In the year 2000, British poet, activist and actor Benjamin Zephaniah visited Kolkata, my hometown, for the famous book fair held annually in the city. While he was already well known in the UK, Zephaniah would have been mostly unknown in India at the time, except in literary circles. His performance at the British Council pavilion of the book fair was described by India Today as unprecedented: “Calcutta hasn’t seen anything like him before