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Sohrab Hossain honoured
Channel i holds Nazrul Mela
Cultural Correspondent
Marking the 109th birth anniversary of poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Channel i held a Nazrul Mela programme featuring discussion, recitation, dance and music at its Tejgaon premises on Sunday.
The organisers also honoured Nazrul exponent Sohrab Hossain with the Channel i lifetime achievement award for his contribution to Nazrul songs.
He received the crest from Shykh Seraj.
'We will honour a Nazrul exponent each year with the lifetime achievement award for his/ her contribution, said Impress Telefilm Limited managing director, Faridur Reza Sagar.
The organisers will also give honorarium Tk 10,000 each month till his death.
'I thank Channel i for honouring me with the award', said Sohrab Hossain. He also appreciated the channel's initiative to honour the eminent personalities.
Painters including Hashem Khan, Rafiqun Nabi, Sheikh Afzal, Jamal Ahmed, Alokesh Ghosh, Biren Shome, Abdul Mannan, Maniruzzaman, Shaheed Kabir, Rokeya Sultana and Nasrin Begum sketched portrait of Nazrul at the festival.
The organisers set up 20 stalls in where rare works of the poet were on display.
Rafiqul Islam, Sohrab Hossain, Sudhin Das, Mostafa Zaman Abbasi, Abdul Mannan Syed, Ferdousi Rahman, Shabnam Mostari, Kharul Anam Shakhil, Khalid Hossain, Mintu Rahman and MA Mannan inaugurated the programme at 11:00am on the day.
Poet Asad Chowdhury conducted the programme which was aired live.
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Bengalee poets in a new world anthology
Cultural Correspondent
'Language for a New Century' -a new English anthology of contemporary poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and beyond, published by a famous American publisher, WW Norton of New York, is being launched at the Nehru Centre in London on 2nd June 2008.
The 734-page anthology includes one poem each by 441 poets including 15 Bengalee poets. Most of the poems have been translated from 42 languages, which are used in 69 countries. There are English poems as well.
Fifteen Bangla poems by poets from both Bangladesh and India have been compiled. The poets chosen from Bangladesh are: Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sufia Kamal, Shamsur Rahman, Syed Shamsul Haq, Al Mahmud. Rafiq Azad, Nirmalendu Goon, Mohammed Rafiq, Taslima Nasrin, Sajjad Sharif, and Masud Khan of Bangladesh. Quader Mahmud and Sajed Kamal each have translated three poems, Subrata Augustine Gomes two, Carolyn B. Brown and Carolyne Wright one each and Ayesha Kabir, Sajed Kamal and Carolyne Wright jointly one. The Bengali poets from India are: Jibanananda Das, Buddhadeva Bose, Sankha Ghosh, and Sarat Kumar Mukhopadhyay.
This bold and unprecedented new anthology of contemporary poetry has been is edited by Tina Chang, Nathalie Handal, and Ravi Shankar with a foreword by Carolyn Forché.
In praise of the book, Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer says, 'This extraordinary, library-in-one volume: what a resource! . . .A beautiful achievement for world literature.'
A winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Yusef Komunyakaa, says, 'A symphonic sweep of beckoning cries, praises, prayers, curses, ruminations and revelations. An ensemble rich with diverse voices, here the old and the new converge, and something wholly human and futuristic emerges. . . . Marvelous.'
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Poet Khaleda Edib Chowdhury
passes away
Cultural Correspondent
Poet and writer Khaleda Edib Chowdhury passed away at her residence at Uttara in the capital early Wednesday at the age of 71.
Khaleda Edib Chowdhury, former editor of 'Sachitra Bangladesh' and children's magazine 'Nabarun' retired as senior editor (director) of the ministry of information.
She is survived by her son, Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh president, Tanveerul Huq Probal, two daughters - Sangita Khan and artist Sumana Haq and a host of relatives to mourn her death, says a press release.
She was buried at Banani graveyard after janaza at Uttara sector-4 Jam-e- Masjid after Zohr prayers.
She was born at Poyalgachha in Comilla district in 1937.
She received the Bangla Academy award in 1994. She also received Alaol Sahitya award, Kabi Jasimuddin Sahitya award, Bangladesh Lekhika Sangha award and Kabitalap award.
Her collections of poems include 'Amar Daho Amar Hat (1978),' Pantha Tomar Bhalobasa (1983), Pathorey Agun (1985), Tomar Ananga (1986), Duhatey Andhar Kete (1993), He Bandhan Latar Kandan (1995) and Doo Fota Chokher Jaal (1997), a Bangla Academy press release said.
She also wrote two novels - Ananta Maddhahno Rat (1980) and He Prem He Somoy (1997).
She was involved with Jatiya Kabita Parishad, Dhaka Officers Club, Dhaka Ladies Club and different other literary and cultural organisations.
Bangla Academy in a condolence message expressed grief at the death of Khaleda Edib Chowdhury and sympathy to the bereaved family.
Her Qul Khwani will be held at house no 53, road 6 sector 4-A after Asar prayers on Friday.
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Khona: portrayal of a prodigious lady
Robab Rosan
Theatre group Subachan Natya Sangsad staged its latest production 'Khona' based on the story of the prodigious lady who is still respectfully remembered in Bangladesh and in different parts of north-east India, particularly in Orissa and Assam for her 'bachan' or speech related to agriculture and astronomy.
