Debi Roy (born 4 August 1940) is one of the founding fathers of the

Hungry generation The Hungry Generation ( bn, হাংরি জেনারেশান) was a literary movement in the Bengali language launched by what is known today as the Hungryalist quartet, ''i.e.'' Shakti Chattopadhyay, Malay Roy Choudhury, Samir Royc ...

movement in

Bengali literature Bengali literature ( bn, বাংলা সাহিত্য, Bangla Sahityô) denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time ...

. He is also the first modern

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

poet in Bengali. He was born in a very poor family and worked as an errand boy in tea stalls of

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

when his parents lived in a slum in

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...

. He funded his own education and became a graduate of

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, C ...

. He started writing in his childhood. Debi Roy met

Malay Roy Choudhury Malay Roy Choudhury (born 29 October 1939) is an Indian Bengali poet, playwright, short story writer, essayist and novelist who founded the Hungryalist movement in the 1960s. Early life and education Malay Roy Choudhury was born in Patna, ...

in an office of a literary periodical in 1960 and the two of them, after discussions with

Shakti Chattopadhyay Shakti Chattopadhyay (25 November 1933 – 23 March 1995) was an Indian poet and writer who wrote in Bengali. He is known for his realistic depictions of rural life. He was a green poet, many of his poems raised the issue of nature in crisis. T ...

and

Samir Roychoudhury Samir Roychowdhury (Bengali: সমীর রায়চৌধুরী) (1 November 1933 – 22 June 2016), one of the founding fathers of the Hungry Generation (also known as Hungryalism or Hungrealism (1961–1965)), was born at Panihati, ...

launched the now famous

Hungryalist The Hungry Generation ( bn, হাংরি জেনারেশান) was a literary movement in the Bengali language launched by what is known today as the Hungryalist quartet, ''i.e.'' Shakti Chattopadhyay, Malay Roy Choudhury, Samir Royc ...

movement in November 1961. His Howrah slum-room was the editorial office from where the Hungryalist Bulletins and Hungryalist Manifestoes were published. Along with ten other Hungryalists, Debi Roy was arrested in 1964 on charges of

obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...

in poetry, though the trial court exonerated him. He developed new kinds of sentences in his poems which have come to be known as ''logical breaks'' as well as ''image jumping''. Subsequent

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

poets have followed the method into the next century. As a result, he is considered one of the first ''

postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

'' Bengali poets.

Poetry collections by Debi Roy

*''Unmad Shahar'' *''Kolkata O Aami'' *''Manush Manush'' *''Sampratik Tinjan'' *''Debi Royer Kobita'' *''Bhrukutir Birudhdhey Eka'' *''Ei Sei Tomar Desh'' *''Putulnaacher Gaan'' *''Sarbohara Tabu Ahankar'' *''Bharatvarsha Tomay Khunjchhey'' *''Aaguner Gaan'' *''Ekushey February'' *''Nirbachito Kobita''

References

*Debi Roy Alochanasamagra (2004). Edited by Swaraj Sengupta. *Kobita: Shaatha-Sottor (1982). Edited by Dr. Uttam Das, Mrtyunjay Sen and Paresh Mandal. *Hungry, Shruti O Shastrovirodhi Andolon (1986). Written by Dr. Uttam Das. *Khsudhito Prajanmo (1995). Written by Dr. Uttam Das. *Ekaler Gadyo Podyo Andoloner Dalil (1970). Written by Satya Guha. *Yabajantrana O Sahitya (1968). Dr Aloke Ranjan Dasgupta. *Krittibas (1966). Edited by

Sunil Gangopadhyay Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (7 September 1934 – 23 October 2012) was an Indian poet, historian and novelist in the Bengali language based in the city of Kolkata. He is a former Sheriff of Calcutta. Gangopadhyay obtained his ma ...

. *Hungry Kimbadanti (1994). Written by

. *Uttorprabashi (1986). Edited by Gajendra Kumar Ghosh. *Vantulsi Ka Gandh. (1988). Written by Phanishwarnath 'Renu' *Salted Feathers (1967). Edited by Dick Bakken. *Intrepid (1967). Edited by Allan De Loach.

External links

"The Hungry Generation"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''. November 20, 1964
Debi Roy along with the Hungryalists
20th-century Bengali poets Poets from West Bengal Indian postmodern writers 20th-century Indian poets Bengali-language poets University of Calcutta alumni Hungry generation 1940 births Living people Bengali male poets Indian male poets 20th-century Indian male writers {{India-poet-stub