Abu Sayeed Ayyubs letter to Allen Ginsberg on

Hungryalist movement
Posted on December 26, 2012by

( This is the infamous letter which Prof Abu Sayeed Ayyub wrote to Allen Ginsberg on
31st October 1964. Ayyub was the Kolkata head of Indian Committe for Cultural
Freedom. Ginsberg had requested Ayyub to allow the Committee to help the arrested
Hungryalists with qualified lawyers and finances. Ayyub not only refused but he
resorted to misinformation in this letter. It has now transpired that Ayyub was one of
them who had pressurized West Bengal administration to take action against the
Hungryalist poets and writers. )
Dear Mr Ginsberg,
I am amazed to get your pointlessly discourteous letter of 13th. That you agree with the
Communist characterization of the Congress for Cultural Freedom as a fraud and a
bullshit intellectual liberal anti-communist syndicate did not, however, surprise me; for
I never thought the Congress had any charge of escaping your contempt for everything
bourgeois or respectable.
If any known Indian literature or intellectual come under police repression for their
literary or intellectual work, I am sure the Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom
would move in the matter without any ungraceful promptings from you. I am glad to tell
you that no repressions of any kind has taken place here currently. Malay Roychoudhury
and his young friends of the Hungry Generation have not produced any worthwhile to
my knowledge, though they have produced and distributed a lot of self-advertizing
leaflets and printed letters abusing distinguished people in filthy and obscene language (
I hope you agree that the word Fuck is obscene and Bastard at least in the sentence
Fuck the bastards of the Gangshalik School of Poetry, they have used worse language
in regard to poets whom they have not hesitated to refer to by name ). Recently they
hired a woman to exhibit her bosom in public and invited a lot of people including
myself to witness this wonderful avant garde exhibition ! You may think it your duty to
promote in the name of Cultural Freedom such adolescent pranks in Calcutta from half
way round the world. You would permit me to differ from you in regard to what is my
duty.

It was of course foolish of the police to play into the hands of these young men and hold
a few of them in custody for a few days ( they have all been released now ) thus giving
the publicity and some public sympathypublicity is precisely what they want to gain
through their pranks.
I do not agree with you that it is the prime task of the Indian Committee for Cultural
Freedom to take up the cause of these immature imitators of American Beatnik Poetry. I
respect your knowledge of European literature but can not permit myself to be guided
by your estimation of writers in my language - a language of which you choose to
remain totally ignorant.
With all good wishes in spite of our grave disagreements and in admiration of some of
your wonderful poems.
Yours Sincerely
Abu Sayeed Ayyub

A.B.Shah, ( Executive Secretary, Indian Committee for

Cultural Freedom ) letter to Malay Roychoudhury
Posted on December 29, 2012by

Bombay, 27th January 1965

Dear Mr Roychoudhury
I met the Deputy Commissioner of Police the day after we met at the Office of the
Radical Humanist at Calcutta. I was told that they would not have liked to bother
themselves with the Hungry Generation movement but for the fact that a number of
citizens to whom the writings of your group were made available, insisted on some
action being taken.
With kind regards
A.B.Shah

( It is time for researchers to dig up the files in Police Archive of Lalbazar, Kolkata to
find out as to who were these so-called citizens who provoked the administration to
humiliate eleven poets, arrest six of them, handcuff them, tie rope around their waist for
further humiliation and chargesheet one of them for a two year court ordeal. )
A B Shah is third from left. Others are members of Radical Humanist group.

Sunil Gangopadhyay initiates conspiracy against Hungryalist

movement ( letter to Sandipan Chattopadhyay )
Posted on December 30, 2012by

313 South Capital, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

15th June 1964
Sandipan
Right now I am resting beneath the canopy of a big tree on the bank of this river. It is
quite breezy. And 5 dozen cans of beer lie littered. Been watching that blonde girl in
swimsuit . Once in a while I am mildly adoring her bottom with my feet- how does that
look visually ? I am literally resting in this state. But I am not part of this scene though.
As soon as I bring my palm closer to my eyes, everything disappear. No womans face.
No hunger. No thirst. But beer- yes, that is a reality. Have been resting on the grass for
hours so to say. Tried at least 5 times to catch a rabbit but failed miserably.
I was in love with your letter for a couple of days. Especially, the words highlighted with
red pencil. I knew pretty well that you will not like my story. I have no illusion of
delighting you ever with my prose. That is because you have written some great prose at
one point. Not any more. But the kind of magic you have produced- we are simply not
nearer to you. I cannot write such prose. I will not write such prose. But that kind of
prose pulls me irresistibly. That you will be one of my readers makes me fearful. Still I
writeprose. Mostly for money. I do not recall indulging in prose but for
pecuniary considerations. Once I had written a novel quite unlikely that it will
ever get published. I do not fear you though for my poetry. I write poetry similar to
prose and shall continue to do so. I have no qualms about that kind of style. Shakti
( Chattopadhyay ) has written some extraordinary lines. Much, much deeper and greater
than me- that is Shakti. I respect him a lot. But his poems are headless. I cannot

