A contemplative bard reflects
Shahid Alam studies dreams in terms of reality
That indefatigable writer, Muhammad Zamir, has come up with another volume of poetry. Although the publication has not been dated (a grave publishing oversight), it was probably first published around the same time as his anthology of English poems, Dreams and Reality. Ontorer Chhando is a slim volume, containing 100 poems, which have been composed in Bengali. Having gone through both volumes, my purely personal feeling is that the overall quality of his English poems is higher than those in Bengali. Somehow, I felt that the intensity of feeling expressed in the English poems has not come through in commensurate degree in the Bengali pieces. However, there is much similarity between the two anthologies in his preference for subject matters and principal theme. Not being a translator, I will restrict myself to reproducing excerpts from several of his poems through their phonetic rendering in English as composed by yours truly.
Zamir concentrates much on contemporary issues. However, as with his English poems, he is inordinately drawn towards finding the meaning of existence. Linked with this quest are lessons from life as it reaches the beginning of the end of its existential arc: its harsh reality, regrets, and lamentations, and a trepidation of the Great Unknown called Death. Snippets from different poems attest to his search that, at times, appears obsessive or frustrating:
tobe atma mrittur pore thhakbe kothae,
ta jana nei. ("Porokal")
mone pore shudhu babake, ar tar ukti ---
"shobar majhe achhe shikor,
rakhbe dhore toke shobar bondhone."
…………………..
kintu aj, kahini sheshe,
bidae logne, kori prosno nijeke,
baba ki korechhilen bhool? ("Prosthan")
And,
tobe jiboner ei mohakabbe
shob odhdhay hoy shesh, shudhu romonthone. ("Romonthon")
Furthermore,
bhalobashar ortho ki,
ta bujhite dilo na ei natok,
jar opor nam jibon. ("Bhalobasha")
However, Zamir also focuses on a number of social issues. He takes issue with lost values:
amra korechhilam andolon
bhashar mukti o shadhinotar jonnyo ---
okatore, proyojone jonogon diyechhe pran.
tobe keno hobe aj mullobodher ei bikriti
keno ei obonoti? ("Hochcheta ki?")
The poem "Mullobodher proyojonita" reinforces his conviction.
And, the abuse of spoken Bengali:
banijjer lalsha korechhe horon,
niyechhe kere shuddho uchcharon o
promito Bangla byakaron. ("Bhashar proti oudashho")
Then,
korte hobe bhashake jogakhichuri mukto,
korte hobe bhashake 'Benglish' theke uddhar. ("Shuddho bhashar byabohar")
The poet alludes to much more than the 'Arab Spring' in this poem:
hajar konther milito dhoni o roktokkhoy
korechhe proman akankhito bondhon ---
mukti shombhob
khomota akre thaka eknayoktontro hote. ("Boshonter chhoa")
On a contemporary issue in Bangladesh:
jara juddhaporadhi
jara korechhilo manobadhikarke londobhondo,
tader dite hobe uchit shasti ---
jate tader pododdhoni ar jae na shona
ei prithibir buke ---
tobei hobe protishodher shopner shomapti
o nyae bicharer prapti. ("Juddhaporadhider bichar")
He does not forget border killings:
achhe bondhutter protisruti, achhe shohojogitar itihash,
kintu shimantoborti elakae cholchhe guli.
………………………..
jara jouthobhabe korechhe shodesher
matike shotrumukto,
keno tader ei oporinoto osthirota?
keno ei moddho jugio borborota o atonko?
keno tader nei shongjom? ("Ei hottajoggo bondho hobe kobe?")
Zamir does not miss out on the racism that the Bengalis indulge in within themselves, and age-old male domination:
…shobai chai mey hobe forsha,
shudhu ta holei shey shundori.
patripokhho kintu chai na forsha chhele,
tader belae patro ujjol shyamborno holei cholbe.
………………………….
tai mone hoy biyer bajar onekta jeno machher bajar,
jekhane bikri hoy manush. ("Biggyapon")
The poet has several poems devoted to the acute ills that afflict Bangladesh's society and political culture. "Kalo biral" is intriguing, suggestive as well as indicative, of the generic corrupt persons in Bangladesh, as well as some specific individual he seems to have in mind:
syndicate networker aotae,
chadabaji o niyog banijje shongothito
holo bhumikompo ---
abar kepe uthlo Bangladesh.
