{"id":428,"date":"2026-02-28T11:25:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T05:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/?page_id=428"},"modified":"2026-03-01T11:39:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T06:09:00","slug":"reflections","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/en\/reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"748\" height=\"667\" src=\"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_7598-3.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-435\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.1214425006358986;width:146px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_7598-3.jpeg 748w, https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_7598-3-300x268.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_7598-3-13x12.jpeg 13w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Painting by the Author.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-63aecae31db7fad94155f1b72ea298f3\">A space for thoughts on writing, memory, literature, and the inward journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-contrast-2-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b37749efdf16525562f857b14664dff5\">Reflections is where my writing pauses\u2014where I look at the moments that shape what I write\u2014the pauses before a sentence is formed, the silences that stretch out between languages, the subtle conflicts of translation, and the long time it takes for an idea to ripen.\n\nAs a bilingual writer who works in Bengali and English, I am often caught between two worlds of expression. This is a place for meditations on craft, reading, literary memory, and the changing world of storytelling. I sometimes write about the art of fiction; sometimes about poetry, language, or emotion as it runs beneath stories.\n\nThese essays are not arguments or manifestos. They are a series of conversations\u2014with literature, with readers, and with myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>***<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-query is-layout-flow wp-block-query-is-layout-flow\"><ul class=\"wp-block-post-template is-layout-flow wp-block-post-template-is-layout-flow\"><li class=\"wp-block-post post-507 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-bhabna\">\n<h2 class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-0cf4cf8c96a00388aa8ccd94d22b5ffa wp-block-post-title has-text-color has-contrast-2-color\"><a href=\"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/en\/word-painting-%e0%a6%af%e0%a6%96%e0%a6%a8-%e0%a6%b6%e0%a6%ac%e0%a7%8d%e0%a6%a6%e0%a7%87%e0%a6%b0-%e0%a6%b9%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%a4%e0%a6%bf%e0%a6%af%e0%a6%bc%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%b0-%e0%a6%b9%e0%a6%af%e0%a6%bc\/\" target=\"_self\" >Word Painting: When a Writing Tool Becomes a Brush.<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2026-03-13T23:43:57+05:30\">March 13, 2026<\/time><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-7db1d14420bcb28bbb2e4c36ee728395 wp-block-post-excerpt has-text-color has-contrast-2-color\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">I paint in Microsoft Word.\nMost people smile when they hear this. Word is writing software \u2014 what does it have to do with painting? But that moment of disbelief is precisely what I find most interesting.\nIt begins with a single line. I select a line segment from the Shape tool in Microsoft Word, and then, with the mouse, that line slowly finds its form. It bends, pauses, meets other... <\/p><\/div>\n<\/li><li class=\"wp-block-post post-452 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-bhabna\">\n<h2 class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-0cf4cf8c96a00388aa8ccd94d22b5ffa wp-block-post-title has-text-color has-contrast-2-color\"><a href=\"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/en\/%e0%a6%a6%e0%a7%8d%e0%a6%ac%e0%a6%bf%e0%a6%ad%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%b7%e0%a6%bf%e0%a6%95-%e0%a6%b2%e0%a7%87%e0%a6%96%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%b0-%e0%a6%9c%e0%a6%97%e0%a7%8e\/\" target=\"_self\" >Writing