About me and my world!
MY WORLD OF THE ARTS is as varied as the colors of the autumn leaves. My first love, of course, is music. I grew up with it and have an appetite for all forms of music- from Hindustani Classical to Carnatic, from Western Classical to Jazz, Hip-Hop and Rhythm & Blues. I grew up listening to Shyamal Mitra, Hemanta Mukhopadhyaya, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, Pratima Bandyopadhyay, Salil Chouhdury, Sudhin Dashupta, Robin Chattopadhyay, Anupam Ghatak, Dunichand Boral, Prabir Majumdar, as much as Strauss, Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Mozart. I was drawn into doing music and background scores for plays when I was still in school. After college I found myself directing a singing choir and children’s theater group. I owe my music to my Mother, who was a Sitar and Esraj player.
I am a music composer, lyricist, orchestral arranger and a Spotify-verifies artist with several original songs to my credit. These have been sung by several well-known singers.
I am also a playwright and the Theatrical Director of Atlanta Theater Workshop since 2011 and the Program Director of IACA Atlanta Indian Idol since 2013.
I have a degree in Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering from Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur (now, Indian Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology) and a Masters and Ph.D. in Industrial Management from Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina. I recently retired after working for several multinational companies in my professional career. My wife is an elementary school educator. My son and daughter-in-law are both physicians. I am now a proud grandfather as well!
Jaipur Literature Festival
Extremely humbling! Jaipur Literature Festival 2022 featured me in their Writers Shorts section. Telecast was on March 6, 2022 (Day 2).
Click here to see the full video of Day 2. Please fast forward to 3:49:00 for the section featuring me. It’s a short section of about 5 minutes. Here is the scetion featuring me.
My Varied World of the Arts
My Music
I have been composing since I was in middle school. I first stint was to set to tune five songs of a children’s play, “Shahure Mama” by Sunirmal Basu when I was a 7th grader. Since then I have continued to compose songs and scores of plays. This is a home for some of my published work.
My Stage Productions
With over 50 stage productions, it almost seems that I spent more of my time on stage or preparing for one. I enjoy working for the stage since I feel it is the ultimate culmination of all forms of the arts. It is a platform where appreciation (or rebuke) is instantaneous!
My Writings
Writing is an avenue of self-expression available to anyone who wants to pursue it. It is extremely low-cost… you need a pencil and paper, and available more readily to all ages. No wonder I took to writing very early… first poems then, short stories and songs.
Et cetera
Lighting design has been an integral part of all my productions. The shadow art that my mother taught got me interested in the art of lighting design. I also own a decent recording studio where I plan to spend more time going forward. I made a couple of documentary films.