The city that was painted red and white
the city that was filled with faces colored,
Drums that hammered through the rowdy roads
and hearts that danced evermore,
The parades of dolls, the chanting songs,
the lovers that kissed, the smiles that were once lost,
All were calm now,
except the rain and everything that mattered;
The tale of you, me and the city.

Dated 15.04.12

Dated 25.03.12

Amidst all the chaos, road-trips & insanity, here is a photo-feature along with a poetry piece that was done roughly a year ago, but only recently post processed and completed. Hope you like it!

Credits:
Poem & Photography: Adnan M. S. Fakir
Model: Tabassum Anila Hridi
Mehedi Design: Tasneem Karim
Body Paint: Farah Tarannum

Here is the entire poem based on which the photo-feature is done:

Dressing Your Skin

Let colors drape your burdened skin
Of black tinted green, vaulted with lime
and azure blues that have crept along
the foamy waves of your sandy shore;

Let the colors chase your dreams
where my fingers have once traced your skin;
stemming from your chaste eyes
running along my kisses down your cheek
to the edge of your lower lip
sprouting branches of avarice and lust
that you smolder with care
gratifying the gluttonies of sin.

Dress your skin with untiring fervor
along the path where my fingers
once trickled along your sly bosom
crunching those naïve desires for love.

Beseech your bare back with the crude elegance
of raw henna spawning its embodiment,
its yearns for the touch of a loved,
and drown in its guilt painted down
to the tip of your spine,
wrapping you in shivers and tingles,
abusing the shy curves of your back
till it blooms to ruby red;

when all but I, will be envious,
incensed and craved for your touch.

Dated 30.06.10

In the film series we travel using an unique amphibious vehicle, a boat attached with wheels, that we design and build ourselves and lovingly call “Damzel in Distress.” DID in short, and yes, Damzel with a “z.”

Just today we were planning on a new Damzel in Distress for Finding Bangladesh 02, an upgrade from the old DID. With blueprints still being prepared, we have decided that for now we will be addressing the new one as DID 2.0. The idea behind the vehicle is to give the film series an identity of itself, a mascot if you will, and so far, that has happened brilliantly! Let’s pray that we can pull off a better one for Finding Bangladesh 02.

Here is a brief overview of Damzel in Distress, as it were in Finding Bangladesh 01.

A ride back in time: The D.I.D. 01 Profile

With its luxurious length of 8.31 feet, the Damzel in Distress (DID) 01 is an imperfectly balanced combination of seriously low-powered pedal performance with a very attractive and buoyant woody design.

The DID 01 uses the same launch control mechanism as F1 rickshaws to reach maximum traction force from its first gear to first gear and up to 11 km/h in less than 10 minutes!

Even with over 300 kgs cradled around its body, it can dash through water like a speeding hawk… almost.

It exploits the full range of available manpower feet potential for braking and deceleration from its top notch 17 km/h to a halt in just 2 minutes 17 seconds, which drastically reduces to 0.143 second in case of an existent wall.

At complete standstill, the magnificent visual aesthetics is made visible by its impressive decaying boat elevated majestically above the chassis.

Simultaneously the DID 01′s bold proportions, non-balanced surfaces, and rough lined structures give an impression of pure sleek elegance.

So join us in our hunt for history in a manner never sought before.

Stay Connected in Facebook: www.facebook.com/findingbangladesh
Website: www.findingbangladesh.com

Here is an article in the Daily Star with the details about the making of the DID: http://www.thedailystar.net/rising/2008/06/03/center.htm

Not Dated.

the Advent of Islam and the City of Rebellion

Under orders from Qutubuddin Aibak, a Turk, Bakhtiar Khilji had first entered Bengal in 1204 and it is said that he entered Bengal riding a horse with such speed that most of his men had a very tough time caching up to him. Brave and reckless fellow I must say. With Bakhtiar Khilji came the spread of Islam in our lands and along with that came the habit of killing each for the throne – the lust for power and luxury. Khilji had first captured Nadia which was the temporary capital of King Laksman Sen of the Sena Dynasty. Khilji took Laksman Sen by surprise and expanded his territory for two years until he got greedy and went to conquer Tibet where he got thrashed. While he was away, the killings for power had already begun and when he came back he was put to death by Ali Mardan Khilji in Devkot. Some however say that he simply died of fever, but I like the other story better. Seriously though, how he died is still a debate.

