Galpamala 2 by Narendra Nath Mitra

Short stories are the pride of Bengali literature, and Narendra Nath Mitra is the pride of Bengali short stories. Abu Sayeed Ayub identified one of his stories as having "elevated to the level of the greatest short stories in the world." Contemporary master storyteller Santosh Kumar Ghosh placed him alongside "Maupassant, O. Henry, Chekhov, and even Rabindranath." Narendra Nath Mitra's place in Bengali short stories was firmly established long ago. From the very beginning of his writing career, he has been a prominent figure. Over four decades, he wrote nearly five hundred stories. He has published more short story collections than novels, and in these stories, contemporary life has been immortalized.

Unfortunately, Narendra Nath Mitra’s collections have been rare for a long time. Yet, researchers, filmmakers, and avid readers constantly seek out his various stories. In response to this demand, collections of fifty of his various short stories are being published as volumes of Galpamala (The Garland of Stories). In this second volume, we find fifty almost-lost but unforgettable stories that made Narendra Nath Mitra famous as a short story writer and made possible his significant literary evaluation.

There is no formal introduction to this anthology; instead, there is a piece written by Narendra Nath himself, Atmakatha (Autobiography), where he reveals his personal journey and the evolution of his literary self. As with the first volume, the publication years of the stories included in this volume are mentioned in an appendix.