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Tribute to a fighter To our very own friend & mentor, Mr Narayan Gupta
Narayan Gupta with some of his family members Tanvir A Chowdhury W ith great sadness and sorrow we learned that our dear friend and a regular contributor to NFB, Dr Narayan Gupta has passed away sometime on May 7 , 2003 in Toronto Canada . Narayan Bhai was fighting cancer for sometime now, his courage and determination has been inspiration to so many of us.We at NFB join every one to communicate our heart felt loss to his family and to each other, in this cyber family. The sense of loss is hard to perceive, but he is still amongst all of us and will be so, all along. Many of us got to know him from News From Bangladesh pages, since1997. He has been major inspiration for NFB from it�s very beginning- along with Dr Jaffor Ullah , these were the handful few who started off the interactive elements for NFB- news monitoring site, whereby readers started contributing articles and opinion for NFB, now it is a regular feature for NFB . Even though he didn�t write much in very recent days, his legacy and contributions will continue, speaking up on the occasions was his style and who can forget such a person . He was not only exceptionally courageous, he used his writing to effectively to convince others of injustice and malice that is around us , he stood for all of us without t being partial. I have never met him in person, yet I always felt that I know him and felt he was a dear one, we have exchanged many e mails and even argued on various issues , but my respect for him never hindered a bit , he surely was a man of honor and great dignity. Passing away of Narayan Bhai is a tremendous loss for the community. There were so many things this great man taught me, taught all of us, "how could one begin to say thank you"? we will never forget him . May God rest him in peace. We invite others to say their piece and show their respect to this great man . NFB will post a special page dedicated to such. We will also run series of his articles as tribute to him this week.Tanvir A Chowdhury News From Bangladesh Here is one of his (Narayan Gupta�s ) beautiful narrative essay Water and Folk Cultures of South Asia�particularly of Old Bengal By Narayan Gupta* January 2001 From NFB�s collection O ne of the largest congregation of religious rituals is taking place right now in India. The actual site is the confluence of two mighty rivers Ganga and Jamuna (many spells as Yamuna or Jumna). In the days of Vedas, about 5000 years ago, there was another river named Saraswati, which met at the same confluence. Therefore, the confluence is also called Triveni Sangam - the confluence of three braids.The geographical name of one of the holiest site of the Hindus was renamed by the Mughal Allahbad - the town of Allah. Before that, it was known as Prayag. Since the decline of the Mughals, the British reigned undivided India for over 150 years. After the country was divided and boundaries redrawn, based on the head counts of Hindus and Sikhs on one hand and the Muslims on the other, the town maintained its name after Islamic Supreme God Allah. It also maintained a mix of Hindus with all the caste systems, Muslims and Sikhs. It is also the seat of the High Court of the largest state of the Union, Uttar Pradesh. This city has produced many eminent persons of the subcontinent including the Nehrus. The inhabitants of the Indus and the Ganges valley have been worshipping river and seas from the Vedic times in various forms. The River Ganga is considered as Mother God to many. Most of the religious sites of the Hindus are located on the banks of the Ganga, such as, Hrishikesh, Haridwar, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, etc. There are year round festivals and rituals in all such places. These are either in the form of a Puja, holy dip, floating little lamps on leaves dedicated to the ancestors. I really do not see the special significance the Kumbha Mela, except that every twelve year it has a special significance and is called Purna Ku! mbha meaning full pitcher. Mela means fair. One of the big attraction of this Mela is the congregation of fully naked or half naked Sadhus� gathering by the thousands. They come there from all over places - mostly Northern India and the slope of the Himalayas. After the event, these Sadhus would return to their hermitage. In the Purna Kumbha Mela of 1953, there was disturbance resulting in the stampede of the trident wielding Sadhus. When it was all over, the Mela authorities counted at least ten thousand devotees dead. What a tragedy at the site of the Holy God! Skeptics lamented, people of other faiths ridiculed, faithful Hindus accept! ed the tragedy as a result of bad Karma. Any way, what was supposed to be an event for receiving God�s blessings turned out to be a killing field. In West Bengal and Bangladesh there are numerous festivals revolved around their rivers. About this time, during the Makar Sankranti (Winter Solstice) there is a great congregation at the Sagar Island, off Sundarbans in the Bay of Bengal. Rabindranath�s famous poem Devata�r Grash is based on pilgrimage to the Sagar Island. The obstinate boy wanted to accompany his aunt to the island. Jaibo Sagore. "I must go to the Sagar Island," he was adamant. In the end, to save other passengers of the boat from a certain wreck, the