Teacher Tarun Singh Mahapatra Bridges Languages, Translates Odia Literature to Bengali

• Tarun Singh Mahapatra, a teacher from Amlashuli, Paschim Medinipur, has resided in Dantan for 17 years due to his job, living at the border of Bengal and Odisha.
• Despite being a Bengali teacher, he dedicated himself to learning Odia due to its prevalence in Dantan and the language barrier it posed to his folk culture studies.
• He translated several Odia short stories by renowned litterateur Padmashree Manoj Das and Srikanta Charan Patra into Bengali, receiving encouragement from Manoj Das.
• Two collections of his translated Odia short stories have been published, and he also edited 'Lokabhash', a folk culture magazine, twice.
• Mahapatra's work is seen as an 'impossible feat' achieved through selfless interest and tireless effort, building a literary bridge between two languages.

Why It Matters: Teacher Tarun Singh Mahapatra uniquely bridges Odia and Bengali literature through dedicated translation efforts.