Azad:Advocate Of Individualism II

[April 28,2022 was Prof Humayun Azad's 75th birth anniversary.Reproduced below is a piece that I wrote on May 04,2021 as a tribute to him.]

Advocate of individualism in 56,000 square mile
Criticizes Bengali race and society in his style.
Frank writings never cease to rile
Reactionaries and make bigger his smile.

I first encountered the name "Humayun Azad" when I was in college. Our English Teacher Terence Pinero had thrown out a question to his pupils: "Who is your favorite contemporary writer?" Almost everyone told the names of two brothers who dominated the publishing industry at that time. Then he asked: "Do you want to know the name of my favorite contemporary writer?"

Without waiting for our reply, he said:" He shared the first name of your favorite writer, but has a different title. His name is Humayun Azad. I know many of you haven't heard of him. Do read Azad. No one in our time reads our society and people better than him."

Between the spare time my HSC exam and my admission to the University , I sent a long letter to Subarnarekha, a literary supplement brought out by Daily Ajker Kagoj, without knowing that he edited the supplement. The editor did not get back to me. An interview of him on that page also garnered my attention. I was no literary connoisseur, but his criticism of what is going on around him and the media attention invoked my interest on him.

Back in August 2011, I wrote a piece about him on https://rezaulhoque.wordpress.com .

I had not read much of his works by the time I entered university. My orientation with his works began with "Chhappanna Hajar Barga Mile", followed by "Kabi Othoba Dandito Opurush". He was deeply moved by the criminalization of society, decay of values and rise of the Islamists.¹

One afternoon on the second floor of theater building while I was going to attend a class, I met this pleasant looking, plainly dressed professor who was ready to talk to anyone. While he was smoking I inquired about the subject that he was working on. He said, “There are some people who still believe the sun moves around the earth! I’m working on them!!”¹

This was our Azad Sir.

He was never shy to talk openly to a stranger. A rickshaw puller and a man from the upper rung of the society got same importance and reception from him. From head to toe, he was embodiment of an educated gentleman.

Humayun Azad, born in Bikrampur, now Munshiganj and son of a School teacher, was Bangladesh’s leading linguist, writer and a strong critic of the extremists. He did his schooling at Sir JC Bose Institution, set up at the premises of renowned scientist and inventor of radio Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose. His teachers were erudite and had an impeccable style of teaching, reflected in his brilliant result at the national level.

He was no half baked intellectual. He did his PhD in Linguistics at University of Edinburgh. His books on linguistics and Bengali grammar earned him a lot of respect. But campus politics delayed his due promotion and gun violence at campus embittered him about the learning atmosphere prevailed in 80's and 90's. In an essay titled "Jatike Ekhoni Sthir Korte Hobe: Amader Bishwabidyaloyer Dorker Achhe Ki Na?(Decide Now: Do We Really Need University?)" wrote back in 1991 after witnessing a gunbattle at Dhaka University: " From school to University, we would like to see books, blooming of knowledge. University is a grooming ground, not an arms depot. And only learners will stay here, there is no place for gunners. We have to decide now: Do we really need any school, college or university? If we do really need them, then they have to be run accordingly. Otherwise, we may destroy them and engage in our suitable savage acts."² He was however against banning student politics at campus.

He was apolitical. In an interview with Bolaka in 1999, he said:" I don't belong to any political party and never chant any slogan of any party. I do not follow any doctrine, nor do I think day and night how to spread a doctrine. I want profound creativity and ultimate freedom of an individual. I do not like a man being confined into a custom, doctrine or party."³

He was conspicuously outspoken and took great pride in his works, which he really deserved. This, however, made him very unpopular among his peers.

His sharp political commentary about what was going on around him and the growing radicalization in Bangladesh caused lots of anger among the radical establishment.