The play, written by Samina Luthfa Nitra and directed by Mohammad Ali Haider, was staged on Monday at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Segun Bagich in the city.
After visiting the archaeological site Chandraketugarh, located beside the river Vidyadhari in North 24 Parganas in West Bengal in India, related to the myth of Khona, the playwright Samina collected some information about the legendary lady and her family life. She also took the liberty of creating some fictitious characters in designing the plots of the play.
The playwright presented the story of Khona, also known as Leelabati, very precisely. She talked about the incidents that happened at the court of king Dharmaketu and at the adjacent areas of the palace in the kingdom of Deulnagar. She gave importance to depicting the pathos of a woman in particular and highlighting the rights of women in general. She was also vocal in her play about the victory of the new or modern inventions.
The script in some parts, particularly the dialogues, monologues and soliloquies of Khona, was very strong. But when she scripted the speeches of the commoners it seemed weaker. On the other hand, the shifty bearings of Khona, on stage, did not go with her reputation for extraordinary knowledge. Samina played the role. Asadul Islam's performance of Barah also seemed lighter than the weight he carries in the history book. The overall performances of the actors could have been better.
Set designing of the play was simple but attractive. Lighting and costume also deserve praise.
Choreography of the play sometimes was able to carry the spirit of the play while the opening piece required more improvement. The director could have also been careful about the overlapping of dialogues with music.
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Upon a white sheet of paper
Khaleda Edib Chowdhury
When I write the word Death
upon a sheet of white paper
I feel as though he's an old and
familiar companion
I saw him once somewhere,
in a celestial woodland recess
as in a mythical tale
You said - 'I am Narcissus, you are Myrtle
will you accept? I laughed.
Today I reflect - did Aphrodite's curse take effect?
I couldn't comprehend.
Yet you chanted hymns
with your hands upraised towards the heavens
you would also talk of mundane life
I know not why -
I remember the word Death would interpose
in the front
you would laugh silently-
The sky would stretch out its hand
in the dismal woodland shadows
We would then talk of sublime life
we would talk of our immortal love -
How surpassingly beautiful, how noble
my life had been
But who could undo nemesis?
The course of life could not deny death
but how great were the desires I nursed
the desires that would spring to life
and wax merry
that would find their trajectory and stay poised --
Today this death is proved true.
Did you have any cognition when
the Messenger of Death ferried you across
the river of oblivion?
I am denizen of Cythera
the word Death no longer looks familiar to me.
Translated by
Zakeria Shirazi
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At the End of Unknown Path
Khaleda Edib Choudhury
We were walking side by side
Not telling each other the pains of desire
At a distance a crow was perched on a twig of the bot-tree
It was noon-
On the other bank of the Brahamaputra
that hamlet -the field-path
Can't recall, what was it's name?
Do you recall, Broto?
Strolling and treading upon grasses
we were just walking along touching green leaves-
A bot-tree wearing on its entire self
The cruel signs of the civilisation
Greeted us.
A green petit house-
A lime-tree shrub on a side of the courtyard
That Rose-aunt of yours held me by hand
Sat me on the cool cane-mat;-
You said, the rounded sky over there
Would touch your Kopal,-
Just then your Rose-aunt dived her fingers
Into my hair's depth, calling me a little girl, caressed.
What an ecstasy the river suddenly lapped inside me.
Aha! What a profound pledge between sorrow and grief.
Your fine fingers came down into my fingers......
Aha dream- that belongs to the bygone old days
Pain and happiness of the noon,
A sunray splinter on the wings of the sparrow
on a rooftop
Destination was the forecourt of that green house.
We were walking holding our hands,
Not though in union-
That was a beautiful divorce;
We knew that
Sorrow was blended with pleasure.
Do you remember? You said-
How excellently the emerald sari suited you!
A green tip on the forehead
Like the colour of the parrots wings
Or a moon or a star stuck on the blue-sky....
What else you said I can't recall-
Would you remember, Broto?
Tell me, who else could have discovered me
On the turn of the field-path apart from you!
I was the noon's dream in that tranquil abode
So many days, so many nights have gone past
So many seasons occasions are bygone
So many memories are dead, Broto!
As if life is a moving train aha!
Passing stations one by one I don't know where one day
I got off- I haven't known its address,
Would it be known to you, Broto?
Broto- A short Bengali name; May mean chief object of a life. bot-Banyan . Brahamaputra- One of the major rivers in Bangladesh and Assam in India. Kopal- Forehead or fate, tip- Forehead decor
Translated by Quader Mahmud
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New 007 novel on sale
Agence France-Presse. London
The latest James Bond novel, penned to coincide with what would have been his creator Ian Fleming's 100th birthday, went on sale Wednesday, with fans queuing overnight to secure the first copies.
Scores of people waited in line outside Waterstone's bookstore in Piccadilly, central London, where 200 signed and numbered luxury editions of 'Devil May Care' went on sale for 100 pounds each.
The suave British super-spy's 15th adventure in print was written in Fleming's sparse style by Sebastian Faulks, the historical novelist famous for his wartime trilogy 'Birdsong', 'The Girl at the Lion D'Or' and 'Charlotte Gray'.
Steve Norris, a 39-year-old housing manager from east London, began queuing at 4:00pm Tuesday and was first in line, saying he had to be there because he had been a Bond fan 'ever since I can remember'.
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