I hope that you have already read the article about Michael Modhusudan Dutt (http://write-translate.blogspot.com/2006/02/michael-modhusudan-dutt-father-of.html ) written by Biplob Kishor Deb. Now I have attempted to translate one of the poems of Michael Modhusudan Dutt called 'Kopotakhso Nod' (River Kopotaksho).
River Kopotaksho
You are in my heart constantly, Oh river.
I think of you constantly here,
Like the man in dream at night hears
The sound of chanting, my ears get satisfaction
With your echoing sound.
I have seen many countries and have been to many rivers,
The water of no river can satisfy this thirst of affection.
You are like the milk flowing breast of mother land.
Will I see you again? As the days go on,
Like the subject you give offerings to the sea,
Please sing to the ears of every Bengali
The name of the person who in this alien land,
Has remembered you with love in the music of Bengal.
(This is only a first draft and I think there are some mistakes too. I would welcome any comment and any correction from any reader).
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Persian influence in Bangla (Bengali) Literature
The issue of Persian influence in Bangla literature can be treated from 3 points of views: Use of Persian words in Bangla literature, translations of works from Persian poets and writers and influence of Persian writing, religion, society and philosophy in the works of Bengali poets and writers. This is such a vast topic that a number of books can be written about it. In this article, I will just cast some light about this topic based on the 3 categories I just mentioned. There has been some research about this theme in Bangla language but nothing substantial in English or in Persian (Farsi).
There is no accurate statistics of the number of Persian words in Bangla language. Estimates vary from 3000-8000 words. Some words are used in everyday language and most people even do not know that these words are foreign words. After the Muslim conquest of Bengal in 1204, for the next 2 centuries we hardly find any works written by Muslims in Bangla. Muslims writers were always divided in using Persian words from first. Some writers used a lot of Persian and Arabic words in their writings. Some writers have completely refrained from doing so. Many poets and writers have followed a middle ground by mainly using the religious words and very common words. The current trend is to use the every day used Persian words of Bangla language in literature. However, one thing should be noted here. Persian words have been used by both Hindu and Muslim poets and writers.
From first the Muslims writers and even some Hindu writers have either directly translated texts from Persian literature or wrote their own version of a popular story. Not only Persian texts on religion have been translated but romantic tales were very popular also. Leili Majnu, Yousuf Joleykha are among the popular Persian tales that have been either translated or retold by more than one poets in Bangla literature. Works of Hafiz, Omar Khyam, Jalaluddin Rumi, Ferdowsi have also been translated in Bangla.
Many poets in Bangla literature have been deeply influenced by Persian literature, philosophy and religion. The influence of Persian literature is clearly evident in the writings of two of the greatest figures of Bangla literature, Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Tagore was influenced by the mysticism of Hafiz. Tagore's father was a passionate admirer of the poems of Hafiz and in Taore's poetry is heavily domainted by love, beauty and mysticism- common themes in the poetry of Hafiz too. On the other hand, Kazi Nazrul Islam knew Persian very well and he was familiar with Persian literature perhaps more than any other writer in Bangla literature in 20th century. Kazi Nazrul Islam has used Persian words very skillfully and surpassed every poet before or after him in this matter.
Persian influence in Bangla literature has enriched Bangla literature a lot. It has added a new flavor to Bangla literature and has contributed a lot in its development.
There is no accurate statistics of the number of Persian words in Bangla language. Estimates vary from 3000-8000 words. Some words are used in everyday language and most people even do not know that these words are foreign words. After the Muslim conquest of Bengal in 1204, for the next 2 centuries we hardly find any works written by Muslims in Bangla. Muslims writers were always divided in using Persian words from first. Some writers used a lot of Persian and Arabic words in their writings. Some writers have completely refrained from doing so. Many poets and writers have followed a middle ground by mainly using the religious words and very common words. The current trend is to use the every day used Persian words of Bangla language in literature. However, one thing should be noted here. Persian words have been used by both Hindu and Muslim poets and writers.
From first the Muslims writers and even some Hindu writers have either directly translated texts from Persian literature or wrote their own version of a popular story. Not only Persian texts on religion have been translated but romantic tales were very popular also. Leili Majnu, Yousuf Joleykha are among the popular Persian tales that have been either translated or retold by more than one poets in Bangla literature. Works of Hafiz, Omar Khyam, Jalaluddin Rumi, Ferdowsi have also been translated in Bangla.
Many poets in Bangla literature have been deeply influenced by Persian literature, philosophy and religion. The influence of Persian literature is clearly evident in the writings of two of the greatest figures of Bangla literature, Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Tagore was influenced by the mysticism of Hafiz. Tagore's father was a passionate admirer of the poems of Hafiz and in Taore's poetry is heavily domainted by love, beauty and mysticism- common themes in the poetry of Hafiz too. On the other hand, Kazi Nazrul Islam knew Persian very well and he was familiar with Persian literature perhaps more than any other writer in Bangla literature in 20th century. Kazi Nazrul Islam has used Persian words very skillfully and surpassed every poet before or after him in this matter.
Persian influence in Bangla literature has enriched Bangla literature a lot. It has added a new flavor to Bangla literature and has contributed a lot in its development.
Please post your comments
From the sitemeter stats I can touch that this blog is getting some decent hits everyday. I feel much encouraged to update it everyday. However, I request all the visitors to post comment in the blog so that I can know about your opinions to the blog.
Living in Love (A short story BY S M Mehdi Hasan)
It is nine p.m. and Palash has just arrived home from office. His facial expression is enough for anyone to guess that it has not been a good day for him. Yes, because it is the end of month and he has not received his month’s salary. Palash works in a buying house. His job is to make sure the suppliers are providing their products and they are in good condition. After his father’s death he had to take responsibilities of his family. He has one sister, who is studying in college and mother. Today, he went to office with a hope that they would give him his salary but his superior said, “Don’t worry, I am assuring you. Next week you will get your salary.” For the last fifteen days he has been hearing the same thing. Palash is worried because he has to send money to his house.
Palash lives in a bachelor’s quarter at Motijheel. It is a small apartment with two bedrooms. Including Palash, four people live in the apartment. Monir is his roommate. He is a medical representative2. When Palash came from office, Monir was lying on the bed, turning the page of a magazine. He knew what the poor guy was going through. Without taking his eyes from the magazine he said, “You did not get your salary right?” There was a sarcastic tone in his speech. Throwing his shoes away Palash sat down on the bed and cried out “TO HELL WITH THE MANAGER! I CAN’T LIVE LIKE THIS!’ Monir understood that he should not have said it this way. He came to Palash and said, “I am sorry brother. I should not have asked you this question. Don’t worry. You will get your salary.” Then he said, “I have news for you.” Palash looked at his face. Monir slowly walked to the study table. He pulled a yellow envelop from a book and gave it to Palash. It was a letter and from the neat and clean handwriting it could be understood that it was written by a woman. It is Niru, Palash’s sister. Palash tore the envelop.
Bhaiya,
Take my Salam. I hope you are in good shape. We are fine here. My year final will begin soon. For the last few days mother has been feeling chest pain. We went to the doctor but he could not find any thing. He said that she should go to Dhaka for better treatment. For the time being he gave some medicine. After taking them mother is quite well now.
Bhaiya, the reason of my writing is Trisha apu. Her parents have arranged her marriage. The groom is an officer in a multinational company. His family is well off. They have a house in Dhaka. Trisha apu is good looking and well educated so the groom’s parents liked her very much. Since they were financially sound, Trisha apu’s parents did not argue. But Trisha apu is not very happy with this marriage and you know why? Before her engagement she came to my college to see me. She told me how much she liked you and she had no other options but to give her consent.
Bhaiya, you have to be strong at this moment. At first I did not want to inform you about this but I felt that after some day you will know about it. Please, bhaiya, do not lose heart. It is not your fault. You did your best. I know it, mom knows it and Trisha apu knows it. Let’s suppose that you two were not meant be with each other. In life we have to move on bhaiya and Trisha apu is not the only girl in this world. There are other girls better than her and I promise, me and mom will get a better girl for you.
My request to you is stop worrying about her. Take your meals properly and take care of yourself.
With best wishes
Niru
Reading the letter Palash’s face hardened. He felt like crying but controlled himself in front of Monir.
“Who sent it?” Monir asked.
My sister.
“Oh! Listen why don’t you go to the bathroom and fresh up. Then we will have supper together. Today bua has cooked fish, your favorite.” Palash then took the towel and went into the bathroom. Closing the door he leaned over the basin. He looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were filled with tears. He was crying. What else he could do? His father’s death has changed his life. Palash lost himself in the memory lane. Those days would never come back. Palash washed his face and came out.
Three years ago Palash’s father died off a brain stroke. The first time when he had a stroke, Palash was preparing for his MA final exam. His mother did not let him know because she thought it would affect his study. After finishing the exam Palash came home and he was shocked to see his father’s condition. He decided to take his father to Dhaka but it needed a lot of money. Palash went to his relatives and everybody turned him down. So finding no other way he decided to take a job. His father could not hold on that long. Two months after the first stroke he had another one. He fell down in front of the bathroom while preparing for his evening prayers. He was rushed to the local hospital but it was too late. Palash’s father’s death was a great shock for the family. He was the main earning member in their family but then he had to take all the responsibilities.
His mother was a school teacher and his sister was a freshman in college. His father’s pension money was not enough for the family, besides his sister had to get married. Palash took the job of a Quality inspector in a buying house. It was Trisha who had supported Palash at that time. She used to visit her family regularly. She also wrote to Palash. It was her inspiring letters that made Palash face all the hardships. She was like a blessing from heaven for Palash. With her good behavior she also won the hearts of Palash’s mother and sister.
But God had different plans for them. When his mother went to Trisha’s mother to talk about their marriage Trisha’s mother told her that her father would not agree with this proposal. He had already chosen someone else for Trisha. Palash’s mother said, “Trisha and Palash like each other very much. They will be very happy. Besides if Trisha gets married she would stay with us and you can come to see her any time”. Trisha’s mother said, “I understand Mrs. Asif, I know Palash is a very good boy and I also like him very much, but the problem is Palash does not have any good job. How could he take care of Trisha? The boy Trisha’s father has chosen works in a multinational company. He gets very good salary and he comes from a good family. How can we refuse them?” Palash’s mother understood that now there was no hope and she felt sad. She did not want Palash to know about this because he was already under lot of pressure.
Two years have passed after this incident. Things have changed a lot. Palash is now working as a Communication officer in Flora Advertising, one of the leading advertisement firms of Bangladesh. His excellent communication skill in English and hard working mentality pleased the officials. Palash was thankful to Monir for this. He pursued him to apply for the job. At first, he was not interested, since Monir was insisting he dropped his CV. Then everything turned out like a dream. Out of five hundred applicants Palash got the job. When he got the joining letter, he could not believe his own eyes. The next day he arranged for a small feast in his apartment and treated every body.
Palash does not live in Motijheel any more. He has now rented an apartment in Mohammadpur. This one is better than the previous one; more space, attached toilets. After shifting from the old apartment he brought his mother to Dhaka and did her medical check up. His sister has graduated from college. Now she is planning to do her MA from Dhaka University. Palash has decided to bring his sister to Dhaka. Palash is now thirty-one but has not got married yet. His mother has shown him several girls but he has rejected them all. He keeps himself busy in work. After his break up with Trisha he has lost his faith in love and marriage.
One morning Palash was busy working in his office. Few officials of a big multinational would be visiting the firm. Flora Ad Agency was looking forward to sign a contract with the company. Palash was very angry. His secretary Miss Rehana was supposed to bring in the papers for presentation but she did not come. Palash did not like this kind of attitude. He himself was a hardworking person and he expected the same from his subordinates. Rehana had done the same thing earlier and Palash did not say her anything serious but this time she had gone too far. Palash decided to get another secretary.
The meeting with the officials was very successful. Looking at their quality the officials decided to sign contract with Flora. Later that day, Palash met the manager and told him about his secretary. Manager assured him that he would get a new secretary as soon as possible. After several days Palash came to know that his old assistant had been removed. A new girl would join the office from Sunday.
