Ruma Chakravarti

Adelaide, South Australia

I was born to doctor parents in Ghana in West Africa in 1964. When my parents decided that it was time for them to help their own country with their medical skills, we came to India in 1973 after leaving Zambia. After finishing college I left India in 1986 and began living in Australia. I started my professional career as a Science teacher once my older children were in high school and then gravitated towards teaching mathematics. My time as a high school teacher was a real education in itself.

I have been translating from my native Bengali into English informally since December 2011 and formally since January/February 2012 at animikha.wordpress.com (translations of Rabindranath Tagore's work) and at https://banglarmukh-ruma.blogspot.com (translations of other Bengali writers). These have resulted in a number of books - an anthology of translations of Tagore's poems, songs and stories at the Calcutta Book Fair in 2012/2013 and Ruma Reliving Tagore: Poetry Prose and Perceptions in May 2016. I have also translated a number of women focused short stories by the famous Bengali author Ashapurna Devi, one of our greatest feminist literary icons in my book The Mystery That is Woman in March 2019. I have also translated short stories by Abanindranath Tagore that are available on kindle as 3 Stories by Bee Books.

I am not teaching science or mathematics in high school any more but I like to think that I am teaching applications of both subjects to adults now. These are through regular Saturday sessions in my home where I teach Indian cookery to groups of up to six. Come Cook With Me is a council approved cookery school where people with all levels of cookery skills and dietary styles can expect to learn how to make a full course Indian meal in the company of an experienced home cook and a group of friendly faces.

  • Work
    • At being self employed and happy
  • Education
    • Wirreanda High School
    • Patha Bhavan, Kolkata (Calcutta)
    • Patha Bhavan
    • Calcutta University
    • Charles Darwin University