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National art biennial goes on
Tania Sharmeen
A month-long National Art Exhibition has been going on at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy’s art gallery since June 17. It has been a regular biennial art event of considerable significance, giving both established and emerging painters a platform to get closer to viewers with their creations since early 1970s. This is the 17th such event in a row.
The latest national art biennale, inaugurated by Ayub Quadri, an adviser to the present government, showcases 327 selected artworks of 256 painters. Water colour, oil painting, acrylic and other mixed items have been put on display along with some sculptures made of metal, wood, stone, fiberglass and tapestry.
The organizers said that huge number of visitor is coming every day. People are becoming more and more fond of paintings. Some visitors said that they were enjoying this kind of exhibition very much and they would love to see such an event once a year.
Children are also enjoying the exhibition, especially paintings, because they like to draw pictures.
Giving their reactions, a number of visitors said they found many pieces of paintings and sculptures very touchy, especially a painting by Abdur Rajjaque Howlader titled ‘Winded Kite’ and one by Sharmila Quader titled ‘Clog - 15
They said the paintings tell the people about the pains of stealing one’s freedom. A painting titled ‘Powerful Dreams’ by Mona Mahmud Chowdhury touched the heart of a woman visitor who said the paintings of the series reflect how dreams and desires of women are shattered.
A painting of Kantideb Adhikary titled ‘Life Is Not So Easy – 3’ also draws many visitors, because of the artworks’ simplicity that takes anyone close to what it wants to say or mean.
Art-lovers have words of appreciation for many other paintings and sculptures, including one by Abdus Salam titled ‘The Game of War,’ which symbolizes the tragic end of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hosein.
There is a corner for clay crafts, which is also an area of interest of many a visitor.
At the entry, a sculpture by Mrinal Haque that tells the fragile structure of the social structure will certainly draw the attentions of visitors.
A number of awards were announced for this exhibition. These are Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy award, Bangla Foundation award,
Arab Bangladesh Bank award, Shah AMS Kibria award, GrameenPhone award, Begum Ajijunnessa award and Dipa Haque award.
Recipients are Debashis Pal, Shahinur Rahman, Khalid Mahmood Mithu,
Uttam Kumar Roy, Ahmed Shamsuddoha, Faruk Ahamad and Gulshan Hossain.
The academy has so far arranged 15 exhibitions for new artists and more than 600 exhibitions at home and abroad. It held 12 biennial exhibitions and 230 painting shows in divisions and sub-divisions of the country, apart from its mobile exhibitions, which succeeded to some extent in reaching artworks to people who bother least to visit a paining show.
These shows helped many new artists to come to limelight, and created linkages between art lovers and painters of all ages.
The exhibition opens for the visitors at 11am and continues till 7pm except Friday, when it is open between 3pm and 7pm.
Visitors, who are still to go, have time up to July 16.
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Al Mahmud: an extraordinary poet
Mohammad Shahidul Islam
Bangladesh’s veteran poet Al Mahmud’s 71st birthday was celebrated on 11th July. He was born in a business family in 1936, in Kasba, Brahamanbaria. The night was full of showers when he came down on earth to colour Bengali poetry. He came to Dhaka for his livelihood when he was 21 years old. He started his writing career at his prime life. From 1954, his poetry began to be published in the literary supplements of Dhaka and Kolkata. Very soon he became popular with the lovers of poetry equally in Dhaka and Kolkata. He regularly wrote in Chotuskon, Choturanga, Moyukh and Krittibash. In ‘Kobita’ edited by Buddhadeva Basu, his several poems raised uproar amid the contemporary literary giants. In Dhaka he started writing regularly in Shikandar Abu Jafar’s Shamokal.
Pastoral lives, rivers, villages, shoals centered lives, man and woman’s love affairs and their biophysical urges are dominant in his poetry as subjects and objects. He provoked the core of poetic appeal through wielding so common words collected from local dialects that stood as a new style in Dhaka and Kolkata. A critique has evaluated him as an individual genius of poetry in the subjects of nature and rural community other than Jibonananda Das and Jashimuddin. In that exact time of his enormous recognition as a mastermind poet, his famous Lok Lokantor and Kaler Kalosh were published and for these two great works, he won Bangla Academy Award in 1968.
