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In 1980s-90s Bangladesh, Rakib Hasan’s Tin Goyenda series, adapted from Western detective fiction, became a publishing sensation. Before the internet, these thrilling tales offered youth a vital, accessible window into suburban America, fostering a crucial reading culture and leaving a significant literary legacy. Continue reading Rakib Hasan & Teen Goyenda Generation
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The fault lines of religious, communal, and cultural identity fractured their marriage. Despite their divorce, Farida Parveen continued to sing for decades, performing Abu Zafor’s songs and those of Lalon. Continue reading Farida Parveen: a life lived atop many fault lines
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Badruddin Umar’s death marks the end of an intellectual trajectory. His Marxist analysis of Bangladeshi history, class struggle, and political co-optation remains crucial for understanding contemporary challenges and future revolutionary possibilities. Continue reading Badruddin Umar: Marxist Historian of Possibility
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He was willing to acknowledge that the left in Bangladesh, including his own trend, had no mass base among workers and peasants. Continue reading Badruddin Umar: life of radical intransigence
Marina Tabassum on Bashirul Haq If I have been able to become an architect it is by standing on the shoulders of a few giants. Bashirul Haq is one of them. I saw Bashir bhai for the last time at … Continue reading Bashirul Haq (1942-2020): Marina Tabassum & Naila Khan remember
“Adieu, Architect” –Adnan Morshed Khan [EXCERPT] …Bashirul Haq was fortunate to find a mentor in Fazlur Rahman Khan (popularly known as F.R. Khan), a fellow countryman, partner of the famed Chicago-based architectural/engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), and structural … Continue reading Bashirul Haq (1942-2020)
By Tibra Ali
The Bangladeshi psyche is a moral and political waste land today. In this dizzying and disorienting kaleidoscope of decay, one name shines more brightly than anyone else today: Faraaz. Continue reading “Staying Back”
(Translated by Awrup Sanyal for AlalODulal Collective)
I have heard that when he went up to receive his award he had to hear the condescending remark, ‘hope you are being able to eat rice’! Continue reading “Rafiq Azad: The Truth Had Touched Him”
Remembering Humayun Faridi
by Anu Muhammed for Alal O Dulal
Continue reading “Remembering Humayun Faridi”
একাত্তরে স্বাধীন বাংলা বেতার কেন্দ্রে গীতিকার গোবিন্দ হালদারের লেখা সেই অবিস্মরণীয় গানগুলো হলো- ‘মোরা একটি ফুলকে বাঁচাব বলে…’, ‘এক সাগর রক্তের বিনিময়ে…’, ‘পূর্ব দিগন্তে সুর্য উঠেছে রক্ত লাল রক্ত লাল রক্ত লাল…’, ‘লেফট রাইট লেফট রাইট…’, ‘হুঁশিয়ার হুঁশিয়ার…’, ‘পদ্মা মেঘনা যমুনা তোমার আমার ঠিকানা…’, ‘চল বীর সৈনিক…’, ‘হুঁশিয়ার, হুঁশিয়ার বাংলার মাটি…’।
Continue reading “Red Salute to Gobinda Halder”
Stop vilifying someone who warned us not to accept a blind nationalism, a patriotism that does not allow for discussion, examination or self-criticism.
Continue reading “Remembering Piash Karim – A Student’s Perspective”
“One doesn’t have to succumb to a teleological faith in historical progress to ascertain that language-based nationalism is a step forward from its religion-based counterpart. But it is also equally true that like any other form of identity, linguistic identity also includes some at the expense of others.”
Continue reading “Piash Karim (1958-2014) : Language, nation, and multiplicity”
আর একটু হাঁটো কবি
পথ চলা এখানে থামালে যে চলবে না,
আমার তো এখনও অনেক শেখার বাকি।
Continue reading “তোমার যাওয়া হবে না কবি/You Can’t Yet Leave, My Poet”
It is due to the initiative of Professor Amalendu De that the grave of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, one of the vanguard thinkers of equity and rationalism in the subcontinent and a great spokesperson for human rights, was found in Sodepur, near Kolkata.
