<i>Kali O Kolom</i>
The March 2008/Chaitra 1414 issue of the country's premier mainstream literary magazine is especially strong, sadly enough, in its in-memoriums to a scholar, an artist and a poet. Gulam Murshid writes an engrossing eulogy of writer-academic-essayist Shibnarayan Rai, who died on 26th February, which pens a portrait of a superior mind and a generous individual. He recounts an amusing story about the late Professor Ahmed Sharif of Dhaka University enquiring of the author whether Shibnarayan was a CIA agent since the latter had abandoned his youthful Marxism. Shamarjit Rai Chowdhury writes about artist Debdas Chakravarty, while Shouvik Reza charmingly recalls the fifties poet Pranabendhu Das Gupta, one of whose most well-known poems Sadar Street Verandah. There is a translation of a short story by American author Jay McInerney, whose novel Bright Lights Big City was a phenomenal success. This is the first time perhaps that a contemporary American author has been translated in Kali O Kolom and McInerney is a good choice to introduce the journal's readers to current American fiction and authors. Among other notable articles are a short story, Chaka Bhangar Golpo, by Jahanara Nausheen, an essay on the French poet/enfant terrible Arthur Rimbaud, a travel piece on a Vientiane market by Mainus Sultan, and a look, informative if sometimes repetitive, at our poets of the Seventies by Mamun Mustafa. The April 2008/Boishakh 1415 volume is a special issue devoted to art. It has a wide-ranging coverage of our art scene and history with articles written by art critics as well as by artists themselves on art movements, individual artists and notable themes. Especially delightful is Rafiqunnabi's emotionally charged recall of one art show that triggered a mysterious, creative energy in him. Another highly readable account is of a visit (complete with Kolkata bus routes) to artist Bijon Chowdhury. This issue of Kali O Kolom will surely delight art lovers as well as general readers. Khokon Imam is a poet and illustrator.
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