Volume 1, Number 1, May 2014

Pathfinder

Mon, 05 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Pathfinder Dasgupta, Ajoy Once 1 had an interesting discussion about favorite songs with Atiqul Huq Chowdhury, famous TV personality. He was an iconic figure to me and my family^ members and will remain so. I said to him without hesitation that I can't remember even two-three lines of my most favorite songs. There are some songs, which listen repeatedly— say about hundred or more times. But I am unable to recite some stanza.

Flights of Passion: Songbird in Nazrul

Mon, 05 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Flights of Passion: Songbird in Nazrul Mallick, Sadya Afreen As our train sped through the evening fog and the clogged Dhaka streets opened up to the quiet suburbs, we started counting down the hours to reach Rajshahi. When we finally disembarked, a sweet aroma of mango blossoms greeted us. Spring was in the air. W e were staying at the outskirts of a newly developed neighbourhood by the river Padma Vast plantations stretched to the horizon, as far as the eye could see. Our host. Professor Abdul Khaleque, seemed to have a green thumb. The garden in front of his bouse was a wild burst of colours of dahlia, marigold, chrysanthemum and more While we chatted away in the garden, our host pointed out at a bird on the nearby fragrant kamini bush. ‘It’s the rare Bulbuli that Nazrul was so fascinated with’, he said The Bulbuli lays eggs in a nest, deep inside the bush, to keep predators away’, lie added. I watched in amazement at the small greyish bird with a crop of feather on its head - much like a crown. So this was the Bulbuli - the red-vented nightingale that had inspired Kazi Nazrul Islam to write countless songs! I could see with my mind’s eye how the poet must have sat and watched in wonder as the Bulbuli chirped away and flapped its dainty I wings. One of his famous ghazals:

The Legend-Our Legend

Mon, 05 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT

The Legend-Our Legend Noor, Abdun Yearnings of the soul of a bangali remain for a great adda. As so called rebel students of the Dhaka University, during late fifties, we could claim no exception to this yearning. We sought meaningful adda, which shall enable us to converse effectively, and allow us to articulate far reaching ideas and visions for our society. We designated ourselves as champions for exchanging ideas that will make a difference to our society. Our thoughts and visions shall generate economic and social reforms across thousands of global villages. Little we knew at that age that ail youths in all societies during all times grow up as rebels with global yearnings to gather and to share. We were of no exceptions.

Tagore and Nazrul Islam: Vision & Poetry

Thu, 01 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Tagore and Nazrul Islam: Vision & Poetry Mahapatra, Sitakant; Mohanty, Prafulla K. Nazrul Islam is a multi-vocal poet singing of raw life. The turbulence of his life j reflected in the rebellious streaks of his songs written for live audiences. He i$a rebels lover, a devotee of the Prophet and a kindred soul of the downtrodden. His is mainh a speaking voice addressing the torture-ridden, poor and hapless people to rise in revolt for their own redemption. Living in the midst of poverty, privation and sham in the substratum of life in early 20th century Bengal, Nazrul grew up with a rebellious streak of energy which feres his poetry a fierce muscular movement. His psyche comprised Hn for the poor and downtrodden, the exploited and the silent hapless Yet he had an eye for beauty, an ear for music and a heart for moral ferine Tagore and Nazrul Islam: Vision &. Poetry Great Indra’s Child I bear the luminous moon in my arms and the brilliant sun on my brow. I carry the lover’s lute in one hand and the trumpet of war in the other. I hold inside me, like Siva, the pale-throated one, all the liquid venom churned up at creation’s dawn. I cradle Ganga’s waters in my locks. 25 (Bidrohi) The cosmic imagery and the reference to Siva with all his properties of poison, nectar and the sin-cleansing waters of the Ganga suggest not the shenanigans of an ordinary rebel, but a divine-holding principle of all opposites in cosmic display. 8 ® to divine- Hls P°etic self was alway§ responsive to injustice L ]>s enemies are the people 0[. forces which djsturb the equiljbrillm of ,ife to the natural order of things. In one of his seminal poems Bidrohi There is poison and ambrosia in this vast creation which must remajn in subtle he displays the energy of a distressed soul rising upto the level of a equipoise in order to make the humans sparkling specimens of life. He values love, ■Knoral force to right all wrongs and to change the prevailing chaos to a|nlusjCj