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The charisma of "Chhinno Patra"

5 August 2003, 18:00 PM
LIFESTYLE
By Fayza Haq
5 August 2003, 18:00 PM
The view seen through Noazish Ahmed's lenses after a 100 years.(D)
Dr Noazish Ahmed, the well-known photographer the maker of the video on "Chhinno Patra" talking about the importance of his subject matter, "Chhinno Patra". "This is a collection of Rabindranath Tagore's letters written to his niece from 1887 to 1893 when Tagore was fairly young, before his 30s and he was living on a boat in the then East Bengal. The letters depict the beautiful nature of the region where he was residing, particularly the River Padma, so that the writing is a unique documentation. Tagore used to write to his niece Indra Devi almost once a week, and this resulted in 246 letters. As is well-known, Tagore was a son of 'zamindar' and was supervising his father's estates in Shelaideho, Shazadpur and Rajshahi. Tagore would say that "My profession is 'zamindari' but my interest is in 'asmandari' as he wrote poems, short stories, and so many other things which have enriched our literature. This was the era in which he wrote most of his short stories like 'Post Master', 'Khoka Babur Prottaborton', 'Megh-o-Rodru' and various other such literary works. His keen observations on nature, the people, the day to day changes of environment came superbly in the 'godde moha kabbo', with its simple, freestyle which surpassed even the language of his short stories, as he admitted himself."

Asked how he had transformed Tagore's writings on the different aspects of the Padma and other elements of East Bengal scenario onto the screen, in his video, Dr Noazesh Ahmed says, "My 'Chhinno Potro' is based on Tagore's 'Chinno Potro' selecting from 246 letters. I did the selection in such a manner that it covers most of our seasons and a lot of the areas, such as storms, moonlit nights, spring, and at the same time the dry seasons in the shoals, dunes etc. I took five years to do it (it had taken five years for Tagore to write this). In the video is captured the essence of Tagore's 246 letters."

Dwellings on the problems that he had faced while making the video, Dr Noazesh Ahmed says, "There were a lot of problems. To begin with, there was the physical difficulty. Tagore wrote the letters a hundred years back. The structures have changed since then such as change in the garment of people's clothes, the River Padma changed quite a bit, and country boats with sails cannot be seen that often as there are motorized counterparts at present. Again, to spend days on a boat, shooting the pictures, was not that comfortable. Also, the Bangladeshi weather with its heat, mosquitoes, flies and sometimes damp weather naturally hindered my work somewhat, at times. The heat could spoil my camera. At times, I had to leave the boat and go to the sand dunes when my expensive cameras could have been stolen. Incidentally, I carried about three professional Nikon F-3 and Nikon 100AF, 90X cameras with five or six lenses and lots of films. I needed various cameras as with some I took negatives, and with other I took slides and pictures in the dark."

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Talking about whether there were any other photographers with him and whether he had preplanned the venture the outset, Dr Noazesh Ahmed says, "Instead of taking the pictures on the video camera, I first take the stills. Tagores' old musical sensibility and his lyricism stirred me on. I had a few friends like the well-known actor and director Aly Zakir and Nafiz Ahmed, a reputed photographer, also accompanied me. I had other friends besides. Most of the time we were in an ordinary boat, while I stayed some time at Shelaideho, covering a large area from that spot, going on a small boat."

Dwelling on the particularly satisfying moments, Dr Noazesh Ahmed says, the shots I took fit well with Tagore's descriptions, particularly the sand dunes which were so beautiful and exciting for me, with their integral patterns and rhythms of sand, which Tagore described so vividly."

Dr Nozesh Ahmed has brought out books on photographs before. He is educated in USA and has worked in the Far East and in Bangladesh during the Pakistan days.