Identifying the ever-changing markers of a constantly flowing time is an immensely difficult task for any writer. Yet, Shri Ashis Kumar Patra has chosen this arduous pursuit as his life's mission. The degradation of self-centered human beings-their pettiness, greed, lust, and repugnant self-serving existence-has tainted the very canvas of our contemporary time and social life. The disoriented, chaotic nature of this era finds a powerful echo in the sensitive prose pieces of Ashis's "Matichchhanner Diary."

This diary, born of deep resentment, loathing, anger, and overwhelming sorrow, might already be familiar to readers who have experienced the poignant poetry in his earlier works "Bratya" and "Khidhe." The wounds and bloodstains on the poet's heart, inflicted by the inhuman and beastly behavior of mankind, came alive in those poetry collections with striking immediacy and intensity. "Matichchhanner Diary" perhaps marks a new and compelling extension of that same emotional landscape-this time through a series of diverse and evocative prose writings.