Writers, Pubs and book shops
Writers, Pubs and Book Shops

Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy was very prominently displayed followed by Emily Wilson’s translation of Homer’s The Odyssey.

Editorial: The Pomegranate & The Promise- Vol: 2

The mini-saga, as a form of fiction, was invented by British science fiction writer Brian Aldiss and popularised by The Daily Telegraph in the 1980s.

Loyalty
Loyalty

On 8 August 1942, one shot, point blank. The loyal student ensured the professor rested in peace without him suspecting a thing.

Tomorrow
Tomorrow

Every year on this day, she returned to the café and ordered his favourite – two Americanos.

The Refund
The Refund

“You’re the perfect host,” the doll whispered as Rajesh kissed its rosy cheek goodnight. He recoiled saying, “No – I’ll kill myself!”

The Return
The Return

Wishing for her late husband’s return, Emma blew out the candles – her nightly ritual. Suddenly, her bedroom door creaked open.

The Presence
The Presence

The old clock struck midnight. A nervous Lydia stood before the mirror in her dimly lit room, whispering the forbidden name.

The Echo
The Echo

He pulled the woman from the edge of the bridge. “No one left,” she sobbed, echoing his late mother’s words.

The Thank-you Note
The Thank-you Note

One day, I froze suddenly – the handwriting in that letter was identical to the daughter’s suicide note.

The Gunshot
The Gunshot

They burst in, anxious, only to find the nervous old man before his TV muttering, “Actions films scare the hell out of me, help me

The April Fool
The April Fool

Jake was ecstatic at Lily’s early morning message, “Moving to your city.” Her second message an hour later, “April Fool,” shattered his joy beyond repair.

Identity
Identity

After a successful heart transplant, Martha drifted into consciousness to her husband’s unexpectedly chilling words: “A stranger’s heart beats within my wife.”

The Care
The Care

Each morning, Karan wakes in his lonely flat to half a glass of milk and two sandwiches. His ironed shirts and polished shoes gleam with

The Moment
The Moment

All she wanted was to stretch her perfect four years longer. She wasn’t ready to let their laughter fade into memory.

The Report
The Report

Arun’s trembling hands couldn’t open the biopsy report. ‘Stage four,’ he was certain. A sudden, searing pain tore through his chest.

The Promise
The Promise

Luke, without medical insurance, mortgaged his house to fund his open-heart surgery. Mark, his idealistic friend, scoffed, “I’d rather die active – sixty’s the perfect

Reviews

Essential readings for today

Se7en A Sermon in Blood and Rain
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Se7en: A Sermon in Blood and Rain

David Fincher's Se7en explores sin, justice, morality, and despair through two detectives pursuing a chilling serial killer in a decaying metropolis.

David Szalay’s Booker Prize winning novel Flesh
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The Way of Some Flesh

A review of David Szalay’s Booker Prize-winning novel Flesh, exploring sex, chance, work, emotional detachment, guilt, desire, and life's randomness.

The Truth in the Shadows: Revisiting The X-Files
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The Truth in the Shadows: Revisiting The X-Files

The X-Files explores truth, conspiracy, aliens, and human darkness through belief and skepticism, creating a timeless mystery saga.

The Hollywood Misfit A Centenary Tribute to Marilyn Monroe
The Hollywood Misfit: A Centenary Tribute to Marilyn Monroe

A tribute to Marilyn Monroe through The Misfits, exploring fame, vulnerability, loneliness, broken relationships, and Hollywood’s tragic illusions.

Review of The Loneliness of Sunny and Sonia by Kiran Desai
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Review of The Loneliness of Sunny and Sonia by Kiran Desai

Desai rightly characterizes Salman Rushdie as an Orientalist, but in her own case, magic is not a substitute for realistic depiction.

Homebound
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HOMEBOUND (2025)

But don't let the snub tell you what this film is worth. Trophies are politics. Homebound is art.

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Se7en: A Sermon in Blood and Rain

David Fincher's Se7en explores sin, justice, morality, and despair through two detectives pursuing a chilling serial killer in a decaying metropolis.

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History & Heritage

Essential readings for today

Sheikh I’tisam ud Din
,
Bengal Sketches – India’s “First Ambassador” to Britain

Together, they show Indians not as passive subjects of European history, but as travelers, observers, writers, negotiators and judges of their age.

Battle for Dharma
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Bengal Sketches – Faith Under Fire: The Battle for Dharma

Driven by both humanitarian concern and imperial paternalism, officials pursued major social reforms, some addressing practices that Indians themselves increasingly questioned.