in Two Languages<\/a><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2026-02-28T14:03:09+05:30\">February 28, 2026<\/time><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"has-link-color wp-elements-7db1d14420bcb28bbb2e4c36ee728395 wp-block-post-excerpt has-text-color has-contrast-2-color\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">Some days I start a sentence in Bengali and finish it in English. There is no deliberate plan. The words just find their own way. Writing between two languages isn\u2019t just about translating\u2014it's about listening. You pay attention to what can\u2019t quite make the leap and to what crosses over anyway.\n\nBengali holds memory in a different way. For me, it\u2019s full of childhood, the background noise of family, and books that taught me how silence and rhythm feel. English does something else. It creates space. It sharpens some feelings, puts a new spin on my hesitations, and sometimes brings things into the open that Bengali prefers to keep hidden.\n\nWriting in both languages means living at the edge of things. There\u2019s always this quiet back-and-forth\u2014not just between words, but between ways of seeing. A phrase that feels close and warm in one language suddenly seems distant in the other. A silence that feels natural in Bengali turns into something you have to spell out in English.\n\nThis in-between space isn\u2019t a problem. It\u2019s an advantage. I get to watch how meaning shifts as it moves. I learn to wait for the right word and to accept that sometimes there just isn\u2019t one.\n\nEverything I write here grows out of that space\u2014out of the pauses, the rough spots, and the reminder that language isn\u2019t only a tool. It\u2019s a way of being.\n\nIf this turns into a conversation, it\u2019ll be shaped by all the crossing back and forth, by returning again and again, and by listening for what manages to survive the journey. <\/p><\/div>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u09b2\u09c7\u0996\u09be, \u09b8\u09cd\u09ae\u09c3\u09a4\u09bf, \u09b8\u09be\u09b9\u09bf\u09a4\u09cd\u09af \u0993 \u0985\u09ad\u09cd\u09af\u09a8\u09cd\u09a4\u09b0\u09c0\u09a3 \u09af\u09be\u09a4\u09cd\u09b0\u09be\u09b0 \u09ad\u09be\u09ac\u09a8\u09be\u2014\u098f\u0995 \u09a8\u09bf\u09ad\u09c3\u09a4 \u09a0\u09bf\u0995\u09be\u09a8\u09be\u0964 \u2018\u09ad\u09be\u09ac\u09a8\u09be\u2019 \u09ac\u09bf\u09ad\u09be\u0997\u09c7 \u0986\u09ae\u09bf \u09b8\u09be\u09b9\u09bf\u09a4\u09cd\u09af, \u09ad\u09be\u09b7\u09be, \u0985\u09a8\u09c1\u09ac\u09be\u09a6 \u0993 \u09b8\u09c3\u09b7\u09cd\u099f\u09bf\u09b0 \u09a8\u09c0\u09b0\u09ac \u09aa\u09cd\u09b0\u0995\u09cd\u09b0\u09bf\u09af\u09bc\u09be \u09a8\u09bf\u09af\u09bc\u09c7 \u09b2\u09bf\u0996\u09bf\u0964 \u098f\u0996\u09be\u09a8\u09c7 \u0997\u09b2\u09cd\u09aa\u09c7\u09b0 \u0986\u09a1\u09bc\u09be\u09b2\u09c7\u09b0 \u0997\u09b2\u09cd\u09aa, \u0995\u09ac\u09bf\u09a4\u09be\u09b0 \u0985\u09a8\u09cd\u09a4\u09b0\u09cd\u0997\u09a4 \u09b8\u09c1\u09b0, \u098f\u09ac\u0982 \u09ac\u09be\u0982\u09b2\u09be\u2013\u0987\u0982\u09b0\u09c7\u099c\u09bf \u09a6\u09c1\u0987 \u09ad\u09be\u09b7\u09be\u09b0 \u09ad\u09c7\u09a4\u09b0\u0995\u09be\u09b0 \u09b8\u0982\u09b2\u09be\u09aa\u0995\u09c7 \u0985\u09a8\u09cd\u09ac\u09c7\u09b7\u09a3 \u0995\u09b0\u09bf\u0964 \u098f\u099f\u09bf \u0986\u09ae\u09be\u09b0 \u09ae\u09a8\u09a8\u09c7\u09b0 \u0996\u09be\u09a4\u09be\u2014\u09b8\u09ae\u0995\u09be\u09b2, \u09b8\u09cd\u09ae\u09c3\u09a4\u09bf \u0993 \u09b6\u09ac\u09cd\u09a6\u09c7\u09b0 \u0985\u09a8\u09c1\u09b8\u09a8\u09cd\u09a7\u09be\u09a8\u09c7\u09b0 \u09b8\u09cd\u09a5\u09be\u09a8\u0964 ***<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-428","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_hostinger_reach_plugin_has_subscription_block":false,"_hostinger_reach_plugin_is_elementor":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469,"href":"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/428\/revisions\/469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biswajitchatterjee.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}