boy was sacrificed to the Ocean God. With him went down the priest who led! the pilgrims of the boat. In Bangladesh, these festivals are mainly practiced by the underclass Hindus. One reason is that it is not expensive like the elaborate Durga Pujas of the so-called upper caste Hindus. In Mymensingh district, I remember people would travel to Hoshenpur on the bank of Old Brahmaputra river for dip on the occasion of Janmasthami - the birth day of Lord Krishna. The event is commonly known as Asthamir Snan. Thousands take dip on Buriganga on that occasion, which if I recall correctly is an official holiday of Bangladesh. One of the festive seasons of the Bhati (low lying) areas of Kishoreganj, Net! rokona, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Brahmanbaria is the during the mid monsoon month Sraban (July -August) when all the fields are flooded, the rivers and canals merge with the Haors (marshes) and harvesting was long over. The whole area celebrates during this time. The festivals go by different names in different areas. In some places it is called Nouka Puja, while in other areas it is known as Srabani Puja or Bisha Hari Puja. As the names imply, the festival centers on the boat, the waterways and other traditions. Just as the rivers lose their separate identities with the onset of waters rushing from the slopes of the Meghalaya hills, so does the shades of Hindu-Muslim culture! of the village folks. They probably return the pre-modern folk cultural days - having no relevance with the Hindu-Babu cultures or no conflict with the rural Muslim cultures of East Bengal. The whole Bhati area takes a festive look. Everywhere there are hectic activities. Friends visit friends. Married daughters make long waited Journey to the parents home, the trip uniquely called Nayyar. Then, who worries about caste or faith? It is a uniquely folk culture of the poor Bengal - rarely seen anywhere else in the sub-continent. Hindus join tobacco (often Ganja) smoking parties with Muslim friends. Muslims are welcomed at the courtyards of Hindu farmers to share Pitha (rice cake) eating parties. I have even noticed Muslims singing folk songs on Lakhindar and Behula. These are the two legendary characters of rural East Bengal. (When I say East Bengal, in this context it excludes the southern districts of Bangladesh like Jessore, Khulna and Pabna) but it includes Bangla-speaking areas of Assam such as, Karimganj and Silchar ! and even Tripura.). Then at night, there were informal session, mostly outdoor, of folk songs like Bhatiali, Jari Gaan, Shari Gaan, Marfati Gaan, and drum beating. Paan-Supari, Hookaha, Doi-ChiDa and often Ganja went freely. But, one stark difference from such events of West Bengal was that there was no hanky-panky or alcohol or women related entertainment formed part of the festivities. Occasionally, the staff of the Zaminders or younger men of the Babu families were invited. There are no deities and rarely have I saw the participation of Brahmin Purohits. These festivals have no relevance with the religious festivals of North India or West Bengal (like Gajan or Rathjatra). There are boat races participated by hundreds of boats and witnessed by many thousands. I have seen no one asking: Are you a Hindu or Muslim? On one such boat race festival at Ajmiriganj under the subdivision of Habiganj in the late forties, I saw not less than fifty thousand people came to see the boat race. All were seated on their boats of different styles, sizes and colors. Not too far was the famous village Baniachong, said to be m! ost populated village of the United Bengal. It produced many eminent personalities. One such person was Ramnath Das, who was the first person to travel the globe on a bicycle. It is said that he wrote his diary in Sylheti dialect, which was translated in standard Bangla before reproduced in the Dainik Ananda Bazar Patrika of Calcutta. On the way back to Itna (under Kishoreganj subdivision), our team had stopped at the village Joysidhdhi (home of Ananda Mohan Bose) and Mriga (home of Dr. Nihar Ranjan Ray of Bangalir Itihash fame). When the festivals were going on, the traders did also brisk business. At the Ajmiriganj Bajar, I noticed there were thousands of stalls selling almost anything that is needed for daily rural life - starting from thread for fishing net to Alta (decorative color for rural women�s hand and foot). There were thousand of vendors displaying their myriad merchandise. These included colorful Reshmi Churi (ceramic bangles), earthen pitchers, sugar candy, rice, cooking oil and even fresh fish. At the level of the educated class, rivers and water ways played a dominant part in Bangla literature, folk songs and folk cultures. Rabindranath�s songs are heavily loaded with such things that are in daily life of riverine Bengal, such as boat, sail, southern wind, ebb-tide, waves, boat worker, flood, golden crops and harvest, ghat, white cloud, boat-wreck and on and on. Like wise, Nazrul�s famous song, Padma�r Dheu-re ....., would take anyone to his left-behind home in distant rural Bengal before one could finish humming the tune. People of South Asia, Bengal in particular, have learnt long ago the value of water, which is the sole source of life, happiness and destiny of rural souls - men and women, rich and poor, Muslim and Hindu. All that is needed is the mind to appreciate and feel the gift of nature.