write like him and do not want to write like that simply because I do not live that kind of
life. I can relate much more to Utpal ( Kumar Basu ). But this, my slumbering in beer,
makes me oblivious to all poetry. There is no poetry, no heart, nothing.
Sandipan, why have you not written much in recent times ? What are these quirks of
occasional pieces ? This habit of yours has attracted you to the Hungryalist
hullabaloo the latest fad. I had forbidden you. But you did not trust me. And then
you quietly distanced yourself from me. I did not stop Shakti. Shakti is greedy.
Utpaltoo has chosen that path. However, I thought you were not that greedy. I have
often shared a bed with you, stood in the same shadow while walking in sunlight. I very
well have the understanding of my own greed. And, as a result, I could instinctively
estimate that your greed is less than mine. I became deeply uncomfortable
with, in fact felt strong aversion, to this New Phenomenon. I had always felt
that writing poems in English in order to earn cheap accolades from the West is the
worst possible example of greed and a manifestation of utter narcissism. This inner
feeling has deepened this time after coming here, at Iowa. Would you ever like to be an
object of curiosity and pity to non-Bengalis ? I have met some Hungryalists here it is
these people who are attracted to them. Every single day I receive some request or the
other to contribute in English. I have been refusing, steadfastly. There are seven crores
of potential Bangla readers for me. Much more than French and Italian. I am fine with
it. I write poetry and have no intention to translate my sensibilities. If you wish to enter
my world of thoughts in English then get me translated. In gay abandon. I had
officially come here to do this kind of quid pro quo back-thumping. Till now I have
resisted this trap.
But the real problem with Hungryalism is not English. Their Bengali is even worse. They
are trying short-cut narratives the idea is to taste ready-made fame by criticizing and
denigrating others in this business. I hope you do not end up thinking that Malay
(Roychoudhury ) has really some authorial qualities in him ! I am amazed
because recently I have read in a Hindi literary periodical an eulogizing piece
by you about the Hungryalist fad. I was rather surprised that a thinker so
abstract as you could consider that contributions in the Illustrated
Weekly ( edited by Khushwant Singh ) merit any real literary discussion ! I
know the Hungryalist participants have made efforts to
challange Krittibas ( periodical ) or Sunil ( Gangopadhyay ). I could have
destroyed their Movement. Yes, I could. But I refrained. I am telling you these
things because I so much admire you as a writer and thinker. There is no conspiracy in
this exhortation of mine, Sandipan.

I could not properly comprehend the events that have been taking place at your end.
Why did you write the same letter to four of your friends- to us ? I could not fully
grasp this technique. Nevertheless, who has ordained me the right to understand how
your mind functions! That point is that once I return to Kolkata, I shall sleep peacefully,
will roam around light-footed quite happily. I do not require any Literary Movement. I
was wonder struck to know as to why Malay ( Roychoudhury ) had published my letter. I
hope he has not published any truncated version. That will be so out of context. These
are the words I recently wrote to him : If you edit sections of the head or tail of my
letters and use some fashionable dotted spaces or some such tricks, I shall box your ears
and slap you real hard once I return. The same is true of your letter. Shaktis, yours and
my dirty linen are being exhibited in public.
However, these are just ephemerato conclude. No one would dare touch you. And I
shall stand by you always. We have fought over many issues, Sandipan. But I did ponder
about you pensively ; we can not do without you. I can not. In a simpler way to tell you,
you are my obverse. Your split-up, fragmentary character, your follies and your
treachery- to all these qualities I aspire. It is like a life I never had but wished for it so
much. Whenever I think of any writer of our generation who has some real promise, I
think of you and only you ( except for Tanmay Datta ). There is no one in the city of
Kolkatawho will dare touch your delicate being. You lie there softly, oh so softly beside
Rina ( Sandipans wife ) and keep telling her those adventures to Mars.
I shall reach Kolkata on 18th August. I have been detained here for strange reasons. As a
result of my idiocy, yes, really. There is a faint chance of staying in Paris during late July
or early August. But prior to that, by mid-July, I shall travel to New York city and
thereafter to England. How could you presume that I may join Masters degree course
here at Iowa ! You have lost all sense of proportions ! I have troubled you a lot about
your narratives inKrittibas, but this time I became apprehensive when I could not find
your imprint in the periodical. Any command for me from you to get something from
here ?
With love
Sunil
( Before going to Iowa, Sunil Gangopadhyay was working as Sunday editor
of Janasebaknews paper owned by Atulya Ghosh, the most powerful Congress

syndicate leader at that time. Sunil wrote similar letters to all of his friends who had
joined the Hungryalist movement. Sunil, on return to Kolkata, immediately started
working against the Hungryalist movement, resulting into arrest and trial of some
participants in September 1964. Malay Roychoudhury was sentenced by a lower court
for his contribution to a Hungryalist publication. He never forgave Sandipan and made
all efforts to block him getting published in the Ananda Bazar Patrika group
publications. Sandipan joined a rival newspaper group Aajkal. Sunil avoided
including Samir Roychoudhury, Malay Roychoudhurys elder brother, in all anthologies
edited by him. Sunil, who is talking about greed of others, went on to write about 1000
books of which 400 are fictions; in fact he became a must in almost all Durga puja
publications. He wrote simplistic feel-good poems to be recited in get-together . Sunil
Gangopadhyay became greedy to the extent that he started advertizing for
constipation medicines as well as mustard oil ! When the Left Front came to
power in West Bengal he switched his loyalties from Atulya Ghoshs Congress Party to
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjees Communist Party [Marxist] )
( The letter was first published in HAOWA49, literary periodical published from
Brahmapur, Bansdroni, Kolkata 700 070, in their 43rd issue ( July 2013 ). The
photocopy of the letter appeared in CHANDRAGRAHAN magazine published from,
Dum Dum, Kolkata 700 030 in their issue of September-October, 2014.