For six years from 1206 till 1212, the chaotic killings for power commenced until finally Iwaz Khilji took control and expanded and consolidated the Muslim rule in Bangal in a planned and proper way. As such, generally he is accredited to be the first notable ruler of Muslim Bengal. Iwaz died in 1227 and for over a hundred years Bengal was loosely controlled by rulers from Delhi. This period is known as the Delhi Sultanate period. While out of fear, some people of Bengal did accept the Delhi rulers and did pay taxes to them, out of courage and anger many rebelled, and they rebelled non-stop. The rebellion became so farfetched that some, trying to establish power, even issued coins and had the khutba during Friday prayers read in their own names. I personally think is the ancestral period of the lunacy of the hartals of our time, but you can always think otherwise. The rebellions however earned Bengal a cool title. The land soon came to be known as Balgampur, meaning the city of rebellion.

Reign of the Independent Sultanate, Flourishing Literature and United Bengal

Once again, from amid the chaos a new dynasty was established. Fakruddin Mukarak Shah inaugurated the Ilyas Shahi Dynasty which lasted for about 150 years with a 20 year gap in between when a Hindu ruler named Raja Ganesh tried to step back in power. This was a period when Bangla literature flourished and local people were also involved in the administration. Most important of all however, hitherto the land encompassing Bengal was not known by any unitary name. Only at this point did it earn itself a name and an acknowledgment – Banglalah.

Fakruddin Mukarak Shah was followed by Shamshuddin Ilyas Shah who is famously known as Shah-i-Bangalah as he united the territories of Bengal under the name of Bangalah.  This period saw development of the land in various aspects including economic, cultural, architectural and social. It was Shamshuddin Ilyas Shah who had conquered the famous port city of Sonargaon (previously known the Subarnagrama or the ‘Golden Village’) which was under the Hindu rule during Sena Dynasty. Sonargaon then became an important administrative center of the period.

Note than even during this time, the people of Bengal were all not Muslims; hence the Shahi reign was over people of another faith. Yet their popularity was renowned and they were noted for their tolerance and enlightenment. Truly this was a period of proper change and evolution in the mind set of the people of our land.

Ilyas Shahi Dynasty was followed by another Independent Sultanate rule founded by Alauddin Husain Shah in 1494 – the Husain Shahi Dynasty. During this time territories such as Assam, Chittagong Tippera we annexed. Development of the land continued and trade with the Europeans was at its peak during this time. Historians generally acknowledge this as the formative period of Bengal history. Intesrestingly although Islam played a dominant role in the lives of people, other practices such as Vaisnavism, Tantricism, Manasa, Nath and Dharma cults as well as Sufism were well in existence and tolerated. If only such religious tolerance existed in today’s time. The Independent Sultanate period lasted till 1538 AD when the Afghan galloped their way into the picture.

the Afghans, the Mughals and the Bara Buiyans

The Afghans had long before entered the Bengal or more appropriately Bangalah premises and were not strangers in the land. The proud and hot blooded person that they were it was just a matter of time before they tried to usurp power. That happened under the guidance of Sher Shah in 1539 and it was during this time when the famous Ksumba mosque, made entirely out of stone, was constructed. Interestingly the mosque, a place that is supposed to herald impartiality, had an upper second floor only for high officials. This reflects the rising inequality and social stratum of the time.

It was during the reign of the Afghans when the Mughals first entered Bengal, not too long after in 1576. The Afghan ruler of the time was Daud Karrani and he was defeated in the decisive battle of Rajmahal in Bihar by the hands of Mughal subhadar (ruler of province) Khan Jahan, who was under the Mughal Emperor Akbar, the Great. The Mughals finally made their first step in Bengal. The newcomers were not however accepted easily. You would think that after so much killing and bloodshed and struggles over power, change of rulers would be a thing of the past for the common people. Nope, not in this land!

