Arts & Culture

International Bangla Festival & Book Fair, NYC

Bangla Festival & Book Fair in NYC

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Bangla Utshob and Boimela
Bangla Utshob & Boimela

Muktadhara Foundation organized a 3-day-long International Bangla Festival & Book Fair at the William Cullen Bryant High School of Long Island City from June 13 to 15, 2014. According to the organizer, it was their 23rd Bangla Book Fair. The fair was attended by many people, mostly of Bangladeshi origin. Some attendees were from West Bengal, a state in India, and others from Europe. Hence, it was international in nature.  The objectives of the fair 2014 were “to project the cultural heritage of Bengali to expatriate Bangladesh and West Bengal and other communities living in North America. And to build a sustainable link between the expatriate Bengalis and the land where they or their ancestors were born in the field of information exchange, literature, culture & business.”

The Bangla Festival & Book Fair brought together a diverse group of Bangla writers, readers, poets, artists, reciters, musicians, book publishers, and spectators. The event was filled with various programs, including general discussions, literary discussions, a QA session with writers, a song, dance, drama, recitation, a children’s essay competition, a youth forum, photo exhibitions, a writer’s corner, a short film, and more. Different programs were held in various parts of the venue, with some event spaces given names such as the Ali Anowar Room, Salman Khan Room, and Aminul Haque Room. There were also book stalls, clothing and jewelry stalls, food stalls, NGO stalls, and various other types of stalls. A nice souvenir was available, and a program leaflet was always on hand to pick up.

It was a festive, hectic, and inspiring event. I went there for the last two days to enjoy and observe the festival. The list of guests and programs indicates that it was a significant event. Organizing such an event successfully was undoubtedly not an easy job! A big congratulations to organizers, sponsors, attendees, participants, and all interested parties. It was better than a great festival.

Some discussion on technology, sports, and more spotlight on the youth forum could have been given!

I ventured to different parts of the Book Fair and enjoyed them. I, however, also expected a bit more futuristic flavor from the festival. Felt that the festival was past-oriented. Here are my two main observations (and suggestions):

  1. The festival was full of programs, but there was no science or technology-related discussion of any form. Why not? Who knows! Today, our life, ‘liberty’, literature, language, and likings are inundated by so many technological innovations (Facebook, Twitter, sms, apps, robotics, VR, etc). When we are gradually moving from writing to typing, typing to touching, touching to gesturing, and gesturing to ‘thinking’ – hundreds of topics can be thought of to discuss related to science and technology. Let’s do a quick, fun exercise about possible topics: (Again, this is just for fun)
    • ‘The Face of Bangla e-books’,
    • ‘Internet and Bangla Language: Today’,
    • ‘Possibility of a Bangla Bing/Google’
    • ‘One and Unified Bangla Typewriter’,
    • ‘Publishing Top-notch Online Bangla Newspaper’,
    • ‘Bangla Language: Year 2100′,
    • ‘Self-publishing Technology and Bangla Book Publishing’,
    • ‘Moimonshingho Gitika and the Psychology of Bengali’,
    • ‘The Science of Charchapod‘,
    • ‘Neurology of Language: Bangladesh Perspective‘. 
  2. Out of all the programs, I enjoyed the youth forum the most. Okay, I wouldn’t say it’s extraordinarily fancy and fantastic, but it was very dynamic, hopeful, and energetic, and it was in English. This 2-day youth program was “designed, coordinated, conducted, and presented by second-generation Bengalis“. Young Bangladeshi-Americans presented and discussed various topics about entrepreneurship, politics, the importance of volunteering, the first-generation immigrant experience, the history of Bangladesh, making films in the USA, community connection through photography, responses to domestic violence, etc. Even with a poor audio system, and hard to show their slides (due to bright light in the room), the youth presenters tried their best to make it interesting, informative, and engaging. The discussion was entirely in English, which was natural and the right thing to do. While adults debated whether the new generation of Bangladeshi-Americans should learn Bangla to be considered Bengali, in the next room, the young were busy presenting their ideas in full swing in English. Unfortunately, not enough first-generation audiences were there to listen to them! A meaningful dialogue/conversation between the first and the second generation immigrants about how to represent Bengali could have been arranged! What the new generation of Bangladeshi Americans thinks of Bengali culture remains unknown.

