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MY WORLD

An Anthology of Writings on Dhaka University; and How Do We Translate UN Jargon into Bangla?

S. M. Ali
DHAKA University is seldom far (rum our thoughts. From a dlitanrr more phy-alcaJ than mental, we ace what goes on there with anguish and pain, very often also wtth anger, blaming all and sundry for the tragic situation that prevails tn whai wm once called the "Oxford of the East*.
From time to time, but only in my Imagination. I walk along the tree lined shaded roads whk-h ate (tee of all traffic except a few rickshaws and bicycles. slop by a roadside shop for a pan and then drop by the British Council to look at the latest copies of The Times, an acquired habit to assert my somewhat uncertain standing as a student of English Language and Literature. Yet. It is anything but a wasteful ritual Some phrases from a report stay tn my mind; a headline makes a strong impression; and the lay-out of a page catches my attention So. somewhere along the way. my training as a journalist begins, under a pretty good teacher. Tha Times
So. I can go ^n and on. with my patchy rendntocences of life In Dhaka University. from the late forties to early fifties, the years of turmoil and regeneration which, by stages, changed the course of our history and our own
Maybe one day I will ask some of my contemporaries to pul down their thoughts and recollections. Then, adding one of my own — I am not that unselfish — to this precious collection. I will take them to Muhammad Jahangir of the Press Institute of Bangladesh. He would know what to do with what I may prematurely describe as his unexpected precious acquisition
Why to Muhammad Jahangir?
This is because it is this well-known television personality, a writer and a senior staff member of the Press Institute who has Bsent me a copy of "Smrill Kathay Dhaka hwabidyalay' (Reminiscences of Dhaka University). It is an anthology of writings on our alma mater, all In Bengali, by the best-known luminaries who have served the university, many from its establishment in 1921. through its formative years. A few — ahis, very few — are still associated with it and sharing with us the anguish and pain of witnessing the decline of the Institution.
It is Jahangir who has compiled and edited the collection of 144 pages, containing 21 pieces, with an introduction by Dr Anlsuzxaman. currently with the Bengali department of the University. In his preface. Jahangir acknowledges the sources of different efinpti-rs, the help his publlshe's • !><■ Mowln Brothers and U- contribution of Ino artists. Alxlur Razzak and Qnyuum Chowdhury, vho did the painting of the Curzon Hall and the writing for the Ulte page reepecttvcly for the Jacket. It is a well-planned professional Job which has earned Jahangir the right — and the responsibility — io produce the second volume of the anthology
If Dhaka University had once been called the "Oxford of the East". Il was not because of Its weft-planned buildings. Its teacher-student relationship or its forward looking Innovative curriculum (For instance, as we learn from the piece by Kazi Motahar Hossain. Dhaka University raised the teaching of Statistics to the M Sc level even before the same was done by the Presidency College in Calcutta.) There Is little doubt that the University gained Its reputation mainly because of the kind of teachers. Including many intellectual giants, who joined the Institution, even when it had Just started in July 1921 with 60 lecturers and professors for 877 students In 12 ar ments. residing in three residential
What a galaxy of talents: Romesh Majumdar. Kazi Motahar Hosaain. Abul Fazal. Buddhadeb Basu, A F Rahman. S N Basu, Mohammad Shahlduliah. N C Sen Gupta. Abdur Razzak. A O Stock and Kamaruddln Ahmed But there arc others. Including a few of my contemporaries.
Some of the pieces are written by the teachers themselves; some arc about them written by others, in a few cases, based on interviews. (There is a good one by Sardar Fazlul Karim talking to Prof Abdur Razzak: another one by A F M Shaftullah writing about his father Dr Mohammad Shahlduliah)
Reading through aD the 21 pieces, one gets some rare glimpses of life In the university through those crucial years, about appointments (some a little controversial) of teachers, the personality and the working style of the first Vice Chancellor. Philip Hartog and some well-hidden tension about the ratio in the representation of Hindu and Muslim teachers In different faculties Yet. despite these teething problems, life followed Its well-planned course, (hanks to successive Vice Chancellors (never mind a few controversial ones).
Another picture emerges from these writings. It is about visits to Dhaka by Rabindra Nath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam, when the two poets, during their separate trips, sang and recited their poems In different halls, usually slaying wtth teachers (Tagore was the house-guest of Romesh Majumdar for a week, providing the historian with enough material to write a human Interest piece on hts distinguished visitor.)
Then, as a bonus, one gets a picture of Ratnna from the pen of Buddadcb Basu
It was also the time of political uncertainties almost bordering on turmoil. With the two communities — Hindus and Muslims — sharply divided over the British plan to carve up Bengal, with Dhaka becoming the capital of combined East Bengal and Assam, the establishment of the university was overshadowed by dark clouds and threats to communal harmony. Yet. in the midst of all these crises. students went to their classes. Satyen Bose carried out his history-making research In physics and student actors staged their plays Students often gm into fist fights, but none ever brought out a gun No stones were thrown at the office of the Vice Chancellor Ideological affiliations were strong — after all. it was the time of the antiBritish agitation reaching Its climax — but factionalism had not raised Its ugly head. And. of course, there were no session jams.
It mattered little if Dhaka University could really be called the "Oxford of the East". What mattered was that It was an institution teachers and students felt like writing about, with some pride, a great deal of nostalgia and hope
MY knowledge of Bangla has been put to a severe test by the United Nations system, especially by one of Its major agencies, the World Bank.
How do you translate "structural read-Justmcnt- into Bengali? 1 have checked some local papers In Bangla and casually gone through the last budget speech of Salfur Rahman for our local equivalent of 'structural readjustment". And I am more confused than ever I have decided that next time I am obliged to use the term, tn English. 1 will coin a new expression and make my modest contribution to UN vocabulary.
This problem of irnnslatfng the complex UN terms Into other languages. especially In Asia and Africa. Is not a new one.
While working for UNESCO some years ago, I was told by a Chinese expert In Beijing that his office hud serious difficulties in translating the then commonly used term. "The New AVorld Information and Communication Order" Into Chinese.
In this context, what is the difference between Information iind communication?" he had asked. I was ready with some kind of a reply. "Information Is the product: communication Is the process." I had mumbled. "But what Is the difference between order and a system?" he had asked again. Years later. I was told by a colleague that the Chinese had coined their own term for "information and communication order" and replaced the last word by system". I wonder, what Beijing Is now doing with 'structural readjustment", not Just with translating the expression Into Mandarin but also with its application. Here, as in so many other matters, there may be a lesson for Dhaka to team from Beijing