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Dhaka Day by Day

Culture Confronts Anarchy

by Rahat Fahmida
"No one can ever question about the slghlfi cance of Ekushey. Though now. with tlie change of time. Ekushey February Is celebrated more like Muharram It Is more a day of festiv tty than a day of mourning. I feel in a way it bears the essence of celebration and rcmem brancc Please don't misunderstand me The Intense respect far lhe martyrs Is visible and bo I* the love for the language I am not being critical about the whole thing." said Kalim Sharafl. an eminent singer and cultural per sonaUty. during an interview. He had been actively Involved during the language movement. But his activities stand out: because Mr Sharaf) was associated with a cultural organisation in Chittagong Pranttk'. even some 40 years back. He logically pointed out that their emotional attachment to the day February 21 Is bound to be different from that of the youths of this generation, who celebrate it with great enthusiasm. This Is only because Kaltm Sharafi and his associates have been a party to the wliole language movement. Their memory of the language movement Is vivid. Listening to him on the television or radio, or even during his stage performances, one could hardly imagine how much this noted singer has to share about his experience and work during this movement-
Looking back nostalgically in his memory line. Mr Sharufi said that their organisation wus a progressive one. which worked towards mass awareness about the recognition of Bengali language. And the road they chose was .through fine arts, that is. songs, dances, cultural shows and dramas. He described the spiritual adventure of passing from an everlasting no' to an 'everlasting yes'. Kalim Sharafi s eyes were bright with emotion as he described the events during the language movement: transition of feeling in themselves, in which they moved from doubt, uncertainty and spiritual deadness to hope, confidence and a lest for productive life.
The noted singer said that at war or in peace, the Bengalis are by nature revolutionary. They are in a wuy united: and have not or will not submit to dictation. They arc given to slating their experience, but their awareness and perceptions are acute. Kal I in Sharafi confidently remembers that their movement was successful in mobilising the mass of Bengali people, creating an awareness for their mother tongue. For him. however, the 'no', the slate of despair from which the Bengalees tried to free themselves, has been pressing and Immediate. Wliat was so Inexhaustibly wonderful about these mass dramas and songs pul forward by Prantik’. wus Its power to awaken in people the awareness of their language and culture that they did not know they had. They read a poem or a story or saw a play and discovered that they knew more than they had suspected — about their love and loyalty for ^Ifcngall language. Within months. Kalim Kalim Sharafi
Sharufi. then on active cultural worker, said, that people became aware of ranges of experience that they shared with every other person wIk> spoke tn Bengali.
Kalim Sharafi said that for these activities he and his co-workers were definitely pinpointed and they had lo pay for it as late as after tlie 1954 elections.' They had to go the extent of even fleeing from this country for sometime. For some years he was the programme director of television from the time It started. And lie clearly remembers that they were never allowed to explicitly celebrate Ekushey. even after Bengali was accepted as a state language. There were Instructions and permission from Plndt. informed Mr Sharufi that — "You can observe Ekushey with reference." So they had flags with Bengali alphabets which spoke of Ihe significance of the day.
Looking back Kalim Sharafi remembered another small Incident: which left him shocked and stunned for quite sometime. It was some time after February 21. 1952. when be met the SP of police al Dhaka, who shamelessly put out his hand and introduced himself as. "I am the person who ordered firing tn 1952." and Immediately Kalim Sharafi drew back In disgust and refused to shake hands.
Though the values and Ideas arc changing but what Mr Sharafi strongly feels about the Bengali language is. "It is a world in which we sometimes find our own concerns — our own hopes and fears and loves and hatreds. It Is a world both mysteriously near and remote. No one word can sum up wluil happened to us and how it happened 40 years ago. when we entered It."