Remembering PT Nair (1933-2024), the historian-archivist-bibliographer of Kolkata

I wish I were in a position to begin this obituary with a personal anecdote. Perhaps, I would recall my last visit to Parameswaran Thankappan Nair’s one-room apartment in Bhowanipur’s Kansaripara, where the elderly chronicler of Kolkata sits amid a pile of books, eager to see me off so he can return to his work-in-progress manuscript. I would speak of his faithful Remington typewriter, a rare issue of Bengal Past and Present protruding from a wobbly shelf, and the absence of any communication device, mobile or static.

But the fact is that I never had the chance to meet Nair (April 30, 1933-June 18, 2024) in person. When, as a starry-eyed final-year Masters student at Jadavpur University I was first getting acquainted with his work, one of my professors had doused my eagerness to make his acquaintance. “Do you have something specific to ask?” he had said. “If not, I suggest you consult his books first, before imposing on his time.” This was sage advice, and I do not regret missing out on meeting the Kerala-born scholar. What little I know of Nair is through his books on Calcutta, and it is on their place in the city’s historiography that I wish to dwell...

Read more