Sunil Gangopadhyay to be cremated tomorrow

His son Souvik, who arrived from Boston today, said the last rites would be performed at Keoratala Ghat tomorrow afternoon.

Kept at the "Peace Heaven" mortuary, the body of the 78-year-old author, who died at his South Kolkata residence on Tuesday, would first be taken to the office of Anandabazar Patrika, where Gangopadhyay had begun his career as a sub-editor and remained associated with 'Desh' magazine published by them.

From there, the body would be taken to the city's cultural hotspot of Rabindra Sadan where Gangopadhyay's fans and many cultural and literary personalities will pay their last respect to writer.

Souvik told PTI that his father had once expressed the desire to donate his body after death.

"But there is no such will of his. It was just a thought in his mind and so we will not donate his body," he said.

Besides his son, the Bengali writer, who was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1985 for his historical novel 'Sei Samoy' (At That Time), is survived by wife Swati and grandchildren.

The author of over 200 books is remembered equally for his poems, short stories and novels, some of which have been made into films by Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and Goutam Ghosh.