Art and Culture

Tagore was indeed a biswa-kabi, or poet of the world. In the first half of the twentieth century, few had travelled as much as him, visiting more than thirty countries on five continents Shying away from being a ‘patriot’ and ‘seeking compatriots around the world,’ Rabindranath laid faith in humans, no matter of what nation, race or caste, in overcoming limitations and perils of all kinds. It is this faith that made him cross boundaries, both intellectual and territorial.

The Baromashi Tapes takes the well-known folk genre of the baromashi the twelve-month song, to tell the contemporary story of Sakina and Khokon. Like the merchants or sailors of old, Khokon has left his wife behind in the village and gone to seek his fortunes abroad. Sakina misses her husband and reminisces about their short conjugal life together but also describes the everyday events that take place around her. Though much of rural Bangladesh seems unchanging, Sakina witnesses the mechanization, migration, education that impact upon village life.

For generations, Bangladeshi craftsmen have been making beautiful metal objects using a variety of different techniques. While a handful of books have been written focusing on some of the older pieces that have been found throughout Bangladesh, few have provided insights into how these metal objects were created.

Do you know the extent to which one can pardon? Do you know of some acts which can never be pardoned? Quamrul Hassan, magnanimous Quamrul Hassan could never pardon some acts. Hatred and bitterness, curses and satire made his wrist strong, his pen sharp, his brush intense. He did not pardon the Pakistan of 1971, the man-made famine of 1974, his former beloved, the arch shameless dictator. Do you know his eyes stiffened into stone hatred and bitterness? Day and night he heard laughter of tigers and jackals and crocodiles and monkeys and donkeys and snakes.