পূর্নিমার রাতে

কাল রাতে ঘুম এল না

জানালার পর্দা ভেজিয়ে দিয়েও

তোমায় আড়াল করা গেল না ।

পশ্চিম আকাশের রাঙ্গা মেঘ

নিঙড়ে এসে আমার ঘরের ছাদে

দখল নিল ।

তোমার সোনায় ঝলসানো বাহূর

রশ্মি আমার মেঘের ঢাল ছিন্ন করে

আমায় জাপটে নিলো ।

মেঘেদের ইশারা করতেই

বারিধারার গেরুনী উন্মুক্ত হলো

আরো কঠিন হলো তোমার বন্ধন

আমার মুখটা তোমার বুকের

মাঝে ডুবিয়ে দিলে। বললাম –

এখন যাও, কাল এসো;

আকাশ থেকে তারার গুঁড়ো পেড়ে এনে

তোমার খোলা চুলে মাখিয়ে বললে –

আজ, কাল, প্রতিদিন, চিরদিন ।

কপালের কালো টিপ যখন

আমার বুকে চিন্ন এঁকে দিয়ে

ফিকে হয়ে এল, আমি জ়েনে

গেলাম আজ রাতে ঘুম হবে না

মেঘেদের সরিয়ে দিতেই

কাশফুল, রগনিগান্ধা, ধেয়ে এল,

এল প্রজাপতি, ফড়িং, মৌমাছি –

তোমায় বরণ করতে,

আমার ভেতর-বাইরের সব পর্দা সরে গেল ।

– ২৫ আষাঢ় ১৪১৬/৯ জুলাই ২০০৯

অভ্র'তে টাইপ করাতে সব বানান ঠিক হলো না। – ইকরাম কবীর

Bangladesh cadet colleges need to be upgraded

Amir Islam (not his real name), an ex-cadet from Jhenidah Cadet College, says he sometimes hates the atrocities by his seniors when he was a cadet in that college. But he now loves every moment he spent at JCC, no matter how difficult sometimes it was for him. He says his cadet college made him what he is today. He is one of the front-ranking professionals in telecom sector.

However, Islam doesn’t want to send his son to any cadet college. That sounds quite surprising; isn’t it! Someone who is so proud of his educational institution doesn’t want his son to study there! Explaining this, Islam says, “Our colleges were not upgraded in terms of education since their inception in 1958. There are many non-cadet institutions now functioning across Bangladesh that are in many ways better than what cadet colleges these-days teach the cadets”.

There are many ex-cadets who feel the same way as Islam does about the state of cadet colleges in Bangladesh.

Most ex-cadets think their former institutions need remodelling or upgrading. Cadet colleges are special institutions that aim to produce students capable of performing in every profession and also act as skilled army officers. These institutions, fashioned in British public schools, were established by the erstwhile Pakistan government. The first up and running cadet college was built in Punjab in 1954. Cadet colleges were and still are run on the direct supervision of the armed forces.

The idea behind the establishment of cadet colleges was to train the youth and instil in them high moral, sound mental capacity, breadth of vision, physical stamina, power of leadership and the capacity to run the rapidly expanding government administrative machinery. The cadet colleges were completely different from all existing types of secondary and higher secondary educational institutions. These institutions soon became famous for their performance in terms of educational results in public examinations. Such excellence was attributed mainly to rigorous scrutiny in intakes and the good quality of instruction. These schools were also the prime suppliers of officers in the armed forces.

The trend continued after the independence of Bangladesh. And cadet colleges still serve very well as fantastic source for the defence forces in the country. Cadets still excel in public examinations. Students of these colleges have also done very well even outside the armed forces. Ex-cadets have been everywhere: banking, business, government jobs and the media. One arena possibly lack their presence is politics. One can hardly find any ex-cadet as politician. They probably avoid politics because they don’t have any contact with any political activity till Class XII.

However, reports and witnesses say the quality of education as well as other livelihood trainings in cadet colleges has started to decline over the last decade. One of the prime reasons for this is of course budget allocation for these colleges. Bangladesh initially had four colleges, but the number has now increased to 13. Reports say the budget has not been increased as per the requirement. Assessment from various cadet colleges suggests that these institutions suffer from various crises also. For example, the authorities in these colleges sometimes have difficulty to buy sufficient sports gears for the cadets.

