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Song of weaving
An exhibition of traditional mats
Dyuti Monishita
There is an exhibition going on in the 'Nitya Upahar' gallery in the Aziz Co-operative Super Market in Shahabagh, Dhaka. The gallery, on the third floor of the market, is Bangladesh's first fashion exhibition gallery. The ongoing exhibition is the debut show in this gallery. The title of the exhibition is 'Song of Weaving', and the main focus of this show is Bangladesh's traditional mats and their motifs. The mats are made all over Bangladesh and the weavers are famous for being meticulous and flawless in colouring and weaving these mats.
The concept of the exhibition was created by Chandra Shekhar Shaha, coordinated by Bahar Rahman, clothes designed by Shabyashachi Hajra, computer graphics by Mahmudul Hasan Milon, and design printed by Nazrul Islam. But most importantly, the motifs of the 'botni pati' are designed by 'pati' artiste Mariam Begum. Mariam Begum has received an award for being the best craft artiste, by Bangladesh National Craft Council.
This experimental exhibition was organised with the hope of promoting very ordinary and indigenous things that are a part of our everyday life, and turn them into, rather proclaim them as an art. 'Pati' or mats are an essential part of the village people's lives. There are namely three kinds of mats, one is for saying prayers, another is for beds, and more commonly for entertaining guests. Those used for entertaining guests are called 'ashon pati' or 'botni pati'. The 'botni pati' is the subject of this exhibition, where mats with different motifs are displayed. But the main attraction of the show consists of the clothes, especially the saris displayed there.
The specialties of the saris are that they are screen printed with the motifs of the 'botni pati'. There are about 20 different saris with various motifs and colour combinations. Each of the designs has about 14 to 40 duplicates and they are all for sale. Other then mats and saris, there are fatuas, salwar-kameez and punjabi with the same types of motifs.
The organisers say that there are countless indigenous motifs, crafts and textiles in our country, but people have little interest in them. 'They like modern or western arts and crafts, mostly because they do not know any better', says Bahar Rahman, the coordinator of the exhibition. 'That is why we are doing this kind of art.... To bring forth what is being forgotten. If we let people know what we have, they will be more interested in our rich art and culture', Bahar goes on.
Replying to a question, the organisers expressed the desire to continue and expand this kind of exhibitions, and later find out more of Bangladesh's ordinary cultural arts and form them into something extraordinary. The exhibition started from October 6, and will continue till the day before Eid.
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Premiere of Aha held
Cultural Correspondent
The premiere of Aha, a full length feature film by Enamul Karim Nirjhar, was held at the Star Cineplex on Saturday.
Eminent personalities from socio-cultural arena including Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed and poet Nirmalendu Goon were present and spoke on the occasion.
'This is my first film. I hope the viewers will enjoy my film, said the director before screening the film.
The 128-minute film has been produced and sponsored by the Impress Telefilm Limited and mobile phone operator company, Banglalink.
Featuring the story of a family living in old Dhaka, Aha zooms in on the different issues which the city-dwellers face everyday, like unplanned urbanisation, generation gap and many more.
Cinematography has been done by Saiful Islam Badal while music arrangement is done by Debjyoty Misra.
Different roles are played by Tarreq Anam Khan, Ferdous, Sathi Yasmin, Fazlur Rahman Babu, Progga Laboni, Shahidul Alam Sachchu, Khaled Khan, Gazi Rakayet and others.
The film will hit different theatres including the Balaka Cineworld and Star Cineplex on Eid day. Satellite channel, Channel-i will also air the film at 2:30pm on the day.
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Fazlul Haque Memorial Award announced
Cultural Correspondent
The Fazlul Haque Memorial Award for this year was announced on Monday.
The award is given every year to two persons - one for cine journalism and one for film direction.
The Fazlul Haque Memorial Committee declared the names of actor Subhas Dutta and journalist Hiren Dey for this year's prestigious award comprising certificate, crest and Tk 25,000.
The organising committee will hold an award-giving ceremony at Hotel Sheraton in the city on October 26 on the occasion of the 18th death anniversary of Fazlul Haque.
Earlier, poet Fazal Shahabuddin, Ahmad Zaman Chowdhury, Rafikuzzaman, filmmakers Chashi Nazrul Islam, Humayun Ahmed and Saidul Anam Tutul received the award in the last three years.
Eminent litterateur Rabeya Khatun, also the widow of Haque, introduces the award after the name of her husband.
Fazlul Haque was the editor and publisher of Cinema, a newspaper based on cinema reporting. The paper was
first published from Bogra in 1950 and later shifted to Dhaka at 2 AC Roy Road.
The last copy of the paper was published in 1959.
He was the pioneer of cine journalism in Bangladesh and director of the first ever film for children in Bangladesh titled 'President'.
The film earned him considerable popularity.
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BOOK REVIEW
Two hundred years of Indian economy
Reviewed by Mufakharul Islam
Economic History of India from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century, VOL.VIII, Part 3 edited by B.B Chaudhuri, New Delhi 2005, Pp. xxiii, 825
The volume under review is a part of a project styled "History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilisation" launched by Centre for Studies in Civilisation. The volume has two other parts. The first part dealing with the period from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century is edited by Irfan Habib. Part two of the volume covering the same period, as does the third part (eighteenth to the twentieth century), is compiled by B.B Chaudhuri himself.
However, though the title suggests that he deals with the economic history of India as a whole, in all probability he will be primarily concerned with Bengal and Bihar. For eastern India has always been the area of his specialisation. Incidentally, the project launched by the Centre for Studies in Civilisation (New Delhi) envisages the publication of ten volumes divided into 39 parts.
