One of The Poetic Luminaries That Depicted Rural Bengal Movingly

 

When Al Mahmud wrote poetry at that time poets did not learn to become poet laureates. He wrote poems with the streams of love and rebellion flowing out of his heart. His poems belonging to his anthology Sonali Kabin (The Golden Marriage Contract) is one of the greatest poetic works in Bengali literature.

Al Mahmud’s poems on brides who are about to get married jingled with the original aura of Bengali culture. He felicitated those heroes who made the clarion call for equity for the working class people in Asia.

Al Mahmud is memorable for many reasons. He participated in the Liberation War of 1971. At that time he used to do a small job at Daily Ittefaq. Aruna Prokashoni published one of his books at that time. A farmer from Bardhaman brought Al Mahmud’s poems carrying in his pocket. Celebrated editors like Sagarmoy Ghosh were astonished reading Al Mahmud’s poems.

Most of the people think poetry is either eulogy or slogans. However, Al Mahmud was an exceptional poet.
Some people draw Pakistan’s flag on their cheeks. Al Mahmud never did anything like that. Al Mahmud’s short stories like “The Cormorant’s Blood” or “Water Courtesan” cannot be written by anyone else. He was such a gifted writer, an illustrious poet.

Al Mahmud suffered monetary shortage in his family life. He faced poetic jealousy all his life. He became cornered for being a pious man.
Al Mahmud can be placed on equal terms with Subhas Chandra Bose and Bhupen Hazarika. Al Mahmud’s poems will continue to charm us all the time.

Al Mahmud’s political standpoint is not my discussion topic. We have seen valiant freedom fighters opposing independence in our country in some cases. There is no political party in our country who did not pack hands with Jamaat.

I have always been an admirer of Al Mahmud’s poems. Let’s take a look at some of his verses.

Poetry, the birds of pastureland, the collected eggs of
ducks and the fragrant grass;
Poetry, the lost calf belonging to the sad faced wife that
fled away snapping the rope;
Poetry, the decorated letters in a secret pad within
a blue envelope;
Poetry means Ayesha Akter, the girl of unfolded
hair at a village Maktab.

Al Mahmud is one of the most noted poets of the present time in the field of Bengali verses. Like Robert Frost and Seamus Heaney, Al Mahmud’s poems are also frequently dotted by the rhapsody of nature found in the rural parts of Bangladesh. The rivers, birds, crops, fishermen and peasants occupy a massive portion of most of the poetic works by Al Mahmud. To cite a few lines from his poem "In the Valley of Dreams”:

We will sow the grain seeds in the valley of dreams.
The water of Silver River will flow on the left.
The sharp husky mountain will remain on the right.

Al Mahmud, in the above poem, speaks of his pledge to nature to make it abundant and splendid by sowing seeds while a sparkling river will be streaming along his beloved landscape which he dreams to transform into a pasture of celestial bounties and happiness. Entities like "grain seeds", "Silver River, "husky mountain" point at the depiction of a pastoral spectacle in this poem. Al Mahmud’s applications of pastoral imagery in his poems can be traced in the following extract too.

Silently I observe

The water-snakes running after fishes
Fleeing away beside the edge of fields;
The green grasshoppers leaping in fright on my arms.

Once again, Al Mahmud returns to the countryside of Bengal by telling the readers about "fish", "edge of fields" and "green grasshoppers." It seems to be quite lucid that Al Mahmud had an extensive love for the ingredients rural Bengal is made of.

Al Mahmud is one of the immortal poets of Bangladesh. He is considered one of the greatest Bengali poets to have emerged in the 20th century. Al Mahmud was born on 11 July 1936 in Brahmanbaria. His poetry books “Sonali Kabin” (The Golden Marriage Contract), Ek Chokkhu Horin (The One Eyed Deer), Pakhir Kachhey, Phuler Kachhey (To Birds, To Flowers), Mitthabadi Rakhal (The Liar Ploughboy), Mayabi Porda Dule Utho (Swing Magic Curtain) are some of the poetry books that made Al Mahmud one of the finest poets in Bengali language.

Al Mahmud received a number of prestigious awards for his extraordinary poetic works. Some of these awards are Bangla Academy Literary Award (1968), Joy Bangla Award (1972), Humayun Kabir Memorial Award (1972), Jibanananda Memorial Award (1972), Kaji Motaher Hossain Literary Award (1976), Kabi Jasim Uddin Award, Philips Literary Award (1986), Ekushey Padak (1986), Nasir Uddin Gold Award (1990), Chattagram Sangskriti Kendro Farrukh Memorial Award (1995) , Alakta Literary Award, Lalon Award (2011) etcetera.

Al Mahmud will remain everlasting in our memory as a poetic legend.

He passed away on 15 February 2019.


Mahfuz Ul Hasib Chowdhury is a
contributor to different English
newspapers and magazines.