The twilight years of Jayanta Mahapatra

Cuttack, cake, and Tolstoy 

Mahapatra founded Chandrabhaga, a literary magazine, in the 1970s, to publish English poetry from Odisha. He had a certain obsession with this name, Das points out. It was also the name of his house, as well as the beach where his ashes were later scattered. The magazine gave space to many emerging poets of Indian writing, especially from the Northeast, says Das. The film features poets and writers talking about Mahapatra, and reciting his poems such as The Captive Air of Chandipur Sea, Of That Love, and others. 

In one of the movie scenes, popular Odia writer, Prathibha Ray is seen calling the poet the “proud son” of Odisha. “Jayanta Mahapatra remained Odia throughout his life. He lived a very simple life. He read and taught physics, and wrote metaphysical poetry,” she says.

Mahapatra was born on October 22, 1928, in Cuttack, Odisha. What is also highlighted in the film is the solitude of his final years. Mahapatra’s wife and son had passed away long ago. The only people around him in those last years were his neighbours who checked in on him. “There was nobody really by his side but he didn’t mind. He was always buried in books,” says Das. Shortly before the poet’s demise, Das remembers Mahapatra calling him over to celebrate his (Das’s) birthday in Cuttack. “‘I’m not well. Bring the cake here, we’ll cut it’ he said.”