My father, Bikas Basu, was fascinated by the idea of the goat, or, - TopicsExpress

Chitralekha Basu

My father, Bikas Basu, was fascinated by the idea of the goat, or, rather, its Bengali approximation, chaagol. Its a purely cultural thing and its indeed difficult to convey to someone who doesnt speak Bengali the splendidly multifarious connotations a chaagol, or its swarthier cousin, the pathha, might have in the imagination of those who do. Just uttering these words would conjure up a smorgasbord of contradictory emotions -- pity, disdain, exasperation, gluttony, desire, tenderness, what have you. I cant imagine a ram or a goat making that range. Anyway, BB wrote an article on the idea of the chaagol, with references to its representations in literature and art as indeed the social implications of being labelled a boka pathha, i.e. the losers of the world who do not seem to have a hope in hell and yet, sometimes, are rather endearing, perhaps for that very reason. The article was published in Desh (not too sure of the year, but Shakti-babu of ABP, im sure, will be able to dig out a copy). BB was particularly moved by Picassos goats -- most often made from scrap. I think it was an image of Picassos pregnant she-goat that triggered the article. BB never got to see a Picasso original. I did, earlier this week. chinadailyasia/focus/2014-09/04/content_15162889.html

Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 04:39:17 +0000

My father, Bikas Basu, was fascinated by the idea of the goat, or, - TopicsExpress

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