The mirror of splendor

Stills from 'Banglar Aayna'

"This informative documentary is the first of its kind in Bangladesh," stated Masud Chowdhury Pitu, a noted documentary filmmaker of the country, who has been working on the project for more than five years now.

The compact disc (CD) version of the documentary includes ten exclusive videos on various natural beauties and traditional attractions of the rural Bangladesh, such as 'Sharer Lorai' (Bull fight), 'Ahsar Chor' (an island in the Bay of Bengal), 'Duranta Podda' (on river Padma), 'Lalmai Pahar' (Lalmai hills that were uplifted in the Middle Pleistocene time during the final orogenic movement of the Himalayas), 'Lobon Chash' (salt production), 'Porjoton Nogory Cox's Bazaar' (the tourism capital of the country) and some other enchanting extravagant natural sites.

"You will be surprised to see what these rural people do to their oxen to win the fights," Masud said. "They will even believe in 'baan mara' (black magic) against the competitor's ox," he continues while describing the Lorai (fight) in a rural village of Netrokona, Maimensingh. There is even a committee to decide on how the conduction of the fight will be executed. Such bull-fights are ways of utter entertainment for the villagers.

'Ahar Chor', an isolated island in the Bay of Bengal, is another exclusive site that is expected to claim a lot of tourist attention from the adventure-loving crowds from in and out of the country. The residents of the island survive from dry-fish production and its revenue. "You will be surprised to find out that the sea-gulls often outnumber the number of residents of the island," said Masud.

'LalMai Pahar', documented in the presentation are sited about 8 km from the main city of Comilla. It is believed to be the oldest land rising form the sea-womb around 15 million years ago, according to archeologists. It is a common scenario to find fossilized tree-trucks aging more than thousand years old on this site.

"These amazing natural treasures of the country should get more and more attention from the government," Masud said, hoping that one day these locations will uplift the country in a well-ranking tourism list.

'Banglar Aayna' also includes footages on 'Atiya Mosque', a four hundred year old monument situated in the village of Atiya under Delduar Thana in Tangail district. According to an inscription (preserved in Bangladesh national museum), the mosque was constructed in 1019 AH (1610-11 AD) during the reign of Emperor Jahangir by Sayeed Khan Panni, son of Baizid Khan Panni, in honour of Shah Baba Kashmiri. The builder also excavated a big tank on the western side of the mosque. Atiya came into prominence after the arrival of a great saint Shah Baba Kashmiri, who propagated Islam in this part of Bengal. Now a replica of the inscription, fixed over the central doorway of the mosque, indicates that it was erected in 1018 AH (1609 AD).

"This is just the first publication of the series 'Banglar Ayna'," stated Masud assuring that more episodes are on their way and will be available in due time, mentioning further that work on the second project has already started.

Masud expressed extreme dissatisfaction on the fact that his collections of photographs are being used by some other website, referring that such action defies the laws on copyright. "These photos and clips are also screened in different music videos, portfolios, and in most of the private channels including national television," he mentioned.