Jibanananda Utshab in Barisal

A four-day Jibanananda Utshab to observe the 117th birth anniversary of the great Poet Jibanananda Das is currently on at Ashwini Kumar Hall in his ancestral town Barisal, with a call for more study and research on him. The festival opened on Saturday and ends today.

The festival is organised by Barisal district administration and includes discussion, a book fair and cultural functions on the premises.

Md. Gaus, Divisional commissioner Barisal inaugurated the festival, addressed by Dr. Gazi Md. Saifujjaman, deputy commissioner; Abul Kalam Azad, additional deputy commissioner and cultural personalities Akkas Hossain and Syed Dulal.

Speakers at the discussion said works of Jibanananda Das are to be felt with the sense of time and history, encountering references to olden times and places, events and personalities, rather than merely read or heard.

Jibanananda Das remained anchored in his own soil and time, successfully assimilating experiences real and virtual and producing hundreds of unforgettable lines. His intellectual vision was thoroughly embedded in Bengal's nature and beauty, they said.