Dear Amitavada,
i don’t know whether this mail will reach you or not but i feel a tremendous desire to write to you.i am a specialist physician,working in princess royal univ hospital in london.recently i made a list of 30 books i hv loved in my life which included marquez,kafka,tagore,camus,jibananda das ,maurice materlink,tolstoy,dostoyevski,sukumar roy etc.i didn’t mention a single book of yours because i never read your book until april,2012 when on of my friends asked me to read sea of poppies.today is 27th april-i hv read 327 pages of this book,bought every single book of yours from amazon and thought of changing my list.although art abhors superlative but gabriel marquez has been hitherto my most favourite writer and his “strange pilgrims” topped my list,followed by metamorphosis and “the strager ” by camus.i hv n’t finished sea of poppies yet,but i am baffled as where should i put this magnificent book.you have won my heart and i can easily fathom that within next ten yrs people all over the world would put you in the same rank of marquez,tolstoy for you are one of greatest storyteller of all time and in any language.no indian writer is anywhere near you as far as storytelling is concerned and that includes tagore even.i would write to you more if you confirm that this mail has reached you.you are honoured master.
best regards
dr sukhen chatterji
orpington,london
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Amitav Ghosh
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dear amitavada,
what a joy it is to receive your mail.i would be honoured if you posted my mail in your blog for everything i said about you is true.i hv finished sea of poppies and started the shadow line.
i must tell you the name of a great person who mentioned your book to me.he is a father like figure to me–ex chief engineer of irrigation of bengal,a man of hihgest intelligence and integrity,from a supremely cultured family,an ardent reader of your books.his name is mr rupkumar bose.he lives in calcutta.without his mention of your books,i possibly wouldn’t hv read your books.i am very grateful to him.this is a thorough gentleman who has also taught me to listen to subinoy ray,to read marquez and harper lee (to kill a mocking bird).
love
sukhen
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