Kolkata’s history and memory in new poems
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Jaydeep Sarangi’s new poetry collection, Notes on the Rock of Job Charnock, portrays Kolkata, India as a place where personal and collective memories intertwine.
Sarangi explores the city not as a grand monument or ruin, but as a layered space holding the echoes of history, myth, and the lives of marginalized people.
He focuses on the Ganges river and the legacy of Job Charnock, a historical figure associated with the city’s colonial past, using them as metaphors for Kolkata’s complex and often fragile identity. The poems address silences, moments of unspoken experience, and connect individual feelings to wider global conflicts, referencing places like Gaza and Caracas.
Sarangi draws connections to earlier poets like TS Eliot and Jibanananda Das, while also establishing his own distinct voice that emphasizes renewal and the importance of remembering. He gives attention to the experiences of those often excluded from dominant historical narratives, including migrants and urban workers. Sarangi’s work blends personal reflection with social awareness, echoing the tradition of “engaged literature.” He presents Kolkata as a place of both joy and sorrow, a city where opposing forces coexist.
Through imagery of rivers and landscapes, Sarangi examines themes of memory, loss, and the search for meaning in a rapidly changing world, ultimately offering a nuanced and deeply personal portrait of the city and its people.