Indra Lal Roy_Boy from Barisal
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Bengal Sketches – Laddie: The Barisal Boy Who Refused to Fear the Sky

His record was extraordinary: ten enemy aircraft in thirteen days, achieved at nineteen in one of the first World War’s deadliest arenas.

Echoes of Partition: How Calcutta Changed Forever
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Bengal Sketches – Echoes of Partition: How Calcutta Changed Forever

Partition divided not only a country, but homes, neighborhoods, economies, friendships, memories, property, politics, and belonging.

Tea
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Bengal Sketches – From Çay Keyfi to Colonies: A Very Serious History of Not-So-Serious Tea

Tea is more than a drink. Its journey spans culture, commerce, colonialism, revolution, science, and centuries of fascinating historical drama.

Zoffany
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Bengal Sketches – Johann Zoffany: The Last Supper in Kolkata

Wishing, at least officially, to leave a humble gift, he offered the church a monumental 10-by-12-foot painting of The Last Supper, free of charge.

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Bengal Sketches – India’s “First Ambassador” to Britain

Together, they show Indians not as passive subjects of European history, but as travelers, observers, writers, negotiators and judges of their age.

Support thespace.ink magazine for literature and culture. Subscribe Now

Transcreation

Essential readings for today

Poetry
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Beyond the Screen’s Horizon

These poems drift through lit chambers of wakefulness, dreaming of error, darkness, and the old, broken mercy of sleep.

Pablo Neruda
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Pablo Neruda: Selected Poems

Silence gathers around us, and in that pause, Pablo Neruda lets the trembling world reveal its hidden wounds and brief hopes.

Transcreation
Against the Silence: Bengali Poems of Protest and Hope

This compilation presents four major twentieth-century Bengali poets, demonstrating poetry’s role in resisting, remembering, and renewing during socio-political upheaval.

Firefly
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Firefly or Minuku Hulu by ManjuNayak Challuru

I should collect all the chits from these people so I can calculate the amount of pain in the world.

John Taylor_Franca Mancinelli_Altar at the Sea_Updatede Cover
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At the Altar of the Sea

Franca Mancinelli’s poems, in John Taylor’s translation render the ordinary, the natural, many-hued and wondrous.

Ajir Kutty Bus Stop Poem Cover
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The Bus Stop at Kandanassery and Other Poems

The poignant poems of Rafeeq Ahmed, deftly translated, touch the veins of village life at Kerala, negotiating constantly between tradition and modernity.

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Beyond the Screen’s Horizon

These poems drift through lit chambers of wakefulness, dreaming of error, darkness, and the old, broken mercy of sleep.

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Fiction and Poetry

Essential readings for today

Missing You
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Missing You

She is not here. But her smell lingers on in the bath towels...

Rabindranath Tagore
The last Flames: A Play

A play based on Rabindranath Tagore and BAsanta Koomar Roy, a US based journalist and author.

Our Old Selves

Short poem by Oishika Ray

Uncut Poetry : Calcutta – A Lover’s Epitaph

The city of Kolkata has seeped deep into Suni Bhandari making inroads into his soul. His poetry is a mere reflection of his relationship with

The Dowry (Tagore translated)

They demanded ten thousand rupees and a large number of gifts as a dowry.

Poems to Treasure

Vikram Seth became my path finder and made me the poet I am today.

The Catskill Mountains by Vir

Vir Sen paints the Catskill Mountains he visited during a recent vacation.

I Will Cross the Sea of Desires
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I Will Cross the Sea of Desires

Translated from the Bengali song by Tagore. The original song was composed at Santiniketan, in 1922.

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The City in the Rain

Kolkata in the rain feels like a different city. Somehow, Kolkata finds a strange kind of peace.

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Cartoons

Space Cartoon

Hey diddle diddle, we have a problem.

Videos

Essential readings for today

Gulzar
,
Gulzar: Birthday Tribute

He simply traded the paintbrush for a pen. Before Gulzar painted pictures with words, he was literally painting cars.

Neil Armstrong Reel
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Neil Armstrong: Birthday Tribute

That single step wasn't just about reaching the Moon—it proved that human curiosity and determination can achieve what once seemed impossible.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan Birthday Tribute
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Adoor Gopalakrishnan: Birthday Tribute

Adoor Gopalakrishnan pioneered Malayalam New Wave cinema, directing 12 feature films portraying Kerala's society, culture, and human experiences across decades.

Helen Keller_Birthday Tribute_Video
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Helen Keller: Birthday Tribute

She became the first deaf-blind person to graduate from college. Helen Keller showed the world that disability doesn’t define a person’s potential.

