INTERVIEWING DR. INDRAJIT RAY (BY DEBADRITA SARKAR)

 

Debadrita: When have you started writting ?

Indrajit : I began writing in a quiet and gradual way, rather than at a fixed moment in time. In my early years, I was drawn to reading, and slowly I felt the need to express certain thoughts and emotions in my own words.

As I grew older and became engaged in academic life, writing took a more conscious form. It became a space where I could reflect on memory, human relationships, and the everyday realities around me.

So my journey into writing did not begin suddenly. It developed over time, shaped by experience, observation, and a deep need to understand and express what often remains unspoken.

Debadrita: What is your genre and why ?

Indrajit : I do not limit myself to a single genre, but I am primarily drawn to lyrical prose, poetry, and short forms like flash fiction. These forms allow me to work closely with emotion, memory, and the quieter aspects of human experience.

I am especially interested in writing about everyday life, relationships, silence, and the small moments that often go unnoticed but carry deep meaning. My work often moves between the personal and the social, because I believe individual lives are always shaped by larger realities.

I am drawn to these forms because they give me the freedom to be subtle, to leave space for the reader, and to explore what cannot always be said directly. Writing, for me, is less about telling a story in a conventional way and more about creating a space where feeling, thought, and experience can come together with honesty and care.

Debadrita: What inspired you to write the poem ?

Indrajit: This poem came from a feeling rather than a single idea. I have always experienced India not as a fixed geography, but as something living, unfinished, and constantly being written by its people. The metaphor of a “letter” emerged naturally because a letter carries intimacy, time, distance, and incompleteness.

As someone who writes often about memory and quiet human gestures, I wanted to move away from grand narratives and instead focus on the everyday pulse of the country, the farmer, the migrant, the student, the unnoticed rhythms. The poem became a way of listening to those small movements and allowing them to form the larger body of the nation.

Debadrita: What is the hardest part when you write this poem ?

Indrajit : The hardest part of writing this poem was finding a balance between the vastness of the country and the intimacy of individual experience.

India is too large, too layered to be contained in a single voice or image. So the challenge was to avoid making it abstract or overly grand, and instead bring it closer to lived reality through small, recognisable moments.

Another difficulty was restraint. I had to leave many things unsaid and allow the poem to breathe, to remain open and unfinished. That sense of incompleteness was important, but it required careful control.

In the end, the challenge was not only what to include, but what to quietly hold back.

Debadrita: What are your advices to the young writers ?

Indrajit : My advice to young writers would be to begin with patience and honesty.

Write regularly, but do not rush to be noticed. Take time to observe the world around you. Pay attention to small details, to people, to silence, to ordinary moments. These often carry deeper meaning than big ideas.

Read widely and carefully. Reading helps you understand not only language, but also different ways of seeing and feeling.

Do not be afraid of uncertainty. There will be moments of doubt, but they are part of the process. Writing grows slowly, through practice and reflection.

Most importantly, try to remain true to your own voice. Do not imitate for long. Let your experiences and your way of seeing shape your writing. Over time, that honesty will become your strength.

Debadrita : Who is your favourite writer and what is your favourite story of poem or short story or novel?

Indrajit : I do not hold on to a single favourite writer, but I have been deeply influenced by a few voices across different traditions.

Rabindranath Tagore remains very important to me for his quiet depth and his ability to bring the personal and the universal together. His work Gitanjali is something I return to often for its sense of stillness and introspection.

At the same time, I am drawn to Franz Kafka, especially his work The Metamorphosis. The way he explores alienation, identity, and the inner anxieties of human existence has had a deep impact on how I think about writing.

I am also influenced by Albert Camus, whose work The Stranger reflects on absurdity, existence, and the quiet isolation within human life. His philosophical clarity has shaped my understanding of existential thought.

In Bengali literature, Shakti Chattopadhyay has been a strong influence, particularly for his raw, intimate, and modern poetic voice. His poems carry a sense of wandering, solitude, and emotional honesty that I relate to.

I am also influenced by Bhaskar Chakraborty, whose poetry brings attention to everyday life with a quiet intensity. His work shows how ordinary moments can hold deep poetic truth.

So my sense of “favourite” is not fixed. It is shaped by different writers who have helped me understand language, silence, and the human condition in different ways.

Debadrita : What is your hobby ?

Indrajit : My hobby is observing life and the world around me. I enjoy reading, walking, and noticing small details in everyday moments, like sunlight on a wall, the movement of people in a market, or quiet gestures of someone passing by. I also like to listen carefully to conversations, to silence, and to nature. These moments often inspire my writing, in poetry, stories, or reflections. I spend time exploring different ways of expressing myself, through short fiction, poetry, or music. These habits help me stay attentive and connected to the world.

Debadrita: Where are you born and where are your raised ?

Indrajit : I was born and brought up in the town of Burdwan in West Bengal, India. Growing up, I was surrounded by books, learning, and conversation, which shaped the way I see the world. My childhood was marked by the quiet rhythms of daily life as well as the larger social and cultural landscapes of the region, and both have had a lasting influence on my writing.

Debadrita: What do you do except writting ?

Indrajit : Besides writing, I work as an academic administrator at the University of Burdwan. My role involves institutional development, engaging with affiliated colleges, and supporting students and faculty. It requires careful attention, organization, and close interaction with people and academic spaces.

This professional life keeps me connected to the rhythms of daily life and human experience, which often inspires my writing. I also spend time reading, observing, and reflecting, which helps me stay attentive to the small details that shape both life and literature.

Dr. Indrajit Ray is a contemporary writer known for his lyrical prose, modern flash fiction, and experimental poetry. His work blends philosophy, memory, and human emotion to explore love, loss, care, and the social realities that shape everyday life. Writing with close attention to silence, intimacy, and endurance, he often dwells in the quiet spaces where tenderness becomes a form of resistance.

An academic administrator with a background in higher education, currently serving in a senior role at the University of Burdwan, where his work involves institutional development and engagement with affiliated colleges. His professional life is shaped by structure, responsibility, and a close, ongoing interaction with people and academic spaces.

Ray’s creative practice is deeply informed by lived experience and intimate observation. Influenced by existential thought and social realism, his writing moves fluidly between the personal and the political, the sacred and the ordinary, tracing how bodies remember what language cannot fully contain.

He has authored story collections, flash fictions, poetry books, and audio drama scripts that have garnered a wide and engaged readership. Marked by emotional depth, stylistic clarity, and an unmistakably humanised voice, his work approaches literature as an act of attention, listening to those who persist quietly, love without certainty, and remain human despite fracture.