The bara-buiyans were local territorial landholders and them, along with rajas and zamindars continued their revolt against the Mughals until crushed. The most important and interesting of the bara-buiyans was Isa Khan. Quoting a famous incident, in 1578 Khan Jahan invaded the Bhati region, ie, East Bengal and camped at Bhawal. At this point two other Afghan chieftains broke their alliance with Isa Khan and offered allegiance to the Mughals. Isa Khan stood defiant and a large Mughal naval force was sent against him. A fierce engagement took place at Kastul, now in Kishoreganj district. Despite Isa’s initial retreat, the Mughal army took to flight after being severely defeated by Isa Khan’s reprisal attack along with his allies, Majlis Dilawar and Majlis Pratap. Consequently Khan Jahan, utterly ruined, was compelled to leave, Isa Khan proved to be a formidable obstacle against Mughal expansion.

This however did not last long and all resistance was eventually subdued by another Mughal subhadar by the name of Islam Khan Chisti during the reign of Emperor Jahangir in 1612. That is when all of Bengal (except Chittagong) was under the Mughal control.

Introduction of the British and the Battle that was Lost in Greed

The Mughal reign saw the coming and going of many subhadars although none of the emperors actually came and permanently settled in Bengal. The Lalbagh Fort was built during this time by subhadar Mohammad Azam in 1678. Shaista Khan is another famous subhadar who earned his fame in Bengal by annexing Chittagong. The Magh king of Arakan with the aid of Portuguese pirates used to attack the coastal regions, looted property and enslaved the men, women and children. Shaista Khan conquered the region and actually saved the people from the Arakanese raids.

The fall of the Mughals in the region actually began in 1698 when Emperor Aurangazeb’s grandson, Prince Mohammad Azimuddin was the subhadar. In lieu of cash gift (no it was not as a gift to doctor for healing his wife), he first permitted the East India Company (EIC) to start their trading business. It was also during his time that Dhaka lost its glory of being the capital of Mughal Bengal due to a quarrel between Azimuddin and the powerful nawab Murshid Quli Khan, who was in fact at that point the de facto ruler of Bengal. This affected the circumstances greatly.

Beginning of a New History

It took only about half a century for the EIC to establish their rule in Bengal after the deciding battle of Plassey in 1757. At that point Sirajuddaulah was the nawab of Bengal. The story of the treachery of Mir Jafar, army commander of Sirajuddaulah is well known and I need not go in much details. The objective of EIC was the expansion of their trading in this region for solely economic benefit. One can blame the mercantilist’s spool of thought for this rise in material greed.

The battle of Plassey is another important event that deserves to be covered separately. The loss of this battle caused the British reign in Bengal for over 200 years. Although they were the lesser evil of the colonists, this period saw a continuation of the transfer of power from the eastern world to the western world. If demanded by the readers, I will continue this series and include the historical dialogues from the battle of Plassey in 1757 and the various resistances from below against the British since then in Part III. Comments, feedback, love letters, hate mail and amendments are welcome at adnanfakir@gmail.com. I hope you enjoyed reading this series as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Illustrations by Bhoomika Partap and Ehsanur Raza Ronny
(taken from the documentary Finding Bangladesh 01 – www.findingbangladesh.com).

It is definitely a long story to tell; and an acceptable first question instead of “who we are”, would be: where should we begin?

Like many philosophical dilemmas, this question also has a simple answer: let us begin from the beginning.

Assuming Darwin to be correct, let us begin from when modern humans evolved from our brethren “apes”. According to the Recent African Origin (ROA) model, anatomically modern humans, or homo sapiens sapiens, evolved in Africa, more specifically and arguably in Ethiopia, around 200,000 to 100,000 years ago. These bright minded good looking fellows felt adventurous and soon began migrating. Some believe that around 60,000 years ago they crossed the Red Sea into Yemen and some say they crossed through Egypt into northern Middle East. Their advent commenced, and with passage of time and land they soon reached the soil that we now call Bangladesh. A quaint timeline of the sequence of events is described below:

the Aryans and the Janapadas, 7^th Century BC

Bangladesh thereafter faced an influx which created a melting-pot of the ancients: the Proto-Australoids from Africa, Mongoloids from the East namely Tibet and Burma and the Dravidians from Southern India, to name a few. The latest of the arrivals were the Aryans; with their fairer skin, towering height, lengthy noses, Sanskrit language, iron and horses, they reached Bengal around 900 BC. The different races and their cultures mixed and mingled, mated and bundled until the broad package of the people that we are today was finally delivered.

