মনের ভিতর হরিদ্রাভ সুখ। হলুদ পাখির ডাকাডাকি শুনি
একদিন পৌষের শেষে না ছায়া না রৌদ্রঝিলিক বিকেল
অরণ্যের সবুজাভ ছায়ায় আঁকি প্রিয়তমাষুর মুখের আদল
ফড়িং আর প্রজাপতির মখমল আবির ঝরছিল ক্যানভাসে
স্নানসেরে ঘরে ফেরতা রমনীর শরীর থেকে ঝরছে
ঘ্রানলাগা লোবানের তরল পরশ
মগ্ন হই ছবির ক্যানভাসে, ছবিটা ক্রমশই অচেনা হয়

SYED Siddique Hossain, a homoeopath based in Kurigram in the 1930s and possibly the first Muslim in the subcontinent to write a seven-volume book on homoeopathy, would wake up every day at 4:30am, light up a lantern and write non-stop till late morning. The eldest of his eight children, Syed Shamsul Haq, then barely seven or eight years of age, would peer through his half-open eyelids at his father’s illuminated face, absorbed and striking, and listen, in a dreamy half-awake, half-asleep state, the scribbling noise the pen made on the paper. Not books, the act of writing fascinated the little boy most. ‘The scene that I woke up to every morning had immense power – I wanted to conquer the feeling,’ says Haq. ‘Reading wasn’t much of a possibility anyway.

HOW would he like to be remembered? Pausing for moments, in his measured enunciation typical of his classroom lectures, Serajul Islam Choudhury, on a definitive note, said, ‘a committed intellectual.’
   A man of commitment, or rather public commitment, Serajul Islam went on to define intellectuals as people who could rise up vertically in knowledge and achievement, but could also spread horizontally towards society, but for which they are reduced to mere scholars or professionals, or even mere social beings when they are inclined more towards society. This responsibility, shouldered out of volition, is to understand society and to strive after social transformation.

THIRTY-SIX years ago, on the day when Bangladesh won her freedom, a woman in her late thirties broke down – her tears were of pride and inexplicable joy. The end of humiliation, the end of not being able speak up, the end of the seemingly endless struggle to survive the bloody war had come. ‘I had held them back for so long and it was time that I let them out,’ says Sanjida Khatun.
   Samjida has made a long and arduous journey – from being one of the first women to speak in public meetings to being under constant surveillance of the government of the erstwhile East Pakistan and its cohorts; from the formation of Bangladesh Mukti Sangrami Sangstha to the foundation of Chhayanaut.

A people’s history of the language movement

by Ahmed Kamal

THE influence and inspiration of the language movement have been enormous in many of our cultural and political achievements during the past fifty-five years. It is generally agreed that the seed of our language-based nationalism started to grow from the very womb of the language movement. This view has earned almost universal acceptance in the historiography of the Bengali nationalism retailed by our educated middle class. On the other hand, serious debates are still raging from different political positions about the leadership of the language movement. But no such debate is noticeable on the importance of the people’s role in the movement. This is because there exists unanimity among the practitioners of history of Bengali nationalism that the task of the people is to follow the directives of the political parties and the elite political leadership. Debates do take place on issues such as the role of various leaders or the achievements of different political parties in the movement. Although these debates have not contributed much to our understanding of the history of the movement, the names in the list of the language veterans have grown longer as a result. These veterans are quite well-known to us. They belong to the middle class, are university educated and overt or covert members of one or the other political party. The task of weighing them on the measuring scale of history started since 1952. It is well known by now that some of the participants have even resorted to fraudulent claims to exaggerate their roles in the movement.

 

The International Ibsen Seminar and Theatre Festival 2009 ended at the National Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) on November 23. A discussion and prize giving ceremony for the art exhibition and competition on theatre icon Selim Al Deen were the highlights of the closing day. Centre for Asian Theatre (CAT) staged it's latest production, "The Communicator", on the last day. It was the second show of the play at the festival.

Artistic depictions of Bangladesh Liberation War
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Bangladesh's national monument, Jatiyo Smriti Soudho, located in Savar, Dhaka, is a tribute to the martyrs of the Liberation War

There has been numerous works of art that depicted the Bangladesh Liberation War during and since the War both at Bangladesh and abroad. The concert for Bangladesh organized by members of the Beatles was a major happening in 1971 for protest music. The songs recorded for and broadcast on Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra are still considered to be the best of Bangladeshi protest songs.

The four documentaries made during the War - Zahir Raihan's Stop Genocide and A State Is Born, Babulal Chowdhry's Innocent Millions, Alamgir Kabir's Liberation Fighters - are described as the first films made in Bangladesh, as earlier films were all made in Pakistan or India, larger entities that Bangladesh belonged to. Muktir Gaan, based on footage shot by Leer Levin during the war, by Tareq and Kathrine Masud is critically the most acclaimed Bangladeshi documentary. The directors followed the film with two sequels - Mukitr Katha and Narir Katha. Their feature film on the same subject, Matir Moyna, won the FIPRESCII award at Cannes Film Festival.

