A writer, through a different lens
Depicting a part of any great man's life cannot be limited within the man. The depiction also extracts something out of the time and society in which the man has spent his life. In fact, when we go through any biography or autobiography, it is the times and life of contemporary society that on the whole attract us. Going through Dhakar Buddhadeb Basu is no exception. It is rather more interesting. Though not comprehensive, it is an exciting illustration of the times, the people and the society of contemporary Dhaka which influenced Buddhadeb Basu in his early life.
The book, written by eminent writer Syed Abul Maksud, is a source of immense pleasure. It is pleasure which comes of reading a work that apparently appears to be an outcome of serious research work likely to be limited to literary critics and post-graduate students of Bengali literature.
Buddhadeb Basu is one of the most reputed writers in Bengali literature, one who was able to set his own standards in poetry, short stories, novels, drama and essays in an era dominated by an overwhelmingly Tagorean climate. Basu's literary aspirations had their beginning in Dhaka, where he was to spend fewer than ten years. He left Dhaka for Calcutta (today's Kolkata) in 1931. A brilliant student of Dhaka College and the University of Dhaka, Basu nevertheless felt little drawn to the city, which is a probable reason why Dhaka appears so little in his works. The few instances he cites of the city in his works are not enough to convince anyone that he had any love for it. And yet his recollections of Purana Paltan, where he spent those years in Dhaka, are always a pleasure to read.
For his part, though, Syed Abul Maksud makes tireless efforts to overcome the difficulties involved in writing about Basu. He has been able to collect and collate events and happenings during the period in question from various published and unpublished sources. And he has with finesse given his findings a form that for us is a symphony which until his arrival has not been heard. He divides the book into fifteen chapters in a sequential manner so that the reader can feel the tenor of Buddhadeb Basu's life and work in Dhaka and also beyond it.
The chapter on Basu's last visit to Dhaka in mid-August of 1950 for fewer than three days is illustrative of the man's life and career. Here the writer briefly illustrates Basu's political mindset and his bias toward the United States in terms of policy. A US-based organisation, Friends Service Units, actually arranged the writer's visit to a city that by then had become part of Pakistan.
Or observe the chapter on Basu's university life that commenced in July 1927. Basu also began at this time to edit and publish Progoti as he had been awarded a monthly scholarship of Taka 20 for his brilliant results at the intermediate examinations. Maksud makes note here of several letters and quotes from those letters. These missives are certainly part of the invaluable documentation of Buddhadeb Basu's correspondence with such contemporary writers as Achintya Sen Gupta, a leading presence in the well-known Kollol Group.
When Kazi Nazrul Islam came to Dhaka and stayed for some days in the city, Buddhadeb Basu was the leader of the young writers' group who enjoyed the poet's company. We also note that Basu's first collection of poetry, Bondir Bondona, was published by DM Library in Kolkata owing mainly to recommendations by Nazrul. Gopal Majumder, the owner of DM Library, published the poetry of a then young and little-known poet of Dhaka as Nazrul had asked him to do so. Interestingly, Basu never mentioned Nazrul's contribution to such a landmark event in his life. Syed Abul Maksud concludes that Basu had some psychological inability in dealing with certain truths.
In fact, throughout the book, one can spot in Buddhadeb Basu some intriguing and conflicting aspects of character. In 1971, Basu was not enthusiastic about Bangladesh's war of independence. He kept his silence even as his friends extended their support for an independent Bangladesh. He also never expressed any interest in revisiting Dhaka after the city had turned into the capital of independent Bangladesh. From his early life, Basu showed some negligence on many contemporary enlightened personalities and so wrote very little about them in his varied reminiscences. Maksud's book thus becomes a different lens to probe anew the times of a great writer of Bengal.
There are, however, a few shortcomings in Maksud's work visible to a reader. A brief sketch of Basu's life could have been added as an annexure. In some places, dates or years are not mentioned clearly. The font settings of all the quotations are too small. Be that as it may, one can only say that those who love Dhaka should read this book.
Comments