On taking responsibility, these thoughtful lines:
kichhu loke achhe jara dariye dariye ghumae, …………………………….
shobai hobe daebodhho, ami noi. ("Ami ei gyan theke bonchito")
"Ashani shonket" draws attention to a generic deterioration in this country's political culture down the years:
ei sharthhanneshi munafa lobhir mohol bujhbe kobe,
tader kormokando anchhe boye,
ekti mullobodh bonchito o durnitigrostho shomaj. ………………………………
gonotantrik dhara bastobaiyon shongshoder bhitore na kore,
daka hochhe hortaler sheshe fer hortal.
As does "Proyojon hutom pechar":
achhe oshalin bakkyoban nikkheper oposhongskriti.
aj rajnitir akashe eshechhe kalo megh.
Zamir takes up other issues also. On the topic of Mother Theresa, he calls on people to follow her ideals:
hote hobe notun diner dishari.
tate hobe atma shanto
ashbe poriborton, iti hobe hangama o kolahol. ("Mother Teresake sroddhabhore shwaran")
The poet also pays tribute to his self-confessed spiritual soulmates, the departed pop music icons Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson in "Attik shonghider oshomoyik chole jaoa". The Greta Garbo-esque Shuchitra Sen is eulogized in "Shuchitra Sener shoron utshobe". He laments the killing of the journalist couple Shagor Sarwar and Mehrun Runi and their still unsolved murder in "Anujprotimder hottakander todonto".
Zamir talks rarely about human love in the Biblical sense, but hints at one instance of unrequited love in "Khujchhi tomae":
tai aj, ei muhurte, rater sheshe, khujchhi tomae,
ei atmar bikolpo jogote,
jekhane naki shobai baash kore chirodin, poro kale.
"Narindar harano dinguli" is pure nostalgia, and will probably evoke a deep sigh from those who remember Dhaka as essentially a large town of wide-open spaces, sprawling greenery, and manageable population, a long way back in distant memory from the present reality of it having become essentially a glitzy mega-slum, and being easily for several years running among the top three most unlivable cities in the world. A similar emotion is aroused in "Kaler biborton", where he builds his thoughts around the death of an old lady.
Zamir is a humanist and pacifist, as several of his poems testify: "Opomrittu" and "Shagoto noboborsho" are two. He unburdens himself in "Manobota":
shob motobader urdhe manobota
thhakte pare shamajik ba dhormo bidhi bidhan,
thhakte pare bhinno achar-protha
……………………
shobar upore manush,
amader shroshta ek ---
tai srishtiyo okhondito.
……………………
jabo fire, rongomoncher pat shesh kore,
……………………
eki aloke prapto obosthane.
In "Pranbonto shonali diner prottasha" he expresses:
ashuk bhalobasha, ashuk shanti.
And, repeats in "Atmabishwash":
ami chai shanti.
In "Eid-i-Miladunnabi" he extols the Prophet:
ei dine, ujjibito hoye peyechhi mora shanti,
peyechhi tar porosh chhoae,
shundor pothher dorshon.
The poet lets his heart out on the agony of Palestine and the Palestinians in "Halimar laal ball o khat ta kothae?' and "Gaza ekhon gorosthan":
aj ma-shontan ekotre hochhe dafon shei mrittupurite.
……………………
Filistine kankhito shadhinotar shopno hoechhi ki shesh? ("Gaza ekhon gorosthan")
Zamir is very perceptive about things around him. In "Panthopath --- ononto cholar path" he provides a graphic account of the varied people and various fixtures of that busy thoroughfare. He must have taken several long walks along it. He ends the poem with this observation:
eti Bangladesher boishommer protik,
sharokchinno, nidorshon.
His fixation with the evening of life and social and political awareness is expressed in "Nite hobe shopoth abar":
bidae belae, aj mora abar udbigno,
ki kore deshke mukto kora jae,
oporajniti,
dushito nitihinota, durniti, oposhongskriti,
shohingshota o manobadhikar longhon thheke.
The reader can do much worse than go through Ontorer Chhando.
Shahid Alam, actor and former diplomat, is Head,
Media and Communication department, Independent University Bangladesh (IUB)
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