Other observations of the Bangla Book Fair, where things can be done differently:

  • The photo exhibition of the Bangladesh Liberation War 1971 on the 2nd floor was an excellent inclusion. This should have been given more highlights. I almost missed it! The photo exhibition by Pavel Rahman was also interesting and perhaps a bit nostalgic for adult-enough Bangladeshis. It could have been displayed in a corner by creating a more appropriate atmosphere.
  • Organizers can utilize the internet to provide more information. A few simple spelling mistakes on the home page could be avoided where ‘New York’ became ‘Ney York’, ‘Bengali’ became ‘Benglai‘, etc. (Now, I am concerned about my mistakes!)
  • The event is over now. If someone needs information about this festival (such as writings, pictures, or videos) in the coming years, how will they obtain it? Archiving the event program is an important task that can be accomplished.
  • Next time, maybe a big prominent display at the venue entrance with clear directions of the room, programs, time etc. can be displayed; audio system can be improved, etc.

Lastly, looking beyond the limit is like loving the limitless – this occasion was a good practice of that. Thanks again, for organizing such a fantastic event.

Photographs from Bangladesh

Bangladesh: Nine Photographers

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It was a very cold and windy night when Eyes on Bangladesh started their opening reception of photo exhibition of Bangladeshi Photographers yesterday in New York City. But that all felt nice and warm once I was in front of those photographs! Sometime people’s life, day-to-day events, ordinary places, mundane time do not make sense unless someone sees through the lenses and set them in frames. Taken mostly by young photographers of Bangladesh, these photographs tell the story they feel important, should be told and talked about. The Photographers took these pictures from an activist point of view. They covered issues like social justice, human rights, women empowerment, environmental concern, effects of globalization, slum dwelling, etc. This exhibition is a window of opportunity to see what young Bangladeshis are mostly concern about.

The photographers are all of Bangladeshi origin, mostly young, nine total, seven men and two women, some are already awarded for their talent and work. They are:

Jannatul Mawa’s ‘Close Distance‘ is a series of nine pictures about housemaids and their respective housewives. Housemaids in Bangladesh live very closely with their master’s family under the same roof but have distant parallel relationship. They are dependent on each other but not equal. I liked the simple portrait kind of placement of the subjects. It is interesting to see their body languages, facial expressions, position of their hands and legs, some with bare foot, some are not. Can a picture tell the story of their relationship? Apart from the economic reality, I was mostly interested in seeing who seems to be the happiest of nine!! The pictures have power of drawing you into a mind game.

In Love Story, Shamsul Alam Helal has presented 12 studio pictures of his subjects. They are wild, funny, and colorful. These photos are about dream.  Dreams of ‘we the people of Bangladesh’. Dreams seen through the lenses and printed on paper. Dreams can be daring, delightful, smokey, ephemeral, out of reach, hilarious, even unscrupulous but they are dear to the people who want to scape from reality. Who likes reality wholeheartedly! Do you?

Sarker Protick’s series ‘Of Rivers and Lost Lands‘ is a collection of eight pictures – reminder of a grey apocalypse in progress! With destroyed houses, drowned trees, disappearing villages people are becoming refugees in their own land. They have nowhere to go but live there. Lives are slowly disappearing into the white fogs of point of no return. In Protick’s word: ‘Places I have photographed do not exist anymore. River erosion still continues with dire consequences for this land and community.’

Munem Wasif’s Belonging is a series of photographs of old part of Dhaka city. He tried to capture the chaotic beauty of everyday life of residents there. He wanted to find harmony, connection, and symbolic meaning of what seems like a hi-volume, high pitch, broken electronic sound recorder of life as usual! All his 20 photographs are in black and white.

Saikat Mojumder’s 12 color photographs of slum life is depiction of struggle of arrival of a new life. Life, in abstract sense, do not care whether you are happy or not – it just wants you to bear the sensation of being the container of it.

Taslima Akhter’s photographs are about a disastrous building collapse near Dhaka. More than thousand people died. She took some heart-rending photos of the event. Pure madness to keep a higher living standard in one part of the world is taking life away from other parts of the world.

Rasel Chowdhury photographed the rapidly changing landscapes of Bangladesh and its environmental impact. Green – the color Bangladesh proudly love has been replaced by grayish ruthless presence of bricks, buildings, tires, and pollution. Dusty, dry and grey tone of the photographs fit with the mood of what he wanted convey.

Six photographs of  Rashid Talukder was on display. He is probably most known to many Bangladeshis and aboard. His pictures were about 1971 and perfectly in line with the mood of March 26, the Independence Day of Bangladesh. Some of the photographs I saw before but they never failed to haunt me. 1971 was an absurdly painful, madly destructive time for a nation at birth.

Shumon Ahmed is a visual artist and he works with photo, video, text, sound and compilation of these forms. His installation was also an interesting piece!

