<i>Kali O Kolom Srabon</i> 1416 - July 2009
The current volume of Kali O Kolom pays a timely tribute to the great 1930s Marxist poet and art critic Bishnu Dey, who was a close friend of Jamini Roy. In fact, unless I am entirely off the mark, in a couple of the collection of marvelous photographs - one in which the poet is seen with Louise MacNiece - accompanying the eleven articles on him can be spotted some of Jamini's works. Among the pieces on Dey, I found interesting Mahmud Al Zaman's 'Kobi Bishnu Dey O Bangladesher Muktijuddho', though to an extent the title promises a fraction more than it actually delivers (since it does not deal directly with the poet's life or activities in relation to the actual nine months of war and struggle). It is also interesting to contrast it with with the valuable reprint of a collection of 19 of the poet's letters to Rajshahi University professor Abu Bakr Siddiqui ranging from 1966 to 1986. In letter number 11 dated 29/1/1972, two months after independence, Bishnu Dey writes that "the first round of bloodshed has come to an end. Now is the time for yet another struggle, a struggle for peace and which we all are hopeful about, and where the test will be even more severe, won't it?" It makes one wonder exactly what Dey thought of the 1971 war - perhaps that it was a national liberation movement of the petit-bourgeoisie which should lead to a greater 'people's movement' - something that has always seemed to me to be the 'revolutionary' claptrap held sacred by middle-class Maoist study circles. Bishnu Dey's poetry however heralded something genuinely new in Bengali poetry, as did his incisive art criticism, the latter detailed by Hasnat Abdul Hye in his 'Chitrashomalok Bishnu Dey'. As some of the writers succeed in underlining sporadically in the other pieces, which at times seems to be a competition of who can write the more obtuse literary criticism, Bishnu Dey effortlessly rose above what Dinesh Chandra Sen once termed as 'pucchanagrahita': the blind adherence to trails laid down by predecessors. Among the short stories Zakir Talukdar's 'Atto Pokkho' captures the reader with its remorseless- this is one writer who never shies away from the realities of life, and whose vocabulary and turns of phrases have by now been perfected to match his bleak vision - portrayal of one Ruhul Quddus, son of a peon, who has to look after his mortally sick, and gruesomely unclean, father in a hot, smelly, airless room. In the Science section regular contributor Mohammed Zafar Iqbal's essay titled 'Shakti'r Nobayon' on renewable energy makes one think that he should write, and explain in his typically lucid manner, the effects of Tipaimukh Dam on Bangladesh, which despite all the media reports remains largely unexplained in scientific terms to many among us. The poem 'Sundarboner Dinlipi' by Iqbal Aziz is quite charming, immersed in the rhythms of fresh and saltwater tides. There are two graceful in-memoriams, one of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, and the other a very interesting one on Indian playwright-activist Habib Tanvir, who had spent time learning tradecraft with Bertolt Brecht in the late1950s in East Berlin, by local theater's leading light Aly Zaker. Rabiul Hossain reviews artist Atiya Islam Annie's solo show while Zahid Mostofa brings us close to one comprising of 19 artists. Rafiqunnabi alias Ronobi gives us yet another idiosyncratic and utterly delightful piece on a Bangladeshi artist delegation's tour of South Korea, and Seoul. He has a piquant, Bengali sense of humour that he lets loose through his pen, a sense that can sometimes be seen in the way his 'Tokai' goes to sleep on a hard bench beneath a Dhaka sky. Bengal Foundation should take him more frequently on tours, with the condition that he write about them later for Kali O Kolom readers. Lastly are the drama and book reviews, of which the review of Jyotiprakash Dutta's Shomoy Bholay Na Kichu is a thoughtful look at how a Bengali writer of the 1960s has interleaved his fiction with his life. Or vice versa. Depending on how much the reader thinks the lives we lead are actually a fiction we write in our heads. The cover art is by Golam Faruk Bebul titled 'Bhongur Taar Prottichobi - 3', a composition in acrylic, and which had previously won a Bengal Foundation award. Bebul, who has an MFA from Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, is currently associated with teaching at Rajshahi University's Charukala department.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments