The world of the Bengali bhadralok seems to be preoccupied with bouts of navel-gazing (or introspection if you so prefer) over its future. From the social media, I discovered another recent publication on the future of Bengalis by a distinguished former professor at Calcutta University. And finally, I was a speaker at a festival of global Bengalis where the intriguing question, ‘Does Bengali imply bhadralok?’, was posed and addressed with some humorous banter. The enlightened Bengali would love to believe that the earlier bar on including Muslims in the bhadralok fold has disappeared. The past five decades — coinciding with the truncation of West Bengal’s economy and shrinking opportunities — have seen a brain drain of the bhadralok.

Source: The Telegraph February 12, 2026 02:47 UTC