Three Boi Mela Books
Dohon O Droher Golpo, edited by Jahanarah Nuri, is a collection of thirteen short stories brought out by publishers Utsha Prokashon, Dhaka. The stories center around the theme of women's oppression, domestic violence and women's rights, a condition that Ms Nuri says in her introduction has been further inflamed by the pressures generated by the difficult transition from a rural culture and village societal values to an urban culture and city-based way of life. The stories in this compilation, chosen from the works of such well-known authors such as Hasan Azizul Haq, Syed Shamsul Haq, Zakir Talukdar and Rizia Rahman as well as younger authors such as Papri Rahman and Shaheen Akhtar, however, to a large extent escape the didacticism (almost as oppressive as the brutalities committed on women) associated with such literary enterprises. Ms Nuri is aware of such dangers, as when she writes that the short story form at first glance seems an easy enough form, but that its difficulties are familiar to writers, and that she has made sincere efforts to put literary merit at the top of her criterion for choosing them. Her sensitivity and care has been vindicated in this fine and balanced volume of stories. A writer of a different sort is Mominul Hoque, a probashi Bengali academic residing in Pittsburgh, USA. Despite his long stay abroad, which included teaching at universities in Libya, Iraq and Nigeria as well as in America, his connection with Bangladesh has remained strong, as evidenced by his two books, one a novel and another a collection of short stories. Both were brought out by Adorn Publication, Dhaka. The novel, Bhaati'r Deshe Jatra, tells the tale of Hena, of a pir family, and her companion Shami. It is a tale of a hard life and love in a village setting -- a setting that is scrupulously rendered in naturalistic detail. The short stories, sixteen in all, in the volume titled Shathi Ek Nokkhotray'r Naam, are more varied in their settings, shifting from village to town and back, and reveal a sharply observant eye. Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury in his preface rightly observes that Hoque is a student of science (geology to be exact!) and that his use of language contains no surprises, but that the stories work precisely because of its clarity and simplicity. Professor Chowdhury goes on to point out that Mominul Hoque took part in both the 1952 Language Movement (he was incarcerated at one point), and in the 1971 War of Liberation, and that his characters tend to distinctly be the product of both these profoundly national events. It gives to Hoque's writing a socio-political cast and depth. One therefore, especially in this month of February, has to whole-heartedly agree with Professor Chowdhury when he says that Mominul Hoque should certainly write more books, and that we readers expectantly wait for them.
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