“A journey of a thousand miles 
must begin with a single step.” 
– Lao Tzu

I possess the soul of a traveller, and I have travelled to many countries for work and leisure. Travel has always been a passion, and when it blended with another passion that is writing, what came out was a book like ‘Duniyadari’.

The horizon-kissing greenery of Switzerland to the haunting walls of Hitler’s concentration camps in Berlin - each trip is an experience in itself, and penning it down is happiness beyond explanation. When your travel stories take the shape of a book, it lasts forever in printed form for the world to read. Duniyadari is a collection of twenty one travel tales abroad which were previously published in different Bengali magazines. I was just thinking of putting the best within one cover, and thus, this book took birth. It was published by Patra Bharati, the house that has its name behind almost all of my Bengali books.

On 3rd February evening at the International Kolkata Book Fair, my publisher and very good friend Mr. Tridib Chatterjee, a name more famous at the book fair for his role as the Secretary of the Publishers & Booksellers Guild, had arranged for the launch programme in front of their stall. When I reached, I walked like a reader along the shelves and traced my book tidily displayed in the front window-shelf. That feeling was different! I went through some other books of my favourite authors, and bought a couple of them. Every author is first an avid reader, truly.

It was an immense pleasure being flanked by eminent people like Mr. Aniruddha Basu, the Managing Director of CESC and acclaimed poet Mr. Subodh Sarkar. Holding a new book is always a special feeling; the smell of new pages, the new cover, curious eyes of readers.

Life is a bon voyage every single day, and this one lifetime is too short for a traveller’s feet.