On Sunday, Palash came as usual at nine a.m. After few minutes he called the office boy to bring in the new secretary. A few minutes later, a woman, around her last twenties, wearing a silk saari, walked into his office. Palash was busy checking files. Without looking at her he said, “Sit down please”. She sat down. Now Palash looked at her face and for the next few minutes he was silent. The woman sitting on the other side of the table was no one but Trisha. A heavy and unpleasant silence was dominating that room. Both of them were lost how to start the conversation. Palash was looking at Trisha. She was looking very pale and weak. Palash was wondering what happened to her.
“How are you?” Trisha broke the silence at last.
I am totally lost. It’s unbelievable. What happened to you? Don’t you take good care of yourself?”
It’s a long story.
I’d like to hear it some time.
Not in the office. We could talk later. Now tell me what you want?
Palash then gave her some works. Trisha left the room. Palash still could not believe that he had just met Trisha. The girl he once loved deeply. At noon he asked Trisha to go to lunch with him and she denied gently. This went on for the next few days but at last she gave up. One day they went to a nearby fast food shop. Palash ordered a broasted chicken and a chicken sandwich for him and Trisha.
Now tell me what happened?
My parents had very high hopes about me and they destroyed my life. After spending several days with my husband I understood that there was some problem. He used to behave very badly with me. He used to rebuke me from time to time for no reason. At first, I kept quiet like a typical wife and did not say anything. One day when I was cleaning our room. I found a picture of him with another woman in his closet. I was lost. I did not know what to say. Then I understood why he always remained very angry with me. I felt very angry and helpless. That day when he returned from office I showed him the picture. At first he did not say any thing. Then I burst into anger.
"What you think of yourself? I am not your servant. You are having an affair with another woman. How could you do this to me?"
Suddenly he grew very angry and slapped me on the face.
"Shut up! Just shut up! Don’t utter a single word or I will kill you!"
"The next five months were like a nightmare. I do not know what to do. I told my in laws about it and they told me not to tell it to any one. It would destroy their family image. My mother–in- law told me to forget about it. I was shocked at their response. How could they say such a thing?
Then one night with only five hundred taka in my purse I started for Pabna. I went to my parent’s. Seeing me like that they were very surprised. After hearing about my husband they were shocked. Few days later, my husband came and convinced my parents that it was a misunderstanding and it would never happen again. My parents then started to pressure me to return with my husband. I was firm in my decision that I would never return to that house. Luckily, I met Tulika. She was my college friend. She was staying at a women’s hostel in Dhaka. I asked her to help me. She told me not to worry. She would see what she could do. Then after few weeks she called me on phone and told me to come to Dhaka. I came and she helped me to get a job in a company. They did not pay me much so I was looking for another job and then I saw the job vacancy ad in the news paper and applied for it and you know the rest of the story."
Palash could not say anything but felt sympathetic for her.
This went on for few months. Meanwhile, Palash’s mother and sister are now staying with him in Dhaka. His mother is pursuing him to get married but Palash does not say anything. He did not tell his mother that Trisha is now working in his office and they go out every day.
One day, after office he returned home and found out that his mother was unhappy for some reason. Her facial expression was telling him that something has gone wrong. Palash asked “What happened mother? Is there any problem?”
His mother said, “Go and fresh up. We need to talk.”
Palash did not know what made his mother so anxious. He cleaned himself and took some refreshment. Then he came to his mother’s room. He said, “Mother, What happened? Why you are so upset?”
Palash “How could you do this? I have given birth to you! I worked hard for you to see you like this?”
Palash was very surprised. He still could not figure out what went wrong.
What are you saying? I have no idea. What’s going on?
How could you do this Bhaiya? Niru broke in.
Why didn’t you tell us that Trisha apu is working in your office? She is your secretary. One of my friends saw you two few times in a fast food shop near your office. At first, I did not believe it but then I saw you. You knew Trisha apu is married to another person. How could you go out with her like this?
It was much unexpected for Palash. He understood that it would be of no use to hide the matter any more.
Yes, it’s true. Trisha works in my office and we are seeing each other for quite some time. I do not see any problem with that besides I am thinking of marrying Trisha.
‘What? How could you think of such a thing Palash?’
Why what’s wrong with that? Trisha is a good girl.
I know Palash but how could you say such a thing?
Why? What’s the problem?
Trisha is a married woman. She left her husband’s family without his consent. And I don’t know what happened over there. May be she lied to you to come close to you.
How could you say such a thing mother? Palash shouted.
How dare you talk to me like that! I am your mother. I understand your feelings for her and lets say what she said is true. Still, you have to think about the society Palash! You have a sister who is yet to get married. What would people say when they would hear about such a thing tell me?
It is not fair mother. What has society got to do with this? This is my personal life and I make my own decision. Why should I care about the society? Besides Trisha is a good girl.
Still Palash, I don’t like this idea. You have to forget her. I have better girls for you.
No mother, that is not possible. I always loved Trisha and nothing can change that, not even you. There was a determination in Palash’s voice.
Next day, after office, Palash asked Trisha to go out with him. At first Trisha hesitated but agreed to go. They went to Ramna Park. It has been a long time since Trisha last went out. So she was very happy. She started to smile. Looking at her face Palash’s heart filled up with joy. They walked around the park. After sometime they sat down. Palash said, “Trisha, fortune took us away and it is fortune that brought us together again. Don’t you think there is some thing special about us?”
“Palash” said Trisha “I can not dream any more. I am afraid of dreaming. Whatever I dreamt have gone wrong. Now I can’t think of anything else”.
The sun was about to set. The sky turned reddish. There is a silence every where. Palash took Trisha’s hand and said “I understand what you have been through. It is really terrible for you. But Trisha life does not stop here.”
Trisha kept silent. She did not know what to say.
Palash continued “Tirsha you don’t know what I had been through after you got married. I lost my faith in every thing. I felt like love was meaningless only money matters but now I understand that it is not true. The truth is I have always loved you and I can not live without you Trisha. I may not be able to remove your pains but I can give you those that you expected from a husband: love, respect, I would not do anything to heart you.”
Trisha looked at Palash. Her eyes were filled with tears. She was smiling and in that twilight she looking very beautiful.
Palash lives in a bachelor’s quarter at Motijheel. It is a small apartment with two bedrooms. Including Palash, four people live in the apartment. Monir is his roommate. He is a medical representative2. When Palash came from office, Monir was lying on the bed, turning the page of a magazine. He knew what the poor guy was going through. Without taking his eyes from the magazine he said, “You did not get your salary right?” There was a sarcastic tone in his speech. Throwing his shoes away Palash sat down on the bed and cried out “TO HELL WITH THE MANAGER! I CAN’T LIVE LIKE THIS!’ Monir understood that he should not have said it this way. He came to Palash and said, “I am sorry brother. I should not have asked you this question. Don’t worry. You will get your salary.” Then he said, “I have news for you.” Palash looked at his face. Monir slowly walked to the study table. He pulled a yellow envelop from a book and gave it to Palash. It was a letter and from the neat and clean handwriting it could be understood that it was written by a woman. It is Niru, Palash’s sister. Palash tore the envelop.
Bhaiya,
Take my Salam. I hope you are in good shape. We are fine here. My year final will begin soon. For the last few days mother has been feeling chest pain. We went to the doctor but he could not find any thing. He said that she should go to Dhaka for better treatment. For the time being he gave some medicine. After taking them mother is quite well now.
Bhaiya, the reason of my writing is Trisha apu. Her parents have arranged her marriage. The groom is an officer in a multinational company. His family is well off. They have a house in Dhaka. Trisha apu is good looking and well educated so the groom’s parents liked her very much. Since they were financially sound, Trisha apu’s parents did not argue. But Trisha apu is not very happy with this marriage and you know why? Before her engagement she came to my college to see me. She told me how much she liked you and she had no other options but to give her consent.
Bhaiya, you have to be strong at this moment. At first I did not want to inform you about this but I felt that after some day you will know about it. Please, bhaiya, do not lose heart. It is not your fault. You did your best. I know it, mom knows it and Trisha apu knows it. Let’s suppose that you two were not meant be with each other. In life we have to move on bhaiya and Trisha apu is not the only girl in this world. There are other girls better than her and I promise, me and mom will get a better girl for you.
My request to you is stop worrying about her. Take your meals properly and take care of yourself.
With best wishes
Niru
Reading the letter Palash’s face hardened. He felt like crying but controlled himself in front of Monir.
“Who sent it?” Monir asked.
My sister.
“Oh! Listen why don’t you go to the bathroom and fresh up. Then we will have supper together. Today bua has cooked fish, your favorite.” Palash then took the towel and went into the bathroom. Closing the door he leaned over the basin. He looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were filled with tears. He was crying. What else he could do? His father’s death has changed his life. Palash lost himself in the memory lane. Those days would never come back. Palash washed his face and came out.
Three years ago Palash’s father died off a brain stroke. The first time when he had a stroke, Palash was preparing for his MA final exam. His mother did not let him know because she thought it would affect his study. After finishing the exam Palash came home and he was shocked to see his father’s condition. He decided to take his father to Dhaka but it needed a lot of money. Palash went to his relatives and everybody turned him down. So finding no other way he decided to take a job. His father could not hold on that long. Two months after the first stroke he had another one. He fell down in front of the bathroom while preparing for his evening prayers. He was rushed to the local hospital but it was too late. Palash’s father’s death was a great shock for the family. He was the main earning member in their family but then he had to take all the responsibilities.
His mother was a school teacher and his sister was a freshman in college. His father’s pension money was not enough for the family, besides his sister had to get married. Palash took the job of a Quality inspector in a buying house. It was Trisha who had supported Palash at that time. She used to visit her family regularly. She also wrote to Palash. It was her inspiring letters that made Palash face all the hardships. She was like a blessing from heaven for Palash. With her good behavior she also won the hearts of Palash’s mother and sister.
But God had different plans for them. When his mother went to Trisha’s mother to talk about their marriage Trisha’s mother told her that her father would not agree with this proposal. He had already chosen someone else for Trisha. Palash’s mother said, “Trisha and Palash like each other very much. They will be very happy. Besides if Trisha gets married she would stay with us and you can come to see her any time”. Trisha’s mother said, “I understand Mrs. Asif, I know Palash is a very good boy and I also like him very much, but the problem is Palash does not have any good job. How could he take care of Trisha? The boy Trisha’s father has chosen works in a multinational company. He gets very good salary and he comes from a good family. How can we refuse them?” Palash’s mother understood that now there was no hope and she felt sad. She did not want Palash to know about this because he was already under lot of pressure.
Two years have passed after this incident. Things have changed a lot. Palash is now working as a Communication officer in Flora Advertising, one of the leading advertisement firms of Bangladesh. His excellent communication skill in English and hard working mentality pleased the officials. Palash was thankful to Monir for this. He pursued him to apply for the job. At first, he was not interested, since Monir was insisting he dropped his CV. Then everything turned out like a dream. Out of five hundred applicants Palash got the job. When he got the joining letter, he could not believe his own eyes. The next day he arranged for a small feast in his apartment and treated every body.
Palash does not live in Motijheel any more. He has now rented an apartment in Mohammadpur. This one is better than the previous one; more space, attached toilets. After shifting from the old apartment he brought his mother to Dhaka and did her medical check up. His sister has graduated from college. Now she is planning to do her MA from Dhaka University. Palash has decided to bring his sister to Dhaka. Palash is now thirty-one but has not got married yet. His mother has shown him several girls but he has rejected them all. He keeps himself busy in work. After his break up with Trisha he has lost his faith in love and marriage.
One morning Palash was busy working in his office. Few officials of a big multinational would be visiting the firm. Flora Ad Agency was looking forward to sign a contract with the company. Palash was very angry. His secretary Miss Rehana was supposed to bring in the papers for presentation but she did not come. Palash did not like this kind of attitude. He himself was a hardworking person and he expected the same from his subordinates. Rehana had done the same thing earlier and Palash did not say her anything serious but this time she had gone too far. Palash decided to get another secretary.