During the age of the Ramayana, 7^th to 6^th century BC, Bengal is believed to have been divided into six territorial units, each representing a janapada or human settlement: Vanga in the south containing Khulna, Pundra in the north and north-west occupying Bogra, Gaud in the middle-west containing the famous Murshidabad, Samatata in the middle-east enclosing Comilla and Noakhali, Harikela in the east identified with Chittagong and Sylhet and also Rard containing West Bengal.

Pundranagar and its Descendants, 3^rd Century BC

Sadly, not much is known regarding ancient Bengal till the 3^rd Century BC, when the great Mauryan Dynasty was at rule giving birth to the city of Pundranagar (locally more known as Mohasthangarh), home of the Pundurus, located in Shibganj, Bogra. Before the arrival of the Aryans, Pundurus were the natives of the region. Founded by Chadragupta Maurya (a name that should ring a bell from old school texts), Pundranagar also saw the reign of Ashoka the Great.

What makes this venue so amazing is that it is not only the recorded earliest urban settlement of Bangladesh with civilization ranked side by side with that of Athens, Babylon, Egypt and of the Assyrians by many historians, but it also was the home to civilizations following various religions – Buddhism flourished here during the time of Ashoka, Hinduism stepped in during the strict reign of Pashuram, and Islam settled in after the great battle between Pashuram and Shah Balkhi Mahisawar, an interesting battle shrouded with myths that is sadly not too famous. I will ascribe the story the below as brief as possible.

Mahasthan Side-Stories: Pashuram and the Well of Life

Jumping a little in the timeline, during the reign of Pashuram in about the 13th century (a little after Bakhtiyar Khilji’s attack on Bengal), Hindu was still the widespread religion of Mahasthan and the killing of cows was banned. Evidently, as the story goes, there used to be a Muslim man named Borhanuddin. He did not have any children and he prayed to God that if he ever has any child, he will sacrifice a cow. Months later, he had a son, and keeping his word, he secretly sacrificed a cow and buried its remains. However, the locals saw the incident and reported so to the king. Pashuram called upon Borhanuddin who, on inquiry, told the truth to the king. Pashuram furious, took away Borhanuddin’s son and sacrificed him to the Hindu God, Kali.

During that time period, Islam was being preached in parts of Bengal and Muslim rule was gradually taking over. Borhanuddin, reclaimed his son’s dead body and went to a Muslim council, and pleaded for justice. Consequently, Shah Sultan went to Mahasthan to preach Islam and lore has it that Shah Sultan arrived via the river Padma, riding a great fish, giving him the Mahisawar title which is a Sanskrit word meaning “man who rides a fish”. Historians however think he was just riding a boat shaped like a fish. Boring people. As Sultan laid down his prayer mat on a hillock, Pashuram, furious that anyone would dare openly practice Islam on his land, declared war.

The battle began and it is at this point that the lore of Jiyat Kundu, also called the Well of Life is first mentioned. Tradition ascribes that King Pashuram resurrected his dead soldiers with the water from this well during the war with Shah Sultan and his followers, which is definitely a handy thing to have at time of war. Sultan soon learned about this well and polluted it by dropping a piece of beef inside the well with the aid of a kite. Supposedly, the well’s water then lost its power and slowly the armies of Pashuram diminished till Shah Sultan defeated the king using his staff. Pashuram was not killed but he fled and Sultan preached Islam in Mohasthan till his death. His tomb remains here and has been greatly renovated, and a mosque has been built where Shah Sultan had first laid his prayer mat.

Much later, during the 1760s, Mohasthan was also the spot for the Fakir Sannyashi Movement against the British and the Zamindars led by Fakir Majnu Shah. So a part of the social fight for justice is also linked to this venue.

the power of Shashanka and the Unruly Reign, 6^th Century AD

Coming back to our timeline, the next significant watermark in the history of our land appears in 6^th century AD during the kingdom of Gaud ruled under the later Guptas. By 7^th century however, Shashanka, the acknowledged first most important king of Bengal, captured power in Gaud and for the first time, a king of Bengal extended his suzerainty far beyond the province of Bengal.