The infrastructures of at least four cadet colleges are in a shambles. They have become old and not very worthy of living. At least the four old colleges need refurbishment. Otherwise, potential good students would not be attracted to join these colleges.

Cadets who are currently studying say these colleges have become difficult for the students coming from lower middle class or poor families. Allegation abound that only boys and girls from the affluent class getting the opportunity to study in these institutions. If that’s the case, this is possibly a wrong choice cadet colleges are making. There was a time when guardians of the cadets used to pay for their wards according to their income. There had been many who did not have to pay anything except for the pocket money. Children from the poor families used to study there free of cost. This is how cadet colleges used play their role in minimizing the rich-poor gap. Children coming from the poor families got the chance to go further up only because they could study in these colleges. Many have become renowned defence officers and civil administrators. If these specialized schools are now catering to the needs of the affluent only, then they have certainly moved away from their bigger role they used to play in the society.

The present set of teachers is a cause of concern for quality education. Most of the current cadets opine the only persons who join the cadet colleges are those who don’t find any jobs elsewhere. If such is the situation, education level in these colleges is certainly going down. There’s a need to assess the teaching and language skills of the existing teachers. The authorities need to make sure that teachers become efficient in both textbook teaching as well as extra-curricula teaching. Cadets don’t only look for bookish education there; they also want the out-of-the-box knowledge-based education. Talking about education, a question arises. Are the cadets who are passing out from these colleges fluent in English language? Are they being taught a level of English that can be close to what is taught in English medium schools? If not, then there has to be a phenomenal overhaul in the process of their language education. And it is the teachers who are to bring about the change. If the teachers themselves lack in their language education, cadets would never learn.

Apart from languages, one needs to learn how to use modern technologies and have access to information. A survey in all the existing cadet colleges would show cadets don’t have enough computers to use, not to talk about better knowledge in softwares. There would be many among the cadets who would want to be software engineers. Many things are usually very restricted in cadet colleges. For example, the authorities always scrutinize cadets’ letters. In this backdrop, the government really needs think whether cadets should have any access to internet. If they don’t have any access, they would be missing out a lot of things that the 21st century has to offer. Cadets’ TV time is also very limited. But in the age of information, can you really keep that limitation intact like that in the 1970s or ‘80s? Probably not.

So, there’s a lot to think about how to upgrade these colleges. And the thinking has to be done by the set of experts, not just somebody from the army or the government secretariat. One may also need to visit foreign public schools for running these reforms.It’s worthwhile to mention Bangladesh’s army chief recently said cadet colleges need remodelling to the tune of the 21st century. He also said there should be cadet colleges in every district. Nothing can be truer than these institutions need reforms. But no, cadet colleges should not be established in every district right at this moment. First, let these existing ones remodel themselves to cope in the new era of technology and information. If we don’t readjust, the very existence of cadet colleges would be at stake.

Night before full moon

Couldn't sleep last night
Couldn't prevent you to slip into
Even by letting the curtains fall
Dark orange clouds from the western sky
Tore themselves away and occupied
My little room.
Rays from your golden arms
Wrapped me around like a robe
Rains came when I looked at you
Your arms became tighter
You took my face into your chest
I said – not now, come tomorrow
You reaped star dust from the sky
And sprinkled them on your hair
Said: today, tomorrow, everyday, eternally.
When the colour on your lips faded
And pained love my chest
I knew I'd go sleepless
When I wiped the clouds away
Butterflies, bees entered from nowhere
All the curtains were lifted inside me.