There have been numerous poems and novels written on the Liberation war, including Shamsur Rahman's famous poems written during the War. Arguably it is the most often used subject for Bangladeshi literature since 1971. The monuments made to commemorate the War are the highest esteemed monuments in Bangladesh.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Films
* 2 Literature
* 3 Music
* 4 Art
* 5 Museums
* 6 References
* 7 See also

 Films

* Stop Genocide – documentary by Zahir Raihan, (1971)
* Nine Months to Freedom: The Story of Bangladesh – documentary by S. Sukhdev (1972)
* Shei Rater Kotha Bolte Eshechi ("I Have Come to Speak of That Night") – documentary by Kawsar Chowdhury (2001).
* Muktir Gaan (Song of Freedom), Muktir Katha and Narir Katha – three different Bangla documentaries by Tareque and Catherine Masud
* Matir Moina directed by Tareque Masud, (2002) - winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival[1]
* Border, a 1997 Bollywood war film directed by J.P.Dutta. This movie is an adaptation from real life events that happened at the Battle of Longewala fought in Rajasthan (Western Theatre) during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971[2]
* Aguner Parashmani – feature film by Humayun Ahmed
* Shyamal Chhaya (Greenish Shade (of Bangladesh) – feature film by Humayun Ahmed
* Ekattorer Jishu (Jesus of 71) – feature film by Nasiruddin Yusuf
* Joy Jatra (Victory Procession) – feature film by Tauqir Ahmed
* Arunodoyer Agnishakshi (Witness of the Sun Rise)
* Dhire Bohey Meghna (The Meghna River Flows Slowly...)
* Raktakto Bangla (The Blood-stained Bengal)
* Ora Egaro Jon (They were a group of 11..)
* Shangram (Struggle)
* Bagha Bangali (Bengal Tigers)
* Kolmilata
* Megher Anek Rang (Clouds have Many Shades)

 Literature

* Ami Virangana Balchhi (I am the Heroine of War, Speaking...) – memoir by Nilima Ibrahim
* Ekatture Uttar Ronangaon ('71 Northern Front) – Factual War Accounts (in Bangla) by Muhammad Hamidullah Khan, Sector Commander 11, War of Independence – Bangladesh
* Ghum Nei (Sleepless Nights) – memoir by Nasiruddin Yusuf
* Ami Bijoy Dekhechi (I have witnessed the Victory) – memoir by M. R. Akhtar Mukul
* A Tale of Millions – memoir by Major (R) Rafik Ul Islam
* Ekattorer Dinguli (Days of 71) – memoir by Jahanara Imam (1986) ISBN 984-480-000-5
* Maa (The Mother) – novel by Anisul Hoque (2003) ISBN 984-458-422-1
* Jochhna o Janani'r Galpo (The Tale of Moonlight and the Motherland) – novel by Humayun Ahmed (2004) ISBN 984-8682-76-7
* Of Blood and Fire –
* September on Jessore Road – poem by Allen Ginsberg[3]
* A Golden Age – novel by Tahmima Anam

 Music

* The Concert for Bangladesh, New York, 1971
* Song for Bangladesh - song by Joan Baez[4]
* Bangla Desh - song by George Harrison
* Shrestho - album by Cryptic Fate

 Art

* Jatiyo Smriti Soudho (National Monument for Remembrance) in Savar, Dhaka
* Aparajeyo Bangla (Invincible Bengal) – sculpture in Dhaka University
* Shabash Bangladesh (Bravo, Bangladesh) – sculpture in Rajshahi University
* Shoparjito Shadhinota (Self Achieved Freedom) – sculpture in Dhaka University

] Museums

* Liberation War Museum, Dhaka
* Shahid Smriti Sangrohoshala (Martyr Memorial Museum), Rajshahi

 References

1. ^ Matir moina (The Clay Bird)
2. ^ Border at the Internet Movie Database
3. ^ September on Jessore Road
4. ^ Lyrics
 

 

                                       Portraits of Courage and Hope

Abdul Mannan

When the police finished playing the last post and gave the guard of honour to pay respect to our Debuda-Artist Devdas Chakraborty, many rushed to have a last glimpse of the body of the deceased artist lying in state in the Central Shaheed Minar in the afternoon of the fading winter on Thursday, February 7, 2008. Debuda had breathed his last on Monday at the age of 75. The aura was somber and I could see many friends and colleagues of Debuda weeping in silence.

Debdas Chakraborty: 1933-2008

It was in the summer of 1973 when I first met Debuda in the teacher's bus of Chittagong University. The eminent artist of the country Murtaja Baseer, whom I knew as Baseer <>bhai<> introduced me to Debuda sitting in the back seat of the bus. Debuda was one person whom you would like from the very first moment. He had a very fair reddish complexion. To me he seemed more of a fairy tale prince from 'Thakur Maar Jhuli', someone not from this part of the world. Later once I had humorously asked Debuda if he was a fairy tale prince? He smiled at me and said maybe. After the brief introduction phase was over, Debuda invited me to have lunch with him at Burma Raju Hotel. I had heard of Burma Raju Hotel so much but never had the chance of going there. I instantly agreed. Rashid Chowdhury, Murtaja Baseer, Devdas Chakraborty and Ronald Patra were also going to Burma Raju Hotel, an exclusive deshi restaurant in Firenghee Bazaar where you could have a good lunch at a reasonable price and could eat different varieties of shutki of Chittagong. It was Debuda's regular joint. Debuda believed life could be a burden if you did not know what to do with it.

INDIAN FOLK PAINTINGS:

15TH TO 19TH CENTURY

Until fifty years ago, it would have been inconceivable to plan an exhibition of the traditional folk paintings of India. At that time, folk paintings from most of the regions of the country were unknown, and even those somewhat familiar, had not yet found their way into the holdings of museums and private collections. Scholars engaged in the study of anthropology and the folklore of various regions of India did not consider it worthwhile to scrutinise and throw light on the painting or the other art expressions and crafts of the inaccessible terrain they were probing. Paintings made in the comparatively more frequented villages and centres of pilgrimage were termed "primitive".