Sandip Roy
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Author of Don't Let Him Know. Columnist with Mint Lounge and The Hindu. Hosts The Sandip Roy Show for Indian Express and KALW 91.7 FM .
Articles by Sandip Roy
Before the city forgets
Last month, when I heard Bunny Gupta had died, I felt a pang. I did not know her. But I knew her byline from newspapers in Kolkata. Most of all, I knew her as one of the authors of a book I loved — The Calcutta Cook Book: A Treasury of Recipes from Pavement to Palace. I had gifted the book to my mother.
Before the city forgets
With the festive season drawing tourists to Shimla, the suspension of rail services on a stretch of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Shimla-Kalka …
Loneliness Replacement Surgery
In his later years my grandfather had a little mid-morning ritual. He would come to the bottom of our staircase at our home in Kolkata and ask for the newspaper. I would hand it to him and he would sit quietly in the living room, the newspaper spread out in front of him on the table. Now it strikes me he must have been lonely. My grandmother had already died. We were busy with our lives. He used to go on little walks of his own. But after he tripped and fell those stopped.
Sandip Roy: In Bengal, the Hooghly river tells its own history
New Delhi, Oct. 11 -- It was a Bengali sandesh but unlike any sweet I had ever had. First of all it was grey. It used charcoal as an ingredient. There was no sugar. It was sweetened by Stevia. And instead of the usual filling of molten gur or honey, it had Camembert cheese. In short, it was a sort of a love child of Bengal and France and it was making its debut at a booth in Chandannagar, the erstwhile French settlement near Kolkata once known as Chandernagore.
Sandip Roy: In Bengal, the Hooghly river tells its own history
It was a Bengali sandesh but unlike any sweet I had ever had. First of all it was grey. It used charcoal as an ingredient. There was no sugar. It was sweetened by Stevia. And instead of the usual filling of molten gur or honey, it had Camembert cheese. In short, it was a sort of a love child of Bengal and France and it was making its debut at a booth in Chandannagar, the erstwhile French settlement near Kolkata once known as Chandernagore.
Audacity of Hope
Last Sunday I happened to be in San Francisco and watched KALW move into its new home at Warfield Common. RIBBON CUTTING. The red ribbon was cut with giant scissors. Dancers scaled the sides of the building, suspended on ropes, performing aerial feats of wonder while passerby on on those big double decker tourist buses gaped. DANCE MUSIC This is Sandip Roy in San Francisco. Last week I also happened to be at the South Asian Literature and Arts festival in Menlo College.
Uttam Kumar at 100: How a matinee idol became a cultural emblem of Bengal
The Uttam Kumar centenary celebrations in Kolkata often felt more like an Uttam Kumar carnival. There were not just film screenings, panel discussions and exhibitions, the usual fare for such occasions but Nandan, the West Bengal government’s film complex, also had a booth where you could bellow “I love Uttam Kumar” and see if the decibel-level of your love was worthy of an Uttam Kumar badge.
The French Connection
France came back to Bengal last week. Chandernagar on he bank of the river Hoogly was one of 5 French settlements in India in colonial times since around 1696. In fact because it was under French control many Indian freedom fighters had hidden there to escape the British. When India gained independence in 1947, Chandannagar still was a French settlement. The French held a plebiscite and the citizens of Chandannagar overwhelmingly voted to join the newly independent state of India.
Sandip Roy: Why what we eat has become a weapon of cultural conflict
New Delhi, Sept. 20 -- The countries at the BRICS summit in New Delhi last week managed to find common ground and adopt a New Delhi declaration that called for "maximum restraint" in war. But the BRICS story that really made news on social media was about the menu served at the banquet. It was an innovative menu that included khandvi mille-feuille and mushroom kebab galoutis but the all-vegetarian fare sparked its own food fight.
Sandip Roy: Why what we eat has become a weapon of cultural conflict
The countries at the BRICS summit in New Delhi last week managed to find common ground and adopt a New Delhi declaration that called for “maximum restraint” in war. But the BRICS story that really made news on social media was about the menu served at the banquet. It was an innovative menu that included khandvi mille-feuille and mushroom kebab galoutis but the all-vegetarian fare sparked its own food fight.
