Of men, politics and love
Farida Shaikh swims through a trim collection of ideas
ADORNED with a creamy color cover, the title of the book framed in a set of green and red bold lines and the writer's name center below and more on the back cover, the work is adroitly assembled in a trim 126 pages of essays and short stories by a career journalist, poet, short story writer and a sometime diplomat. Interest in writing was encouraged by the author's teacher while he was still in high school in Quetta, Pakistan; and as the interest heightened over the years, it led the way to a career in journalism with special focus on current national and international affairs. The writer proffers the reason for such a book: 'These essays…are… a prism through which I have observed individuals and life in general around me.' About the short stories, he adds: 'The Bengali ambience in the stories is the way I have seen society work in my country. ' It is '…a pattern of fiction.' The essays also include write-ups on subjects beyond the purely political. There are '…the myriad ideas' that are 'thrown up… for a serious journalist to shape his views on them.' These in-depth etchings of our time are a mark of the scholarship of the writer on living history. This small sized book is tightly packed with twenty-seven literary pieces and write-ups, with end notes, three short stories, preface and a foreword. The writings make a deep acknowledgement of the writer's senior and junior family members. The foreword to the book labels these writings as 'journalistic jottings covering a period of four years.' Even so, an erudite reader would seek more, and want all the pieces of writing on difficult and dramatic times dated so as to add more meaning to the narrative. It is also disturbing to see the lessons of Dien Bien Phu in recapitulation. The sensitivity of the writer to music, songs and poetry is captured in the section on 1971: Our songs, our war. The inspiration for freedom and the 1971 Liberation War was derived from the lyrics that were composed and rendered vocally by an assortment of Bengali singers. On a different note, Old songs and the passing of Anjuman Ara Begum is all about music, songs and singers that are so much an integral part of culture in Bangladesh. There is a mention of scores of artistes and their 'soul-searing rendition' and an appeal towards 'preserving their music.' Rafi and life as a wisp of smoke is a piece of eulogy on the immortal music maker and his contemporaries. Away from Bangladesh, the man Neftali Reyes or the poet Neruda had 'fought in his poetry.' There was an intermingling of his poetry and the country's politics, the destruction of beautiful Chile through death, killing and suicide. This is there in the essay Pablo Neruda, spring and cherry trees. Nissim Ezekiel: poetry in time and space draws attention to a descendant of the Bani Israel clan of Jews, a Marathi who crafts poetry in the English language --- for poetry for him goes beyond frontiers. He has been called the 'poet-laureate of the ordinary.' With a definition of beauty --- charm, grace and deep emotion is the content on Reflections on beautiful women.And The People's Princess, six years after Paris, is about a beautiful woman. There are commendable and concise pieces of writing on political personalities, starting with The life and times of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Mujib is unequalled in stature and 'only he could have led Bangladesh to freedom---and he did.' Under him the administration made a move in framing the country's constitution. That a politician is arrogant in the head and heart comes clear in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan, the next piece of writing. Bangladesh 1975: coups and murders most foul, are about assassination conspiracy and lawlessness. When Tajuddin Ahmed came home is an exemplary piece of writing on the magnitude of the man, particularly during the chaotic period between 25 March and 17 April 1971 in an occupied country. The three stories record the essence of Bengali elements that evoke varying impressions and emotions. Together, the essays and stories open the door to learning about the land. The sad short tale of Sakib Khan is on the liberation war and the question of repatriation, the politics of equating the exchange of the civilian population with military prisoners, and the moral question of the stranded innocent versus the surrendered war criminals. On a personal level there is the trauma of the senior civil servant during the 1947 partition and the communal question of the divide that followed. The end of the story focuses on belief in one's roots. The story Men, women and lovers is told in a Diaspora scenario. The young generations emerging out of Bangladesh's 1971 liberation wars 'do not talk of that war.' In fragmented style, with deep emotions dissecting the narrative in many hues, is the longest of the stories, A woman called Mrinmoyee. It is refreshing to read these writings of a creative mind, powered by a wide span of reading from the simple and small to the complicated and complex. The impressions that emerge are a mixture of the deeply personal and the dispassionately outward. Personally a camouflaged connection comes to my mind between this relatively young writer and his book to the octogenarian writer Khushwant Singh and his work, Not a Nice Man to Know. The truth of the titles aside, both books contain eloquent and entertaining journalistic writings. More significantly, the attribute of the senior writer --- 'the ability to talk to the reader and not at him' --- is equally appropriate in the writing style of Syed Badrul Ahsan.
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