ABSTRACT
Besides writing originally in Bengali and English, and translating between these two languages, the author has additional skills in some other languages, ancient and modern. In this chapter, the author explains how he came to develop this bilingual identity and outlines its implications in his life. The roots of this development lie in Indian education. All people who go through secondary and higher education in India develop some second-language skills. A consequence of being well known in Bengal has meant that it has been easier for the author to publish most of his English-language books from India. Two books of poetry have been published from Calcutta and two academic books from Delhi. In India there are still no middlemen between authors and publishers, everything being done through informal personal contacts. In a society dominated by the media, by the values of the commercial and advertising worlds, invisibility is a considerable handicap. It means isolation from one’s peer-group.
