Boimela Picks: 'An Amazing Way of Historical Story Telling - Revived'

Book: পায়রাবন্দ কাহিনী (The Tales of Payrabond)

Original Writer: Munshi Md. Aptabuddin Miya Talukder

Collected, Compiled, and Edited by Samar Paul

Genre: Poetry ('Puthi')/Historical Non-Fiction

Dedicated to: People of Rangpur

Target Reader: Adult

Publisher: Shova Prokash (Book Fair Stall#**)

1st Published: February 2017

©: Editor

Cover: Drubo Esh

Price: 350/- (At Book Fair: Approx. 263/-)

ISBN: 978-984-92284-8-6

Samar Paul is a popular name among Bengali Readers, especially for the ones who love to read the history of this region.

Among countless similar researchers and writers, according to me, only Samar Paul tells you the history in simple yet a fun way which will make a light fiction lover a fan of historical writings.

Topics that Paul selects are equally interesting, as for me, I became a fan his works after reading 'Tracing the Source of Surnames' (পদবির উৎসসন্ধান) and 'Tracing the Source of Proverbs' (প্রবাদের উৎসসন্ধান) - like I said before, this writer the most interesting historian of this time.

Photo: Collected

And keeping his style intact, he has come up with 'The Tales of Payrabond' this year – history of luxurious lifestyle, oppression, injustice, and unfair conduct of the landlords of Payrabond – the father of Begum Rokeya, and her uncle and Brother.

It was actually written by Munshi Md Aptabuddin Miya Talukder in an almost lost format of poetry – 'puthi' very popular among villagers, who would sit in circles around the 'puthi' reader and listen to it all night, read in a common tune but all different historical stories.

This rare one, collected, compiled, and edited by Paul dates back to 1933 (1340 bengali year) – which shows that 'poetry reading' is not a new concept for the people of this region! However, being actually written that early, many words, construct of sentences, and references are hard for us to grab, and that is exactly where the editor shows magic. Keeping the true essence untouched he presents it in an easy read form. If you still find some parts or words hard to understand, you can simply turn to the last pages of the book to find the meanings. See, I told you- this historian doesn't only write for other historians but for laymen readers like myself too!

So, now just go grab the book, watch a random 'puthi' reading in YouTube, and not read but sing the book!

Anik Khan is a Poet and a Journalist.