Freedom fighter
Al Mahmud directly took part in the 1971 Liberation War. After independence he ran a daily named Ganakantha. For supporting democracy and communism through raising upheaval among freedom fighters, he was arrested and imprisoned. The government during his imprisonment banned and shut down the daily.
In 1975 after his release from jail, he joined the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy as Assistant Director of Research and Publication. In 1993 he retired from the academy as Director. Al Mahmud has published more than 50 books of poetry, short story, novel, articles and other forms of works. He also edited and ran a number of journals, magazines and dailies.
Al Mahmud’s name will shine in the Bengali literature for his masterpiece Shonali Kabin. This is a landmark in the Bengali poetry. The book was first published in 1973. It drew much attention of all intellectual writers of home and abroad. After its publication, eminent thinker Sibnarayan Roy commented: “Al Mahmud has an extraordinary gift for telescopic discrete levels of experience; in his poems I find a marvelous fusion and wit which reminds me occasionally of Bishnu Dey. The complete secularism of his approach is also striking, more so,…he was born and brought up in a very conservative Muslim religious family; it is not a secularism forced by some ideology, but present naturally and ubiquitously in his metaphors, images and themes”.
Mahmud’s other famous works include Mayabi Porda Dule Otho, Arobbo Rojonir Rajhash, Bokhtiyarer Ghora, Pankourir Rakta, Nodir Bhitorer Nodi, Pakhir Kache, Fooler Kache and Kobir Attobishshash etc.
Al Mahmud’s poetic genius has been evaluated, recognized and honoured with many awards like Ekushe Padak, Philips Literary Award, Agrani Bank Children Award, Alakta Literary Award and Sufi Motaher Hossain Literary Gold Medal and many more.
He has five sons and three daughters. Sayeda Nadira Begum is his better half from Brahamanbaria. We are really proud of hum “Happy birthday to dear poet Al Mahmud”. We wish many returns of the auspicious 11th July. May Al Mahmud live long!
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Eleven-day theatre festival begins today
Cultural Correspondent
To celebrate the 24th founding anniversary of the theatre group called Mahakal, the group will arrange an eleven-day CityCell-Mahakal theatre festival beginning July 13 at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at Segun Bagicha.
Ten Dhaka-based theatre groups and one from the Indian state of Tripura will take part in the festival which will continue till July 25.
Eminent dramatist Sayeed Ahmad will inaugurate the festival at 11:00am on the day while top litterateur Syed Shamsul Haque will be present as chief guest. The theatre personalities Ataur Rahman, Mamunur Rashid, Nasir Uddin Yousuff, Tareeq Anam Khan and Golam Kuddus will be present as discussants.
In the second part of the inaugural session, organisers will arrange dance programme, staging some parts of the plays Shikhandi Katha, Hazar Churshir Ma, and the traditional Gazir gaan called ‘Kalu Gazir Pala’.
During the festival, the organisers will stage plays everyday at 7:00pm at Experimental Theatre hall. ‘Shikhandi Katha’ will be staged by Mahakal Natya Sampradaya on the inaugural day of the festival. ‘Bhager Manush’ will be staged by Samay Sangskritik Goshthi on July 14 while ‘Samayer Prayajane’ by Theatre Art Unit on July 15; ‘Kainya’ by Prachyanat on July 16; ‘Prajapati’ by Natya Kendra on July 18; ‘Bou Basanti’ by the dramatics department of Udichi on July 19; ‘Rupabati’ by Subachan Natya Sangsad on July 20; ‘Jaladas’ by Dhaka padatik on July 21; ‘Meraj Fakirer Ma’ by Theatre on July 22; ‘Nakshi Kantha’ by Bangladesh Theatre on July 23 and ‘Raarang’ by Aranyak Natyadal on July 25.