Continue reading “Remembering Historian Amalendu De”
Justice Habibur Rahman (1928-2014)
by Faruk Wasif, translated by Nadine Murshid for AlalODulal.org
Let people judge Justice Habibur Rahman. They have his writings to judge him by. I can only think of the last time I saw him. It was December 23, 2013 at his residence. When he saw me he cried ‘Ki hain’ (What’s up!), as he paced his roof. That’s how he was. Continue reading “Justice Habibur Rahman (1928-2014)”
“Bipul did not get his due respect. His contribution to the music arena and also as a ‘shabda shainik’ in the Liberation War is immense. But the new generation hardly knows him. His songs were not been archived in an organised manner and did not get due coverage in the TV and radio media.” – Indramahon Rajbansh
Continue reading “Bipul Bhattacharya (1955-2013): Last Song Of Freedom”
Rituparno Ghosh (1963-2013): “Mathura Nagar Pati Kahe Tum Gokul Jao”
by Seuty Sabur, for AlalODulal.org
I am not able to concentrate for the past two days. It has been pouring since Thursday. The rain nor sun affects my mood that much, wind does… and there were gusts of wind coming in circles…potted plants at my office windowpane committed suicide twice; they were too fragile to withstand the wind. Continue reading “Rituparno Ghosh (1963-2013): “Mathura Nagar Pati Kahe Tum Gokul Jao””
ঋতুরাজ, ঋতু নির্বিশেষে (The King of all seasons, despite seasons)
by Gargi Bhattacharya for AlalODulal.org
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Continue reading “Rituparno Ghosh (1963-2013): The king of all seasons, despite seasons”
Omar Faruk Babu Remembered (d. May 2013)
1. Tibra Ali for AlalODulal.org
The awful daring of a moment’s surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed
Which is not to be found in our obituaries
— T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
Louis Ferdinand Celine one said that the good ones should have some kind of marking to set them apart from the rest of humanity. One of those good ones was Babu. Continue reading “Omar Faruk Babu Remembered”
Sometimes you wait your whole life to meet someone properly.
Continue reading “Comrade Binod Bihari Chowdhury (1911-2013)”
Shanu Lahiri is no more. A great and rare soul has left Kolkata and the earth.
Continue reading “Shanu Lahiri (1928-2013)”
Jamal Nazrul Islam and the Ultimate Fate of the Universe
by Tibra Ali
Continue reading “OBIT: Jamal Nazrul Islam (1939-2013)”
Cross-posted from Caravan]
Know Thy Neighbour: On the Bangladeshi literary giant Humayun Ahmed
By Aruni Kashyap
MY GRANDMOTHER’S HOUSE in Teteliguri—a village about 50 kilometres east of Guwahati, northeast India’s largest city—was a chaotic place, home, when I was growing up, to more than 20 relatives. It was there that I spent most of my school vacations, there, in that L-shaped house—where at least three women were required to lift the huge cauldron of rice off the hearth—that I began to read. Continue reading “Know Thy Neighbour: Aruni Kashyap on Humayun Ahmed”
Had he lived, my friend and ally Jalal Alamgir would have been 43 today. Instead of mourning in his tragic and untimely death, let us celebrate his life, and vow to continue his work for a progressive, democratic Bangladesh.
Young poet Mahmud Hasan died yesterday. He was a Philosophy student at Dhaka University. At his funeral, his parents made one request of his friends: please collect all his writings and publish them, so his memory can be honored. We are publishing Mahmud’s last poem, written two days before his tragic death. Translated by Naseef Amin.
Kakababu choley gelen
by Udayan Chattopadhyay
That the passing of Sunil Gangopadhyay came as a shock to many – despite his age and health – is a reflection of his being, till his last Puja season during which he died – the most prolific and recognizable mainstream writer in post-1947 Indian Bengal.
I will not dwell on literary critiques; I am not qualified. While, like most NRI-kids, I was very much aware of who he was growing up (our parents would always pass around his latest book after a trip to Calcutta) I was hardly able to delve into his tomes. In that I shared a disconnect with an increasing number of middle class Calcutta kids more proficient (at least reading) in English and even Hindi than in their parents’ tongue. I saw the films and serials people like Satyajit made from his works, and as English-translations started becoming available, I trawled through his seminal works such as Purba Paschim, Shei Shomoy and Prothom Alo. But that doesn’t form the basis of my bond.
Continue reading “Kakababu choley gelen: Sunil Gangopadhyay (1934-2012)”
Remembering Mowla Boksh
Text, Image, & Video by Zaid Islam
Mowla Boksh, a legend of the Lalon Phokir gharana, breathed his last on 16 August 2012. May the Lord rest him in peace.
We don’t realise what we got until it’s gone. Mowla’s departure reminded me of this once again. I started remembering his unique craziness, his humour, his incomparable style of musical mastery, and how passionately he was constantly celebrating every moment.
I started to miss him.
Islam’s major works include Jahangirnagar University, Chittagong University, Central Public Library, Charukala Institute, Azimpur Estate, Joypurhat Housing, Rangamati township and a number of Polytechnic Institutes. Continue reading “OBIT: Mazharul Islam (1923-2012)”
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