Column | Where is India’s chutney map?
Every now and then, alongside debates about one national song or one election, a row breaks out on social media about whether India should have a national food just as it has a national animal. Usually, it ends up as a food fight between the biryani bloc and the khichdi khandaan. But after reading Sudha G. Tilak’s new book, Chutney Chronicles, I think it should really be the chutney. As Tilak writes: “Chutneys function as flavour maps as well.
Holding Out for a Hero (at the Centennial celebration of Uttam Kumar)
If you were in Kolkata last week you could not have missed the giant cut outs of a smiling man all over the city. Black and white pictures of a handsome man in a short sleeved shirt, hands on his hips, grinning at the world. It wasn't a politician or a rock star. These are pictures of Uttam Kumar, a super star actor of Bengali films but he died in 1980 at the age of 54. Last week was his centenary and the city celebrated.
Sandip Roy: Uttam Kumar is a reminder of how sometimes true stardom is ineffable
New Delhi, Sept. 5 -- My Uttam Kumar story is merely a second-hand one. Apparently the great Bengali movie star once came to the house next door. The son-in-law of that house knew him and had produced one of his films. My mother said she and our domestic help peeked into our neighbour's room from our living room, while discreetly hiding behind our curtains. With Uttam Kumar's centenary on 3 September, the media has been awash with stories about him.
Sandip Roy: Uttam Kumar is a reminder of how sometimes true stardom is ineffable
My Uttam Kumar story is merely a second-hand one. Apparently the great Bengali movie star once came to the house next door. The son-in-law of that house knew him and had produced one of his films. My mother said she and our domestic help peeked into our neighbour’s room from our living room, while discreetly hiding behind our curtains. With Uttam Kumar’s centenary on 3 September, the media has been awash with stories about him.
Birthday Cake
I just had a birthday last week. As a child, I loved my birthday. It was one of the few times in the year my family indulged in a cake from Flurys, then the ritziest patisserie in Kolkata. I always chose the same one though: a zoo-themed cake with little marzipan animals. My friends came over and we played Pin the Tail on the Donkey with gusto. Some years, we had a piñata, which I whacked with even more gusto.
Book review: Why and how Chapal Bhaduri became ‘Rani’
When Shirsho Bandyopadhyay’s cover story Beneputul on the male queens of the Bengali folk jatra performance world came out in the reputed Bengali cultural magazine Desh in May 1992, I was in school. My mother was not too happy to see me leaf through the pages and getting fascinated by the photographs of female impersonators.
Swimming Against the Tide (with Lou Lou van Damme)
BIRDS It’s a house on a ridge. The valleys and hills stretch before me green and undulating. Something falls on my head. Its a a pod from a cotton tree. I look up and see a giant Malabar squirrel staring at me inquisitively. Behind me is a villa. It’s called Isla’s Ridge. And Isla is Isla Van Damme better known as LouLou van Damme. A Belgian woman living in the hills of Tamil Nadu in south India. LV1: ] I came to India to retire in 99. It hasn't worked. Not at all. What a stupid idea I had.
Sandip Roy: Why Bhutan is about more than Gross National Happiness
New Delhi, Aug. 15 -- The Wi-Fi password at the hotel was "happiness." But of course. What else would it be in Bhutan, the country that gave us the idea of Gross National Happiness (GNH)? I was invited to visit Bhutan earlier this month as part of the Bhutan Echoes, an annual literature and arts festival. Though Paro is barely an hour's flight from Kolkata, my exposure to Bhutan was limited to Druk marmalade and orange squash.
Sandip Roy: Why Bhutan is about more than Gross National Happiness
The Wi-Fi password at the hotel was “happiness.” But of course. What else would it be in Bhutan, the country that gave us the idea of Gross National Happiness (GNH)? I was invited to visit Bhutan earlier this month as part of the Bhutan Echoes, an annual literature and arts festival. Though Paro is barely an hour’s flight from Kolkata, my exposure to Bhutan was limited to Druk marmalade and orange squash.
