St Josephs! At Asad Gate? We might have been neighbours. I was next door at Green Herald.
Maybe we also threw pebbles at each other back then at the basketball matches :)
The book sounds truly beautiful. But I fear it because it would make me more angry about what we have lost in just one generation. If Abdul Khaleq could change Bangladesh today - what would he change? Could Abdul Khaleq stand tall in his village today and speak his mind without fear of the thugs of BNP and AL?
There are many, many people who can relate to Abdul Khaleq briefly described below. I cannot relate because I was born in a different time. The description reminds me of dozens of people I know in my own life - and every single one is a good person.
But I do know one thing - and one thing alone. We have to fight back. There is a famous quote; "Let us not go gently into the endless winter night".
We have to fight back. For our children. For our parents.
We may disagree on language and method. But if someone's opinion feeds the status quo then he is on the wrong track.
AL and BNP are putting the nails into Abdul Khaleque's coffin. Not me and not you.
We have to fight back.
Robin Khundkar <rkhundkar@...>
ipsomilk2
Mahmud Rahman is a friend from my childhood and also school mate from St. Josephs. My LA friends you have met him at our place.
Harper Collins India has just brought out Black Ice, a translation of Mahmudul Haque's Kalo Borof. It's a heart-wrenching and lovely book and Harper Collins has brought out Mahmud Rahman's translation with a lovely cover.
http://www.harpercollins.co.in/BookDetail.asp?Book_Code=3123
"Abdul Khaleq teaches at a rural college nearing collapse in newly independent Bangladesh. When a writer friend asks him to chronicle his childhood, Abdul retreats to an enchanting world in the suburbs of Calcutta. He remembers the girl who spoke to fish and birds, the girl he first loved. He also recalls the stream of visitors who came to his parents’ door in those days, some bearing want, some malice, and others, generosity and wisdom. He plummets into despondency when memories return him to a time when Hinduâ€"Muslim tensions in undivided Bengal eclipsed his innocence. Abdul’s nostalgia enrages his wife Rekha who resents his lack of ambition and aloofness. Prodded by the village physician Doctor Narhari, the couple embark on a boat ride that forces them to confront their discord and desires, and plumb the roots of Abdul’s alienation. Published first in 1977, Mahmudul Haque’s cult novel, Black Ice, probes with utmost sensitivity the invisible scars bequeathed to the inheritors of the losses of Partition."
Here's the translator reading from Black Ice: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150578972887402
Here's the translator talking about his friendship with Mahmudul Haque and solving puzzles: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150580039012402
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