During that time, northern India was ruled by a powerful king by the name of Harshavardhana, and it was no simple feat that Shashanka was able to maintain his sovereignty against such a powerful adversary. He could be in many ways considered the predecessor of the great territorial expanders that followed later, such as Dharmapala and Devapala. Shashanka’s capital was named Karnasuvarna, which is in present day Murshidabad of West Bengal.

Shashanka’s death was followed by a period of havoc and anarchy from 650 AD to 750 AD – a situation that predominantly arises when a powerful ruler passes without any apt descendant. The Pal dynasty (that followed soon after) ascribed this period as the rule of Matsyanyayam. Matsyanyayam is a proverb meaning that the large fish always swallows the smaller ones when punishment is kept in abeyance, as such was the state of affairs. Out of this chaos came out a new hero possessing a name that we nowadays make fun of – Gopal, and he founded the Pal Dynasy.

Advent of Sompura Mahivihara and Religious Tolerance, 8^th Century AD

The Pala Dynasty ruled for 18 generations and is considered to be the most glorious period in the history of Bengal. A devout of Buddhism, the second king, Dharmapala built Sompura Mahivihara, locally known as Paharpur at present day Naogaon in Rajshahi. According to Tibetan sources, five great Mahaviharas or Monasteries acting as universities for teaching Buddhism stood out during the time and Somapura Mahavihara is one of them. Interestingly, the five monasteries formed a network, all of them being under state supervision and their existed a system of co-ordination among them. They were an interlinked group of institutions, and it was apparently common for great scholars to move easily from position to position among them (kind of the Ivy League in America). This shows the depth the Pala Dynasty had achieved in terms of education.

The Pala Dynasty also developed an amazing level of religions tolerance. Interesting to note is that while the rulers of the dynasty were preacher of Buddhism, majority of the population at one point were Hindu followers, and there is no record of an instance during the Pala Dynasty which records religious intolerance. People following the two religions coexisted beautifully along with Pala Dynasty’s strong and stable governance.

Terracotta art flourished during this timeframe and we here we also find the predecessor art form of the beautiful Hindu terracotta plaques that followed later on. The power of the Palas started to decline during the end of 11^th century and that is when Hemanta Sen grabbed power and began the Sena Dynasty, which was to become the last Hindu Dynasty in Bengal.

End of Religious Tolerance to Hindu Orthodoxy, 12^th Century AD

Hemanta Sen was part of the Pala Dynasty and usurped power and made himself king in 1095 AD. His successor Vijay Sen laid the foundations of the dynasty, and had an unusually long reign of over 60 years. This period is considered as the revival of Hinduism in Bengal, but accordingly it also saw the decline of Paharpur. Ballal Sen, successor of Vijay Sen, wanted to establish a Hindu orthodox social order with caste rigidity in a land which had long lived a social milieu of Hindu-Buddhist amity. This led to the decline of Buddhism in Bengal, and along with the decline of religious tolerance which is still a major cause of suffering.

Major monuments of this period include the Dhakeshwari temple, the capital temple of our country. Ballal Sen is accredited to the building of this temple and ironically the religious tolerance that the Sena Dynasty had destroyed was also the reason of great ache of the temple. During the 1971 liberation war, the temple attendants were tortured and killed and the temple was used as an ammunition storage area. This period also saw the development of Sanskrit literature and sculptural art.

During the reign of Laksman Sen, Bakhtiyar Khilji made his appearance into Bengal and the spread of Islam slowly dominated. The rest of the advents of our lineage will be covered in Part II of this historical account. Stay tuned.

Illustrations by Ehsanur Raza Ronny.

Link to Article in Daily Sun.

Getting up from bed is probably one of the most heartless activities that fall with profound effects in our lives, especially if you have to be in the car by eight. Normally in such situations, especially if you don’t have anyone to wake you up by nagging you for an hour or so or by dumping cold water on your eyes, you do so by setting the alarm to loud settings and at 7:15 am., only to trigger the sequence of events as follows:

7:15 Shock: This is the shortest stage of coping with the change in environment, although it can be the one hardest on the mind and body. One moment you are asleep, dreaming of life in an intricately detailed Candy Land jumping from one cloud to another of Candy-floss, and the next moment you are thrown into a terrible, candy-less bitter reality. Your alarm is going off, your room is a wreck, you still have one of your shoes on from yesterday, and you slept on your hard-covered biology book all night. It is during this stage that the mind uses numbness to cope with the idea that you must get up and go to class, as you still remain unaware of your position.

