1/7 Bondel Road

1/7 Bondel Road has a great deal of charm, atmosphere, humour and character. Shyam Benegal. A warm and bittersweet paean to the halcyon days of childhood. Fluent and humourous. Siddharth Chowdhury, Author of Day Scholar, short-listed for The Man Asian Literary Prize 2009. I am happy to share the release of a very special book. 1/7 Bondel Road which is about moments some bewitching, some frozen, some crisp, others lingering, still others haunting and about the people who help frame them as memories. Ten vividly sketched endearing vignettes of those growing up years in a quintessential Calcutta lane, create a gentle universe filled with impressions that last a lifetime.

A sharply observant set of stories, that end with inevitably poignant, unexpected turns that give old truths new meaning.

Gautam Benegal, writer, national award winning animation film maker, cartoonist, and artist, grew up in a Calcutta paara with friends and acquaintances similar to the ones his stories talk about in this book. He explores and expresses his experiences through varied aspects of the visual and written medium. To capture the essence of the city in the 1970s and 80s, his illustrations in this book use mixed media with charcoal, crow quill pen and ink on wet paper with a wash. He lives and works in Mumbai with his writer and film maker wife and their son.