In 1975 when the German novelist Gunter Grass, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 1999, visited India for the first time, he singled out Calcutta as a city he would definitely return to. The abject poverty in which many in Calcutta lived, juxtaposed with the throbbing vitality of the city and the tremendous will of the people to survive against the odds, evoked in Grass a strange mixture of attraction and disgust, but also left him utterly fascinated.
Grass did return to Calcutta eleven years later, this time with his wife Ute, to live there for a year as ordinary residents of the city. Even though the couple eventually spent only a few months there, the experience left a lasting impression on Grass, Ute and the people who came in contact with them.
'My Broken Love' is a rich collection of all the material available on Gunter Grass' sojourn in Calcutta and his other visits to India and Bangladesh. Compiled by Martin Kamchen, the collection includes over twenty photographs and sketches by Grass himself.