Remembering Narayan Gupta By Jamal Hasan
Dear All: It is very sad news. Narayan da's departure from this mortal world brings back lots of memories. First time I saw Narayan da's name was in News from Bangladesh. The year was 1997. He used to write off and on in the Reader's Opinion column. He also penned a small comment disclosing his position in the first emotionally charged debate of NFB back in 1997. Although his comment did not jibe with mine, I did not keep any hurt feeling towards him. That is why I reached out to him and cultivated a friendship towards a man of integrity who never hesitated to call Spade a Spade. Narayan da and I used to have lots of telephonic conversation for some time. I encouraged him to send his essays to Dr. Jaffor Ullah for further editing. Initially, that might have been hard for him to approach someone whom he barely knew. It was fun to be the bridge between the two activists. Later on, Dr. Jaffor Ullah and Narayan da developed a closer intellectual bonding. Dr. Jaffor Ullah also encouraged him to continue with his artistic endeavor. He was a self-taught artist par excellence. Traces of his talent can still be found in paper stacks of Muktomona. He was also a humorist and an excellent political cartoonist. Above all, he was a great fighter who involved himself in all these creative work with a constant pain of cancer, which was going up and down for some time. I recall onetime he recovered from a long dosage of chemotherapy and he happily let us know that he was enjoying being on the computer keyboard once again. Normally we hardly come across too many Bangalis of his age as courageous as Narayan da. I never met Narayan da in person. Yet, I always had felt that he was very close to me. Like many of the selfless political activists scattered around the globe, Narayan da will always remain very close to my heart and soul even though he is no longer with us anymore.
I want to share my heartfelt sorrow with you all. -Jamal Hasan =============================================================== Here is an essay of Narayan Gupta that was published in The Daily Star of Dhaka more than two years ago. The Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh January 26, 2001
Where Hawks Dare Narayan Gupta in Maryland, USA SINCE Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Raja Rammohon Roy left the scene, very little progress had been noticed in condition of women in South Asian countries formerly known as the Indian subcontinent. Last one hundred or so years, the priorities amongst the bourgeoisie and western educated city dwelling Hindus of the subcontinent were initially to get Swaraj (self rule) first and then to achieve the social reform next. For the Muslim leadership had raised the demand for Pakistan a separate state for the Muslims of India first, everything else next. The Pan Asia Muslim consciousness was a primary product of self-imposed deprivation of western liberal ideas of the well-to-do section of the community. While the new rich Hindus sent their children to Oxford and Cambridge with a view of getting a good job under the British rulers. Many of them returned indoctrinated by the liberal thoughts of the European Socialists. During day time they studied Law or Engineering while on nights and weekends they attended radical India Majlish. The Muslim rich, baring a few, sent their boys to learn the intricacies of true Islam to Al-Azhar University of Cairo or such morbid institutions at home. However, when both the Swaraj and the Homeland for the Indian Muslims arrived suddenly, with very little or no price at all not counting the fratricidal killing of couple of millions and exodus of more millions the leaders of both India and Pakistan resumed the Mughal-Maratha conflict under a different name. One of the aspects of the subjugation on woman is trafficking smuggling out young girls from their impoverish homes to big cities inside or outside the borders and engage them in prostitution, sodomy and all other kinds of tortures, sometimes even outright murder. Oprah Winphrey, in one of recent (Jan 19, 2001) programmes highlighted the issue. The programme showed how every year among five to ten thousand minor girls are smuggled from villages of Kingdom of Nepal and brought to the red light areas of Mumbai and sold to the flesh traders. The fact of the matter is that little girls, call them children if you would, are often brought not only from Nepal, they are smuggled in from Bangladesh villages lured by the agents for better life. The agents collect the children from many parts of India where they are sold by their parents for as low as $200. Ophrah show focused that the slavery-torture on women goes openly in the Kamtapuri neighbourhood of Mumbai the clientele