আরো একবার

আরো একবার ফিরে আসবো লোকালয়ে
যখন দুঃখ দুঃখকে ছোঁবেনা,
সুখ সুখকে
মাথার ওপর আকাশ থাকবেনা,
পায়ের নীচে শিশির
গোধুলী শেষে গোকুল ফিরবেনা,
থাকবেনা চুলোর ওপর কলমিলতার গন্ধ।

আরো একবার ফিরে আসবো তোমাদের কপাটে
যখন যুদ্ধ ফেরত স্বপ্নেরা
ডানা মেলবেনা,
শহীদের ভালবাসার ফুল কাঁদবে
শুধু'ই এক বীরাঙ্গনার হাতে,
তাকে বাঁচাতে তোমাদের ছেলেরা
আর কখোনো যুদ্ধে যাবেনা।

আরো একবার অস্ত্র সমর্পণ করবো
যখন সৈন্যরা এসে
কবিতা ভিক্ষে চাইবেনা,
সেনানায়কের হেলমেটের পাশে
রজণীগন্ধা ফুটবেনা,
যেদিন নীপিড়ীতের কষ্টে সমাজকর্মীর
অশ্রু গড়াবেনা।

আমি আরো একবার মঞ্চে দাঁড়াবো
যেদিন মর্তে
গ্রেনেডের গন্ধ ছড়িয়ে দৈত্যরা হাসবে,
রাজপথের দামাল ছেলেটি
আর ঘরে ফিরবেনা।

আরো একবার মাটির কলসের
জল চাইবো, যেদিন তোমাদের প্রেয়সীরা
ছুটবে ম্যাকডোনাল্ডসের লোভে
ধুঁকবে স্বর্গদেশের অলীক স্বর্ণপূত্রের বিছানায়,
পানাহার শীতকার শেষে
সন্ধিপত্র পাঠাবে
বলবে - আমায় মনে পড়েনা?

আরো একবার শ্ত্রুর সঙ্গে বসবাস করবো
যেদিন নীলাঞ্জনা আবারো
ঐ পথে যাবে
বলবে কথা ঐ যুবকের সনে,
বাস্তবতা মনে করে
তোমরাও যেদিন তা মেনে নেবে।

আমি আরো একবার কলম তুলে নেবো
যেদিন তোমরা
ভালোবাসার জন্য আর চিঠি লিখবে না,
আরো একবার বাড়ী ফিরব
যে রাতে তুমি জেগে রইবে।

Recording folk marvel's life and work

Movies can fire your imagination and take you closer to one of those characters present in that picture. In movies, there is a lot of room to blend your imagination with the story you are depicting. On the other hand, documentaries are often more intense because they are representing truth without any embellishment. One needs to follow and understand one's subject for a long time to complete a documentary. One can of course add aesthetic aspects to it when the long visual research is over. The difference between a movie and a documentary is, perhaps, that movies to a great extent are emotional entertainment and documentaries are pure knowledge. But a documentary can also attain the stature of a movie when the subject is larger-than-life.

So was the life of Bangladesh's folk marvel Shah Abdul Karim who passed away this month. He was such a legendary personality that a documentary on him could be evaluated with the value of a motion picture.

Perhaps, film director Shakoor Majid realised this quite some time ago when he started making his documentary on folk legend Karim. Majid called it "Bhatir Purush". "Bhatir Purush" features the life and music of this unforgettable folk singer in different phases.

Majid started working on it in 2002. And then it took him seven years and several visits to Karim's residence to complete the documentary.

The documentary starts with the description of a boy named Abdul Karim born in a bhati [low land] area in Sunamganj of Sylhet almost a hundred years ago. Karim's parents could not afford to send him to school. But the boy had started to learn from his surroundings - water, boats, nature and people and in course of time, the boy turned himself into a living legend named Shah Abdul Karim.

Shah Abdul Karim, doesn't need any introduction. He was born in 1916 in Ujan Dhol village in Sunamganj. He grew up with poverty and hardship; started expressing his thoughts and emotions through music from a very early age. He began with the ektara. He could make the people in and around his village spell-bound with his music. He faced obstacles from society but that did not stop him from becoming a great singer with the ability to write songs, compose and sing them. Karim has written and composed over 1500 songs. His published books are: Aftab Sangeet, Gano Sangeet, Kalnir Dheu, Dholmela, Bhatir Chithi and Kalnir Kooley. Bangla Academy has translated some of his songs into English.