His work " Pak Sar Zamin Saad Baad which was later banned by the Government of Bangladesh, made the extremists furious and led a radical member of parliament, also an infamous war criminal, Delwar Hossain Sayedee, now sentenced to imprisonment for life for War Crimes, to raise the issue of introducing Blasphemy law in the parliament in 2004. Just a week later, while he was on his way back home from Ekushey Book Fair, a bunch of medieval thugs attacked him with kitchen tools. He survived the attack, but he was so traumatized by the incident that it ultimately caused his death in Munich, where he was doing a research on German Poet Heinrich Heine.¹

I willfully avoided highlighting some of the important issues that Azad Sir pondered and worked as we have been going through an awful time . In this time , such discussion may give rise to fresh bout of bitterness and hostile feelings among certain quarter.

It is a pity that I will never see this simple but brilliant man at the gate of New Market or at the lecture theatre of Dhaka University. Unlike his writings, his very appearance radiates joy and makes one more optimistic. He was one of the brilliant graduates his alma mater ever produced and the Bengalis should be proud of him and his works.

With his demise, Bangladesh lost a great linguist and writer of our time. He was born much ahead of his time and in a regressive society like our ones very few were ready to hear what he tried to say. I think, in future, at our difficult times we will have to recourse to his writings.

-----------------------------------------------

Notes and References:

1.” A Man Ahead of His Time by Rezaul Hoque”.https://rezaulhoque.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/a-man-ahead-of-his-time/

2.” Protikreashilotar Dirgho Chhayar Niche(Under The Long Shadow of Reactionary Forces)” by Humayun Azad.

3. “Ekush Amader Aghoshito Shadhinata Dibash(Twenty First February Is Our Undeclared Independence Day)”.Anthology of interviews of Humayun Azad.

Alter Education, Alter Society

Shattering cries led the government to amend the laws.
Could it remove the existing structural flaws?
Except the education model allowed the Norwegian companies in.
Government should search the answer if it is really keen.
Education on reproductive health and social credit score
May curb rape and alter the society to the core.

In an unprecedented scale, manifestations against rape, fuelled by women of all walks of life, gripped the country. Air is thick with cries demanding capital punishment of the rapists and an end to rape. So strong was the cry, the cabinet nodded to raise the ceiling of capital punishment for rape to death. Some even consider to amend the definition of rape in the law.

Skeptics have already put a question mark about its effectiveness. In a country where vulnerable groups, religious minorities are being persecuted continuously, where flawed education system does not make good citizens to make aware the rights of others and duties to the nation and society, it will be naïve to think amended law is a magic bullet to end rape.

In recent years, our education system regressed back to a period that is comparable to dark ages. Our syllabus was updated by dropping poems and essays written by authors belonging to different faiths. Pythons were further endangered in our alphabet book and even replaced by rituals pretty common in dominant faith group. Reproductive health is never discussed in schools. In fact, in university and colleges it is slightly discussed and never talked about at great length.

We allowed a Norwegian brand to dominate our cellular phone market but never tried to emulate successful reproductive health education system found in Norway. The country is considered a pioneer in this domain. Country's education ministry runs an educational program titled "Newton" on its national channel to create awareness on reproductive health issues among school students.

But here we face increasing difficulty to talk about such topic. An online educational content platform once broadcast one or two clips of menstruation but it later took down the contents after facing stiff resistance from a fanatic group.

In Canadian universities, students' association or individual student often receives free packages of toys used for orientation towards reproductive activity. These toys are pretty common and help a lot to check the reproductive behavior. Such toys are still seen as taboos in our society.

Back in December last year, I read an investigative report on the Dhaka Tribune on underaged sex workers of Bangladesh. Many of them were sold to brothels at an age when they even do not know what intercourse is. Many clients in Daulatdia brothel told the reporter they prefered to start their day with such activity and went the brothel couple of times in a week. If there were toys in our society, we might restrain the demand-supply mechanism and curb the number of sex workers.

Lowering the marrying age of women and drying up of the stipend program for female education are the two serious errors the government made in its tenure.

Just to inflate its popular vote bank , its erroneous decisions in the long run seriously harmed the society and the nation.