The Last Queen of Bengal
Many years ago I edited Trikone, the world’s oldest magazine on South Asian LGBTQ+ issues. It was published out of California and we were always on the lookout for stories that were both South Asian and queer. There weren’t that many. Anything that vaguely fit the bill, say a minor gay character buried in a novel set in India, we included. This is Sandip Roy in Kolkata.
Sandip Roy: Why selective outrage is a trap to shut down debate
If you kill a cockroach you are a hero, if you kill a butterfly, you are evil; morals have aesthetic criteria. —Attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche As the dust settled on the Jantar Mantar protest in New Delhi, the post game analysis began in television studios. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders are being grilled by anchors about future plans. One line of questioning that has gained currency lately goes something like this. What about exam leaks in Punjab or Kerala? Or Karnataka?
Ratha Yatra (Chariot Festival)
Last week was Rath Yatra the chariot festival in India. In the Indian city of Puri millions pull the huge wooden chariots of Lord Jagannath and his siblings through the streets. The crush is so intense, with thousands jostling to pull the ropes it has given the English language the word Juggernaut. AV: A massive inexorable force that seems to crush everything in its way. In other cities chariots big and small hit the street.
Sandip Roy: It takes hard work to remain true to your heart
Posted On: 2026-07-18 Posted By: Sandip Roy Business & Finance Health & Lifestyle Technology Real Estate & Construction MINT Newspapers New Delhi, July 18 -- "I came to India to retire in 1999. It hasn't worked. Not at all. It's a stupid idea I had." Isla Van Damme has had quite a life. Sorry, that is the wrong tense. Isla Van Damme is having quite a life.
Sandip Roy: It takes hard work to remain true to your heart
"I came to India to retire in 1999. It hasn’t worked. Not at all. It’s a stupid idea I had.” Isla Van Damme has had quite a life. Sorry, that is the wrong tense. Isla Van Damme is having quite a life.
American Dream
The war in Iran had just started. I was meeting an American friend for coffee in San Francisco. There were “No Kings” posters on shop windows around us, symbols of protest against US President Donald Trump. San Francisco is a liberal bastion so that was not too surprising. Nor was it surprising that my friend was aghast about the war. “It’s so embarrassing travelling anywhere as an American,” she said. “People are either upset with you. Or they look at you with pity.It’s terrible.
Sandip Roy: How Trump is reinventing the American Dream
New Delhi, July 4 -- The war in Iran had just started. I was meeting an American friend for coffee in San Francisco. There were "No Kings" posters on shop windows around us, symbols of protest against US President Donald Trump. San Francisco is a liberal bastion so that was not too surprising. Nor was it surprising that my friend was aghast about the war. "It's so embarrassing travelling anywhere as an American," she said. "People are either upset with you. Or they look at you with pity." I agreed.
Sandip Roy: How Trump is reinventing the American Dream
The war in Iran had just started. I was meeting an American friend for coffee in San Francisco. There were “No Kings” posters on shop windows around us, symbols of protest against US President Donald Trump. San Francisco is a liberal bastion so that was not too surprising. Nor was it surprising that my friend was aghast about the war. “It’s so embarrassing travelling anywhere as an American,” she said. “People are either upset with you. Or they look at you with pity.” I agreed.
Obscene Vulgarity
She is only 4.1 inches tall and weighs about one and half ounces. And she is 4,500 years old. She was called the Dancing Girl of Mohenjodaro. Discovered in the Indus Valley in 1926 the little bronze statuette, made using the lost wax technique, has become probably the most iconic example of ancient Indian art. A source of immense pride. But recently she's suddenly found herself facing a question she might not have expected. About modesty.
Mural of Pride
It’s Pride Month. And even as corporates and multinationals move away from DEI policies that once made June an explosion of rainbow, LGBT lives are not going back into the closet. Earlier this month I was at the 17th Kashish Pride Film Festival in Mumbai, South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ+ Film Festival where renowned actress Konkona Sen Sharma received an award for being a rainbow ally amidst huge cheers. KSS1: Its so amazing to be here today again.