The meeting with the officials was very successful. Looking at their quality the officials decided to sign contract with Flora. Later that day, Palash met the manager and told him about his secretary. Manager assured him that he would get a new secretary as soon as possible. After several days Palash came to know that his old assistant had been removed. A new girl would join the office from Sunday.
On Sunday, Palash came as usual at nine a.m. After few minutes he called the office boy to bring in the new secretary. A few minutes later, a woman, around her last twenties, wearing a silk saari, walked into his office. Palash was busy checking files. Without looking at her he said, “Sit down please”. She sat down. Now Palash looked at her face and for the next few minutes he was silent. The woman sitting on the other side of the table was no one but Trisha. A heavy and unpleasant silence was dominating that room. Both of them were lost how to start the conversation. Palash was looking at Trisha. She was looking very pale and weak. Palash was wondering what happened to her.
“How are you?” Trisha broke the silence at last.
I am totally lost. It’s unbelievable. What happened to you? Don’t you take good care of yourself?”
It’s a long story.
I’d like to hear it some time.
Not in the office. We could talk later. Now tell me what you want?
Palash then gave her some works. Trisha left the room. Palash still could not believe that he had just met Trisha. The girl he once loved deeply. At noon he asked Trisha to go to lunch with him and she denied gently. This went on for the next few days but at last she gave up. One day they went to a nearby fast food shop. Palash ordered a broasted chicken and a chicken sandwich for him and Trisha.
Now tell me what happened?
My parents had very high hopes about me and they destroyed my life. After spending several days with my husband I understood that there was some problem. He used to behave very badly with me. He used to rebuke me from time to time for no reason. At first, I kept quiet like a typical wife and did not say anything. One day when I was cleaning our room. I found a picture of him with another woman in his closet. I was lost. I did not know what to say. Then I understood why he always remained very angry with me. I felt very angry and helpless. That day when he returned from office I showed him the picture. At first he did not say any thing. Then I burst into anger.
"What you think of yourself? I am not your servant. You are having an affair with another woman. How could you do this to me?"
Suddenly he grew very angry and slapped me on the face.
"Shut up! Just shut up! Don’t utter a single word or I will kill you!"
"The next five months were like a nightmare. I do not know what to do. I told my in laws about it and they told me not to tell it to any one. It would destroy their family image. My mother–in- law told me to forget about it. I was shocked at their response. How could they say such a thing?
Then one night with only five hundred taka in my purse I started for Pabna. I went to my parent’s. Seeing me like that they were very surprised. After hearing about my husband they were shocked. Few days later, my husband came and convinced my parents that it was a misunderstanding and it would never happen again. My parents then started to pressure me to return with my husband. I was firm in my decision that I would never return to that house. Luckily, I met Tulika. She was my college friend. She was staying at a women’s hostel in Dhaka. I asked her to help me. She told me not to worry. She would see what she could do. Then after few weeks she called me on phone and told me to come to Dhaka. I came and she helped me to get a job in a company. They did not pay me much so I was looking for another job and then I saw the job vacancy ad in the news paper and applied for it and you know the rest of the story."
Palash could not say anything but felt sympathetic for her.
This went on for few months. Meanwhile, Palash’s mother and sister are now staying with him in Dhaka. His mother is pursuing him to get married but Palash does not say anything. He did not tell his mother that Trisha is now working in his office and they go out every day.
One day, after office he returned home and found out that his mother was unhappy for some reason. Her facial expression was telling him that something has gone wrong. Palash asked “What happened mother? Is there any problem?”
His mother said, “Go and fresh up. We need to talk.”
Palash did not know what made his mother so anxious. He cleaned himself and took some refreshment. Then he came to his mother’s room. He said, “Mother, What happened? Why you are so upset?”
Palash “How could you do this? I have given birth to you! I worked hard for you to see you like this?”
Palash was very surprised. He still could not figure out what went wrong.
What are you saying? I have no idea. What’s going on?
How could you do this Bhaiya? Niru broke in.
Why didn’t you tell us that Trisha apu is working in your office? She is your secretary. One of my friends saw you two few times in a fast food shop near your office. At first, I did not believe it but then I saw you. You knew Trisha apu is married to another person. How could you go out with her like this?
It was much unexpected for Palash. He understood that it would be of no use to hide the matter any more.
Yes, it’s true. Trisha works in my office and we are seeing each other for quite some time. I do not see any problem with that besides I am thinking of marrying Trisha.
‘What? How could you think of such a thing Palash?’
Why what’s wrong with that? Trisha is a good girl.
I know Palash but how could you say such a thing?
Why? What’s the problem?
Trisha is a married woman. She left her husband’s family without his consent. And I don’t know what happened over there. May be she lied to you to come close to you.
How could you say such a thing mother? Palash shouted.
How dare you talk to me like that! I am your mother. I understand your feelings for her and lets say what she said is true. Still, you have to think about the society Palash! You have a sister who is yet to get married. What would people say when they would hear about such a thing tell me?
It is not fair mother. What has society got to do with this? This is my personal life and I make my own decision. Why should I care about the society? Besides Trisha is a good girl.
Still Palash, I don’t like this idea. You have to forget her. I have better girls for you.
No mother, that is not possible. I always loved Trisha and nothing can change that, not even you. There was a determination in Palash’s voice.
Next day, after office, Palash asked Trisha to go out with him. At first Trisha hesitated but agreed to go. They went to Ramna Park. It has been a long time since Trisha last went out. So she was very happy. She started to smile. Looking at her face Palash’s heart filled up with joy. They walked around the park. After sometime they sat down. Palash said, “Trisha, fortune took us away and it is fortune that brought us together again. Don’t you think there is some thing special about us?”
“Palash” said Trisha “I can not dream any more. I am afraid of dreaming. Whatever I dreamt have gone wrong. Now I can’t think of anything else”.
The sun was about to set. The sky turned reddish. There is a silence every where. Palash took Trisha’s hand and said “I understand what you have been through. It is really terrible for you. But Trisha life does not stop here.”
Trisha kept silent. She did not know what to say.
Palash continued “Tirsha you don’t know what I had been through after you got married. I lost my faith in every thing. I felt like love was meaningless only money matters but now I understand that it is not true. The truth is I have always loved you and I can not live without you Trisha. I may not be able to remove your pains but I can give you those that you expected from a husband: love, respect, I would not do anything to heart you.”
Trisha looked at Palash. Her eyes were filled with tears. She was smiling and in that twilight she looking very beautiful.
Liked the story then why not read another touching stroy:
Helpless (a short story)
Monday, February 27, 2006
Writing in Internet from a third world country An English blog about Bangla (Bengali) literature (Part 2)
Two days ago after I wrote about Writing in Internet from a third world country, I received some good response and I thought that I should provide a second part. In the first part, I discussed about some of the problems that a Bangladeshi writer may face when he/she tries to enter into writing markets in Internet. Now in this article I like to mention some other problems that we face.
No agent
This is a very serious problem for us. In the West many people have mastered the skill of being a good literary agent and they are always on the search for finding a new literary talent. The work of an agent is to try to sell the works of a writer on his/her behalf to a publisher and then take 10%-15% commission. Working with an agent has become a standard norm for every writer in the west. Not having literary agent in our country just makes our writing career more difficult.
Low bandwidth high charge of InternetOf all the limitations I suffer, the problem of low bandwidth for a high charge makes me mostly frustrated. There is so much to read in Internet and so much to download but with a speed of 1/2 KBPS (kilo bye per second) be it dial up or cable connection.
Good library
Every writer needs a good library around his home. When I browse through the websites of American Universities I just get amazed to see that the libraries of many universities have more than one million books in their collection. Some universities even give online access to their collections to their users. To the best of my knowledge, no library in my own country has 1 million books. This matter causes a very nasty problem when we want to search on a specific topic like "Puritanism" or "New England". Thanks to my ability to search Internet effectively I can overcome this problem to some extent but for most of the writers in Bangladesh it really poses a serious threat.
Lack of knowledge about Bibliography and ReferenceLike most of the third world countries, plagiarism is not dealt very seriously in the education system. That is why writers from Bangladesh may find writing in the online market to be very puzzling as plagiarism is perhaps treated as the worst crime in the writing industry.
I just hope that my writing about the challenges faced by Bangladeshi writers will help the young writers from my own country to know about the possible challenges they may face if they wish to enter the world of freelance writing.
No agent
This is a very serious problem for us. In the West many people have mastered the skill of being a good literary agent and they are always on the search for finding a new literary talent. The work of an agent is to try to sell the works of a writer on his/her behalf to a publisher and then take 10%-15% commission. Working with an agent has become a standard norm for every writer in the west. Not having literary agent in our country just makes our writing career more difficult.
Low bandwidth high charge of InternetOf all the limitations I suffer, the problem of low bandwidth for a high charge makes me mostly frustrated. There is so much to read in Internet and so much to download but with a speed of 1/2 KBPS (kilo bye per second) be it dial up or cable connection.
Good library
Every writer needs a good library around his home. When I browse through the websites of American Universities I just get amazed to see that the libraries of many universities have more than one million books in their collection. Some universities even give online access to their collections to their users. To the best of my knowledge, no library in my own country has 1 million books. This matter causes a very nasty problem when we want to search on a specific topic like "Puritanism" or "New England". Thanks to my ability to search Internet effectively I can overcome this problem to some extent but for most of the writers in Bangladesh it really poses a serious threat.
Lack of knowledge about Bibliography and ReferenceLike most of the third world countries, plagiarism is not dealt very seriously in the education system. That is why writers from Bangladesh may find writing in the online market to be very puzzling as plagiarism is perhaps treated as the worst crime in the writing industry.
I just hope that my writing about the challenges faced by Bangladeshi writers will help the young writers from my own country to know about the possible challenges they may face if they wish to enter the world of freelance writing.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Google Page Creator : All about Google Page Creator
Google has taken the cyber world literary by storm again with its new product called Google Page Creator. Google Page Creator is a very simple but effective tool that will allow virtually everyone to have their own website at free of charge and without having any technical knowledge. You can create your website in your browser without the help of any other software. The initial demand has been so high that Google was forced to stop issuing new accounts.
Signing up
When I tried to sign up in Google Page Creator, due to very high demand Google had stopped providing new accounts. Of course, I felt discouraged because I always like to see Google as the never ending source of information for everyone. Google asked me to submit my email address so that I remain in the queue for Google Page Creator. However, after 5 minutes I again tried and this time I to my sheer delight I got the account but again felt disappointed that Google Page Creator does not support my browser (Opera). So, I entered Google Page Creator with Internet Explorer and this time it opened very well.
Things to note:
* http://pages.google.com is the homepage of Google Page Creator
* A Gmail account is a must if you want to get Page Creator
* Explorer 6.0 or Firefox 1.0, or higher, with JavaScript and cookies enabled- Then you can work with Page Creator.By signing up with Page Creator I got a sub domain from Google (http://ahmedrazib.googlepages.com/) with a capacity of 100 Megabyte. For me it is so interesting to note that for signing up I did not have to fill up any form. Just my Gmail was enough. Even I did not have to spend anytime for selecting a url for my sub domain. I did not have to do any email verification. I am sure this process will attract many users in Net.
Help section of Google Page Creator
Before doing anything, I visited the help section in http://pages.google.com/-/about.html. I spent 10-15 minutes to read the topics and I was totally satisfied to see that the topics were written in very easy and non English. It provided the necessary information about Google Page Creator. Then I visited Google Page Creator Help Center (http://www.google.com/support/pages). It was written in a very easy manner too. The troubleshooting tips are useful too for a new user.
My first page in Google Page Creator
When I saw my home page Google Page Creator I felt like working an Microsoft Word and MS Frontpage. There are places where I should just click and then type something- It is just as easy as that. No download, no support from any other software. Just type some words and hit the publish button- that's it. If you are not satisfied with the Layout then you can change it within a minute. There are 4 kinds of layouts and all you need is to just click on one of them. The same goes for the Look too. If you are not satisfied with the Look of your webpage then there are 41 Looks to select. I liked some of them while the others did not appear to be very impressive to me.