includes Petro-Dollar rich Sheikhs from the Arab countries. They fly straight to Santa-Cruz airport of Mumbai where the touts will be waiting for the services. Services include both "eat-in" and "take-home." There are sufficient approval in the religious texts of the faithfuls of either shade that arrive in private. Before returning, these noble men do not forget to seek forgiveness (just in case) at the majestic Masjid off Mumbai beach. Zealot Hindus may be smiling and telling each other, "Did I not tell you what they are like?" Well, not so fast. Follow me to the most holy city of the Hindu Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges flowing north bound. Varanasi is also Beneras or Banaras or fabled city of Kashi - the oldest city inhabited continuously without a break. A city of many temples, large mosques, elegant churches, gurdwaras and Buddhist stupas (at Sarnath). The most famous is the Viswanath temple a small but ancient one, which survived many raids. This temple is the site of Lord Shiva. If you follow a typical businessman, you will notice that he has just arrived after taking a holy dip from the nearby Ganga. He enters the temple leaving his pair of shoes at the entrance of the temple, offers prayers in the prescribed manner, chants couple of Mantras, gives generous "Dakshina" (fees) to the priests and leaves the temple not forgetting his new pair of shoes. On the way back he trod the famous and narrowest lane, Biswantha Galli, there he buys some gifts and bunch of fresh roses. He looks around for any acquaintances and walks towards Godhuli intersection. There he comes across a dozen elderly ladies - all shaven heads and holding chains of beads - squatting on the side walk. One of them said in Bangla, "Baba Amar, Ami Bangali Bidohaba, Chhele Bilatey Thakey, Sara Din Ekta Dana Pore Ni, Amake Kichhu Dao, Bhagaban Apnar Bhalo Korbey." He is in good spirit today, because he has just won a lucrative contract for repair of the retaining walls and the ghats of the city. He donated one full Rupee to each of the elderly widows. This not the end! If you have patience, please follow me little further. At the Godhuli, he hires a rickshaw. You hire another and follow him. Within five minutes he gets off and pays off the rickshaw puller and walks fast towards a narrow lane. From the signs of the nearby stores you come to know that this is the famous Dal Mandi where sex business is carried out for hundreds of years. You follow him. By then it is almost dark and you can watch the acts of welcoming the guests, the songs and the sweet smell of perfumes and flowers. A pleasant Gazal from a distant balcony touches your ears "Job Dilko Fansaye Hum, Tere Saqui Sargam," literally, "when I entangled my heart with you, it is your sweetheart who is having all the fun." That is enough for you and you return to your hotel on foot. Now is the time for laughter of the other guy, "Ha - Ha - Ha, Dekha, Who Log Aur Bhi Gunhagar Hain!" Next morning, out of your curiosity you decide to go to the spot where the Bengali widow was asking for alms. Bad luck, she is not there today. You ask the other lady in Bangla, "Where is the other lady who was sitting next to you?" Without paying much attention she mumbled, her only son is a surgeon at a London hospital but alas, could not afford to support the sick mother and then with shivering finger pointed towards not too distant shore of the Ganga. A plume of dark smoke was visible behind the city skyline. You walked to the cremation place right on the bank of the holy river. That is it. Dasashwamedh Ghat the cremation pyre that never had a break for several thousand years. The old widow has at last reached her eternal home. There, no problem of hospice, no medicare or pharmacare, no high health insurance problem or killer hospital bills, no anxiety for intellectual highly educated children torn between conscience and career or the Antardwanda (inner conflicts) about where the family boundary ends or where it begins. While you are carried away by stupid thoughts, the tidewaters washed off your sandals. It is time to say good buy grandma, let her atma (soul) find a resting place at long last. Too bad, both Vidyasagar and Rammohon are not there any more. --------------------------- Naryan Gupta passed away sometime in the first week of May, 2003. He was about 68 years old at the time of his demise. He was born in Itna, Mymensing. His grandfather was the Zamindar of Itna. As a young boy he had vivid recollection of the partition of India and Pakistan. His memory was fresh as ever as far the Hindu-Mussulman riot od 1940s. We lost a great soul. Narayan Gupta used to write from Maryland, America ================================
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