Bringing Ghalib and Mushaira to Bengali literature New Delhi: When an university student in her 20s and steeped in Bengali literature heard for the first time the poems of Mirza Ghalib from her teacher, the last thing on her mind was writing a novel on the legendary poet. Six decades later, when she did write one, there were two “firsts” to the event. First, she became the only Bangladeshi writer to fictionalise the life and times of Ghalib and is credited with bringing ‘mushaira’ to Bengali literature in a big way. Secondly, when the novel was unveiled at a function in Dhaka on February 12 this year, she attended such an event for the first time in her career spanning nearly four decades 21 novels and seven anthology of short stories. But that is the way she has always been — humble and media-shy — despite having won several prestigious literary awards including Bangladesh government’s highest recognition ‘Ekushe Padak’, honorary D.Litt by Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata and Munshi Prem Chand Fellowship by Sahitya Kala Academy, New Delhi. Yes, we are talking about Dr Selina Hossain and her latest novel ‘Jamuna Nadir Mushaira’ on the life and works of Ghalib. Through ‘Jamuna Nadir Mushaira’, Hossain has attempted to see modern Indian history through the eyes of Ghalib, transforming the book into a seamless amalgamation of a high literary piece and history. Beginning with the birth of Ghalib in Agra and dwelling on subsequent accounts of his childhood and youth, Hossain’s book has traced the poet’s arrival in Delhi after his marriage and given a detailed account of his lifestyle in the city where he had lived writing poems, attending poetry sessions, indulging in his drinking habit and enjoying the company of dancing girls. The writer has liberally used several poems of Ghalib in the novel, bringing out the moments of pain and ecstasy in the poet’s life. From Ghalib’s unsuccessful marriage and poverty and to attempts to overcome all those through drinking bouts and in the company of dancing girls, Jamuna Nadir Mushaira beautifully brings out the conflict in Ghalib’s life and gives the readers an insight into what went into the making of his poetry. The book also gives a vivid account of the life in lanes and bylanes of Agra and Delhi during the time of Ghalib and Hossain’s style of writing, as is always the case, keeps the readers constantly engaged. According to leading Bangladeshi columnist Syed Badrul Ahsan, Selina Hossain “gives us this year a remarkable work of literature which brings Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib back into the memory.” Ahsan says Jamuna Nodir Mushaira “reminds me how many of us have known of the use of the term mushaira in Bengali literature. But here we have it, courtesy Selina Hossain. Literature, for her, for everyone else, is a matter that transcends frontiers. So let mushaira come into Bengali literature. After all, all literature is an embodiment of the soul.” For Hossain, writing novels on legendary personalities is not an unfamiliar terrain. She has written a novel in which Rabindranath Tagore is the principal character and chose the time he spent in places which are now in Bangladesh-Shilaidaha, Patisar and Shahzadpur. Besides, Pritilata Waddedar, one of the key revolutionaries in Chittagong uprising of 1931 who committed suicide to avoid arrest after leading a successful attack on the European club, and Munnier Choudhury, a leading Bangladeshi intellectual killed by collaborators of Pakistani army in 1971, have formed the subjects of her two separate novels. What inspired Hossain, who turns 64 next month to write a novel on the life and times of a man and places far removed from Bangladesh? Her answer is simple: Ghalib’s life and the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. The writer mentions in the introduction to the book that her study of books on Ghalib of eminent Indian writers Abu Sayeed Ayub, his wife Gauri Ayub, Gulzar and Pawan Verma and her repeated visits to Agra and places in Delhi like Chandni Chowk, Jama Masjid, Red Fort and Kashmiri Gate which were associated with the Urdu poet helped her proceed with the novel. According to Hossain, she has chosen a particular time in history for some of her novels with a purpose. Quoting T S Eliot’s “In my beginning is my end (East Coker) and one must be aware “not only of the vastness of the past but of its presence”, Hossain says “the purpose is to give rise, in my readers, to a sense of time, a sense of both the past and the present. Afternoon Despatch & Courier Mumbai India. Monday, May 09, 2011
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 16:00:38 +0000
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