The organisers will arrange a seminar on theatre at 5:00pm on July 17. According to the organisers, the theatre group Durbar Natya Goshthi from Tripura is invited at the festival but their participation will depend on the government permission.
The advance tickets will be available at Sagar Publishers and Theatre Corner on Bailey Road, Coffee House of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and at the counter of the Experimental Theatre Hall prior to the show.
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Book Review
Stumbling on buried treasure
Syed Badrul Haque
In the annals of political history, Bangladesh stands out uniquely as having lived under three flags in one century. But quite reasonably Bangladesh could have escaped the second flag if only the leaders had the vision to realise the political absurdity of holding together the two parts of the country separated by some twelve hundred miles on the basis of religion only. In 1971 when Pakistan split apart creating Bangladesh, it was clear that the way India was divided in 1947 was not the fitting solution, the author remarks in his prefatory notes.
Commenting on the collective efforts of the great Bengali leaders which achieved its cumulative finality in the achievement of Bangladesh, the author would rank their contribution in the following order, “If the first runner in the relay race of the Bengali nationalism under Muslim leadership was Sher-e-Bangla Fazlul Huq, the baton changed hands to Suhrawardy, then to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the last runner who crossed victory line in pegging the flag of a new state on the political map of the world”.
Sifting through the classified official documents of the pre-Partition days, which were not available for a long time, the author placed the rising position of Suhrawardy close to the ranks held by Jinnah and Nehru. He said; “On the eve of Partition of India, Suhrawardy, the premier of Bengal came to the political spotlight of India as the architect of the possible third independent state, the Free State of Bengal, side by the side with India and Pakistan with support of Viceroy Lord Mountbatten and Jinnah.” In 1947, the Bengali Muslims under the leadership of Suhrawardy failed to fulfil their dream of becoming the masters of the undivided Bengal, but it became true to a large extent in 1971 under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman when they achieved the independence of Bangladesh, a part of Bengal, Suhrawardy did not succeed to achieve his dream of united Bengal, but his vision was “most statesmanlike”, mentions Nicholas Mansergh in his book, The Transfer of Power. History to be correct, has yet remained rather uncharitable to perceive Suhrawardy as a statesman.
The author has made a constructive research on Sher-e-Bangla Fazlul Huq and placed his position in Bengal in these words: “After Sirajuddaulah the last Nawab of Bengal lost his throne, Fazlul Huq assumed the role of the uncrowned king of Bengal in modern times when he held the office of the Premier of Bengal. After the achievement of Bangladesh, a high watermark of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s statesmanship was reflective when he established himself as the “architect and witness of the second liberation of the country”.
The stature of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was eloquently focused when he, in his magnanimity, granted clemency to 195 war criminals of Pakistan. “There are only a few instances in world history where a surrendered army were shown generosity by an authority which came to power”, the author mentions.
Analysing the turmoil periods of Ziaur Rahman and Ershad, the author euphemistically comments: “While Zia was asked to play a legitimate rescue role while the country was plunged into a political upheaval, Ershad seemed snatching away, almost stealing a new robe of democracy put on by Bangladesh and asleep in secured home”. The stigma of backdoor-entry into country’s political arena by toppling an elected government aside, Ershad’s lacklustre man management, autocratic and repressive measures and archaic political style was no match for the popularity of Zia and his political party BNP, although notably both of them originated from the same military establishment. Ershad, the longest-serving President of nearly nine years, was ousted through popular uprising, but the deep scar that he inflicted during his rule in nation’ s psyche took time to recover.”
The emergence of Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, the woman leaders of the two mainstream political parties, BNP and Awami League, marks a watershed in a third world country like Bangladesh with a preponderance of Muslim population. The dynastic lineage, no doubt, was a good launching pad for their entry into country’s political stage, but they too in their turn proved their political mettle in no uncertain manner.
