Arundhati Roy Returns to Kolkata After Eight Years for Intimate Evening
If you entered the St Xavier's College auditorium on Wednesday evening, you felt a special atmosphere immediately. The space glowed with warmth from an audience that came not for spectacle, but for a writer who has lived with them for decades. A rare quietness spread through the room as people of all ages leaned forward. Students, professionals, and literature fans with marked copies waited for Arundhati Roy to appear on stage. Her last visit to Kolkata happened nearly eight years ago, but the city welcomed her like an old friend finally coming home.
Conversation Between Friends in an Intimate Setting
The Booker Prize-winning author engaged in conversation with filmmaker and scholar Shohini Ghosh, her longtime friend. The tone felt intimate and almost conspiratorial. This was less a public event and more like a shared living room where two women discussed a life, a mother, a book, and all the bruises and brilliance in between.
Ghosh reflected on Roy's visits to her mother in Kerala. "Every time Arundhati went to see her mother, we never knew if she would come back with a kiss on the cheek or a slap. We were always scared," she shared. Speaking about her memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me, Roy said with complete candor: "One half of me was taking the hits and the other half was taking notes... just to explain to myself what was going on."
Ghosh called the memoir "a biography of a relationship" between two women and two public figures. Roy nodded in agreement, adding: "You can't package my mom or tie her up in a ribbon. She was never this or that - she was everything. She was both my shelter and my storm." Even when recalling her Bengali father Micky Roy, that familiar mix of admiration and exasperation shaped her memories clearly.
A Hall Filled with Light and Music
The session, hosted by the Kalam Club, concluded with the author reading excerpts from the final chapter of her book. This bittersweet farewell to her mother ended on a note that felt almost cinematic. As if perfectly timed, a trio featuring voice, guitar, and keyboard stepped up to perform The Beatles' classic Let It Be, the song that inspired the book's title.
The hall filled with soft white light as people of every generation raised their phone flashlights. Students, working professionals, and longtime loyalists all participated. Arundhati and Shohini joined in, singing gently at first, then fully, with smiles spreading across their faces. The audience sang back, creating a warm chorus that carried the moment beautifully.
Later, Roy sat patiently on the stage, signing hundreds of books with steady dedication. Hosts requested "No selfies, please" but there was no rush. The evening featured just light, music, ink, and a city that truly knows how to love its writers.
Arundhati Roy reflected: "Losing my mother unmoored me. But it also forced me to understand the woman behind my own fire."