Majid's documentary is full of Karim's songs sung by the legend himself, his passionate disciples as well as by the modern-day singers who have popularised the songs to Bangladeshis as well as Bangla-speaking people living across the world.

It's quite interesting how Majid has organised his sequences in the documentary. He spoke to Karim, listened to the story of his life, how Karim started singing. Majid also spoke to his direct disciples. He has placed the songs sung by many singers in between the short interviews. The audience would also understand how his tunes were modernised by a group of young urban singers who, in effect, made Karim's songs popular among the urbanites. Majid also recorded Habib Waheed's concerts and accommodated some clips of the songs in the documentary. He also made Sanjib Chowdhury sing the songs for this documentary.

A part of the documentary has featured former British envoy to Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury's contribution in making Karim popular in Bangladesh and in the UK. Choudhury had always remained a great fan of Karim since his childhood, since he left Bangladesh for Britain at a very tender age.

Professor Mridul Kanti Chakrobarty of Dhaka University, however, has criticised the way the urban singers have changed the tunes of Karim's songs. Researching on Shah Abdul Karim for a long time, Chakrobarty said this on record that the changes were not acceptable to him. Karim, while talking to Majid in the documentary, didn't seem to mind. He was, rather, grateful to those who have popularised his songs. Karim's songs sung by Indian singer Kalika Prasad Bhattachrjee has also found a place in the documentary.

The maker of this documentary spoke to Karim's disciples, experts doing research on him as well as singers who helped spread Karim's name across the world. So, the documentary is quite diversified. Majid seems to have tried to show the entire picture of Karim's musical impact on musicians and music lovers.

Majid has done an incredible work by tracking Karim's life and work. The extent of Majid's achievement was realised on the day Karim passed away. Almost all the TV channels had used footage from “Bhatir Purush”. At least six newsrooms in Dhaka had broadcast Majid's comments on the legendary singer. By making the documentary, Majid has become some sort of expert biographer on Karim.

Majid has planned to create an English version of the documentary. He plans to call it “Saint of Water”. The English documentary is not going to be a copy of the Bangla one, but he is in the process of writing an entire new script for portraying Shah Abdul Karim.

Salaam Brick Lane

You'd find many in England who'd look down upon the Tower Hamlet area. The reason seemed pretty clear to me while people reacted when I told them about my time in Brick Lane. This particular area is synonymous with Bangladeshis, Sylhetis and British-Bangladeshis. People who look down do that because they [not the Brits] don't want to recognize Bangladeshis and their existence in Britain.
A Pakistani colleague of mine, for example, kept on criticizing the food in Brick Lane and the lifestyle of its residents. I understood his problem. The only thing Pakistanis could take pride after is 'radicalism'.
He couldn't take the success of Bangladeshis in UK. He failed to see that the whole of Britain recognize Brick Lane as the curry capital of England. I've tasted food of four restaurants there. The five-pound buffet at Sonar Bangla Restaurant was one of the best buffets I've ever had. I've been to many five star hotels in many countries. Dishes prepared by restaurant could easily compete with their dishes. And at such a low cost! Go to Gram Bangla; and Bengal Cuisine. These days, they are changing their names from "Indian" to "Bangladeshi" and "Bengal". They are in the process of branding themselves as "Bengali". That's what aches migrants from other countries.
Then, there's a section of British-Bangladeshis who are non-Sylhetis. Most of these UK Bangladeshis think Brick Lane area is under-developed and backward. Many of the young people around Tower Hamlets are drug addicts. True; many are drug addicts. But, aren't young people of in other areas also addicted? Of course, they are. You don't like the way Brick Laners catch news headlines for their rise.
After Chinatown, Banglatown is the most prominent neighbourhood in London. I've spoken to many in Banglatown, listened to their struggles as migrants, their hard work to make their presence felt in the heart of London. They have risen from mere ship jumpers to labourers to businessmen. They have successfully changed the food habit of the Britishers. They are now preparing to enter the island's national politics.
And where did it all begin? It began from this area - Whitechapel, Brick Lane and Bethnal Green.
I do feel like saluting them.

Next: Friends in Reading and London.

