I see it as a national problem for most of us Bangladeshis. We tend to glorify people beyond necessity. I understand Mujib did a lot, maybe more than what we can appreciate him, for our country and the Bengali people. But then again, it is past. There is no point in dwelling Mujib or Zia's death and contribution. What we need to do is learn from their principle and take actions according to them and move the country forward INSTEAD of talking all day for the past 40 years how great Mujib is. I understand if only some historian or writer did that around Mujib's deathday, but everybody does it, politician, civil workers, students, I mean everybody. Give it a rest already. We can not move forward as a nation until we blindly believe in a person but not his principles. Wake-up Bangladeshis, we dont want to end up making shrines or idols of Mujib and Zia and start worshiping them... well it seems like we are right on the path to that....
From: Robin Khundkar <rkhundkar@earthlink.net>
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2012 10:23 AM
Subject: Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: An elegy on Bangabandhu, August tragedy and after
What profound observations!!!! We are waiting for the third BONGO (techno-muslim) force led by the Mien Fuerher that will finally whip us deviants into shape!!!
-----Original Message-----
From: ezajur
Sent: Feb 23, 2012 12:32 AM
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Re: An elegy on Bangabandhu, August tragedy and after
He is indeed a type of Jesus to many. If He were alive today many of us would be healed by touching the hem of his garment. How fitting too to refer to Sheikh Mujib as 'The Father'.
Sheikh Mujib was his own man. He is responsible for all his actions, his undeniable triumphs and his undeniable failures. He was a mortal.
It's not his fault that we now raise him to the heavens! It's not his fault that we invoke his name to cover up our own failures and hypocrisies.
He would be horrified to watch the descent of Bangladesh and the shenannigans of AL and BNP.
--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Shamim Chowdhury <veirsmill@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> I am not a writer or a poet but wrote these few
> lines for my friend Bangabandhu Mujib in memory of his homecoming day.
>
>
> Â
>
>
>
> I will keep my eyes open
> until I die to see triumph return of my friend
>
> I will keep my ears on the
> air if I can hear him again
>
> Jesus went unto cross to
> show the light to his disciple
>
> Mujib took bullets into his
> wide chest to save his people
>
> Ceaseless tears fathom
>
> How millions of red roseâs blossoms
>
> A fearless warriorâs death
>
> Is only path to come back.
>
> Â
>
> Friends, as
> I was browsing the web I stumbled upon one Dr. Nasirâs posting which I copied
> below. Reading a wonderful piece of poetry written by Urdu poet, Mir Gul Khan
> Nasir I wonder how great was the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh
> Mujibur Rahman who touched the hearts and minds of so many people home and
> abroad alike.
> Thanks,Shamim ChowdhuryMaryland, U.S.A.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Dr. Rashid Askari
> Saturday, August 27th, 2011
>
> The great Urdu poet, Mir Gul Khan Nasir (1914-1983), popularly known as âPeopleâs poet of Baluchistanâ wrote a wonderful elegy on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He wrote it at the Central Jail Mach on 29 August, 1975 just fourteen days after Mujibâs assassination. A good many poems have been written on Mujib at home and abroad before and after his death, but I donât know, if such a brilliant poem on his dastardly killing, which leads to a wholesale socio-political and cultural damage in Bangladesh, has been written by anybody else.
>
> It is a highly passionate and meaningful piece of poetry whose elegiac tone turns into a rock-solid promise to fight the enemies of the motherland. In a few verses, the great poetic genius tells the tragic story of a national hero who gave his people their long-cherished independence from the chains and shackles of a petty imperial rule, and was ruthlessly killed by some infamous army personnel who were the slaves of their foreign masters, and danced to their tune. In sooth, revolution devours its own children! Nasirâs poem on Mujibâs killing and its consequences are tremendously relevant to us until now. I feel tempted to introduce the readers to this unique piece of poetry. It was originally written in Urdu. But for the convenience of a wider readership, I have done a translation of the poem in English. I know the poem has lost its real appeal in translation, but still we can have the feel of the August tragedy to it.
>
>
> âShouts, cries, and hasty calls
>
> The sightless crowd rejoice
>
> They call it âdawnâ, but as I look at life
>
> The dark, black night in full
>
> The lighting strikes and a mute thunder
>
> It seems itâs pouring far away
>
> But the smell of rain doesnât pass through the air
>
> Rather, the blood is moving up in a ditch
>
> O fools! Whereâs the brilliant morn?
>
> The angry night is still in here
>
> Yazid-like imperialists are still crushing the bones of the brave patriots
>
> In populous and picturesque Bangladesh
>
> Once again, a storm of blood is rising
>
> Once again, the brokers of imperialism
>
> Are setting fire to towns and villages
>
> Mujib, the great patriot
>
> Sprawled on the ground in the pool of his own blood
>
> Clad by the hateful slaves of imperialism
>
> In a red coat decked with bullets
>
> The accursed agents of imperialism have waged genocide
>
> But then again, itâs the story of Hussain against Yazid
>
> O courageous comrades! Beware of Yazid
>
> If you unite they lose
>
> The mouth (they speak through) is theirs
>
> But the tongue in it is of the imperialists
>
> Theyâre failed, for their pockets are full of money
>
> And to their aid come the imperialists and (their) platoons
>
> To kill the brave patriots
>
> Theyâre given men and weapons
>
> Thereâs no mercy in the hearts of these cowards
>
> Itâs they for whom the world is dark
>
> They donât let the flame of freedom burn
>
> Blow it out when found alight
>
> Mujib, the fearless friend of Bangladesh
>
> In the firing squad with family
>
> And again, the flag of freedom is flown at half mast
>
> The imperialists are back to their old tricks and treachery
>
> Once more, conflicts are cleared up by the gun
>
> Again, the Land of Gold is on fire
>
> O brave friends! Itâs how time drives us
>
> The same way, my motherland (Baluchistan) is also burning
>
> Donât get afraid, O Warriors! Donât stop
>
> Even though the path is rugged and full of thorns
>
> Mujibâs blood shall, by no means, go in vain
>
> Itâs just a test of the firmness of the patriots
>
> It wonât last; this night of terror wonât be long
>
> Even though itâs at times dark and foggy
>
> Nasir sees clearly, with his heart / The victory-flag is flying in the wind./â
>
> The poet rightly observes that the cowardly killing of the captain of our Independence has cast a shadow over our joy of freedom. What the ignorant people think morning is actually night. And this darkness of night is caused by the loss of the Father, and thereby the loss of the liberation ideals (Bengali nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularism) vindicated by the Constitution of 1972. The poet, however, warns us of the fact that our national journey towards democracy and secularism may sometimes be jeopardised by neo-colonial forces and armed intervention, but at the end of the tunnel there must be light. He tries to inject a deep sense of awareness and protest into the poem. It concludes with a note of hope that the ânight of terrorâ would be over. The sacrifice of leaders like Mujib will not go in vain.
>
> Dr. Rashid Askari teaches English literature at Kushtia Islamic University. E-mail: rashidaskari65@...
>
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