My first Picture Google Page Creator
There is an option for uploading a picture. You can upload by two ways: you can select an image from your PC's hard drive or you can give a url of any picture from Internet. Both of them worked pretty fast.
Adding a page at Google Page Creator
After I finished my home page I wanted to add a new page titled About Me. The process is almost same like working on the first page. After I finished creating the page (http://ahmedrazib.googlepages.com/aboutme) I really felt that Google has been able to overcome the biggest challenge of allowing everyone to have own website at free of charge.
Will my page be found in Google Search
Yes, it will be because Google has informed in its website that within a few hours of my website being created by Google Page Creator it will crawl and add to its search. When something gets indexed in Google, other search engines wont waste time to index it too.
What next for Google Page Creator and Google?
Google Page Creator is surely one of the biggest revolutions in ICT sector in recent times. Google Page Creator is a giant step in overcoming the problem of ordinary users to make an online presence without any technical know how. By it Google entered into the web hosting industry and the best thing with Google Page Creator is that any website created here is supposed to be blessed with unlimited amount of bandwidth.
Difference between Blogspot and Google Page Creator
Google's Blogspot is very popular among everyone and there are thousands of blogs hosted in Blogspot. In Blogspot, a person needs some basic ideas about webpage design and HTML but in Google Page Creator anyone with the ability to browse Internet through Internet Explorer and Firefox will be able to create their own website.
No ads in Google Page Creator
I am not sure about it yet but I did not see any ads of any company including Google after uploading my website. If this continues, then Google will dominate the market of free websites. I have seen many of my students and friends to get annoyed from Tripod and Geocities about advertisements and gradually losing interest about free web hosting altogether.
I am sure that Google Page Creator is going to influence the writing industry a lot in the coming days.
Signing up
When I tried to sign up in Google Page Creator, due to very high demand Google had stopped providing new accounts. Of course, I felt discouraged because I always like to see Google as the never ending source of information for everyone. Google asked me to submit my email address so that I remain in the queue for Google Page Creator. However, after 5 minutes I again tried and this time I to my sheer delight I got the account but again felt disappointed that Google Page Creator does not support my browser (Opera). So, I entered Google Page Creator with Internet Explorer and this time it opened very well.
Things to note:
* http://pages.google.com is the homepage of Google Page Creator
* A Gmail account is a must if you want to get Page Creator
* Explorer 6.0 or Firefox 1.0, or higher, with JavaScript and cookies enabled- Then you can work with Page Creator.By signing up with Page Creator I got a sub domain from Google (http://ahmedrazib.googlepages.com/) with a capacity of 100 Megabyte. For me it is so interesting to note that for signing up I did not have to fill up any form. Just my Gmail was enough. Even I did not have to spend anytime for selecting a url for my sub domain. I did not have to do any email verification. I am sure this process will attract many users in Net.
Help section of Google Page Creator
Before doing anything, I visited the help section in http://pages.google.com/-/about.html. I spent 10-15 minutes to read the topics and I was totally satisfied to see that the topics were written in very easy and non English. It provided the necessary information about Google Page Creator. Then I visited Google Page Creator Help Center (http://www.google.com/support/pages). It was written in a very easy manner too. The troubleshooting tips are useful too for a new user.
My first page in Google Page Creator
When I saw my home page Google Page Creator I felt like working an Microsoft Word and MS Frontpage. There are places where I should just click and then type something- It is just as easy as that. No download, no support from any other software. Just type some words and hit the publish button- that's it. If you are not satisfied with the Layout then you can change it within a minute. There are 4 kinds of layouts and all you need is to just click on one of them. The same goes for the Look too. If you are not satisfied with the Look of your webpage then there are 41 Looks to select. I liked some of them while the others did not appear to be very impressive to me.
My first Picture Google Page Creator
There is an option for uploading a picture. You can upload by two ways: you can select an image from your PC's hard drive or you can give a url of any picture from Internet. Both of them worked pretty fast.
Adding a page at Google Page Creator
After I finished my home page I wanted to add a new page titled About Me. The process is almost same like working on the first page. After I finished creating the page (http://ahmedrazib.googlepages.com/aboutme) I really felt that Google has been able to overcome the biggest challenge of allowing everyone to have own website at free of charge.
Will my page be found in Google Search
Yes, it will be because Google has informed in its website that within a few hours of my website being created by Google Page Creator it will crawl and add to its search. When something gets indexed in Google, other search engines wont waste time to index it too.
What next for Google Page Creator and Google?
Google Page Creator is surely one of the biggest revolutions in ICT sector in recent times. Google Page Creator is a giant step in overcoming the problem of ordinary users to make an online presence without any technical know how. By it Google entered into the web hosting industry and the best thing with Google Page Creator is that any website created here is supposed to be blessed with unlimited amount of bandwidth.
Difference between Blogspot and Google Page Creator
Google's Blogspot is very popular among everyone and there are thousands of blogs hosted in Blogspot. In Blogspot, a person needs some basic ideas about webpage design and HTML but in Google Page Creator anyone with the ability to browse Internet through Internet Explorer and Firefox will be able to create their own website.
No ads in Google Page Creator
I am not sure about it yet but I did not see any ads of any company including Google after uploading my website. If this continues, then Google will dominate the market of free websites. I have seen many of my students and friends to get annoyed from Tripod and Geocities about advertisements and gradually losing interest about free web hosting altogether.
I am sure that Google Page Creator is going to influence the writing industry a lot in the coming days.
Writing in Internet from a third world country
I am trying to break into the American writing market for the last 1 year. I admit that my effort was not consistent and there were frequent lapses and on the other hand there are limitations that I had to work on. Nevertheless, I had continued pursuing my dream as much as I can. It is not that I have become successful already or I feel I am on the verge of realizing my dream. Still, I feel that I have got some real life experience that I can share with my fellow writers in Bangladesh who want to get established in online writing. Of course, the first problem is of language as to earn money we must write in English and the editors in Net are very demanding about the quality of grammar, punctuation and spelling. However, if I was not confident of my English language skills in the first place I would not dream of entering into freelance writing from Bangladesh.
The problems: No credit card or Paypal
An American writer cannot think of writing without a credit card. Now Paypal is becoming the industry norm for online transaction. However, for Bangladeshi writers, these two things are like a dream and there is no sign that it would change in the next few months or even years. Not having any form of online transaction affects us in two ways. First of all, it makes it very difficult for us to receive payments of our own writings. In many freelance writing works related postings it is clearly written that payment will be sent by Paypal or the writer must have a Paypal account. However, more than that because of absence of online transaction we cannot pay for online resources such as Writers Market. Most of the good services for the writers online are less than US $50 and it is quite affordable for us.
Technical and marketing know how!!
When I first thought of freelance writing through online, I just thought that I want to write and I can write and that should be enough. The more time I spend with net I realize that writing is merely one arm of the triangle. A writer must have good technical knowledge and sense to flourish online. On one hand, it is really necessary to have some preliminary ideas about web design and blogging. On the other hand, it is more important to know about technical aspects of writing like keyword articles. Then writers have to know about the websites from where they can download resources that are helpful in writing. I like download.com and most probably thousands of writers like me visit this website all the time.
Cultural difference
Cultural difference can really be a great obstacle for a freelance writer from Bangladesh. Many of us have the weird idea that life in USA is similar to what we see in Hollywood movies and American TV serials. Lack of knowledge about American life and culture only decreases our chance of being successful in that market.
Unfamiliarity about Bangladesh
Each week, I send 10 queries by email in response to the job postings posted in different freelance writing related websites. Most of the time, I do not receive any reply from the advertiser.
Against all the odds
I am trying my best to fight against all the odds and establish myself as a freelance writer in the western markets. For the whole of 2005, I was frustrated about my prospect and gave half hearted effort. This is the worst mistake I have done because with every passing day I feel more and more optimistic about my prospects in freelance writing. I just wish that I had started my quest 5 years earlier not in 2005.
I started writing this article about the problems of Bangladeshi writers and then most of the time talked about my own problems. Well, I am one of the very few writers from this poor country who are trying to make their marks in online writing.
The problems: No credit card or Paypal
An American writer cannot think of writing without a credit card. Now Paypal is becoming the industry norm for online transaction. However, for Bangladeshi writers, these two things are like a dream and there is no sign that it would change in the next few months or even years. Not having any form of online transaction affects us in two ways. First of all, it makes it very difficult for us to receive payments of our own writings. In many freelance writing works related postings it is clearly written that payment will be sent by Paypal or the writer must have a Paypal account. However, more than that because of absence of online transaction we cannot pay for online resources such as Writers Market. Most of the good services for the writers online are less than US $50 and it is quite affordable for us.
Technical and marketing know how!!
When I first thought of freelance writing through online, I just thought that I want to write and I can write and that should be enough. The more time I spend with net I realize that writing is merely one arm of the triangle. A writer must have good technical knowledge and sense to flourish online. On one hand, it is really necessary to have some preliminary ideas about web design and blogging. On the other hand, it is more important to know about technical aspects of writing like keyword articles. Then writers have to know about the websites from where they can download resources that are helpful in writing. I like download.com and most probably thousands of writers like me visit this website all the time.
Cultural difference
Cultural difference can really be a great obstacle for a freelance writer from Bangladesh. Many of us have the weird idea that life in USA is similar to what we see in Hollywood movies and American TV serials. Lack of knowledge about American life and culture only decreases our chance of being successful in that market.
Unfamiliarity about Bangladesh
Each week, I send 10 queries by email in response to the job postings posted in different freelance writing related websites. Most of the time, I do not receive any reply from the advertiser.
Against all the odds
I am trying my best to fight against all the odds and establish myself as a freelance writer in the western markets. For the whole of 2005, I was frustrated about my prospect and gave half hearted effort. This is the worst mistake I have done because with every passing day I feel more and more optimistic about my prospects in freelance writing. I just wish that I had started my quest 5 years earlier not in 2005.
I started writing this article about the problems of Bangladeshi writers and then most of the time talked about my own problems. Well, I am one of the very few writers from this poor country who are trying to make their marks in online writing.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Bangla (Bengali) literature: Some reflections
The most tragic thing about Bangla (Bengali) literature today is the absence of information about it in Internet. Internet is the biggest place for information and millions of people are browsing for information and entertainment everyday. If you do a search in Google about Bangla (Bengali) literature you will have to feel frustrated. Except Wikipedia and Bangla (Bengali)pedia there are not a lot of information about Bangla (Bengali) literature. This is ia tragic matter because Bangla (Bengali) literature is one of the richest literatures in the world. Rabindranath Tagore, the greatest figure in Bangla (Bengali) literature got Nobel Prize in 1913 and he was the first writer from outside of Europe and America to get this prestigious prize.
Tagore's achievement did not take place all of a sudden. Rather it came after 100 years of modernization and reformation process in Bangla (Bengali) literature that started with Rammohan Roy, the father of Indian reformation movement. It was Ram Mohan Roy who realized the need to reform the Indian society and embracing the liberal and positive aspects of the western civilization. A little later Michael Madhusudan Dutt turned this concept into reality in to Bangla (Bengali) literature by introducing sonnet and blank verse. Thus social reformation and modernization in literature occurred hand by hand in Bengal. The ground was prepared for Tagore to come and shine in the world literature.
It is true that Tagore almost single-handedly elevated Bangla (Bengali) literature to become one of the richest literatures in the contemporary world. Tagore's achievement made every Bengali writer proud and it created a new enthusiasm for them. After Tagore got Nobel Prize in 1913 the golden age of Bangla (Bengali) literature started and for the next 30 years it continued with a handful of writers in every genre. Kazi Nazrul Islam excelled in writing poems about social justice and he also successfully used both Hindu and Muslim heritage in his poems. It was in his poems that the idea of unity between Muslims and Hindus was echoed again and again. Sharatchandra emerged as the most popular novelist in Bangla (Bengali) literature. His novels touched people from every background in the society and still today his novels are most widely read in Bangla (Bengali) literature. Jibananda Das caught the attention of the readers for writing poems about nature and Bibhutibhushon Banerje did the same in prose in Bangla (Bengali) literature.