Dancing Girl cover-up reveals more about us than we think
Earlier this year, artist Shakibul Islam went to the Lepakshi temple in Andhra Pradesh. He was shocked to find that the stone relief figures of the 16th-century temple, both male and female, had their private parts discreetly covered by strips of cloth. What was worse, the modesty strips had been nailed in place. When he asked the security guard how this could be done in a site protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, the guard replied, “Local families come here.
Pride Month 2026: Trying to look beyond rainbow campaigns
New Delhi, June 19 -- The building, like many buildings in Kolkata, had seen better days. An old three-storey house, with slatted windows and trellis patterns on its balcony, faded by sun and rain. These days houses like these are routinely torn down to become nondescript apartment buildings. The luckier ones find a second incarnation as trendy cafes that serve top-notch nostalgia alongside nondescript Americanos. But this one is different. Its walls have become a canvas.
Pride Month 2026: Trying to look beyond rainbow campaigns
The building, like many buildings in Kolkata, had seen better days. An old three-storey house, with slatted windows and trellis patterns on its balcony, faded by sun and rain. These days houses like these are routinely torn down to become nondescript apartment buildings. The luckier ones find a second incarnation as trendy cafes that serve top-notch nostalgia alongside nondescript Americanos. But this one is different. Its walls have become a canvas.
Kaziranga’s oldest tourist lodge returns in a shiny new avatar
Why book? Kaziranga has long been the go-to destination to see the greater one-horned Indian rhinoceros and is currently home to some 2,500 rhinos, two-thirds of the world’s population. The oldest tourist lodge in the area, which has hosted generations of rhino-watchers, has been reinvented as Kaziranga Heritage, preserving its history with a contemporary update, and offering a brand new vantage to experience the forest and its surroundings.
I Too Sing America
A cage fight on the White House lawns. CAGE FIGHT Now that’s not something I would have foreseen 10 years ago. At that time I remember the conversations were always about Diwali in the White House. Or Chinese new year. It was about taking pride in America as a nation built by immigrants.
Slots or Beethoven?
A huge statue has bitten the dust in Kolkata and almost no one is shedding any tears. Sports Today describes it. ST1: Speaker 1: it has stood tall in front of the iconic Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata for several years. In front of the VIP gate is the sculpture of a headless torso with two balls on its feet and the Biswa Bangla ball on the top of the waist It’s hard to describe. Two muscle veiny legs in white soccer shorts.
Sandip Roy: What is the real purpose of public art?
New Delhi, June 6 -- The BJP campaigned promising poriborton or change for West Bengal. Since it has come to power, some of its actions have won praise, some have invited controversy. But one change seems to have been met with almost universal acclaim.
Sandip Roy: What is the real purpose of public art?
The BJP campaigned promising poriborton or change for West Bengal. Since it has come to power, some of its actions have won praise, some have invited controversy. But one change seems to have been met with almost universal acclaim. The giant football statue that “graced” the entrance to the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan in Salt Lake in Kolkata since 2017, a statue that the new sports and youth services minister of West Bengal, Nishit Pramanik, called “ugly-looking”, is gone.
A Home in the Himalaya
On Friday May 22, the 50 hottest cities in the world had something in common. They were all in India. There is a vast heat dome over the Indian subcontinent. 113 degrees at the hottest. Sweltering in Kolkata we are dreaming of summer vacations in the hills. This is Sandip Roy in Kolkata. While some of us can only dream about the mountains, writer Anuradha Roy and her spouse Rukun Advani actually built themselves a home in the mountains near Ranikhet in the Himalaya.
Sandip Roy's Biography of Chapal Bhaduri Recovers a Forgotten Thespian of Bengali Jatra Theatre
“’You never saw me in my jatra days,’ he would tell me sadly over and over again…. I sensed the sadness was not that he had once been beautiful and was no longer... it was that no one could bear witness to that beauty any more.” So writes Sandip Roy in the introduction to his book on the life and times of the Bengali thespian Chapal Bhaduri.
