Interview

MAMUNUR RASHID The transformation prodigy

farid mazumder — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:46:54 -0800

Dear son,
   Only the other day I was walking along the street when this really large and impressive looking vehicle stopped right in front of me. A handsome fellow dressed up nicely stepped out and immediately bent down and touched my feet. He informed me that though I may not recall him he was a good friend of my son’s. He was now the district commissioner of Jaipurhat and I burst into tears, both happy for his success and sad at my own predicament.
   Your father

   MAMUNUR Rashid bursts into laughter, as he reads out the letter sent to him by his father. ‘Till this day, my father refuses to believe that I am good for anything. He often pesters my son – ‘Tell your father to do something fruitful and worthwhile.”’
   Rashid, at 59, may have failed to live up to his father’s expectations; however, for his fans, well-wishers, the world of Bengali theatre and television, in acting, directing, and scriptwriting, he has left an indelible mark.
   Brought up in a conservative family – his father looked down upon any form of performance art – Rashid nonetheless had a fairytale childhood in Mymensingh. His father was the local postmaster and the family lived at the feet of the Garo hills. The little boy grew up in close proximity with the indigenous culture and amidst sights, sounds, shades and smells of the six seasons.

‘Does the editor actually edit?’

farid mazumder — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:46:35 -0800

Mohiuddin Ahmed, managing director of University Press Limited tells Turaj Ahmad about the need to produce good editors in order to come out of the stereotypical plagiarised story patterns

UPL has played a landmark role in publishing books in English. How has the journey been so far?

The approach I have adopted has always been that of publishing by choice. We have not solely published English books but also books in Bangla featuring essays, political history, politics, and literature. I have been trained in the fields of academic and scholarly works in English as well as on publishing educational books and have always tried to utilise my expertise by publishing material that bear relevance to Bangladesh. As a result, most of our books have been in English with the ‘thrust’ as we say or the main emphasis of our published books being on subjects such as the environment, agriculture, gender issues as well as development economics for which in some cases, we have presented some of the pertinent points put forth in support of Bangladesh by speakers at debates conducted by institutions such as the World Bank. Sixty per cent of the books that our list comprises of today are academic, discussing the breakthroughs on knowledge that is being taught while the remainder consists of scholarly works, based on research emphasising upon the output of scholarship.

Initially, I was probably alone in the field of publishing such materials although other institutions such as BIDS and the World Bank were also coming up with a few publications of their own. Publishing in English requires a greater amount of input as we have to strive towards maintaining international standards and as such, UPL has been one of the best third world country publishers both for our quality as well as our editorials. Before publishing, we send the manuscripts over for peer reviews and we go strictly by the evaluation of the peer group in furthering our proceedings. Our in house editors then check up on the facts and figures presented to ensure that they are not erroneous. Our Bangla publications follow the same procedure. We have also provided some of our best writers in Bangla with the opportunity to be translated so that non bangla speakers can have access to their work.

To Make Meanings Real: A Conversation with Mark di Suvero

bizu somoy — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:15:58 -0800

To Make Meanings Real: A Conversation with Mark di Suvero

Amitav Ghosh talks about his work.

editor — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:32:00 -0800

Finding the Centre
Amitav Ghosh is one of the most widely known Indians writing in English today. His books include 'The Circle of Reason', 'The Shadow Lines', 'In An Antique Land', 'Dancing in Cambodia', 'The Calcutta Chromosome', and most recently, 'The Glass Palace'. Last week Ghosh came to Dhaka as writer-in residence of the Independent University Bangladesh (IUB). In an interview with the Star Weekend Magazine, Amitav Ghosh talks about his work.
Ahmede Hussain
What is your earliest childhood memory?
Earliest I won't be able to tell, but I have a lot of early childhood memories centring on Dhaka. When I was three-four years old my family came here, and till eight I lived here. It feels very different now to recall, naturally everything changes in forty years. That day I have found the house in which we lived, so, it's an interesting thing to come and look for it.

Amitav Ghosh
I must say that I am surprised by Dhaka, it's wonderful how much park areas it has, how much greenery it has. The parks have really surprised me. I don't think its often that you see in South Asia a city that has so many parks, and they seem to be so well maintained, they look really, really beautiful. At the same time, a lot of the architecture seems unplanned. So it's kind of strange to reconcile the two, on the one hand you see something so well planned, on the other hand some buildings seem so haphazard and unplanned. Apart from this, Dhaka now seems a thriving, vibrant place.
Can you recollect one particular event of your childhood that has stirred you?
I can remember many things, I remember going to school, I remember my first day at school, I remember in that school, teachers used to beat us up with a ruler--I remember almost everything.

A beacon of incandescent brilliance

bizu somoy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:09:42 -0700

Prolific painter Kanak Chanpa Chakma looks back at her storied career and delves into the finer aspects of her works with
Ahmed Sadek Yousuf

She wears her heart and passion on her sleeve and her verdant enthusiasm for the fine arts remains undimmed while her craft remains perched on its virtually unrivalled apogee.

Arguably the most pronounced and acclaimed exponent of ethnic culture and life, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, a prolific painter cast in a distinct mould, in comparison with other artists, has done much to educate people in Bangladesh as well as the rest of the world, about the aspects of ethnic life and culture through the medium of her works.

Images of the 1971 Bangladesh War at Rivington Place

editor — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:10:52 -0700

Published: 11 April 2008

Source : http://www.culture24.org.uk/history/war/art56200

Women preparing for battle prior to the crackdown of 25th March 1971.Credit - Rashid Talukder. Courtesy of Drik and Autograph ABP.

Arifa Hafiz measures haunting images against her own memories of the war.

“I don’t know of a single family in Bangladesh that has not been affected by the war in 1971” says Shahidul Alam, director of Drik and curator, in partnership with Autograph ABP, of the photographic exhibition Bangladesh 1971 in Rivington Place. “Each time I come to this project I am always amazed how this war, this conflict, is never really referred to when we talk about issues of genocide - or in relation to the partition of 47 and how Bangladesh is forgotten in terms of the massive story of the legacy of imperialism” says Mark Sealy, director of Autograph.

Naibuddin Ahmed: A photographer looks back at 1971

editor — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:34:51 -0700

In conversation with Naibuddin Ahmed by Ahsan Habib With great risk veteran photographer Naibuddin Ahmed captured scathing images of brutality and how people survived the terror unleashed by the Pakistani army in 1971 that helped publicise the war to the world. These images now survive as documents of the Liberation War. Until 1971 Naibuddin was better known for his interest in rural and river scenes and the lives of ordinary people engaged in daily activities.

an interview with gaston roberge

editor — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:16:36 -0700

Aparajito and Aristotle

An interview with Gaston Roberge Film scholar Gaston Roberge talks about Indian film, Greek and Indian theatre and the power of the Internet in an interview with Amirul Rajiv and Ahsan Habib.

Photo by Amirul Rajiv