Why do it?
The organizers – Eyes on Bangladesh – take all the pain and pleasure to make this exhibition to start a new kind of conversation with other Bangladeshis (and I assume, non-Bangladeshis too). Their questions – Is a potential dialog possible with the parents on wide-ranging issues? Who are the role models in Bangladesh community? Why divide more? Do they have to find and walk the path alone? It seems like they wanted to turn to a more dynamic, more creative, more challenging, more unifying, more critical path than their first generation ‘ancestors’.  They want to understand the root of their ethnicity, be a proud and productive member of a community that are still very small, very new, very vibrant, full of possibilities in the United States. Hope this is an excellent effort towards building a bright future for generations to come.

Are there any connections among these photographers? Well, I think a connection can be made. These pictures speak  about a system of injustice and inhuman reality where the victims are less powerful, very helpless, truly neglected. A sense of imprisonment is there. Rashid Talukder’s photographs spoke about a massive injustice towards a nation. Likewise, others voiced their concern about captivated freedom of housemaids, about ruthless urban development regardless of environment, about ever powerful jaws of abject poverty, about callous side of globalization, about inescapable climate change, about unattainable basic requirements.

On the other hand, there are powerful messages in these photographs. By being in front of curious cameras – these injustices are getting documented, meeting audiences, begging for options, shaking our consciences. One day these injustices may hear songs of freedom!

No wonder, cameras are mightier than pens!

And this last paragraph is a well-wished and good faith observation. I missed the photographer’s work related bio. There was no descriptions about their work in the distributed flyer. Photographer’s bio on the wall was too small to read and was placed lower than the natural eye level. Placement of many pictures were too high to get into. Pictures are a piece of frozen time. Unless we can see them good, they cannot ‘speak’ to us effectively as intended. Position, placement, height, light, size, print quality all counts in an exhibition. Hope this will improve in other events. For now, many thanks to organizers.

The event runs from March 26 to March 30, 2014.

international-mother-tongue

How cool is your mother tongue?

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What is the status of the language you call your mother tongue (first/native/arterial language)? How cool is it?

One of the unfortunate realities of some international languages is that success or failure is often determined by language status. Yes, languages have so-called “status”. Some languages are high status, some are low status, some are in the middle. English, French, German, Japanese etc. are viewed as high status language. Low status languages are Bangla, Urdu, Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Portuguese, Polish etc. There are some languages that are not even considered for any status. Many tribal languages may be the examples of that.

Here in USA, the high status language is obviously English but it is hard to ‘feel’ as it is an immigrant country. Perhaps in many European countries, the language status-anxiety can be felt more than here. It may even felt more in developing countries (considering the middle class). There are many reasons why and how people feel, permit and practice this language status phenomenon. The circumstance is certainly much less scientific and more of an art. You may agree or disagree.

Bangla Alphabets
Bangla Alphabets

Anyway, so, how do you feel about your mother tongue? Are you proud of your native language? Do you feel good?

  • Do you ‘think’ in your native language?
  • Is there anything that you can only express in your mother tongue if you are a fluent bi/multi language user?
  • Do you consider your mother tongue is a good vehicle for your economic future?
  • Do you find your mother tongue can give you an edge to your technological exploration?
  • Is your mother tongue considered as a valuable/necessary/important language in your own community?
  • Do you think your mother tongue determines who you are? Should it be considered as a basis for your sociolinguistic identity?
  • Do you think your mother tongue is better for more for emotional expressions or more for rational thinking or both equally?
  • How connected are you with ‘your’ mother longue? Do you speak it just to get along with your family and kin or it is also ‘your’ own language?
suno-norge - Baul Songs of Bangladesh

suno-norge – Baul Songs of Bangladesh

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suno-norge - Baul Songs of Bangladesh
suno-norge – Baul Songs of Bangladesh

In the districts of Lalmonirhat and Kurigram, in north west Bangladesh, girls and boys learn to sing and play the songs and music of their ancestors. This area is a river landscape, where singing is the most powerful artistic expression. The songs concern love and separation, in both a religious and a secular sense.

This folk music project is run by a local organisation – Arshi Nagar. Suno-Norge supports the project financially, and distributes information about the project in Norway. Suno-Norge supports fifteen song and music schools for between 18 and 40 children, as well as a sound studio and the management of a boarding school for 6 children in Lalmonirhat. Each song and music school has two teachers, often one Hindu and one Muslim. The teachers are modestly remunerated.

Arshi Nagar organises music festivals, provides musicians with instruments, and repairs old ones. The project contributes to the education of girls. Through its efforts it is able to plant fruit trees, grow vegetables, and distribute food in times of flooding.

