& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

MY WORLD

Thoughts on Ekushey Padaks; When the PM and the Star Think Alike; and Memories of Two Unforgettable Friends

S.M. Ali
WL=r
pienta of Ekushey Padaks for INI aa well aa to those named for 1092 for their achievements tn various fields, from literature and education to music and fine arts.
A reporter colleague asked me how he should describe their achievements, aa noted or outstanding. We settled for noted’, a description that we thought was both accurate and non-controvcrsial. Another reporter wondered if we should not look for photographs of those named for 1992 for use on an inside page or wait for a year when they finally receive their padaks in February. 1993. We agreed that the system of naming recipients for the next year, tn advance, was a little puzzling, which takes away tire surprise element and perhaps reduces the sense of excitement among the recipients. It can also be a little awkward for one to be listed us an awardee, without having a citation or some kind of u temporary padak in hand. Then, what happens if an awardee for the next year docs something really unacceptable tn his or her field, like. say. plagiarism in a literary, journalistic or musical work, between now and the padak-giving ceremony in 1993? Will the awardee be politely asked to-stay away from the ceremony or will there be a two-line announcement withdrawing his or her name from the list?
The system should, indeed, be preserved. After all. a nation should have its own way of honouring its talented citizens, without asking the kind of questions that some of our young colleagues have tn mind. However, this does not mean that there cannot be some improvements. even modifications, in the system. For one thing, instead of according recognition to well-known Individuals for ihclr noteworthy performance 1n fields they have worked in for decades, with visible success, we should look for potential awardees with truly extraordinary achievements which have so far gone unnoticed or unrecognised. Should we find them among farmers, social workers or women activists? Again, why do most, if not atf. of the recipients turn out to be Dhaka based members of the educated middle class? Do we look closely al our district towns for individuals whose work. marked by silent dedlca tion. deserves national recognition?
Il all bolls down to one simple plea : Let us use thia time-honoured practice In boosting grassroot development. rather than In promoting middle class elitism.
WE know where we should look for Ute next set of awardees for Ekushey Padaks Surely.
among social workers who arc in the forefront of the "Education for All* campaign In Bangladesh.
Indeed. I find it most gratifying that Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's call to winners of Ekushey Padak for '91 to take a pledge to spread literacy
movement all over the country to uphold the spirit of out lan-A life long bachelor tlwn In his late forties, he always had a couple of visitors staying as house guests in his fiat While I was tliere for a week or so. the otlicr one was Amar Lahiri. a legendary Indian journalist who had lived In Tokyo during the World War II working with tlx: Indian National Anny (INA) of NelaJI Subash Chandra Bose
On February 22. Aswfnl Kaka woke me up at the crack of dawn with the day's copy of the Hindustan Standard which
hud .i banner, "Students Shot Dead In Dacca* or something to that effect. The report ol what had happened In the capital of the then East Pakistan was sketchy, bused on radio broadcasts and on Information available In Calcutta. There were plenty of gaps to fill.
It is nice to remember that Mi Lahiri gave all bls guidance tn my writing a backgrounder on the history of our language movement from 1948 onwards and persuaded me to take the report to a local evening English-language dally which was edited by one of his many friends in the Indian capital Whether it was the introduction of Mr Lahiri, the quality of my writing or just the topicality of the subject, the report got a good play on the frontpage. with a jump to the back page. This was die first bylined feature of mine ever used by a foreign paper Not a bad start, really, because it was good enough for Mr Lahiri to use my services as his London correspondent. two years later, when he set up, with Norman Soong The first Asia based lea ture service. Pan Asia Newspaper Alliance
The Pan Asia Newspaper Alliance, belter known a* PANA, is still there, so I am told, but all three — I.ahir1. Soong and Otipta — are no more. How time files.
guage movement" found the right echo In the post-edit article. published by the Star on the same day. In his piece. my colleague, Mahfuz Anam sug-K»led that this year's Shaheed ly would be dramatically different if the two major political parties. BNP and AL, make concrete plans to join national efforts to eradicate illiteracy. It will be presumptuous for me even to speculate how the two — the Prime Minister and the Executive Editor of an Independent non-partisan newspa per — hit on the same idea, when, as far as I know, their meeting about a week earlier concerned canal digging in Jamalpur. rather than the literacy campaign
The coincidence is gratify Ing but not surprising Almost every day. one thing or another makes us conscious of wtiat itinerary has done to our nation and how all the rhetoric that we pour out in defence of Bangla really amounts to noth Ing when nearly HO per cent of our people are unable to read or write.
Time Is running out If. by the turn of the century, we cannot reach a literacy rate of atieast 50 per cent, we will be looking after what we may just plainly call a retarded nation What will be Its capacity to play Its role tn development, apart from being the so called cheap labour but with low producttv Ity tn a clialfenglng world?
Maybe this Is what Begum Khaleda Zia had in mind when she called for a 'pledge* from all to spread the literacy movement to uphold the spirit of Amar Ekushey If so. we are with her on Ulis Issue — all lire w^
WHILE reading the reminiscences of my contemporaries and friends recalling the events of February 21. 1952. I resisted the urge of mentioning my own whereabouts on that historic day in the short piece 1 wrote for our supplement published for the occasion.
The fact is. 1 was then in New Delhi, staying as a houseguest of late Aswlni Gupta, the then Resident Editor of the now defunct Hindustan Standard. tn his three-room flat on the seventh floor of the newspaper building. A former anti-Brittsh revolutionary who limped due to a bullet wound in one of his tegs. Aswlni Kaka was a top class journalist a liberal humanist and an extremely warm-hearted friend.