Biswabrata Goswami
MIDNAPORE, 17 FEB: At a time when glowing screens have quietly replaced dog-eared pages and the hush of libraries has yielded to the hum of smartphones, a modest yet meaningful cultural intervention unfolded in Satilapur on Sunday. In a conscious bid to reclaim the fading habit of reading and restore books to the centre of community life, the BS Foundation inaugurated the Medinipur Gallery — a curated repository dedicated to the literary and historical legacy of undivided Midnapore.
The gallery was formally opened at the residence of Nandagopal Patra, Chairperson of the Foundation, by Haripad Maity, retired principal of Mugberia Gangadhar Mahavidyalaya. The programme was presided over by Dijendra Nath Giri, secretary of the Red Cross Ramnagar branch and former professor, who underscored the urgent need to cultivate reading habits among the younger generation.
Speakers at the event struck a reflective note, observing that while electronic media and the internet have expanded access to information, they have also distanced people from sustained reading. Literature, once passed from hand to hand, discussed in tea stalls and classrooms, now risks being reduced to fleeting digital fragments. The decline in quality periodicals and shrinking readership were cited as symptoms of a deeper cultural shift.
Yet, the tone of the gathering was not one of lament but of resolve.
Regional history researcher and retired teacher Shantipad Nanda, retired headmaster Dr. Prabal Kanti Hazra, author and essayist Sudarshan Nandi, retired headmaster Shiv Shankar Senapati of Dantan, retired Lead District Manager Sudip Kumar Maity, acting headmaster Debendra Lal Parashuram Mandal of Digha, Dr. Bimal Kumar Sheet of Nekurseni Vivekananda Vidyabhaban, and folk culture researcher Bhaskar Brat Pati were among those present. They collectively emphasized that the habit of reading must be nurtured from the primary school level if it is to survive the pressures of a digital age.
Also in attendance were retired professor Gautam Pramanik of Ramnagar College, Prabhuram Pradhan, secretary of Ramnagar Sahitya Sanskriti Sanstha, researcher Santu Jana of Dantan, Arbinda Das, headmaster of Dantan Bhagbat Charan High School, magazine editor Atanu Nandan Maity, and teachers Chandan Sheet and Shibsankar Maity of Digha Debendra Lal institution, among others.
Outlining the vision behind the initiative, Nandagopal Patra stated that the Medinipur Gallery houses maps of undivided Midnapore and detailed cartographic representations of the Ramnagar region, alongside portraits of four towering icons of the district — Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Matangini Hazra, Birendranath Sasmal and Khudiram Bose.
The gallery’s principal strength, however, lies in its collection of 422 books authored by writers from Midnapore or centred on Midnapore’s history and culture. Of these, 66 volumes are devoted exclusively to Vidyasagar, reflecting the district’s enduring intellectual debt to the reformer. The collection includes Bihari Lal Sarkar’s Vidyasagar, Ramesh Chandra Majumdar’s Calcutta University Vidyasagar Lecture Series, Binoy Ghosh’s Vidyasagar and Bengali Society, Aravind Poddar’s Vidyasagar Not Just of His Time but of All Times, Indra Mitra’s Karunasagar Vidyasagar, Chandi Charan Bandyopadhyay’s Vidyasagar, and the Sahitya Akademi volume Pranyan Shataborshe Vidyasagar.
A printed catalogue of all 422 books was distributed among attendees, symbolically reinforcing the Foundation’s commitment to accessibility and transparency.
Adding a cultural flourish to the afternoon, Bichitra Bhowmik Bhakta, a teacher from Digha Vidyabhaban, recited poetry. The programme was conducted by Ilika Patra, Anwitama Patra, and Kamalini Patra.
In an era when libraries are often perceived as relics of a slower past, the Medinipur Gallery stands as a reminder that reading is not merely a habit but a civilisational anchor. If the dust has settled on books, as many speakers observed, it can still be brushed aside — provided society chooses to turn the page.
