In most of my articles in the past few months, I have written about pain, suffering, and in just treatment, that are plaguing Kashmir, and how the Kashmiri people are suffering. I decided to steer away from that this week and talk about a person who has made a difference in our country, abroad, and in my life. Her name is Dr. Ketaki Datta, a true hero through the portholes of her stories.
Dr. Ketaki Datta is an Associate Professor of English at Bidhannager College in Kolkata. She is a novelist, a critic, and a translator. According to sources, she wrote her Ph.D. thesis on Tennessee Williams, which she published in 2011 under the title" "The Black and Nonblack Shades of Tennesee."
Her writing is inspiring by how she communicates her stories and characters descriptions setting the reader up for an exhilarating experience. Her story pops off the page with her rich vocabulary and her understanding too humanity. Her pen is her weapon, and it is mightier than the sword.
To know her is to love her; she is a noble soul, generous person, and her writing images her persona. She is famous in India and around the world by her illustration of human interest.
Her first novel, "A Song Bird Alone" is written in a third person point of view, telling a story of a woman reading a letter from someone special in her past. Her photograph writing of scenery puts you into the place you need to be, and what time of day it is. Her first sentence in the novel reads,
"A periwinkle- blue sky ran high above. The whirr of the sprocket-wheels on the downward slope of the hills, the buzz of the crickets in the growing darkness.'
These two sentences place me in a field of hilly terrain with stars twinkling above on the verge of the darkest night.
Dr. Datta wrote another book titled: "One Year for Mourning." It is written in first person point of view and is a story of a daughter who is mourning her mother after she passed away from a fatal illness. The novel has received dozens of high praised reviews. Here are just a few.
"Dr. Ketaki Datta's highly creative style of writing combined with an attention to detail could further enhance the appeal of this work." writes Jean Whalborg, Editorial Coordinator, Durance Publishing Co. St Pittsburgh, USA
"Ketaki combines the creative and the critical felicitously." writes Prof. Sanjukta Dasgupta, Professor of English, University of Calcutta, India.
"Isn't it rather unusual that a prominent academic is also such a successful creative artist." writes Elisabetta Marino, Assistant Professor, Tor Vergata, University of Rome, in conversation with Ketaki Datta.
On a personal note, I have read through her books and her writings, and she is a true artist. It inspires me how she weaves her stories and characters with such sentiment. She is a true heroine and an example of giving of oneself. I am honoured to know her and looking forward to reading the intricate craft of her inspired literature.

Email :gowherbhat866@ gmail. Com