History of Bangla (Bengali) literature is more than 1200 years old and among the modern Indian languages (belonging to the Indic branch of Indo-Eurpean language Familiy) Bangla (Bengali) literature is among the earliest literatures. The first text of Bangla (Bengali) literature Charyapada was written perhaps in 9th or 8th century. This book is a collection of songs and poems written by a number poets (mainly Budhists). The poems contained description of everyday social life instead of praise to gods or goddesses. The most fascinating aspect of Bangla (Bengali) literature is that poets and writers from 4 religions have contributed in its development. Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Christian writers have their contributions in Bangla (Bengali) literature and Bangla (Bengali) literature has been enriched from these religions too. The presence and interaction among the poets of different religions have made Bangla (Bengali) literature a literature of liberal humanism. Bangla (Bengali) literature influenced its speakers so much that in 1952 Bangla (Bengali)deshi people sacrificed their blood against the Pakistani rulers to uphold the status of Bangla (Bengali).
It is really a sad matter that hardly any information is available in Internet about this great literature. There must be a broad initiative to change this scenario.
Tagore's achievement did not take place all of a sudden. Rather it came after 100 years of modernization and reformation process in Bangla (Bengali) literature that started with Rammohan Roy, the father of Indian reformation movement. It was Ram Mohan Roy who realized the need to reform the Indian society and embracing the liberal and positive aspects of the western civilization. A little later Michael Madhusudan Dutt turned this concept into reality in to Bangla (Bengali) literature by introducing sonnet and blank verse. Thus social reformation and modernization in literature occurred hand by hand in Bengal. The ground was prepared for Tagore to come and shine in the world literature.
It is true that Tagore almost single-handedly elevated Bangla (Bengali) literature to become one of the richest literatures in the contemporary world. Tagore's achievement made every Bengali writer proud and it created a new enthusiasm for them. After Tagore got Nobel Prize in 1913 the golden age of Bangla (Bengali) literature started and for the next 30 years it continued with a handful of writers in every genre. Kazi Nazrul Islam excelled in writing poems about social justice and he also successfully used both Hindu and Muslim heritage in his poems. It was in his poems that the idea of unity between Muslims and Hindus was echoed again and again. Sharatchandra emerged as the most popular novelist in Bangla (Bengali) literature. His novels touched people from every background in the society and still today his novels are most widely read in Bangla (Bengali) literature. Jibananda Das caught the attention of the readers for writing poems about nature and Bibhutibhushon Banerje did the same in prose in Bangla (Bengali) literature.
History of Bangla (Bengali) literature is more than 1200 years old and among the modern Indian languages (belonging to the Indic branch of Indo-Eurpean language Familiy) Bangla (Bengali) literature is among the earliest literatures. The first text of Bangla (Bengali) literature Charyapada was written perhaps in 9th or 8th century. This book is a collection of songs and poems written by a number poets (mainly Budhists). The poems contained description of everyday social life instead of praise to gods or goddesses. The most fascinating aspect of Bangla (Bengali) literature is that poets and writers from 4 religions have contributed in its development. Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Christian writers have their contributions in Bangla (Bengali) literature and Bangla (Bengali) literature has been enriched from these religions too. The presence and interaction among the poets of different religions have made Bangla (Bengali) literature a literature of liberal humanism. Bangla (Bengali) literature influenced its speakers so much that in 1952 Bangla (Bengali)deshi people sacrificed their blood against the Pakistani rulers to uphold the status of Bangla (Bengali).
It is really a sad matter that hardly any information is available in Internet about this great literature. There must be a broad initiative to change this scenario.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Sukanta Bhattacharya: Young poet with a matured hand
With the name of poet Sukanta Bhattacharya the first thing that comes into my mind is “Ranar,” the famous poem. I read it first in my class five Bengali text book. The poem was letter sung as a song by Hemanta Mukhopaddhay. Shukanta was born in Calcutta in 1926. By the time he grew up Second World War was going on and the heat of the war was also felt in the British ruled Bengal. It was a crucial time in the history of Bengal. The anti British movement was going on and also the economy of Bengal was in a very bad condition which resulted in a man made famine in 1943. Sukanto was born, observed and depicted the problems of society and suffering of people of that time. Sukanta during his school life became involved into leftist political movement. He was deeply influenced by Marxist thoughts and ideals. In his poems he described the contemporary social problems such as famine, war, suffering of poor people especially farmers and day laborers. During the famine of 1943 he became a relief worker for the peasants who came to calcutta. He also worked with jute mill trade organizations. Sukanta died of tuberculosis when he was only twenty one years old. Within such a short span of time he wrote many poets and plays. Some of his works are Chhadpatra (1947), Purbabhas (1950), Mithekada (1951), Abhiyan (1953), Ghum Nei (1954), Hartal (1962), Gitiguchchha (1965).
In my writing I want to talk about two of his famous poems and they are my most favorite as well. The first is “Chhadpatra,” a poem where the poet talks about an infant who has just taken birth and declaring his arrival through crying. The poet says that the baby has come to this world and now we have to make place for this baby. The poet says that some times the baby is crying, sometimes laughing and making noise but nobody understands it. The people are getting irritated but the poet understands his language. It is the hope of a new world, a new place. The people will die and this new born baby will take their place and in this way the cycle of human life will move forward. Here the poet is actually referring to the contemporary condition of his time war, piece, famine and instability in life. The poet did not lose his faith on human being. He hopes that the next generation will learn from the faults of their elders and try to make the world a better place. The new born baby is that sign of hope.
Another poem is “Ranar”. It is the story of a simple mail man or Daak Harkara. In those days the communication system was not very developed. The function of the mailman is to move letters and money orders and other important messages from one post-office to another post-office. This was a very tiring job and risky as well. The mail man has to go long distance and work at night. There are dacoits and muggers hiding on the way. Ranar is such a mail man who risking his life everyday carries important letters and money for people. Ranar is a very poor person. He carries letter for every body but there is no body who wants to know about him. He lives from hand to mouth. Ranar here is the representative of the labor class. The poet here depicts the suffering of those poor people who goes unrecognized but whose hard works contribute to the human society.
Both of these poems are very neat and well written. They are charged with highly emotional words. Both poems focus on the same subject a new dawn of human society a ray of hope. The hope of a new world where people will not oppress or destroy each other. It will be a world free of war, disease and famine. The new born child, and Ranar are the messenger of that new world.
Written by: S M Mehdi Hasan
In my writing I want to talk about two of his famous poems and they are my most favorite as well. The first is “Chhadpatra,” a poem where the poet talks about an infant who has just taken birth and declaring his arrival through crying. The poet says that the baby has come to this world and now we have to make place for this baby. The poet says that some times the baby is crying, sometimes laughing and making noise but nobody understands it. The people are getting irritated but the poet understands his language. It is the hope of a new world, a new place. The people will die and this new born baby will take their place and in this way the cycle of human life will move forward. Here the poet is actually referring to the contemporary condition of his time war, piece, famine and instability in life. The poet did not lose his faith on human being. He hopes that the next generation will learn from the faults of their elders and try to make the world a better place. The new born baby is that sign of hope.
Another poem is “Ranar”. It is the story of a simple mail man or Daak Harkara. In those days the communication system was not very developed. The function of the mailman is to move letters and money orders and other important messages from one post-office to another post-office. This was a very tiring job and risky as well. The mail man has to go long distance and work at night. There are dacoits and muggers hiding on the way. Ranar is such a mail man who risking his life everyday carries important letters and money for people. Ranar is a very poor person. He carries letter for every body but there is no body who wants to know about him. He lives from hand to mouth. Ranar here is the representative of the labor class. The poet here depicts the suffering of those poor people who goes unrecognized but whose hard works contribute to the human society.
Both of these poems are very neat and well written. They are charged with highly emotional words. Both poems focus on the same subject a new dawn of human society a ray of hope. The hope of a new world where people will not oppress or destroy each other. It will be a world free of war, disease and famine. The new born child, and Ranar are the messenger of that new world.
Written by: S M Mehdi Hasan
How to coup with writing rejections
Have your writing been rejected today? If the answer is yes, then of course you are deeply frustrated and feel discouraged. Rejecting in general is perhaps the toughest thing in the world to get along with. I do not know any good way to console you expect the fact that I am just like you in this matter. May be, I have suffered more rejections than you or may be not but I have suffered quite a bit. However, that does not mean that you and I are not skilled writers or we should give up writing altogether. Instead of being sad lest us try to get over it and be successful.
Failure is the pillar of success
When we were in school, we used to memorize this sentence. That time, I did not understand its real significance as like many children my dreams were very limited and most of the time I used to get the things before wanting. However, as I grow up more and more, I could touch that the world is a very tough and competitive place. Each day means competing with others for everything- from buying fresh vegetables at a reasonable place to finding a good spouse or job. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. However, in my own life I have seen that I can get very few things in the first attempt. On many things, first I need some practice and knowledge and then try again. If this is the case in many things in life why not in writing too!
Try, try Again
There is an obvious difference between writing and other professions. Those of us who want to be a writer actually dream for it. Hardly any of us with dream of becoming the next Bill Gates join writing. If you want to be the next Bill Gates and your writing has been rejected then accept it as a blessing and leave writing and join business. But for those of us writing is a dream, we should stick to our effort and simply continue trying on. Constant trying has one good advantage- it gives us another more opportunities to be successful.
It has happened to them too
When we get a rejection letter or email then we feel jealous for the successful and established writers. Media and publishers are crazy for getting writings from them and the same media and publishing companies are just only sending rejection letters. However, a little search in Internet will reveal to you that many of them have suffered rejections more than you and I. It is so good if you try to read about the rejections that famous writers faced in their own life.
A natural part of life
Rejection is really a sad but natural part of life. Try to think of how you deal with rejections in other areas of your life and then apply some of the principles when your writing gets rejected.
Keep a record of the rejections
Keep a record of the all the rejection emails and letters so that after you overcome your frustrations, you can analyze them and try to figure out what went wrong. If you can realize what went wrong then you can surely be better prepared next time.
Why rejections?
Please remember that every time your writing gets rejected does not mean that you are not a good writer or your writing is not up to the mark. There are a number of other factors too. For example, a magazine will publish only one article written by freelance writers and against it 70-80 submissions have come to them. On this kind of conditions, a magazine or a website tries to accept the submission of the writer who has good track record in the desired field instead of a new writer or a writer from another track. Sometimes, our writings get rejected because we did not follow the editorial guidelines very well. That is why it is important to try to realize the main reason behind suffering a particular rejection.
When we suffer writing rejections we have two choices. We can either get frustrated or we can try to realize the reason behind writing rejections and then try to improve our writings next time. The choice is really only yours.
Failure is the pillar of success
When we were in school, we used to memorize this sentence. That time, I did not understand its real significance as like many children my dreams were very limited and most of the time I used to get the things before wanting. However, as I grow up more and more, I could touch that the world is a very tough and competitive place. Each day means competing with others for everything- from buying fresh vegetables at a reasonable place to finding a good spouse or job. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. However, in my own life I have seen that I can get very few things in the first attempt. On many things, first I need some practice and knowledge and then try again. If this is the case in many things in life why not in writing too!
Try, try Again
There is an obvious difference between writing and other professions. Those of us who want to be a writer actually dream for it. Hardly any of us with dream of becoming the next Bill Gates join writing. If you want to be the next Bill Gates and your writing has been rejected then accept it as a blessing and leave writing and join business. But for those of us writing is a dream, we should stick to our effort and simply continue trying on. Constant trying has one good advantage- it gives us another more opportunities to be successful.
