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Kindling memories of Nazrul

Selina Bahar reminisces on the Rebel Poet

Sabira Manir
met poet Nazrul five times. Each time I met him, it was an exhilarating experience for me,' says a nostalgic Selina Bahar Zaman. Going back in time to those idyllic days, Selina, a Nazrul enthusiast, recalls the close relationship between her father Habibullah Bahar and Kazi Nazrul Islam. 'While we were living in Kolkata, my father never had the time to take us to visit the ailing poet. He took us to the newspaper offices, friends' houses, and cultural conferences but never did we get to meet the poet. Perhaps, he avoided seeing the poet in a misery,' she says.
After the partition of India in 1947, while Selina's family returned to the then East Pakistan, the poet continued to live in Kolkata. Nine years later, in 1956 an excited Selina got the long awaited opportunity to meet the poet for the first time in 1956. 'We went for my father's treatment to Kolkata and thus came this momentous occasion. The poet lived with his wife and children in a two-storeyed building in Rajendra Lal Street. My instant reaction when I saw him first was to compare the real poet with the portrait of him I had in my mind,' recalls Selina.
Once again in 1962, she had a chance to see the poet. Selina reminisces, 'On our way to Ajmer Sharif, we made a stop at Kolkata just to visit the poet. He was living at CIT Road then. There was a considerable change in the poet's family between 1956 and 1962. The poet's beloved wife Pramila had passed away the year before and he seemed very disturbed at her demise.' Nazrul was brought to Bangladesh after the country's independence, in 1972, and was taken to a house at Dhanmondi which the government had arranged for his stay. This time around, Selina Bahar went to see him again in 1972. 'The house was full of people. The poet was sitting on a divan and the artistes were singing in front of him,' says Selina. The last time Selina saw him
was after his death in 1976.
Selina's memories about Nazrul are enriched by her father's musings about the poet. As she has learnt from her father, Nazrul visited her grandfather's residence in Chittagong in 1926. People were thrilled to have the poet among them. The excitement spread like wildfire all over Chittagong. The whole city was enthralled with Nazrul's speech
and songs. She heard that people streamed into the yard of her grandfather's house only to have a glimpse of the poet. The whole city followed every step the poet took.
During his second visit to Chittagong in 1929, Nazrul wrote a poem, Shishu Jadukar, about a newborn baby of the Bahar family.
'The place where Nazrul stayed
during his visit to Chittagong is still there on the Jubilee road. There were a few Areca palm trees beside the room where the poet stayed. These are the trees that he mentioned in his classic poem Batayan Pashe Gubak Tarur Shari,' as Selina recollects.
Inspired by Nazrul's memory, Selina has written a series of articles on him. Her first effort on the bard Nazrul Pandulipi (the manuscripts of Nazrul) was published in May 1994. 'During the poet's visit to Chittagong, he wrote some poems in an exercise book which was later preserved by my father. After my father passed away, my mother preserved it. A few years later it was passed on to me,' Selina informs how the manuscripts have come down to her. The poems were adapted in the poetry books of Shindhu-Hindol (1927) and Chakrobak (1929).
Selina's second publication is the adaptation of Dhumketu (a magazine edited by Nazrul), published in February 2001. Dhumketu was the first magazine that was owned and edited by Nazrul.
Selina says, 'I did not get all the issues of Dhumketu, also the printed copies that I collected were not distinct. So in this adaptation I have used 27 copies. In the next edition I have plans to use three more copies,' she adds.
Selina Bahar wants to do more research-orientated works on Nazrul. She has plans to write a biography of Nazrul and publish an essay collection on Nazrul. With more such dedicated Nazrul researchers, the Rebel Poet's memory is likely to remain fresh in the minds of his admirers.