President of Bangla Academy
I am remembering Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore with deep respect on his 163rd birth anniversary. Today, I want to share my thoughts about anti-Rabindranath sentiment during the Pakistan period as even after 53 years of Bangladesh's independence, anti-Rabindrasentiments still exist. So, the new generation needs to know the historical context of such ideology.
The Bengali New Year, celebrated with immense enthusiasm and fervor throughout the country, is a festival deeply ingrained in the soul of Bengalis. People line the streets, deeply immersed in various cultural events. The Bengali New Year celebration illuminates the Bengali consciousness with vibrant spirit. Despite differences in religion and caste, this festival binds Bengalis together in unity.
On the evening of March 7, 1971, when I heard the extraordinary speech of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman sitting at the Racecourse Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan), I never imagined that I would be able to write a novel titled 'Shat e Marcher Bikel'. On that historic March 7th, our friend Namita Sannayal was with me.
The prospect of any literature is embedded within its language. And the life of a language remains vibrant through literary discussions. However, for a language to achieve widespread recognition, it requires a strong economic flow and involvement in far-reaching political activities. Relevantly, the economic market for Bengali literature is relatively small, but the linguistic community of this language is vast. As a mother tongue, Bengali holds the fifth position in the world language rankings and is positioned seventh as a widely-used language. In the Indo-European linguistic community, more than 22 crore people speak Bengali. In this relatively small economic market, authors, publishers, and related collaborators may find it challenging to lead a comfortable lifestyle due to limited opportunities. This issue serves as another obstacle to the potential of Bengali literature. However, I do believe that our current and future generations will overcome this obstacle.
Jannatul Ferdous, a Bangladeshi writer and human rights activist, has held her place into a list, made by BBC, of 100 most influential women in the world. She makes film too. Although I don't personally know her, if the BBC hadn't created this list, I wouldn't even be familiar with her name. It is a shame for us. Incorporating herself to the list made her delighted of herself, and made us proud of her as well. Because other women on the list are influential, such as- US first lady Micheal Obama, Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmatí, Artificial Intelligence or AI expert Timnit Gebru and Hollywood actress America Ferrera.
Noted poet and brave freedom fighter Asad Chowdhury has demised and left us alone into an infinite emptiness. He was not only an elder brother to me, but also was my colleague. I know, as he was a man of the soil, he was a poet of the soil as well. Asad Chowdhury is an indispensable name in the era of modern Bangla poetry after Panchpandava.