Gantha Meeting on Rabindranath and Nazrul (2021-05-21 )
Gantha held its May meeting on the 21st virtually. The group celebrated Rabindranath Tagore’s 160th and Kazi Nazrul Islam’s 122nd birthday jointly on the day. The program began with a Tagore song by Jharna Rahman,“Kon she jhorerbhul, jhoriyediloful.” Eminent writer Selina Hossain talked about how both Tagore and Nazrul upheld gender equality in their writings. She also mentioned Nazrul’s secularist perspective. She said that by celebrating both these poets Bengalis can find their identity. Nurun Akhtar read from Tagore’s story “Byabodhan.”Khilkhil Kazi, the poet’s grand-daughter, reminisced about their life in Kolkata and Dhaka. Masrufa Ayesha Nusrat read from Nazrul’s story “Badal Barishoney” while Marzia Rahman read from his “Meher Nigar.” Both the stories are being translated by them to be anthologized in a volume under the auspices of Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol. Niaz Zaman talked about why it is important to translate Nazrul. She expressed her happiness in the recognition that Nazrul’s fiction is getting today. Nahid Kaiser, who is doing her PhD on Tagore, discussed the influence of Kadambari Devi asTagore’s literary muse. Parveen Rahman recited the poem “Kripon.” The program ended with Jackie Kabir singing Nazrul’ssong “Padmardheu re.”