Oscar Wilde's gaol and Jane Austen's school

Taking a walk through the roads in Reading could be tiresome for someone who doesn't know the roads, who's a visitor, an outsider. On a busy day, it could also be unexciting. My colleagues ask me how I felt about Reading town. I smile and say, "Not very exciting". They laugh and say "now I'm a true Reading-dweller since I've understood how living in this small town can be".

When I first went to town centre, I got lost. I couldn't find the right bus for returning to Caversham. I had to ask at least five persons to find my way back to where I'm living. The next time I went to town centre I took a printout of a map to get there. The map had all sorts of instructions. The good thing about living in developed countries is they have tried to make everything easy for you. They have online route planner. All you need to do is type "from" and "to" in the boxes and the site will calculate a few routes for you. Then you choose your own route.

So, reaching Reading was easy like anything. Since I had the map, I could find out my colleague's house in no time. She took me to near Reading Gaol where Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years imprisonment for homosexuality, which in his day was a crime under gross indecency.

During his jail term, first at Wandsworth prison and then at Reading, Wilde underwent a transformation. He had cell number C33 which was also a pseudonym under which the Ballad of Reading Gaol was first published. He also wrote a number of letters signing them, prisoner C33.

I'll give you a stanza from The Ballad of Reading Gaol:

"I never saw a man who looked
With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky,
And at every wandering cloud that trailed
Its ravelled fleeces by."

Close to it was Abbey boarding school. That was another surprise for me. In 1785-1786 Jane Austen went to the Abbey boarding school in Reading. This bears some resemblance to Mrs Goddard's casual school in Emma.
Not only that, I saw the Abbey Gate. Let me tell you a bit about it -- the Tudor monarchs were frequent visitors to Reading. There is an old story that King Henry VIII once locked up the Abbot of Reading in the Tower of London so he could win a bet made with him while in disguise. This is commemorated by a pair of ghosts who appear in the area. They are supposedly the King taking the Abbot to London. There are two horsemen, both stout huntsmen in Lincoln Green. One beckons on a cloaked companion. The horses' hooves make no sound. At the dissolution, despite their being good friends, the King had the Abbot hanged outside the Abbey Gate. The Abbey's Inner Gateway is one of the few remnants of this house still standing today. It was the original home of the Abbey school.

If you pass by the prison, you'd see Wilde's poems written on the pavement walls and plaques in memory of Jane Austen. Well, so many things at one place! All my fear of getting bored evaporated.

And suddenly, contrary to what my colleagues told me, Reading was a very exciting place!

Hit from the back…

A Pakistani colleague of mine was beaten up by a group of men in front of a pub [Three Guineas] in Reading recently. First they hit him with an empty whisky bottle and then when he fainted they kicked him all over his body. His fault? He was talking to a lady he met in the pub. And they came from the back and my colleague didn't have any clue they were about to hit him. He says they came from Bradford where racism is extreme. Both "white" and "coloured" population try not to enter the areas where the other race lives. The police arrested them and the men were accused of assault.

The Pakistani colleague thinks it is part of life – a reality in UK. Quite strange! Is it still a reality in present-day Britain? Well, here are a few links for you to read about racism in Britain: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3885213.stm, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8162280.stm, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8166173.stm.

Coming back to what I was saying: I told this to another colleague and expressed my concerns. I was visiting her house and it was quite late. I asked her whether anyone would insult me if I am found walking alone on the street. She assured me that nothing would happen and the incident in front of Three Guineas was an isolated one. Racism in UK is not the main reason I'm writing this log. I'd tend to ask me one question: would anyone in Bangladesh or, for that matter in Asia, be angered when he sees a white man getting friendly with a local lady?

