বিভাগ/বিষয় নিরপেক্ষ

সুপারিশকৃত লিন্ক: মে ২০১৮

আজকের লিন্ক

মুক্তাঙ্গন-এ উপরোক্ত শিরোনামের নিয়মিত এই সিরিজটিতে থাকছে দেশী বিদেশী পত্রপত্রিকা, ব্লগ ও গবেষণাপত্র থেকে পাঠক সুপারিশকৃত ওয়েবলিন্কের তালিকা। কী ধরণের বিষয়বস্তুর উপর লিন্ক সুপারিশ করা যাবে তার কোনো নির্দিষ্ট নিয়ম, মানদণ্ড বা সময়কাল নেই। পুরো ইন্টারনেট থেকে যা কিছু গুরত্বপূর্ণ, জরুরি, মজার বা আগ্রহোদ্দীপক মনে করবেন পাঠকরা, তা-ই তাঁরা মন্তব্য আকারে উল্লেখ করতে পারেন এখানে।
ধন্যবাদ।

আজকের লিন্ক

এখানে থাকছে দেশী বিদেশী পত্রপত্রিকা, ব্লগ ও গবেষণাপত্র থেকে পাঠক সুপারিশকৃত ওয়েবলিন্কের তালিকা। পুরো ইন্টারনেট থেকে যা কিছু গুরত্বপূর্ণ, জরুরি, মজার বা আগ্রহোদ্দীপক মনে করবেন পাঠকরা, তা-ই সুপারিশ করুন এখানে। ধন্যবাদ।

২২ comments

  1. মাসুদ করিম - ১ মে ২০১৮ (১০:৪২ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Twin blasts in Afghan capital kill at least 29

    Twin blasts in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least 29 people on Monday, including nine journalists who had arrived to report on the first explosion and were apparently targeted by a suicide bomber, officials said, reports Reuters.

    The attacks, a week after 60 people were killed as they waited at a voter registration centre in the city, underlined mounting insecurity despite repeated government pledges to tighten defences.

    Hours after the attack in Kabul, a suicide bomber in a vehicle attacked a foreign military convoy in the southern province of Kandahar, killing 11 children studying in a nearby religious school, police said.”These attacks caused untold human suffering to Afghan families,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the top UN official in Afghanistan.

    “I am furthermore outraged by the attack which appears to have deliberately targeted journalists,” he said in a statement.

    The attacks in rapid succession were a grim reminder of the strength of both the Taliban and Islamic State’s emerging Afghanistan branch to wreak violence.

  2. মাসুদ করিম - ২ মে ২০১৮ (৯:০৬ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Scientists reveal genetic secrets of rose

    Take time to smell the roses, the saying goes, and, according to scientists, the fragrant flowers could smell even sweeter in the future.

    For the first time researchers have deciphered the full genetic “book” of this most prized of plants.

    The secret history of the rose reveals surprises – it is more closely related to the strawberry than we thought, reports BBC.

    And in the long term the work could lead to roses with new scents and colours, says an international team.

    The new genome map, which took eight years to complete, reveals genes involved in scent production, colour and the longevity of flowers, said Mohammed Bendahmane of ENS de Lyon, in Lyon, France, who led the research.

    “You have here a book of the history of the rose,” he told BBC News.

    “A book that helps us understand the rose, its history and its journey through evolution and domestication.”

    The study, by a team of more than 40 scientists from France, Germany, China and the UK, gives a better understanding of why roses have such a wide range of colours and scents.

    The genetic information will help breeders develop new varieties that last longer in the vase or are more resistant to plant pests.

    It also sheds light on the Rosaceae family, which contains fruits such as apples, pears and strawberries, as well as ornamentals such as the rose.

    “The rose and the strawberry are very close species,” said Dr Bendahmane.

    The cultivation of roses in gardens began thousands of years ago, probably in China. During the Roman period, roses were grown widely in the Middle East, where they were used as confetti or for perfume.

    In the fifteenth century, the rose was a symbol of the fight for the English throne during the “War of the Roses”.

    The white rose represented the House of York, and the red rose symbolised the House of Lancaster.

    The research is published in the journal, Nature Genetics.

