Lessons From Probhaat Ferry

Split is gone before the morning procession Kids never spoil the grand occasion. Shutting down a daily before the Ekushey Hurts talks while tempers begin to fray.

The quintessential part of commemorating Amar Ekushey on February 21 (Mother Language Day) is to take part in Probhaat Ferry (the morning procession) that ultimately ends in offering flowers bouquet at Shaheed Minar(Language Martyrs’ Memorial Monument). The commemoration of Mother Language Day has been observed every year since 1952 when students and ordinary people took bullets in demanding Bengali as state language of Pakistan along with Urdu. Pakistani rulers complied but the language movement culminated into a full-blown freedom struggle and gave birth to Bangladesh (Land of the Bengali speakers).

In the early morning of 21st February, people from all walks of life clad in black/white Punjabi/Saree take part in a brief morning procession called Provaat Ferry and lay flower at the footsteps of language monument, often erected at parks and educational institutions. At educational institutions, it is a must. When we were kids ,it was pretty common. Over the years, it faded away and restricted into the confines of govt programs and key institutions. Revival of probhaat ferry in recent years is a good sign.

I still remember when we were kids how we spent days and nights in the preparation of observing the day.I live in a neighborhood that is adjacent to cantonment. Back then a huge lake,now turned into an apartment complex, separated the neighborhood from the cantonment. During the winter,the lake dried up and walkways through the lake provided us the opportunity to explore the rural part of the other side. In the Monsoon, the lake turned into a vast ocean and we often went for a boat ride/picnic like Huckleberry Finn. I never forget the taste of rice,brinjal fry,egg curry we cooked on a makeshift brick stove. Sometimes we played cricket. We played all day long with stems of Pink Morning Glory ,which was used as bush hedge on the perimeter of a house. The dried stems looked like assault rifles. We aimed them at imaginary enemy and made crackling sounds with mouth. But the most adventurous task we embarked upon is the one that took place on the day before 21st February. We crossed the lake and raided the cantonment in search of flowers. We went door to door in that heavily guarded area. Security guards and occupants of the houses were welcoming and appreciating. Every houses had flower gardens. Marygold, Rose, Dahlia, Sunflower and Chrysanthemum were in abundance. They plucked the flowers and donated them to us with a smile. Bigger the flower,greater is our hope that we are receiving all the blessings from heaven.Having gathered enough flowers,we spared no time to make a bouquet. Our team effort was short lived. Soon we split into two or more groups over trivial issues. Discord was often about who would lead the procession and hold the bouquet. But somehow we overcame all the differences and made the event a successful one. The monument was covered with flowers. By noon,a completely opposite scene was staged.The disciplined crowd turned into a bunch of marauding monkeys and joined the pillage of the Shaheed Minar.Some grabbed the biggest bouquet and some got hold of few Dahlias and ran towards home. Few petals and Marygolds were all left on the Shaheed Minar.Nowadays we have become civilized. Display of such plundering of Shaheed Minar is conspicuously absent. This is indeed a progress in human development!

Despite being kids,we know how to unify all on grand occasion. With heavy heart the country witnessed that the day before 21st February govt shut down a daily that worked as spokesman of the main opposition over whimsical reason. It is indeed a blow to freedom of expression and reconciliation that ultimately leads us to a functioning democracy. The action is contradictory to the very spirits of language movement. It is unfortunate that govt sometimes takes some steps that even the Pakistani rulers did not dare to take during the time of military dictatorship. On the grand event like Probhaat Ferry we made sure no one is left behind and take part in the morning procession. But it is sad that govt used the sacred month and the grand event to drive a further wedge between the two major parties instead of walking the path of reconciliation. Sometimes I feel in this country the kids show maturity than the grown ups.

Ekushey Book Fair: The Lost Spirit

Curtain about to fall in Ekushey Book Fair
Despite warning, many came leaving aside the fear.
But the spirit was lost long ago,
Trapping the fair itself in nationalistic ego.

Ekushey Book Fair is about to come to an end. Corona-battered publishers, writers and readers looked forward to this year's event to rejuvenate their activities. However, long before the fair started,Dhaka Metropolitan Police cautioned warning saying it did not rule out any retaliatory terror attack after the court sentenced key suspects, including a runaway stripped of Army major,to capital punishment for the killing of US blogger Avijit Roy.¹In addition, DMP also said it would closely monitor the contents of new books so that they would not stoke any tension. This warning came at a moment when US State Department renewed the bounty on Avijit Roy's killers and a Dhaka Court pronounced verdict on the killers on the run.