7:16 Denial: Once the alarm has been shut off, and once your body has dealt with the distress that comes with shock, the second coping mechanism sets in. We refuse to believe that the alarm has gone off, or that we must attend class. For example, the gratuitous use of the snooze button is considered an act of denial.

7:25 Anger: When you remove the one shoe that you slept in the night before and throw it against the wall, only to get a reply from your furious mom, shouting disrespectful statements concerning your professor, your classroom, and your life, you may be entering the anger stage. Anger could also entail violent acts, such as shouting or hitting, towards your pillow, bedding, or anyone trying to wake you up.

7:35 Bargaining: Bargaining is something that happens between you and God. You promise that you’ll be good for a whole year and even maybe confess to that murder, if He just lets you skip this one class. The second half of the bargaining mechanism is dealing with the Devil. Common to pre-eight o’clock class coping, dealing with the devil can involve selling your soul in exchange for your professor “coming into a bit of an accident.” You know, don’t kill him or anything, but if you could make him immobile…

7:40 Guilt/Self-blaming: You decide to go to class. You signed up for this subject. You knew it was going to be at 8:15 three times a week. You knew, and yet you did nothing to prevent it. No one else is to blame except for you. In fact, you are volunteering to pay around Tk.12,000 per month to wake up at seven in the morning and take notes at college. It is entirely your fault for being in the present situation. This stage is especially hard to get through because it is totally true.

7:45 Depression: Thoughts of death enter your mind. The reality hits. You will be spending the next 40 minutes in a cramped lecture room listening to your classmates barfing up responses with their eye-lids barely lifted up with paper-clips, pretending to be awake. You come to the more terrible realization that you will be doing the very same things.

7:50 Hope: As you are putting on your dress and packing up your books, you may begin to think of remote possibilities. Like that your professor is in bed with a case of the bronchitis or fever or that the “test” that appears on the syllabus scheduled for today is a practical joke. Or that maybe, just maybe, you’ll get hit by a truck, or it’ll start snowing due to extreme rapid weather changes and you’ll be preserved in the ice until hundreds of years in the future, when there’ll be genetically engineered human clones to attend class for you. Or better yet – that in the future they have finally forged a non-schooling classless society.

7:55 Acceptance: Finally, after many struggles, you accept the fact that you must face the world and go to class. Either that or you can accept the fact that there is no way that you can possibly attend class. Don’t worry about what your professor might feel about this; I’m sure that, in time, he will be able to cope with your absence. After all, you tried.

Link to article in Daily Star.
Link to article in Daily Sun.

In darkness the rain etches itself into light. Forms and figures turn senile, just a backdrop resting behind the tipper-tapper of the rain. Lethargic and redundant memories often invade the silent corridors of the mind. Yet the mind remains calm and serene delving deeper into myopia of thoughts, until all there is, is just the rain and its incoherent ticking sounds appreciating the disjointed passage of time.

In the back of my mind thoughts of you still subconsciously yield condolence. Condolence accompanied by the bickering of proud ire turned calm by the cold vapors of rain. Of rain that reminds me of the cement bench on which the rain dropped and bounced and dropped and bounced; and there were we, wet and callous, hands held firm, immersed in our world; our world of rain that I miss.

I miss you so much it rains.

There was darkness that would devour you in its beauty; darkness that would give rain its anonymity, its silence and presence of entity that rain so craved. The rain would come; it would come amidst tumbling clouds rushing towards the cloistered city walls, towards street children running about in splashes of dirty drain waters, towards roadside tea stalls with fuming clay stoves sheltered in shaky tin roofs, towards empty verandas and windows that reflect the coarse hair of housemaids and towards rooftops filled with clothes hung and left to dry. The rain enshrouded in darkness would come for them, and for you and I.

At the end of the drowsy droning of the clouds, I would still say that crows are the sole benefactors of rain, rinsing themselves on telephone wires with not a care in the world. Everything else just remains the same.

Photographs taken at Bucksbaum Studio, Grinnell College, USA, 2009
Text written on the 06th of November, 2010
© Adnan M. S. Fakir