It has happened to them too
When we get a rejection letter or email then we feel jealous for the successful and established writers. Media and publishers are crazy for getting writings from them and the same media and publishing companies are just only sending rejection letters. However, a little search in Internet will reveal to you that many of them have suffered rejections more than you and I. It is so good if you try to read about the rejections that famous writers faced in their own life.
A natural part of life
Rejection is really a sad but natural part of life. Try to think of how you deal with rejections in other areas of your life and then apply some of the principles when your writing gets rejected.
Keep a record of the rejections
Keep a record of the all the rejection emails and letters so that after you overcome your frustrations, you can analyze them and try to figure out what went wrong. If you can realize what went wrong then you can surely be better prepared next time.
Why rejections?
Please remember that every time your writing gets rejected does not mean that you are not a good writer or your writing is not up to the mark. There are a number of other factors too. For example, a magazine will publish only one article written by freelance writers and against it 70-80 submissions have come to them. On this kind of conditions, a magazine or a website tries to accept the submission of the writer who has good track record in the desired field instead of a new writer or a writer from another track. Sometimes, our writings get rejected because we did not follow the editorial guidelines very well. That is why it is important to try to realize the main reason behind suffering a particular rejection.
When we suffer writing rejections we have two choices. We can either get frustrated or we can try to realize the reason behind writing rejections and then try to improve our writings next time. The choice is really only yours.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Helpless (a short story)
Helpless
It is often said that big cities never sleep. They remain open 24 hours. The workers work in the factory, the prostitutes entertain their customers, people addicted to wine and gambling are busy with friends and this way large cities never sleep. In many large cities of the world, you can find bus and taxi all the time. You can find many food shops open whole night. This matter is some true and some false for Dhaka. Dhaka is not that famous as a large city but the reality is that it has a population of more than 10 million. It is one of the top 20 most populous cities of the world. Perhaps it is the smallest city in size and most densely populated of the cities with a population of over 10 million. On the question of never sleeping it is difficult to say exactly if Dhaka sleeps at night or not. On the one hand, factory workers, prostitutes and gamblers are dedicated in their nightly works like their counterparts in other large cities. However, their numbers are fewer than many other large cities as there are fewer industries in Dhaka and since it is mainly a city with a overwhelmingly Muslim population very few people go to prostitutes and clubs (for gambling). It is the story of one night in Dhaka city. It is the story of a man in his 30 who has never experienced night life in Dhaka in the street.
Shajal Rahman is a man of 30. He works in a private company as a manager. The company he works for is one of the most famous oil companies and Sajal works in the head office located at Motikhil, the heart of Dhaka. Everyday he comes to the office at 9 AM and although his working hour is supposed to be until 5 PM he has to be in the office often until 6 or 7 PM. He has been working in this job for the last 4 years and he is happy with his salary. After returning home at 6:30 or 7:30 PM he takes some rest and then reads or watches television and then goes to sleep. Then at around 11 PM he goes to bed so that he can get up at 7 AM next day and not be late for office. He is happy with the salary he gets from his office. He is yet to get married as he has not found a girl to marry yet. Her parents and relatives are looking for a bride for the last 6 months but they could not reach into a consensus about one particular girl. All the time, their opinion is divided. May be Sajal’s mother likes a girl but her father seriously dislikes her or maybe her parents like a girl but her uncles or aunts find every fault with her. Sometimes they insist Sajal to accompany them in their mission to look for a girl but Sajal has resisted by saying that first they must get a consensus about a girl and then the question of his going comes. He now regrets deeply not for trying to win the heart of a girl seriously in his university days. He was not bad looking, nor a bad student and he comes from a middle class educated family too. If he tried enough he could have surely found a girl for his life. It is not that he did not try but most of the time he could not even dare to inform the girl about his feelings. Now he has no time to find a girl. All the time, it is office and home and home and office. Even on Fridays, he is sometimes busy with office work.
That day was like every other day. He got up at 7 AM and then got ready and ate breakfast and went to office by a taxi. The day was busy like every other day. He had to solve some problems of some subordinates. One clerk applied for leave of 3 days for the marriage of his sister and although at first he did not want to grant the leave of absence, thinking of his own marriage he agreed after one hour. His boss, the Deputy Managing Director, Mr Chowdhury reminded him to prepare a presentation by 3 days about a possible deal with a large multinational company. This is the thing he is very good at- making presentations. He can bring something extra than other managers and that is why whenever the company needs any presentation, he is given the task of drafting the first version. Shajal replied to Mr Chowdhury that he will give him the write up on Saturday.
He was thinking of leaving the office at 5:30 PM but then he had to talk to the manager of another company about a problem and then it took him around 6:30 PM and finally he got free and started for home. It was such a rush in the Motijhil area that no taxi wanted to come to Mohammadpur. He offered even double fair to some of them but they did not come and one taxi driver politely said sorry to him and told him that since there was a political procession in the Shahbagh area there was a huge jam in the every road to Mohammadpur. So, Shajal was thinking of an alternative. He tried for the bus but they were so crowded. So he started to search for a rickshaw. He found a rickshaw that would not go until Mohammadpur but New Market. He felt himself to be lucky as for the traffic jam there were fewer rickshaws. After coming to new market, he found another rickshaw that would go to Nurjahan road, his home. It passed Dhanmondi Road 2 and came to Satmahjid road and passed Jigatal bus stoppage. Near Dhanmondi road No 15 bus stoppage a new restaurant had recently opened. When Shajal’s rickshaw was near the hotel he saw a small crowd beside it. Certainly something happened there. Normally, Shajal avoids this kind of unpleasant situations and they are every day happening in Dhaka. He had to stop as he saw his friend Ali in the crowd. Ali had studied him in the university and is now a college teacher. Seeing him Shajal stopped the rickshaw and paid the rickshaw puller the money. The rickshaw puller also instead of going away remained beside the restaurant to see what had happened.
Going a little more inside Shajal found that a poor boy of 10-11 was screaming loudly as fresh blood was flowing from a fresh wound on his head. Shajal’s friend Ali and some of the customers in the restaurant were in a hot argument with the restaurant manager over this incident. What happened was that the boy came inside the restaurant to drink a glass of water and he accidentally broke a glass. The manager and two waiters of the restaurant were furious and when they found that the boy did not have any money they started to beat him. At one stage, the manager hit him with a wooden stick in the head and this caused the deep wound. Some customers in the restaurant protested and thus a small crowd gathered. When Shajal went inside, his friend Ali was shouting at the manager,
“The boy broke a glass and for that you hit in his head with a stick! Look, bastard, what you have done to this small boy! How would you like now we hit you same way?”
The manager hit back at Ali and others, “It is none of your business. Mind your own business.”
At this one customer beside Ali got angry with the manager and slapped him hardly. The 4 waiters and boys beside the manager wanted to retaliate but they controlled themselves seeing that the odds were heavily against them in number. Shajal looked at the boy. He was still crying and blood was still flowing from his wound. Shajal told Ali, “Let us take the boy to a pharmacy. This way he is losing a lot of blood.’
Ali and Shajal came out of the restaurant along with the boy while the other customers were shouting at the manager. Luckily 100 meters ahead of the restaurant there was a pharmacy. The doctor was there and he with the help of his assistant put a bandage around the head of the boy and gave one injection and also wrote down the names of some medicines. Ali wanted to pay the bill but Shajal did not let him and he paid the bill himself. They came to know that his name was Matin.
The next question came where the boy lived. Ali asked it and the boy replied that he lived in the street near Abahani Club playground. The boy also had some fever and became very weak. Ali and Shajal both were at a loss about what to do. At first Shajal suggested that they should give the boy enough money so that he would not need to pick up old garbage for at least one month and will get his health back. This was surely a generous idea and the boy was really lucky to meet Ali and Shajal that day. However, he had high fever and it was sure that in the street he would not survive. They first took him to another good restaurant but the boy was so weak and sick that he could hardly eat anything. This caused both of them get sympathetic to the boy. Talking to him, they came to knew that his father had left his mother 2 years ago and then his mother got married to another man. That man did not agree to keep Matin with him and for 2 years Matin lived in the street. Every day he walks through the different parts of the city and picks up paper, anything metal, old bottle- virtually everything that he could sell in the evening. This way he has been living in the street for the last two years.
Shajal became very sad to hear the life story of the boy. ‘Poor Matin’ he thought, ‘this boy has no past, present is dead for him and the future is worse.’ Every one in Dhaka knows about the street people and particularly street children. They are called ‘Tokai’ in Bangla language. Shajal and Ali both of them have read about their lives in the newspapers so many times. But here they were actually eating in the same table in a restaurant with a tokai. They thought that they should take the boy to his mother. The boy told him the location of the slum that his mother lives with her second husband. It was near Uttara and with the traffic jam; it would take more than one hour even by a taxicab. They took a taxicab and after getting into the taxi Shajal asked the driver to go to Mohammadpur first so that he could take some money from his home- incase they need. After going to Mohammadpur, Shajal took 2000 Taka from his drawer and then again got into the car. They boy protested that his mother would not accept him because of his stepfather but he was too ill to protest strongly. It took them 90 minutes to reach the slam in Tongi and they found Matin’s mother. She cried for her boy but did not agree to keep him for fear of her husband. All she could do was give Matin 50 Taka. She cried and begged to Shajal and Ali to help the poor boy. Shajal got angry and he told Matin to return his mother’s money but Ali took the money from Matin and kept it in his pocket.
After going out of the slum Shajal shouted at Ali, “How you took the money from his mom? What can 50 Taka do? Even the taxi fare is 120 Taka.
Ali spoke softly, “His mother is helpless Shajal. Do you think any mother would want to leave her son? Poor people have the same love and care for their children as us Shajal. By giving this money, she felt some consolation and just think to you 50 Taka is nothing. She saved this money little by little and may be it took her 3 months.”
Shajal did not like what Ali said but he became silent as he knew in his heart that what Ali said was logical and Matin’s mother was even more helpless than them about helping Matin. So, the two friends became nervous. It was implied that none of them could take the boy in their home and keep him for few days. The best place would have been going to a clinic or hospital. Shajal proposed this idea but Ali disagreed, “if we take this boy to a hospital or clinic then they may think we have tortured him and now leaving him in a hospital. There may be involvement of police and we will suffer harassment for nothing.” Shajal agreed and then they started to ponder seriously what to do about the boy.
Matin’s fever gradually disappeared and he felt better. Shajal and Ali again took him to a restaurant. This time, he could eat at his heart’s content. He felt some better and wanted to go near Abahani playground. He must sell whatever he picked for that day. They brought him to that place. Today was really a bad for Matin. He got only 20 Taka. However, Ali gave the 50 Taka that Matin’s mother gave and this made Matin satisfied. He looked at the 50 Taka note for a long time. His mother cried for him and gave him money. This matter gave him a lot of comfort. In the last 2 years, he went to see his mother 5-6 times. Each time, she acted very cruelly with him and even did not give him anything to eat or any money. For him, it was like Eid that he received good behavior from her at last.
Matin saw some of his friends who live at night with him. There were 5 of them. Hamid, Asad, Karim, Liton and Azim. They are involved in the same profession like Matin. They have more or less the same story like Matin about their family. They were surprised to see the condition of Matin and even more surprised to see two gentlemen like Shajal and Ali with him. Matin slowly explained everything to them and they were happy for Matin. They assured Shajal and Ali that they would help Matin to recover from his injury. Shajal gave Matin 500 taka and told that he would help him totally to get cured.
Shajal and Ali felt satisfaction that they could do something for the poor helpless boy and they were thinking of returning home. However, they both knew that they were only cheating their own heart about the reality. There is every possibility that Matin may experience similar cruelty and there would be no Ali or Shajal next time to help him. To all the citizens children like Matin are eyesores. Sometimes, they come to the road to sell some cheap things; sometimes they join the political processions. Sometimes, they steal and get beaten while many times they beg. Life is an endless misery to them and no body seems to care at all. Their parents have given up on them after being unable to provide for them. City dwellers have condemned them to a life of misery and Shajal felt happy that at least one day in his life he could do something human for a human being in need. Both Ali and Shajal learnt one lesson from this experience- to say nice words is completely opposite of doing something meaningful in life. He touched it very deeply that most people around him were just like jokers not because they did not help the helpless people but because they had no feeling of humanity. They can cry watching an emotional movie but they get annoyed when a poor boy or a girl begs them for bread. The actors in the movie tries to bring out their best performance for money and fame but these poor miserable children beg or sell in the street just for survival. Their hunger is real and constant. There is no way out for them.
