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Rhythm of life at Shaheed Minar

10 February 2004, 18:00 PM
LIFESTYLE
By Cultural Correspondent
10 February 2004, 18:00 PM
Book worms throng the stalls at the Ekushey Book Fair
The long cherished February has begun at last. The Ekushey Book Fair as well as other cultural activities commemorating the language martyrs of 1952 and honouring and celebrating the International Mother Language Day have begun in full swing. After the inauguration of the 12-day long programme byShammilito Shangskritik Joteat the Central Shahid Minar premises on February 8, the second day's programmes began with theganasangeetby a popular group namedKranti. Some of the popular tunes - Altaf Mahmood's "Ghumer deshe ghum bhangate", DL Ray's "Moder gorob moder asha", Ariful Haq's "O Aalor pothe jatri", Shudhin Das Gupta's "Ujjal din dake swapno rangeen"-touched all the listeners' hearts. Runa Jahan, Niloufar Banu Lily, Mahbubul Haider Mohan, Arif Rahman, Biman Chandra all the well known artistes in the cultural circle presented the songs and received great appreciation from the audience. As the time passed, the Shahid Minar premises filled with people from all sections of the city..

Then Shayannika performed their patha natak (street drama) "Tumi ki keboli chobi", written and directed by Khairul Alam Choudhury. The play reflected human nature and its earnest need for freedom by way of insinuation. It revealed the truth that even the so-called democracy of our country could not give, emphasising on the actual freedom, namely freedom of speech. The audience gave a round of applause to the actors and the director.

Katha Abbritti Shangathan performed the solo and group recitations. Finally, the theatre group Dhaka Padatik came up with their piece of satire "Takar Naal". The play was a mockery of our socio-economic state. Debashish Ghosh who directed the play tried to create some sequences where the crude reality was shown in a very light tone. When a man went to buy kerosene for his lamp, the shopkeeper gave him a bottle of "Jonaki" (glow-worm), as the price of kerosene was too high! Thus the drama unfolded itself and the director and the dramatists tried to depict the actual condition of the middle class families.

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Apart from that, the regular discussion and the cultural programme were held at the Bangla Academy premises around 4:00pm which started with the conventional opening song. Then the usual discussion programme began with the presenting of the keynote paper by Dr. Muhammad Shahjahan Mia on "Madhyajuger juddha kabya 'Jang Nama'". Professor Mansur Musa, Director of Bangla Academy, presided over the programme. Other speakers were Tosikul Islam, Sajjad Kadir and Aniruddha Kahali. Though the discussion was on medieval war epic, all the speakers pointed out that the same old medieval time exists in our present world as well, citing the Iraq war and other evils. A wonderful cultural programme followed the discussion.