In 1998, the author and photographer Wera Sæther visited Bangladesh for the first time. On a sand island in the river Brahmaputra she was captured by the songs (like murshidi, marfati, dehototto, bhaoaya, bhatiali and baul). Together with local musicians she got involved in an effort to preserve and develop the vocal traditions of the very poorest in this part of the country. Suno-Norge operates as an association of friends who support the work of Arshi Nagar financially and help to share the rich cultural heritage of these singers and musicians.

Here is one cool song:

In 2010, Arshi Nagar started the production of CDs. More information about this project can be found at suno-norge. (This is a Norwegian website)

If you want to be a member, friend and want to support the work, you may contact via e-mail: medlemskap@suno-norge.org

Bangladesh at War 1971

The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide

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This year, Gary J. Bass, professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, wrote a book on Bangladesh’s liberation war and the role of US diplomats with the US administration during that time – “The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide”.  This book is about how two of the world’s great democracies – the United States and India – faced up to one of the most terrible humanitarian crises of the twentieth century. The slaughter in what is now Bangladesh stands as one of the cardinal moral challenges of recent history. However, it is far more familiar to South Asians than Americans today. It had a monumental impact on India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh – almost a sixth of humanity in 1971. In the dark annals of modern cruelty, it ranks as bloodier than Bosnia and plausibly in the same rough league as Rwanda. It was a defining moment for both the United States and India, where their humane principles were put to the test.

The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide
The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide

You can buy the book from here.

WNYC’s Brian Lehrer talked with the author about this book on Sept 27, 2013. Hear the conversation here.

Below is the writing by Gary J. Bass about the issue, published in the New York Times on September 27, 2013.

The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide
by Gary J. Bass

A riveting history—the first full account—of the involvement of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in the 1971 atrocities in Bangladesh that led to war between India and Pakistan, shaped the fate of Asia, and left in their wake a host of major strategic consequences for the world today.

Giving an astonishing inside view of how the White House really works in a crisis, The Blood Telegram is an unprecedented chronicle of a pivotal but little-known chapter of the Cold War. Gary J. Bass shows how Nixon and Kissinger supported Pakistan’s military dictatorship as it brutally quashed the results of a historic free election. The Pakistani army launched a crackdown on what was then East Pakistan (today an independent Bangladesh), killing hundreds of thousands of people and sending ten million refugees fleeing to India—one of the worst humanitarian crises of the twentieth century.

Nixon and Kissinger, unswayed by detailed warnings of genocide from American diplomats witnessing the bloodshed, stood behind Pakistan’s military rulers. Driven not just by Cold War realpolitik but by a bitter personal dislike of India and its leader Indira Gandhi, Nixon and Kissinger actively helped the Pakistani government even as it careened toward a devastating war against India. They silenced American officials who dared to speak up, secretly encouraged China to mass troops on the Indian border, and illegally supplied weapons to the Pakistani military—an overlooked scandal that presages Watergate.

Drawing on previously unheard White House tapes, recently declassified documents, and extensive interviews with White House staffers and Indian military leaders, The Blood Telegram tells this thrilling, shadowy story in full. Bringing us into the drama of a crisis exploding into war, Bass follows reporters, consuls, and guerrilla warriors on the ground—from the desperate refugee camps to the most secretive conversations in the Oval Office.

Bass makes clear how the United States’ embrace of the military dictatorship in Islamabad would mold Asia’s destiny for decades, and confronts for the first time Nixon and Kissinger’s hidden role in a tragedy that was far bloodier than Bosnia. This is a revelatory, compulsively readable work of politics, personalities, military confrontation, and Cold War brinksmanship.

bad weather

Bad Weather – A documentary on Bangladesh

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Banishanta Island, Bangladesh
Banishanta Island, Bangladesh

Watched the following documentary at the Margaret Mead Film Festival last December. It was a Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award Contender and won the 2012 Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award Special Mention. We got a few discounted tickets. There was a QA session with the Director after the screening. It was a great film. It seems like the so-called unholy profession, “prostitution,” has many connections with the natural environment we live in – we use both in our full content without thinking of its consequences.

I am not sure whether you can buy it on DVD yet! I’ve heard that Banishanta has been dismantled, but I’m not sure about that. The film has not been shown in Bangladesh yet!

Bad Weather
2011 | 82 mins | Bangladesh, England, Germany
Dir: Giovanni Giommi

Banishanta Island, a tiny sliver of land 100 meters long and 10 meters wide in the Bay of Bengal, south Bangladesh, is notable for two reasons: it is on the frontline of climate change, and its population comprises a community of sex workers. With the rising river, soil erosion, and frequent cyclones gradually destroying what is left of the island, Razia, Khadija, and Shefali, three of the last 65 women left living there, are in a battle for their homes, the future of their families, and even their quest for true love.