Paash Baalish
After 15 years in power Mamata Banerjee, the colourful leader of the state of West Bengal in India, the first woman to ever lead it, lost in the elections this month. The nationalist BJP which rules India from Delhi has now rolled into power in Kolkata as well, in a state where it was almost a nonentity a decade ago. This is Sandip Roy in Kolkata But politics aside, one of things people will need to get used to is a cultural shift.
Sandip Roy: A century of wonders with David Attenborough
New Delhi, May 16 -- When a British citizen turns 100, they get a message from the monarch. It's a tradition dating back to 1917 when King George V started sending telegrams to congratulate citizens on landmark birthdays. But Sir David Attenborough is no ordinary citizen. And he didn't get just a letter or a telegram.
Sandip Roy: A century of wonders with David Attenborough
When a British citizen turns 100, they get a message from the monarch. It’s a tradition dating back to 1917 when King George V started sending telegrams to congratulate citizens on landmark birthdays. But Sir David Attenborough is no ordinary citizen. And he didn’t get just a letter or a telegram.
Column | Didi and the Romans: How Bengal’s ‘Asterix’ lost her biggest fight
1 hour ago The foreign ministers meeting is taking place before the 2026 BRICS summit in India in September. India is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers from BRICS nations on May 14-15 in a precursor to the 18th BRICS summit, which New Delhi will host in September. The meeting, which starts on Thursday …
Things to be Done
When David Attenborough turned 100 last week I remembered my mother. She had no wish to live till 100 but in her 90s she paid great attention to all nonagenarians. When Queen Elizabeth appeared on television she said admiringly she was still climbing steps. When a film star in his 90s died she compared him to her age. She measured people by knees and hearing and speech. She would have approved of Sir David. At 100, he appeared at the Royal Albert Hall, on his own steam, without a walker or cane.
As voters become trolls, old friendships are poll-arised
Ever since BJP ousted Trinamool Congress from office, social media has been up in arms. A friend who opposed BJP is so upset, she is pruning her friends list of those rejoicing at the verdict. Friends who had never seemed political are suddenly posting mocking memes about Mamata Banerjee and posing in orange outfits.
Citizen Who?
In 1941 Orson Welles made a film that became a classic. CK1: Rosebud (music) Citizen Kane. In 2026 we seem to be in the middle of another film, rather more dystopian. We can call it Citizen Kaun. Kaun in Hindi means Who? Citizen Who? This is Sandip Roy in Kolkata. West Bengal just went to the polls with several million voters struck off the electoral rolls, banished to some kind of limbo land. The Special Intensive Revision or SIR) process was meant to clean up the voter list.
Sandip Roy: The global quest to define 'people like us'
New Delhi, May 1 -- In 1941, Orson Welles made a film that became a classic-Citizen Kane. In 2026 we seem to be in the middle of another film, rather more dystopian. We can call it "Citizen Kaun". West Bengal just went to the polls with hundreds of thousands of voters struck off the electoral rolls, banished to some kind of limbo land. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process was meant to clean up the voter list.
Sandip Roy: The global quest to define ‘people like us’
In 1941, Orson Welles made a film that became a classic—Citizen Kane. In 2026 we seem to be in the middle of another film, rather more dystopian. We can call it “Citizen Kaun”. West Bengal just went to the polls with hundreds of thousands of voters struck off the electoral rolls, banished to some kind of limbo land. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process was meant to clean up the voter list. In the process over 8 million voters were struck off the list, more than 10% of the electorate.
Sandip Roy: The global quest to define ‘people like us’
No Dual Gas, OTP Delivery, Prices Revised: New LPG Rules Take Effect Today The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has implemented a major overhaul of India's cooking gas framework effective May 2026. In one of the most …
Something Fishy's Going On
It’s election time in Kolkata this week. That means the city is abuzz with noise and colour. There are mega road shows with political bigwigs like the Prime Minister himself, And there are little corner rallies and street theatre STREET THEATRE This election is about electing the next state government but there’s more at stake. The ruling party in Kolkata, the populist Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011 ousting the Communists after over 3 decades of rule.
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