These volumes deal with a whole range of subjects like science and technology, Indian contribution to physics, chemistry, medicine and mathematics, economic history, agriculture, rural and urban life, art, language and literature, women affairs, religious institutions and movements. As indicated by the list of contents, in most cases the discussion spans the period from ancient times to the end of the twentieth century.
In his long introduction Professor Chaudhuri explains why it was considered necessary to launch a fresh volume on Indian economic history even though we have Cambridge Economic History (New Delhi, 1982), Vol.2. Firstly, as this volume was planned in the 1960's it was not possible to give adequate attention to the Indian economy after 1947. Secondly, several significant themes (small-scale production of artisans, the organisation tribal economy, emergence of an industrial labor force etc.) were neglected in the Cambridge volume. The present volume was designed to fill in these gaps. As one would expect, the contributors to this volume were asked to incorporate in their essays the findings of research since the publication of the Cambridge volume. Moreover, the contributors were informally told that the volume was not intended for specialists or professional historians. Otherwise they were given complete freedom to deal with their subjects in the way they judged best (p. xxv).
As expected, the 10 essays included in this volume differ a great deal in terms of quality. The essays by David Ludden, Suresh Singh, Smritikumar Sarkar, Dietmar Rothermund, Paresh Ghosh, Monoj Kumar Sanyal, Debashree Chatterjee and Utsha Patraik are well-written and based on systematic and detailed research. The essays on 'Colonialism and Tribal Economy', 'Social Organisation of Artisan Production' and 'Working Class During the Colonial Period' contributed, respectively, by Suresh Singh, Smritikumar Sarkar and Parimal Ghosh are important also in the sense that these were neglected in the Cambridge volume and have so far remained under-researched.
The same can be said about Dietmar Rothermund's essay on an industrialization in India since the middle of the nineteenth century. The volume contains another essay on the same topic by Saugata Mukharji, but almost half of it deals with issues not directly related to industrialization efforts in India during the colonial period. But otherwise his discussion on industrial development in India in the post-1947 period is well-organized. Shubra Chakravorty takes up the story of 'Major Shifts in India's Trade and Commercial Organisation', but she is concerned with the period only up to 1860. With regard to foreign trade she confines her attention to India's trade relations with the Asian countries only. The fact that India's foreign trade was discussed in detail in the Cambridge volume cannot be her defence because she partly touches upon the subject (in the sense that trade with Asian countries is discussed).
The performance of the agricultural sector in the post-1947 period is discussed in detail by Manoj Kumar Sanyal. His analysis on regional variations is particularly useful. The contribution is so exhaustive that it leaves little scope for another essay on the same subject in a volume like this, but one more is added by Debashree Chatterjee. Utsha Patraik's essay on international specialization in agriculture (an extension of her earlier work on the subject) in the current era of globalisation is timely and very valuable.
Some general comments will be in order. Firstly, the subjects of "de-industrialisation" and "Drain of Wealth" are neglected as they were in the Cambridge volume. True, these are briefly mentioned, respectively, by Smritikumar Sarkar and Saugata Mukharji, but given their importance the topics deserve greater attention.
Secondly, the essays were not written keeping in view, as expected by the project director, the needs of the general readers. This will be a valid point at least in one respect: the length of the essays. For as many as seven essays take up more than 50 pages (which are themselves larger than normal) each; and the essay by Smritikumar Sarkar, running into 228 pages, takes more than monographic proportion. Thus, most of the contributors took full advantage of their freedom and in the process failed to fulfil the project director's expectation. Specialist readers will not be too unhappy to see that the project director did not rigorously enforce his wish. However, the general readers are unlikely to find the essays useful.
Thirdly, though industrial development and the performance of the agricultural sector in independent India have been discussed by two scholars each, there is no essay on the external or regional trade and fiscal institutions of the country. If some of the contributors had been more focussed in the treatment of the subjects assigned to them and repetition avoided the volume could have been more comprehensive by the inclusion of essays on these topics and the questions of "de-industrialization" and "Drain of Wealth". However a definitive comment on this aspect of the volume must await a perusal of the contents of the part two of the volume.
Overall, the volume is a significant contribution in the field of the economic history of colonial British and post-1971 India. Specialist readers will find it useful, though the price tag (Rs.2600) will surely discourage them from adding it to their personal collection.
The reviewer is a professor in the Department of History, Dhaka University.
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Nil Ghuri to be aired on RTV
Cultural Correspondent
Telefilm Nil Ghuri will be aired on RTV after the Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of the Muslims. The film has been scripted and directed by Suman Shams. Different roles are played by Sculptor Rusha, Rifat Chowdhury, Zahid Ahmed, Bimal Baul, Mamin Ali, Feroze Ehtasham, Mohammad Shoeb, John Romel, Sweety, Sraban, Ashraf Kabir, Simab, Shawkat Khan and others.
The plot of the film revolves around a group of young enthusiastic people including Bhola, Khokan, Biplab and John Romel who dream for a happy society through their respective works.
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Diana memorial show raises £1.2m
BBC Online
The concert held in memory of Princess Diana in London in July raised £1.2m for charity, it has been announced.
Stars including Sir Elton John played at the gig, organised by Princes William and Harry before the 10th anniversary of their mother's death. Eight good causes will each receive at least £150,000 from the proceeds.
A Clarence House spokesman said the princes were 'keen that any proceeds should be shared among the eight charities which they had selected'.
The chosen beneficiaries include the Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Fund plus Harry's charity Sentebale, which helps Aids orphans in Lesotho.
The others include two London hospitals - the Royal Marsden, where cancer patients are treated, and Great Ormond Street for children - plus Centrepoint, which helps the homeless 'rebuild their lives'.
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