Monday | 7 October 2024 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Monday | 7 October 2024 | Epaper

The man, the music and February

Published : Friday, 24 February, 2023 at 12:00 AM  Count : 565
Syed Badiuzzaman
February is a very significant month of the year. This is the Black History Month commemorating important people and events in the history of African diaspora. And on the 21st   day of this month, the UN-recognized International Mother Language Day is observed across the world promoting linguistic and cultural diversity.  

Originated in the United States, Black History Month is observed each year in the U.S. and Canada. Recently, the U.K., Ireland and the Netherlands have also started observing this month. And on the 21st day of February, the whole world observes International Mother Language Day, first announced by UNESCO in 1999 and later formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly.    

The idea to observe the International Mother Language Day on February 21 originally came from Bangladesh where the celebration begins rightfrom the first minute of the day each year with laying wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar. This is a national monument in the heart of the nation's capital commemorating the supreme sacrifices of those heroes who laid down their lives for recognition of Bangla as the state language of what was then East Pakistan in 1952.

Ever since then, Bengali-speaking people have been observing February 21 every year with a fitting tribute to those brave sons of the nation remembering their spirit of patriotism and love for the language. Throughout the liberation struggle of Bangladesh, people unwaveringly maintained this annual observance with a renewed pledge to continue their movement in the eastern part of Pakistan defying resistance by West Pakistani politicians and law enforcement agencies.

Aside from stirring struggle for recognition of language, establishment of people's fundamental rights and gaining the ultimate political freedom, observance of this historic day became a cultural ritual for Bengalis of all ages which would remain incomplete without a timeless tune dedicated to the martyrs of theLanguage Movement -- "Can I forget my brothers' bloodstained 21st February?" --which turned out to be virtually the "Second National Anthem" of Bangladesh.

Written by legendary journalist, columnist and poet Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury and composed by music legend Altaf Mahmud, the small song with some 30 lyrics has had big influence on the entire Bengali nation. It became a song of the heart for every Bengali. Starting from the wee hours of February 21 through the rest of the day, endless streams of slow-moving marchers from all walks of life keep coming to the Shaheed Minar (Martyrs' Monument) from all directions holding flowers in their hands and slowly singing the most famous chorus of their life to pay respect to the language martyrs.

 On every February 21, I used to go to the Shaheed Minar (Martyrs' Monument) twice -- once as the celebration began at midnight and once again at some point of the day -- during all my years as a journalist from 1976 to 1988 in Dhaka. I was there along with my other journalist friends -- sometimes on assignments and sometimes off. Besides performing my duty as a reporter to cover the story on "Shaheed Dibash" ("Martyrs' Day"), I was also there each year to pay my respect to those valiant sons of our country who sacrificed their lives for language.  

But the man who gave us the unforgettable "Ekusher Gaan" (The Song of Twenty-first), remained mostly forgotten. I had the opportunity to meet with the legendary journalist, columnist and poetAbdul Gaffar Chowdhury, who wrote the most stirring melody of the Bengali nation, on three occasions -- twice in America and once in our home country Bangladesh. In the U.S., I met him first at a seminar at Boston University and then at a friend's residence in the same city of Boston in mid-1990s when I interviewed him for my newly launched newsmagazine South Asia Times.

In Bangladesh, I met him when I worked at the daily Independent in 2012-13. That was a special assignment directly from the editor of the paper, Mahbubul Alam, to interview him while he visited the office of the editor. Both interviews -- first for my own publication in America and then for the Independent newspaper in Bangladesh -- provided me with rare opportunities to look at Bangladesh's history, culture, society, politics and also future through the lens of an exceptionally talented and experienced journalist and columnist of the subcontinent.

When I was face-to-face with Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury in both Boston and Dhaka, I felt like I was sitting inside a library with the whole history book of our nation wide-open right in front of my eyes. Chowdhury who spent more than half of his lifetime in England never waited for a second to answer any of my questions on any issue of Bangladesh. He was like a living encyclopedia about everything of our country. Couldn't this great journalist with such a thorough knowledge and understanding of the entire subcontinent -- let alone Bangladesh -- serve our nation better if he hadn't settled abroad?

Gaffar Chowdhury was asked this question in the very beginning of my first interview with him in Boston. Here's how he responded: "I left the country towards the end of 1973 after my wife fell seriously ill. First I took her to Calcutta for treatment. But her condition deteriorated there; she got fully paralyzed. Then I took my wife to London where her prolonged treatment began in October 1974. I did not return to Bangladesh because of widespread arrests and oppressions following the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975."

He went on: "A few years later when I applied for renewal of my passport, the government of President Ziaur Rahman denied it as well as those for other members of my family. Then I lived the life of a stateless citizen for eight years. During this time the British government permitted me to live in Britain and finally I accepted British citizenship. The subsequent government of General Ershad issued passports to me and my family and I went to Bangladesh for a visit in January 1993. If I would live in Bangladesh, probably I could write in a much better way being fully aware of the country's economic, social and political conditions. However, there was a possibility of being biased if I would be in Bangladesh. I can write with an independent point of view from England."

Beginning to write for a hometown small magazine in Barisal while he was just a sixth grader, Chowdhury rose to fame in the 60s and early 70s as a journalist and newspaper columnist of Bangladesh. Before he left his country for England, he used to write a popular newspaper column titled "Tritiya Mot" (The Third View) for Dainik Purbadesh, then a prominent Bengali daily. "I am a political columnist. I am also a writer because I write both prose and poetry from time to time. First I dreamed of becoming a writer. But I took to the profession of journalism for a living and ended up a political columnist," he told me during his first interview in Boston.

Despite his claim that he could write from a neutral perspective from London, many readers of his articles did not always find neutrality in his writing. Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury too had his critics -- and probably too many. But what was wrong with that? Every columnist in the world has his or her critics regardless of their fame or stature. No newspaper article -- even if it is a masterpiece -- can please every reader.

Abdul Gaffar Choudhury was the longest-serving newspaper columnist of Bangladesh. Even though he lived in a faraway foreign country for 49 years, nothing could ever stop him from regularly writing on his native land. This is called patriotism -- a true love for one's own country. Regardless of what his critics said, Gaffar Chowdhury was a legend and one of the greatest sons of Bangladesh. The writer of the "Ekusher Gaan" (The Song of Twenty-first) will be forever remembered by the nation with utmost respect and gratitude.

The writer is a Toronto-based journalist who also writes for the Toronto Sun as a guest columnist



LATEST NEWS
MOST READ
Also read
Are we prepped to face climate change?
Big push for Bangladesh to adapt to changing climate  
The unraveling of military rule in Myanmar
How to win an argument
Recognise Pakistans 1971 atrocities as genocide
Its time we diversified our export trade
Stop ecocide to gain green economy
Conservation of our wildlife is a must
Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Online: 41053014; Advertisement: 41053012.
E-mail: info©dailyobserverbd.com, news©dailyobserverbd.com, advertisement©dailyobserverbd.com, For Online Edition: mailobserverbd©gmail.com
🔝