Out in the Open

The volume is a collection of travel essays written over a period of seventeen years and published chiefly in a Kolkata newspaper, The Statesman and in the online magazine Café Dissensus . Travel writing is about memory, about sights and associations, pleasant and unpleasant. For me the process of writing about my visit to a place, whether well-known or off beat, is about revisiting the place as I write about it. It is not just about a place visited, sights seen, but about experiences. The charm of the place, its scents and smells remain with me and find expression in my writing. Certain places appeal for a longer period of time and remain with me for to become the subjects of my essays. The essays in the book are personal pieces and are grouped into three sections – Bengal, Beyond Bengal and Across the Oceans.