Alexander Pushkin: The King of Spades
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Alexander Pushkin: The King of Spades

He taught Russians how to sound like themselves. He lived fast, died young, and left behind work so good that even his enemies quoted him.

Arthur Conan Doyle
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Master Mystery Weaver — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle sought literary immortality, but Sherlock Holmes survived every attempted death, returning endlessly through adaptations, eclipsing his creator forever in history.

,

Gulzar: Birthday Tribute

He simply traded the paintbrush for a pen. Before Gulzar painted pictures with words, he was literally painting cars.

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Photostory

Essential readings for today

The City in the Rain
,
The City in the Rain

Kolkata in the rain feels like a different city. Somehow, Kolkata finds a strange kind of peace.

Humpi -The songs of the Stones
Humpi: The Songs of the Stones

Humpi is more than a destination- it is an open-air museum where light and shadow transform ancient monuments into living works of art.

Ripped Jeans, Silent Screams
Ripped Jeans, Silent Screams

This collection transcends traditional photography, presenting instead a "Promptographic" oeuvre.

Fragments of Life
Fragments of Life

Abstract images become a quiet journey of self-discovery, inviting reflection on existence, memory, and the fragile connections that shape our inner world.

Eloquence of the Eye_Nilanjan Ray
Eloquence of the Eye

The Eye speaks of things we dare not say. Not only our soul, but our mind reflects through the eyes.

Beyond Jagannath Rajbalhat's Unique Rath Yatra
Beyond Jagannath: Rajbalhat’s Unique Rath Yatra

Rajbalhat's Rath Yatra is a living expression of Bengal's rural heritage, where faith is preserved through music, tradition and human connection.

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The City in the Rain

Kolkata in the rain feels like a different city. Somehow, Kolkata finds a strange kind of peace.

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Games & Puzzles

Crossword 103
Crossword 102
Crossword 101

Voice & Views

Essential readings for today

Marjane Satrapi
, ,
She Died of Sadness. I Refuse To.

Persepolis is not a book about a country that is only darkness. It is a book about a family that refused to be only darkness.

Shipra—The Book Is a Collectors’ Item!
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Shipra—The Book Is a Collectors’ Item!

An exclusive interview with Shipra Bhattacharya brought about quite a few unknown facets of her personality.

Technocrat
Shining Bright: An Interview with Maitreyi Chatterjee, an Young Technocrat from Kolkata

Maitreyi is not only building safer, more trustworthy technology—she’s living proof that determination and heart can turn modest beginnings into extraordinary impact.

Tom Stoppard
,
The Playwright as an Intellectual Jester

Saikat Majumdar reflects on Tom Stoppard, theatre, postmodernism, and the personal memories that shape writing and performance.

Anuparna Roy
,
The Voice for the Unheard 

A conversation with Anuparna Roy by Surela Chakraborty, exploring her Orizzonti Best Director Award and the making of Songs of Forgotten Trees.

Frederick_Forsyth_scribles_mousumi_duttaray_10.6.2025_VB
Remembering Frederick Forsyth

I woke up to the news that Frederick Forsyth has passed away, and instantly,Life was all about sneaking thrills and chasing stories.

, ,

She Died of Sadness. I Refuse To.

Persepolis is not a book about a country that is only darkness. It is a book about a family that refused to be only darkness.

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Travel

Essential readings for today

Writers, Pubs and book shops
Writers, Pubs and Book Shops

Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy was very prominently displayed followed by Emily Wilson’s translation of Homer’s The Odyssey.

Where Clouds Wait: Notes from Dawaipani
,
Where Clouds Wait: Notes from Dawaipani

But it wasn't just the landscape that was changing. There was a subtler shift in the air too, in the rhythm of life itself.

PUNE – A MEMORY LOST & FOUND (1)
Pune – A Memory Lost & Found

She is frozen in the act of decapitating the most powerful and evil Asura of them all, as far as Indian mythology goes.

Bali and the Business of Paradise
Bali and the Business of Paradise: Part 2

Beyond spirituality, Bali excels in the art of slow living. The absence of noise pollution is striking. Villages remain remarkably clean.

The Sovereign Paradox part 4_Vatican City_Museum
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The Sovereign Paradox: Part 4

Leonardo's observation—not just men, but the workings of the minds of men—their admirations, as well as their rivalries, all were frozen into fresco for eternity.

Bali and the Business of Paradise_Aradhita Banerjee
Bali and the Business of Paradise: Part 1

Bali is among the most famous islands in Indonesia's sprawling archipelago of more than seventeen thousand islands.

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