Political leadership at times nerds to be bold it is a pity that power grabbing generals introduced contraceptive and family planning in this society. No political leadership dared to take such bold decisions in such a regressed society like ours.

Prof Humayun Azad, academic and linguist, aptly captures Bengalis' reproductive life in one of his writings:

Reproductive life of the Bengalis is a big taboo. Seldom is known and written about that life. That life is banned and shrouded in mystery. As if any discussion about it were a serious transgression. It is an indication that life is dirty, polluted, full of sins, unnatural and devoid of orgasm. Bengalis are very keen in sex; every male is a Casanova, but their demand remains unmet. So their reproductive life is full of perversions. Adolescents engage in pervasive acts, youth stays sex starved, so does the grown-up and aged people. Most Bengalis take great pleasure in talking about reproductive life and spread rumors about others' reproductive life; this life occupies a great part of the discussion of the grown-up. They are sophisticated imposter; when you inquire them about sex they play ignorant as if they never heard of it and never knew anything about it. This is the pervasive part of Bengalis' reproductive life. Bengali children never get any education about it; they do not know about their reproductive organs; they do not know their use. They indirectly face some religious and social obstacles. These obstacles are unscientific. Bengalis' reproductive life is devoid of science and art. It is imbued with cruelty. Bengalis spend their youth with unmet demand, which results in perversion. Rape is a vernacular incident in Bengal, the Bengalis could be aptly described as racist race. And the reason lies in the absence of a healthy reproductive life.In the West, at the age when young men and women get closer and indulge in knowing each other, Bengalis spend that age in agony. Bengalis' youth is a complete failure, full of agony. Sane men never rape, sick men cannot help raping. Extra-marital life of the Bengalis is pretty wide, they are constantly in search of chances; but their married reproductive life is the sole area to meet the physical demand.Are the Bengalis satisfied in this life? No survey can be found in this regard; no discussion can be heard. Bengalis in this life remain unsatisfied and deeply unhappy. In the act of reproduction, Bengali male is the active participant; the female remains passive. The male only thinks of temporary pleasure and nothing else; he does not know that the partner also wants the pleasure; he never tries to know that.Bengali male and female never reach orgasm. They have no idea of orgasm. Most Bengalis lack the healthy and trouble-free ambiance to get orgasm. So instead of getting inspired, Bengalis quickly draw conclusion: it is the briefest task of their life though it is perhaps the greatest and important task of their life. Dissatisfaction they draw from this life surrounds their entire life, makes them sick. The sickness results in sudden desire. Whenever the Bengalis encounter a woman, they think of her an object of sex. They copulate with her in their minds. Such a sick race in reproductive life cannot become successful in other parts of their life. (Source: The Bengalis: A Sick Race? by Humayun Azad)

Prof Azad, who was attacked in the Ekushey Book Fair with machete in 2005 at the same spot where a blogger was killed in 2015, bluntly decoded the problem of our reproductive life in harsh language.

Since the source of the problem is known, government should take bold steps to address it. At the individual level, altering our education system is a good option to fight rape. At the aggregate level, some new concepts could be introduced in the society so that a reward and punishment mechanism being followed for individual conduct.

Social credit score, introduced in China, could seriously be thought an alternative for gauging good conducts, otherwise not reflected in social status or education or wealth, of citizens interested to avail some public goods and services or to engage in other aspects of life.

Frequent transgression could be reflected in poor social credit score and the individual will be barred from getting desired public goods and services. This in turn makes one more conscious about his social credit score and improves his public behavior and interaction.

A person who has less carbon footprint, less dependence on gov't money,less harassment record can possess high social credit score than a rich individual and that high social credit score could place him ahead of that rich individual in availing public goods and services.

So when a citizen sees his social credit score secures him some position in the society and at the national level, he should mobilize more effort to care about others, nature and cultivate good manners.

Right kind of education that incorporates education on reproductive life starting from the elementary level of schooling could churn out more sane and sensible individuals. Introduction of social credit score, on the other hand, nudges a society to embrace the right kind of conduct and reduce the incidence of social maladies.