Edgy pedestrians, spitting Romeos and white beggars…

When you walk through the streets of London, travel on fast-moving tube-trains, ride the buses snaking though roads, you tend to feel everything that they have here is much much better than what you have in your country. Yes, they do – as far as the system is concerned. You'll never get lost in this city, as they have all the instructions to take you to your destination. However, a few things, to my mind, that didn't seem quite right and enjoyable.
First of all almost all Londoners seemed very tense. They are running all the time. It wouldn't matter if you miss a train; you always have another to hop into in three minutes. But they are all running without even looking at anything. Well, may be partly because the person behind you also running and you need/have to make room for him/her to run. And, for that matter, you also run. What difference would it make if you had arrived at your workplace three minutes later?
I was walking with my brother and his wife and looking around the shops in Wood Green near the tube station. I saw many young [teenagers, actually] spiting on the pavement for no reason. I was quite appalled by that. We usually witness this kind of act in countries like ours where people are believed to less mannered. But then my sister-in-law says, spiting wasn't anything to do with manners. This is the new way of attracting pretty girl's attention. Previously, among other things, they used whistle. Well, that's education! I must tell all the girls and women in Bangladesh that pay attention to the men spiting everywhere; they want your attention!
I have seen beggars in London in the past. They seemed to be very well-dresses but not asking for money with in Queen's English. But the other day, I saw someone begging in the tube [and that was no Bosnian or anyone from eastern Europe]. I gave him a quid and felt good. I remembered a friend, a BBC journalist, who was quite depressed by seeing white beggars in Africa. I wondered what he'd have felt if he watched me giving alms to a white beggar with Queen's English. I wish I had my camera with me at that time.

Next blog: Racism.

Missing you

Drizzles escort chill through
my window panes that
don't have your reflections
but the clouds say
they've spoken to you
on their way to summer
from yours; and they sprinkle
your words on me.

Sleepless in eerie silence

When you leave Bangladesh for another country, especially westward, the first thing that bothers you is the stark difference between Bangladesh and the country you’re in. Traffic, for example, is one of them. When I was making my way to Caversham [Reading, where my office is] from Heathrow, I appallingly missed my car back home. The taxi, driven by Gagdane Singh [a Singapore-born British], that brought me here, was speeding more than 80. There’s absolutely no road in Dhaka where you can do that. The conversation with Gagdane was quite nice. I wanted to test Gagdane about something. Wanted to see how good a British has he become. Expressed my willingness to light a cigarette on our way to Reading. To my amusement, he agreed and parked the car by the side of the road and we smoked and chatted. He took me to my Hemdean Road BBC residence and said he’d see me some time down the road.
That was the journey to Hemdean Road.
Once I set foot in my little room, I started missing home. I wasn’t aware of this fact that I’d miss home so much. My family. My friends at the Cadet College club [Oh! They are a great lot! My workplace in Dhaka.
However, one of my colleagues, a Ugandan, Saif, from our Nairobi office, sooths me with dinner he cooked. Just beef [African style] and rice tasted great at that time. I called Ali Shahabi, my manager at BBC.
It took a while to fall asleep even if I was dead tired. The silence outside was the actual obstacle in this. It’s hard to imagine this silence after living more than 40 years in Bangladesh. I came out for a smoke. Opened the flap of my Zippo and the ‘click’ sound echoed all around the village [yes, it’s a village]. A fox that was passing by my residence halted in surprise and then ran away. I came out But hey; I had my Single Malt from the Heathrow Duty-free. Took out the pen and paper and I had a nice poem ready for someone I left in Dhaka.Of course, I did fall asleep when I finished the poem; and along with it, the drink.

Love

There she was
Like the dew on petals
Uniting with sunlight
Dazzling my heart.

