Hay Festival Dhaka
Liberation War from the Heart of our Mothers
Niaz Zaman, Nuzhat Choudhury and Mofidul Haq discuss women's narratives on 1971 and remember the sacrifices of these heroines. Photo: Prabir Das
“The struggle of Man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” The wise observations of Czech Literary legend Milan Kundera have echoed again in the Imagination Tent of the Hay Festival Dhaka, 2013 where a group of literature buffs gathered to reincarnate the spirit of liberation war in fictions and memoirs. Bangladesh is one of the few countries of the world which has achieved its independence at the cost of so many lives. Women and children have become the worst victims of the war and they have written their accounts depicting their sufferings, the horrors and the heroism of the Bengali nation. Panellist Niaz Zaman and Nuzhat Choudhury re-introduced to the audience these female victims so that we remember their sacrifice.
The first to be read is Jahanara Imam's “Of Blood and Fire.” Describing the then situation in a moving and at times satirical way, the day to day account of the liberation war is also a beautiful piece of literature. Niaz Zaman says, “To learn about 1971, Of Blood and Fire is a must read for the youngsters of Bangladesh.” Nuzhat Choudhury, the daughter of martyred intellectual Dr Abdul Alim Choudhury remembers the struggle of her mother Shyamoli Nasrin Chowdhury during the post war periods. Farida Huq's account Journey through 1971 My Story tells the otherwise unknown story of the struggle of Bengalis who got stranded in West Pakistan.
Their zeal for independence and level of patriotism can be realised from Farida Huq's statement, “My life is worth living because I have seen 1971.” Translation of their tales needs to be done as Milan Kundera has said one day we might forget what we had done 43 years ago.
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