But the Fair is dead long ago. What keeps it alive is our passion and enthusiasm. Back in 2019, I wrote a piece titled “Ekushey Book Fair: Regaining The Lost Spirit” on my site https://hoquestake.blogspot.com.² Sharing it again:

…To me, without any intention to hurt anyone, the peerless event lost its spirit many years ago. An event that has the potential to become beacon of Bengali culture trapped itself into the narrow interest of protectionism.

It is a pity that we failed miserably to use this grand event as a platform to bring all the big Bangla publishing names on board and allow them to showcase their works to greater Bengali readers.

It is ridiculous that the success of this event is being measured by the number of titles published and the amount of book sold. Like many nondescript citizens I stay in dark about these titles. Bangla Academy may easily come to our rescue by launching a dedicated website that offers synoptic introduction of these titles.

Or onus of website on book summary can be given to publishers' guild. Enthusiasts will glean information from this website. It is,I think, pretty cheap to reach out the broader readers than through other means.

In some earlier fairs, I observed that Bangla Academy announced top books on various categories and honored the authors and publishers. This year, it appears, this system has been discontinued. I do not know the reason. This selection of top books among the published titles in Ekushey Book Fair will definitely work as a yardstick for good books that readers long for. Similarly, publishers will get an idea what kind of titles they are supposed to publish.

Earlier I had also noticed private e-commerce sites offered special discounts for ordering Ekushey books online. It happened immediately after the book fair had come to an end. This year even that is noticeably absent.

When we were school goers, we saw two back to back fairs.Dhaka International Book Fair preceded the Ekushey Book Fair. It displayed foreign publishers' titles. It has all gone for the last couple of years.

Ekushey does not offer this opportunity to foreign publishers. This is contrary to the very spirit of Ekushey that entails recognition of cultural aspirations in various mother tongue and assimilation of different streams of Bengali cultural movements happening around the world.

There has been a lot hue and cry that the foreign Bengali publishers will capture the market at one fell swoop. Our sky is open, inundation of Hindi and foreign Bengali films and serials did not nonplus our home-grown entertainment industry. Rather we entered into joint collaboration resulting in a noticeable increase in quality contents and introduction of professionalism. On the same token, allowing foreign publishers at home will improve our local publication industry and give the Bengali culture a firm footing to reach out the global audience.

In Ekushey Book Fair, Bangla Academy could easily hold an international corner where foreign Bengali book publishers can display their titles and interact with readers and local publishers and sell the copyright of popular titles to local publishers. This may last for a week or for few days. This step could easily take Ekushey Book fair into a new height. If somehow that is not possible then Bangladesh Publishers' Guild can organize a week-long book fair at a convenient time of the year and invite the top foreign Bengali publishers from other side of the fence.

Unfortunately, Bangla Academy is not doing enough to facilitate collaborative projects that subsume exponents of various countries. This entails recruitment of foreign research /project director, resident scholar and a dedicated team. For instance, it can launch an online reading service of Bengali classics where paid readers can get assistance for retrieving meaning of complex and ancient Bengali words/ phrase using an integrate online dictionary.

Seasonal nature of this fair has contributed to this staggering sales figure. If this fair is about to increase the number of readers and thrive the publication industry, then we have to admit it has nothing special to offer. Libraries are the big buyers of books and they also create readers. Unfortunately, libraries are dying in our country. Government should step forward to help flourish the number of libraries. In many of our neighbouring countries, central and local governments patronize the numerous libraries and library related activities. Even in their annual budget, these governments allot funds for the libraries so that they can purchase books for members. Apart from creating readers, the libraries of this region are playing a far more important role in creating skilled and knowledgeable citizens. Taking cue from neighbours, Bangladesh can set aside funds for libraries across the country and assign government officials, teachers, artists, police and army officers to preside over their activities.

A month-long fair will not revive our publication industry. At the same time confining it within a group of domestic publishers will not usher in a change to readers and publishers. We need to invite foreign publishers and writers to take part in this fair. And most importantly libraries are needed to provide sustenance for the minds of change makers and nation builders.