On writing poetry

I remember those days when I used to write poems in Bangla. In my college days. I also had a notebook for writing poetry. When I was in class xi, I lost the note book that had many unpublished poems. Someone actually stole it. I got unimaginably depressed. A very bad thing happened after that. I was slowly losing my eagerness to write poems.
I thought it happens to almost every Bengali wanting to write poems. They say all Bengalis, living or dead, were poets at some point of their lives. Some like that happened to me as well.
Life went on for me, for the world around me. But the thought of writing poems didn't go away. Always felt the urge to express my overflow of emotions.
It happened 25 years later when I really felt I shouldn't wait any more. Enough time for bottling up emotion and not expressing them.
First, I wrote two poems. Both in 2008.
Poems written by me would naturally seem good to me. I'll always feel good about it. But I won't be sure about it. I won't be sure until someone comments on the poem.
This is quite interesting! Very.
The opportunity to show the poem to two noted poets of Bangladesh came quite soon. I showed the poem to Asad Chowdhury and Fazal Shahabuddin. Shahabuddin was highly impressed. So was Chowdhury. Both of them asked me not stop writing. "You must continue writing. I felt great.
To get another opinion, I sent it to one of my closest friends, who's also an innovative poet, Abul Hasnat Milton. He praised it, saying "it's very good for a start."
That did it for me. I was inspired.
But the blow came from Maruf Raihan, another well-known young poet. Raihan runs an online Bangla literary magazine. Bangla Mati.
When I met Raihan, he asked me to write anything for his magazine.
Inspired by previous comments on my poem, I emailed it to Raihan. I reply came: "Shudhu kolom chalaley'i ki kobita lekha jai?"
Wow! I felt the slap on my face. My heart sank but it didn't frustrate me. I looked for Raihan's books. I found one. I started monitoring newspapers, started buying special literary issues published by newspapers. Voraciously read Bangla poems, including that of Maruf Raihan's.
Gathered a lot of experience on reading and writing. Some were excellent; some passable; some trash. But most of the poems that I saw published by newspapers couldn't evoke the emotion in me I was looking for. But these poems are being published.
The point is: who'd decide on a certain poem? Who'd comment on a poem whether it was good or bad? Me? Renowned poets? Analysts? Critics? My friends? Editors? Raihan?
I guess there's no specific authority to give judgement on the quality of a poem. The writer should focus on his/her own feelings – how did he/she feel while writing poetry.
I got my blow all right, but I don't think I'm going to stop here. I'll continue writing poetry. And show them to everyone that I mentioned about.

Unsmart, very unsmart

For the last few weeks, a “bamboo” has showed up near our club entrance. I didn’t quite get it what the bamboo was doing near our entrance. That’s where the club members used to park their cars. I asked the security guards about this. They said this is the parking space for someone very special, one of the bigwigs of the executive committee.
My heart sank with the thought “how could a member of cadet college club be so unsmart?”. Gabbing a parking space with a piece of bamboo should be the work of an uneducated politician, or a muhalla mastaan, not anyone from the cadet college club!
True that we have very little parking space around our club. That’s everyone’s problem. Everyone suffers for this. But, look, how does it look if to erect a bamboo like a funny land-grabber, our image is bound to experience a setback.
You’ve got to do some things, good things, when you take pride on being an ex-cadet. If you think you’re smart, your behaviour should show some elements of smartness. You were a cadet in one of many cadet colleges in Bangladesh. It is said you were taught better things than what the non-cadets received during their adolescence. Most of the times, you also feel proud about this fact.
Then, why this? Very unsmart! Very.

It's the elite, stupid!

News reports in Bangladesh say car importers have gone crazy with the rumour that the government is to increase duty on imported cars. And that's why they are importing as many cars as they can before the budget in June. Yesterday's papers said Bangladeshi importers have brought in about 5,000 cars in April 09. May 09 is also going see the same amount of cars at Chittagong port.
A few aspects are quite noteworthy here. The car traders want to sell the cars to people at an increased cost even though they are now importing cars at reduced prices. Secondly, the government increases duty on cars every year. The government says it does so because it wants more revenue from this sector.
But funnily, the government doesn't increase duty on luxury cars, the ones that the rich buy. Quite the opposite. The government increases duty on those cars that the middle class people buy. So, you see! Out government, our elite want to make life of the middle class difficult. Stop the middle class people from owning cars.
Every middle class family dreams of owning a car at some point of their life. But the government and a section of new car importers wait for preventing them from owning a car. What a farce!
And the unscrupulous car importers! Prices of cars around the world has dipped; has gone down so much that car manufacturers are selling them off at nominal prices in the face of global downturn. The opportunity-seeking traders got the chance to make money at the cost of others. They are buying a car, for example, at $2,000. The original price was $10,000. The Bangladeshi "good-hearted" traders are importing them at $2,000 but selling them at $10,000. Imagine the profit margin!
And imagine how they are making consumers suffer!