It is often said that big cities never sleep. They remain open 24 hours. The workers work in the factory, the prostitutes entertain their customers, people addicted to wine and gambling are busy with friends and this way large cities never sleep. In many large cities of the world, you can find bus and taxi all the time. You can find many food shops open whole night. This matter is some true and some false for Dhaka. Dhaka is not that famous as a large city but the reality is that it has a population of more than 10 million. It is one of the top 20 most populous cities of the world. Perhaps it is the smallest city in size and most densely populated of the cities with a population of over 10 million. On the question of never sleeping it is difficult to say exactly if Dhaka sleeps at night or not. On the one hand, factory workers, prostitutes and gamblers are dedicated in their nightly works like their counterparts in other large cities. However, their numbers are fewer than many other large cities as there are fewer industries in Dhaka and since it is mainly a city with a overwhelmingly Muslim population very few people go to prostitutes and clubs (for gambling). It is the story of one night in Dhaka city. It is the story of a man in his 30 who has never experienced night life in Dhaka in the street.
Shajal Rahman is a man of 30. He works in a private company as a manager. The company he works for is one of the most famous oil companies and Sajal works in the head office located at Motikhil, the heart of Dhaka. Everyday he comes to the office at 9 AM and although his working hour is supposed to be until 5 PM he has to be in the office often until 6 or 7 PM. He has been working in this job for the last 4 years and he is happy with his salary. After returning home at 6:30 or 7:30 PM he takes some rest and then reads or watches television and then goes to sleep. Then at around 11 PM he goes to bed so that he can get up at 7 AM next day and not be late for office. He is happy with the salary he gets from his office. He is yet to get married as he has not found a girl to marry yet. Her parents and relatives are looking for a bride for the last 6 months but they could not reach into a consensus about one particular girl. All the time, their opinion is divided. May be Sajal’s mother likes a girl but her father seriously dislikes her or maybe her parents like a girl but her uncles or aunts find every fault with her. Sometimes they insist Sajal to accompany them in their mission to look for a girl but Sajal has resisted by saying that first they must get a consensus about a girl and then the question of his going comes. He now regrets deeply not for trying to win the heart of a girl seriously in his university days. He was not bad looking, nor a bad student and he comes from a middle class educated family too. If he tried enough he could have surely found a girl for his life. It is not that he did not try but most of the time he could not even dare to inform the girl about his feelings. Now he has no time to find a girl. All the time, it is office and home and home and office. Even on Fridays, he is sometimes busy with office work.
That day was like every other day. He got up at 7 AM and then got ready and ate breakfast and went to office by a taxi. The day was busy like every other day. He had to solve some problems of some subordinates. One clerk applied for leave of 3 days for the marriage of his sister and although at first he did not want to grant the leave of absence, thinking of his own marriage he agreed after one hour. His boss, the Deputy Managing Director, Mr Chowdhury reminded him to prepare a presentation by 3 days about a possible deal with a large multinational company. This is the thing he is very good at- making presentations. He can bring something extra than other managers and that is why whenever the company needs any presentation, he is given the task of drafting the first version. Shajal replied to Mr Chowdhury that he will give him the write up on Saturday.
He was thinking of leaving the office at 5:30 PM but then he had to talk to the manager of another company about a problem and then it took him around 6:30 PM and finally he got free and started for home. It was such a rush in the Motijhil area that no taxi wanted to come to Mohammadpur. He offered even double fair to some of them but they did not come and one taxi driver politely said sorry to him and told him that since there was a political procession in the Shahbagh area there was a huge jam in the every road to Mohammadpur. So, Shajal was thinking of an alternative. He tried for the bus but they were so crowded. So he started to search for a rickshaw. He found a rickshaw that would not go until Mohammadpur but New Market. He felt himself to be lucky as for the traffic jam there were fewer rickshaws. After coming to new market, he found another rickshaw that would go to Nurjahan road, his home. It passed Dhanmondi Road 2 and came to Satmahjid road and passed Jigatal bus stoppage. Near Dhanmondi road No 15 bus stoppage a new restaurant had recently opened. When Shajal’s rickshaw was near the hotel he saw a small crowd beside it. Certainly something happened there. Normally, Shajal avoids this kind of unpleasant situations and they are every day happening in Dhaka. He had to stop as he saw his friend Ali in the crowd. Ali had studied him in the university and is now a college teacher. Seeing him Shajal stopped the rickshaw and paid the rickshaw puller the money. The rickshaw puller also instead of going away remained beside the restaurant to see what had happened.
Going a little more inside Shajal found that a poor boy of 10-11 was screaming loudly as fresh blood was flowing from a fresh wound on his head. Shajal’s friend Ali and some of the customers in the restaurant were in a hot argument with the restaurant manager over this incident. What happened was that the boy came inside the restaurant to drink a glass of water and he accidentally broke a glass. The manager and two waiters of the restaurant were furious and when they found that the boy did not have any money they started to beat him. At one stage, the manager hit him with a wooden stick in the head and this caused the deep wound. Some customers in the restaurant protested and thus a small crowd gathered. When Shajal went inside, his friend Ali was shouting at the manager,
“The boy broke a glass and for that you hit in his head with a stick! Look, bastard, what you have done to this small boy! How would you like now we hit you same way?”
The manager hit back at Ali and others, “It is none of your business. Mind your own business.”
At this one customer beside Ali got angry with the manager and slapped him hardly. The 4 waiters and boys beside the manager wanted to retaliate but they controlled themselves seeing that the odds were heavily against them in number. Shajal looked at the boy. He was still crying and blood was still flowing from his wound. Shajal told Ali, “Let us take the boy to a pharmacy. This way he is losing a lot of blood.’
Ali and Shajal came out of the restaurant along with the boy while the other customers were shouting at the manager. Luckily 100 meters ahead of the restaurant there was a pharmacy. The doctor was there and he with the help of his assistant put a bandage around the head of the boy and gave one injection and also wrote down the names of some medicines. Ali wanted to pay the bill but Shajal did not let him and he paid the bill himself. They came to know that his name was Matin.
The next question came where the boy lived. Ali asked it and the boy replied that he lived in the street near Abahani Club playground. The boy also had some fever and became very weak. Ali and Shajal both were at a loss about what to do. At first Shajal suggested that they should give the boy enough money so that he would not need to pick up old garbage for at least one month and will get his health back. This was surely a generous idea and the boy was really lucky to meet Ali and Shajal that day. However, he had high fever and it was sure that in the street he would not survive. They first took him to another good restaurant but the boy was so weak and sick that he could hardly eat anything. This caused both of them get sympathetic to the boy. Talking to him, they came to knew that his father had left his mother 2 years ago and then his mother got married to another man. That man did not agree to keep Matin with him and for 2 years Matin lived in the street. Every day he walks through the different parts of the city and picks up paper, anything metal, old bottle- virtually everything that he could sell in the evening. This way he has been living in the street for the last two years.
Shajal became very sad to hear the life story of the boy. ‘Poor Matin’ he thought, ‘this boy has no past, present is dead for him and the future is worse.’ Every one in Dhaka knows about the street people and particularly street children. They are called ‘Tokai’ in Bangla language. Shajal and Ali both of them have read about their lives in the newspapers so many times. But here they were actually eating in the same table in a restaurant with a tokai. They thought that they should take the boy to his mother. The boy told him the location of the slum that his mother lives with her second husband. It was near Uttara and with the traffic jam; it would take more than one hour even by a taxicab. They took a taxicab and after getting into the taxi Shajal asked the driver to go to Mohammadpur first so that he could take some money from his home- incase they need. After going to Mohammadpur, Shajal took 2000 Taka from his drawer and then again got into the car. They boy protested that his mother would not accept him because of his stepfather but he was too ill to protest strongly. It took them 90 minutes to reach the slam in Tongi and they found Matin’s mother. She cried for her boy but did not agree to keep him for fear of her husband. All she could do was give Matin 50 Taka. She cried and begged to Shajal and Ali to help the poor boy. Shajal got angry and he told Matin to return his mother’s money but Ali took the money from Matin and kept it in his pocket.
After going out of the slum Shajal shouted at Ali, “How you took the money from his mom? What can 50 Taka do? Even the taxi fare is 120 Taka.
Ali spoke softly, “His mother is helpless Shajal. Do you think any mother would want to leave her son? Poor people have the same love and care for their children as us Shajal. By giving this money, she felt some consolation and just think to you 50 Taka is nothing. She saved this money little by little and may be it took her 3 months.”
Shajal did not like what Ali said but he became silent as he knew in his heart that what Ali said was logical and Matin’s mother was even more helpless than them about helping Matin. So, the two friends became nervous. It was implied that none of them could take the boy in their home and keep him for few days. The best place would have been going to a clinic or hospital. Shajal proposed this idea but Ali disagreed, “if we take this boy to a hospital or clinic then they may think we have tortured him and now leaving him in a hospital. There may be involvement of police and we will suffer harassment for nothing.” Shajal agreed and then they started to ponder seriously what to do about the boy.
Matin’s fever gradually disappeared and he felt better. Shajal and Ali again took him to a restaurant. This time, he could eat at his heart’s content. He felt some better and wanted to go near Abahani playground. He must sell whatever he picked for that day. They brought him to that place. Today was really a bad for Matin. He got only 20 Taka. However, Ali gave the 50 Taka that Matin’s mother gave and this made Matin satisfied. He looked at the 50 Taka note for a long time. His mother cried for him and gave him money. This matter gave him a lot of comfort. In the last 2 years, he went to see his mother 5-6 times. Each time, she acted very cruelly with him and even did not give him anything to eat or any money. For him, it was like Eid that he received good behavior from her at last.
Matin saw some of his friends who live at night with him. There were 5 of them. Hamid, Asad, Karim, Liton and Azim. They are involved in the same profession like Matin. They have more or less the same story like Matin about their family. They were surprised to see the condition of Matin and even more surprised to see two gentlemen like Shajal and Ali with him. Matin slowly explained everything to them and they were happy for Matin. They assured Shajal and Ali that they would help Matin to recover from his injury. Shajal gave Matin 500 taka and told that he would help him totally to get cured.
Shajal and Ali felt satisfaction that they could do something for the poor helpless boy and they were thinking of returning home. However, they both knew that they were only cheating their own heart about the reality. There is every possibility that Matin may experience similar cruelty and there would be no Ali or Shajal next time to help him. To all the citizens children like Matin are eyesores. Sometimes, they come to the road to sell some cheap things; sometimes they join the political processions. Sometimes, they steal and get beaten while many times they beg. Life is an endless misery to them and no body seems to care at all. Their parents have given up on them after being unable to provide for them. City dwellers have condemned them to a life of misery and Shajal felt happy that at least one day in his life he could do something human for a human being in need. Both Ali and Shajal learnt one lesson from this experience- to say nice words is completely opposite of doing something meaningful in life. He touched it very deeply that most people around him were just like jokers not because they did not help the helpless people but because they had no feeling of humanity. They can cry watching an emotional movie but they get annoyed when a poor boy or a girl begs them for bread. The actors in the movie tries to bring out their best performance for money and fame but these poor miserable children beg or sell in the street just for survival. Their hunger is real and constant. There is no way out for them.
10 tips for Writing a Good Article
We write for mainly two reasons: a. for our own satisfaction and b. for earning some money. There are other reasons too but these two are perhaps the most common. We all want to write good articles but very few of us can actually do so and that is why who can write well become successful in earning money as well as making a name for themselves. In this article I like to give some tips from my 10 years of writing experience. Of course, I am not a very successful writer internationally but in my own country I have achieved some good name as a young writer or in other words I have excelled to some extent in my field of writing- ICT journalism.