The hartal culture, a ritualistic aberration for long in nation’s body-politic, “is not only an expensive political strategy which the country just cannot afford but also a cruelty to an average citizen.” It is now a classic storyline in our paradoxical body-politic: denounce hartal when in power for its ruinous impact on nation’s economy but when in opposition justify it as democratic right. Surprisingly both the political parties, BNP and Awami League display same attitude in similar situations on a number of issues that concerns the nation so urgently.
The book is characterised by the author’s unerring eye for the current socio-political spectrum of the nation. Observantly, he writes: “A serious deficiency in the development of parliamentary democracy in Bangladesh is that the top agenda of the opposition party is simply to unseat the government without any well-explained issue or policy and would prefer to settle issues on the streets instead on the floor of the parliament.”
The page-turning chapter “changing phases of the Bengali nationalism leading to the Bengali Muslim identity” is analytically outstanding. The author in his incisive critique presents the character of Bengali nationalism over a period of a century. Like any other nation in Asia, the author points out, “The Bengali Muslims are passing through the process of searching for their identity. They are both Bengalis and Muslims.” The author expressed: “One relates to his faith, and as such transcendental, which has no geographical boundary, whereas the other is bound with his ethnicity and country”. Interestingly, the author finds some resemblance between the Muslims of Indonesia and Bangladesh in their search for a proper identity. He writes, “Since gaining independence both Indonesia and Bangladesh experimented with secular nationalist ideologies. Due to the global effect of resurgence of Islam, the Muslims of Indonesia and Bangladesh wish to combine their appeal towards their indigenous identity with the common ideology of the world Muslim community”.
The comparative substance of the Bengali nationalism and Bangladeshi Nationalism leads the author to conclude: “After the evolution of the Bangladeshi nationalism, the continuation of the Bengali nationalism in the political sense is simply non-existent.”
Liberation from alien rule albeit at a great price was a splendid chapter in nation’s history, many of the hopes the people pinned to that gain were, however, yet to materialise. The book reflects some desolate aspects of today’s society, but there is at the end a speck of hope as the real meaning of freedom emerges. The supreme tragedy of Bangladesh has been the mutual enmity between the two mainstream political parties, BNP and Awami League that put nation’s progress in serious jeopardy. To label critics as unpatriotic is past their peak. Surely after independence it was a new dawn, a new script; but whether our leaders could prove themselves equal to the tasks is a question mark with an asterisk. We are in a kind of time warp. It is time for widespread, sustained and farsighted public dialogue, so we can take a hand to shaping our collective future, the author feels.
High political temperature in the country vitiated by partisan politics with its divisive and corrosive effects on the national psyche clearly denies objective appraisal of the ground realities. The indulgence of the inexactitude that we often encounter in the so-called political histories can be corrected and put in context from the plethora of undeniable fact information the book provides. For, anyone who regains in that fact that has meant the recovery of the history of Bangladesh this book is like stumbling on buried treasure. The book should be appreciated by scholars who are sensitive to context yet committed to ‘the generalised historical explanations emanating from a case-oriented holistic approach that can better accommodate problems of multiple causation. A book of this genre dovetailing the past and present should squarely help a reader’s understanding of the dialectics of the present scenario of Bangladesh in correct perspective.
It is a dignified, serious piece of work and the style is engaging. The author narrates the political development without giving into personal emotions or partisanship he proves himself a master navigator ‘in ‘ the choppy socio-political weather that most often characterises our understanding of history, past or present. The portrayal of political landscape is both compelling and utterly consistent with what we know of the scenario today. The book though is primarily political, it provides well-researched snapshot narrative of the land, people, culture and economy of Bangladesh. It does not claim to be comprehensible and that is much more important. It is vital that citizens understand the historical forces they experience. The book focuses that aim explicitly. A valuable bibliography containing the names and reference of books and documents are of immense help for further research.
Bangladesh Past and Present by Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed; APH Publishing Corporation, New Delhi in association with Paragon Publishers,
Dhaka; 367 pages;
Tk. 950.
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