Notes And References:

1 “Boimelay Jongi Hamlar Shonka Udiye Deya Jai Na(Terrorist Attack In Book Fair Is Not Ruled Out)”,Bangla Tribune,February 13,2022. For more read here

2 “Regaining The Lost Spirit Of Ekushey Fair”,Rezaul Hoque,March 08 ,2019, https://hoquestake.blogspot.com For more read at https://hoquestake.blogspot.com/2019/03/regaining-lost-spirit-of-ekushey-fair.html?m=1

Losing The Soft Power

With much fanfare another Ekushey Book Fair has started at the heart of Bangladesh's cultural Mecca. The ritualistic buying spree will continue for a month and a noticeable feature is absence of Indian Bengali book publishers who are reputed for bringing out quality contents and more professional in their dealings. For the last few years, a form of vice policing has also been put in place. Its goal is to seize any published contents that deemed taboo or not compliant with standard set by authority.

However, there is no short of contents. Stalls are glutted with books. Many of them are published to pander to the seasonal desire of local readers or with the money of amateur writers.

Of the crowd that thronged the fair every year, kids and adolescents constitute a larger part. In their fledgling years, books nourish their minds and build the repository on how to express their thoughts and ideas. Lack of good Bangla books hampers that process. Libraries that once stored these good books are dying. So are the sources to replenish the repository of young minds. Another source is the leading dailies. But only negligible few produce quality contents and provide space to writers from across the border. Some bought copyright of the their works and reprinted them here. Even that is not replicated widely.

By barring the foreign publishers in this fair we deprive the readers of good books and somehow slows down this process of sentence construction, articulation and argument making.

Given the seasonal nature of our publication industry, our publishers have never been professional and are far from ready to publish the quality contents in great quantity.

This book fair could have been a great platform to showcase all the Bengali books , published anywhere in the world. The grown stature of 21 February entails this global participation. Senseless protectionism creates obstacle even giving the fair a regional representation.

But the opposite is expected since Bangladesh is the sole country in the world that houses more Banglaphone speakers than any other country and is the beacon of Bengali culture. So it is a dream for those to showcase their works or perform their works in Bengali in front of the Banglaphones. Similarly a recognition to these Banglaphone writers and artists from the part government or private organizations will lift the status of Bangladesh among the league of countries that are connoisseurs and patrons of arts. Writers and artists in Anglophone and Francophone countries still long for and value awards and prizes provided by literary bodies or cultural or private organizations in those respective countries.

Unfortunately communal division runs so deep in the two factions of British Bengal that it casts an overarching shadow over our culture.In other parts of the subcontinent cultural relations between the countries are not so scornful. Despite regular clashes and casualties on both sides, Indian films are not banned in Pakistan. Urdu literature is flourishing in India. Kolkata still offers space for Urdu poets. And Bengalis in general highly value any awards from Kolkata, be it in any discipline of literature and arts.

Net result of this cultural division in Bengal is that the Bengali publication industry is at low ebb, Banglaphone writers and artists find it very hard to reach a broader class, creating knowledge and its dissemination in Bangla language has reached a dead end as very few books are written in Bangla at tertiary level education.

Far reaching damage is inflicted on economic front. Our cultural market shrinks. So is our cultural influence. Despite significant presence of Bengali diaspora in all major cities in the world , this division holds us back from having influence over literary and entertainment markets in those countries. What is worst back home we are losing our domestic audiences as well as market to foreign TV serials.

In their daily lives Bengal's thriving middle class incorporates enough ingredients that can make an impression on global audience. At the same time, its literature and entertainment industry catering to the need of typical Bengali mind that is progressive could also reach a welcoming audience in other countries, particularly the Muslim ones.

A regimented quarter in our country reinvented this "us versus them" in Bengali culture and weakened the cultural bonding. Generations representing the unified culture and divided one offer a striking contrast. Those who grew up in undivided Bengal outshined the ones grew up in divided Bengals in their respective fields and many found a global turf.

Even in the divided cultures, the one that is open and liberal creates enlightened society and highly qualified citizens. Just start counting the names and compare.

Spirit of Ekushey entails that our cultural events offer potpourri of artistic works.We need to discard this protectionist stance the day February 21 was declared international mother language day.Pursuing this protectionism in cultural arena for far too long only weakens our cultural leverages. By not allowing more qualified Bengalis from across the border in media, academic and publication industry we are gradually losing this soft cultural power. And our readers, particularly the young ones, do not get the chance to relish the sophisticated works of refined and superior Bengali minds.