Know your readers?
We write for others not for ourselves. So, always try to think of your readers. For this it is most important to know for whom you are going to write. For example, I am going to write this article for those people who are looking for materials in Internet about doing well in writing. There is little chance that very famous writers will bother to go through this article. Thus, try to imagine who your readers can be. Then try to know about their likes and dislikes. Try to assume what they are looking for from your article and how you can give them. For this, observe people as much as you can and know about their likes and dislikes.
Not the easiest work!!
This is the mistake that many people make about writing. They feel that writing is a very easy work but my own experience and the experience of thousands of writers and journalists around the world show a different picture. Unfortunately, writing is not a very easy work. First of all, it needs a lot of time and effort to write and more than that earning money by writing is even a more difficult work. If we look at the history of any major literature in the world, we can find that many poets and writers received little recognition when they were alive. So, if you think that writing is something very easy and you are going to earn money with everything that you write then you are surely living in fool's paradise. Knock! Knock! Get awake because the dream is over. Of course, earning money through writing is as difficult as any job and even perhaps more difficult than computer programming.
Don't show off
Many times, after reading an article I feel that the writer has given me a lot of pain by using too many difficult words which I do not know. Many would be writers have the notion that to show that they are different than ordinary people they must write in very difficult language or else they would earn their deserved respect and fame in the eyes of the readers. Many writers have a tendency to look down upon those writers who write in everyday plain language. Of course, in poetry you need to play with your words. However, if you want to write something about registering a domain or American War of Independence using too many difficult and uncommon words will only alienate the readers. One of the best things to do is after writing an article giving it to someone to read. We should always remember that in any kind of work we like those people who can make life easy for us. Always remember that a good writer is he/she who can present the most difficult matter in the easiest way not
Polish up your grammar and spelling
Word Processors like Microsoft Word provide excellent support for correcting spellings in English language. Still, when we search over the Net, we can find many spelling and grammatical mistakes. If you do not want to spend money for a word processor then there is the Open Office which is free. Or you can search for other free word processors in download.com. Dictionary is another great tool and in www.dictionary.com you can check words too. However, those who like to become skilled writers it is always important that they spend at least 30 minutes daily for studying and practicing English grammar.
No one is perfect: So revise again
I do not know how many people are there who can write without any mistake. I know for sure that I am not of them. If you are one of them then ignore this tip but those who are not sure about their being perfect in the first attempt should give enough time and attention for making the writing error free. The fewer mistakes you have the better. Revising helps you another way. It can give you new ideas to enrich your article.
Read a lot
This is perhaps the most common advise given to every would be writer. There is two things to consider however: a. should I read only about my field of writing? B. Should I read a lot about other fields too? Suppose, I am a sports writer and I write about Football or Basketball. Of course, it is very important to know about my field (basketball or football) but reading about other fields will not harm me at all. Rather the more we can read outside of our field the more we can enrich our articles.
A catchy title
Many times we just get attracted to an article by its exceptional title. The ability to make a title catchy is like winning half the battle. For acquiring such abilities reading daily newspaper is a must as they come up with very good titles to attract their readers. However, please keep in mind that this ability can be acquired only after long time of effort. On the other hand, it is not a good idea to become too much obsessed with making a catchy title.
Long or short?
Most probably all of us are worried for the length of an article. Is it too long or too short? It is very difficult to determine whether an article is too short or too long. Some writers have given the advice of 400-500 words for the net. On the other hand, a magazine article is often around 800-1000 words. So, the length of an article depends on the target market.
Which topic?
This is another dilemma almost every new writer faces. Should I write about the topic that I know very well or should I write about a topic that has good demand in the market? This is a very difficult question to answer. My own opinion is that we should try to make a balance about this matter. However, I am in no was suggesting that you should write about a topic without knowing anything. What I am saying is that in addition to writing about the topic that you know a lot you can try to know about a topic that has good demand and then write about it.
Never copy
Copying or plagiarizing is a serious offence and if an article is copied from any source improperly then it is a very bad offence for any writer. There are many websites about helping students and writers to learn about using materials from different sources in a proper way. MLA and APA are the common styles and there are quite a few websites in which you can get information about these styles.
Finally, we all should remember that writing articles is not a very easy work but so is earning money in other fields too. So, be confident and get into writing.
Know your readers?
We write for others not for ourselves. So, always try to think of your readers. For this it is most important to know for whom you are going to write. For example, I am going to write this article for those people who are looking for materials in Internet about doing well in writing. There is little chance that very famous writers will bother to go through this article. Thus, try to imagine who your readers can be. Then try to know about their likes and dislikes. Try to assume what they are looking for from your article and how you can give them. For this, observe people as much as you can and know about their likes and dislikes.
Not the easiest work!!
This is the mistake that many people make about writing. They feel that writing is a very easy work but my own experience and the experience of thousands of writers and journalists around the world show a different picture. Unfortunately, writing is not a very easy work. First of all, it needs a lot of time and effort to write and more than that earning money by writing is even a more difficult work. If we look at the history of any major literature in the world, we can find that many poets and writers received little recognition when they were alive. So, if you think that writing is something very easy and you are going to earn money with everything that you write then you are surely living in fool's paradise. Knock! Knock! Get awake because the dream is over. Of course, earning money through writing is as difficult as any job and even perhaps more difficult than computer programming.
Don't show off
Many times, after reading an article I feel that the writer has given me a lot of pain by using too many difficult words which I do not know. Many would be writers have the notion that to show that they are different than ordinary people they must write in very difficult language or else they would earn their deserved respect and fame in the eyes of the readers. Many writers have a tendency to look down upon those writers who write in everyday plain language. Of course, in poetry you need to play with your words. However, if you want to write something about registering a domain or American War of Independence using too many difficult and uncommon words will only alienate the readers. One of the best things to do is after writing an article giving it to someone to read. We should always remember that in any kind of work we like those people who can make life easy for us. Always remember that a good writer is he/she who can present the most difficult matter in the easiest way not
Polish up your grammar and spelling
Word Processors like Microsoft Word provide excellent support for correcting spellings in English language. Still, when we search over the Net, we can find many spelling and grammatical mistakes. If you do not want to spend money for a word processor then there is the Open Office which is free. Or you can search for other free word processors in download.com. Dictionary is another great tool and in www.dictionary.com you can check words too. However, those who like to become skilled writers it is always important that they spend at least 30 minutes daily for studying and practicing English grammar.
No one is perfect: So revise again
I do not know how many people are there who can write without any mistake. I know for sure that I am not of them. If you are one of them then ignore this tip but those who are not sure about their being perfect in the first attempt should give enough time and attention for making the writing error free. The fewer mistakes you have the better. Revising helps you another way. It can give you new ideas to enrich your article.
Read a lot
This is perhaps the most common advise given to every would be writer. There is two things to consider however: a. should I read only about my field of writing? B. Should I read a lot about other fields too? Suppose, I am a sports writer and I write about Football or Basketball. Of course, it is very important to know about my field (basketball or football) but reading about other fields will not harm me at all. Rather the more we can read outside of our field the more we can enrich our articles.
A catchy title
Many times we just get attracted to an article by its exceptional title. The ability to make a title catchy is like winning half the battle. For acquiring such abilities reading daily newspaper is a must as they come up with very good titles to attract their readers. However, please keep in mind that this ability can be acquired only after long time of effort. On the other hand, it is not a good idea to become too much obsessed with making a catchy title.
Long or short?
Most probably all of us are worried for the length of an article. Is it too long or too short? It is very difficult to determine whether an article is too short or too long. Some writers have given the advice of 400-500 words for the net. On the other hand, a magazine article is often around 800-1000 words. So, the length of an article depends on the target market.
Which topic?
This is another dilemma almost every new writer faces. Should I write about the topic that I know very well or should I write about a topic that has good demand in the market? This is a very difficult question to answer. My own opinion is that we should try to make a balance about this matter. However, I am in no was suggesting that you should write about a topic without knowing anything. What I am saying is that in addition to writing about the topic that you know a lot you can try to know about a topic that has good demand and then write about it.
Never copy
Copying or plagiarizing is a serious offence and if an article is copied from any source improperly then it is a very bad offence for any writer. There are many websites about helping students and writers to learn about using materials from different sources in a proper way. MLA and APA are the common styles and there are quite a few websites in which you can get information about these styles.
Finally, we all should remember that writing articles is not a very easy work but so is earning money in other fields too. So, be confident and get into writing.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Michael Modhusudan Dutt: Father of modern Bangla literature
Michael Modhusudan Dutt is one of the most famous, talented and powerful poets in Bangla literatrure. He was born in 1824 in a very aristocrat family Sagardari village in Jessore of present day Bangladesh.
From his childhood he had a fascination to English society and literature. He studied at Hindu college. In 1843 he changed his religion to Christianity due to some family problems especially with his father. He also changed his name to Michel Modhusudan Dutt. He went Europe to study English literature. His first English poetry was “Captive Lady”. He also wrote some literary items in English but he could not be successful in English literature. So after a few years he decided to come back to his own country and after coming back he practiced literature in his mother tongue “Bangla”.
He is the first Bengali sonnet writer. In his sonnets he followed the Pettrark’s style. He first introduced amitraksar style (a form of blank verse). He is the first and only successful Bengali epic writer. He wrote the epic named “Meghnad-Vadh” in nine cantos based on the story of the Ramayana. Meghnad-vadh is the first and most successful epic in Bangla literature. His other heroic epic is “Virangana”. He is also known as a pioneer of Bangla Drama. His famous is “Krisnakkumari”. His innovative literary power also introduced modern comedy and tragedy in Bangla literature. He wrote most of his famous literary works during after coming back from Europe. He wrote Meghnad-vadh, Krishnakumari, Vrajangana, and Virangana which are considered as his masterpieces during this period. He wrote his first poem “Tillottoma Sambh in 1859. It was based on a puranic story.
In his writings he expressed his love to his country. For example in a sonnet named Kopotkkha Nad he showed his strong love to a river that he remember from his childhood memory. He also showed the love of rural women in his poems.
This unforgettable poet died in 1873 at Calcutta of India.
This article is written by Biplob Kishore Deb
From his childhood he had a fascination to English society and literature. He studied at Hindu college. In 1843 he changed his religion to Christianity due to some family problems especially with his father. He also changed his name to Michel Modhusudan Dutt. He went Europe to study English literature. His first English poetry was “Captive Lady”. He also wrote some literary items in English but he could not be successful in English literature. So after a few years he decided to come back to his own country and after coming back he practiced literature in his mother tongue “Bangla”.
He is the first Bengali sonnet writer. In his sonnets he followed the Pettrark’s style. He first introduced amitraksar style (a form of blank verse). He is the first and only successful Bengali epic writer. He wrote the epic named “Meghnad-Vadh” in nine cantos based on the story of the Ramayana. Meghnad-vadh is the first and most successful epic in Bangla literature. His other heroic epic is “Virangana”. He is also known as a pioneer of Bangla Drama. His famous is “Krisnakkumari”. His innovative literary power also introduced modern comedy and tragedy in Bangla literature. He wrote most of his famous literary works during after coming back from Europe. He wrote Meghnad-vadh, Krishnakumari, Vrajangana, and Virangana which are considered as his masterpieces during this period. He wrote his first poem “Tillottoma Sambh in 1859. It was based on a puranic story.
In his writings he expressed his love to his country. For example in a sonnet named Kopotkkha Nad he showed his strong love to a river that he remember from his childhood memory. He also showed the love of rural women in his poems.
This unforgettable poet died in 1873 at Calcutta of India.
This article is written by Biplob Kishore Deb
Monday, February 20, 2006
A new blog
Welcome eveyrone to this blog about literature. I have created this blog with a goal to showcase my creative writings and trasnlations. I will post here translations from Bangla literature. I will also submit my own short stories in English language. There will be regular news and articles about literature in general but the focus will be centered around Bangla (Bengali) literature.
Best regards
Razib
Best regards
Razib
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