    How a Rose Blooms: Its Genome
    Reveals the Traits for Scent and Color

    French researchers are completing a full map
    of the rose, pinpointing genes to edit for continuous
    blooming and its other signature features.

    The scent of a rose fades over time, and has for hundreds of years.

    For centuries, generations of breeding in the quest for longer blooms and petals in shades of nearly every hue have dulled the sweetest smells that once perfumed gardens around the world.

    French researchers have now figured out precisely which genes make a rose smell so sweet, and where to tinker in the genome to enhance its distinctive scent.

    Although the rose genome has been mapped before, a newly published version is far more complete, indicating which genes tend to travel together — scent and color, for instance — and which genes are responsible for continuous blooming, among other traits.

    The study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, also reveals a detailed family tree of the rose, and how it differs from its closest cousin, the strawberry, and its more distant apple and pear relations.

    “I think it’s a huge improvement on the current rose sequence,” said Rob Martienssen, a plant biologist and professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island.

    “A lot of these genes were known before, but it’s a very nice way of putting them all together and showing their history. And I think it’ll be very important for breeding,” said Dr. Martienssen, who was not involved in the new study.

    The new sequence is one of the most complete maps of a plant’s genetics. By identifying genes with great precision, it will be useful for breeding plant species other than the rose, as well, he said.

    Now, to develop a new type of rose, breeders typically make thousands of hybrid offspring, looking for the combination of traits they want. Then, they have to select and identify the offspring that have the desirable trait. It’s a process that can take up to 10 years and require lots of greenhouse space and land, as well as water, said Mohammed Bendahmane, a senior author on the paper and research director at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, in France.

    With data from the more detailed sequence of the rose genome, this process should be significantly shortened, reducing the cost and energy consumption needed to introduce new species, he said.

    Because of centuries of breeding, most of the modern rose cultivars have four copies of genes, two from each parent — rather than the more typical one from each parent. This complexity makes the genome tricky to sequence and to assemble. To circumvent this, the researchers created a rose with just a single copy of each of the genes.

    Dr. Bendahmane and his colleagues and partners started with a rose variety called Rosa chinensis “Old Blush,” which originated in China and was introduced to Europe in the 18th century. European rose breeders hybridized their plants with some from China to take advantage of the continuous blooming, scent signatures and color of the Asian plants.

    The researchers also sequenced genomes from ancestral rose species and newer hybrids to understand the composition and the structure of modern roses and the origin of important traits.

    “Now we can combine the information from genetics that have been done before, together with our data from the genome, including gene diversity and structure, to discover which of the ancestral botanical roses participate in which trait,” Dr. Bendahmane said.

    Up-to-date gene sequencing technology also allowed the team to develop a more detailed genetic map, said Todd Mockler, a principal investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, who was not involved in the new research.

    “If you only have 80 percent of the genome, you wonder what’s in the 20 percent you’re missing,” he said, noting that previous sequences often missed genes involved in disease. “The completeness is a big deal.”

    The Rosa genome provides new insights into the domestication of modern roses

    Abstract

    Roses have high cultural and economic importance as ornamental plants and in the perfume industry. We report the rose whole-genome sequencing and assembly and resequencing of major genotypes that contributed to rose domestication. We generated a homozygous genotype from a heterozygous diploid modern rose progenitor, Rosa chinensis ‘Old Blush’. Using single-molecule real-time sequencing and a meta-assembly approach, we obtained one of the most comprehensive plant genomes to date. Diversity analyses highlighted the mosaic origin of ‘La France’, one of the first hybrids combining the growth vigor of European species and the recurrent blooming of Chinese species. Genomic segments of Chinese ancestry identified new candidate genes for recurrent blooming. Reconstructing regulatory and secondary metabolism pathways allowed us to propose a model of interconnected regulation of scent and flower color. This genome provides a foundation for understanding the mechanisms governing rose traits and should accelerate improvement in roses, Rosaceae and ornamentals.

    Main

    Roses are among the most commonly cultivated ornamental plants worldwide. They have been cultivated by humans since antiquity, for example, in China. Ornamental features as well as therapeutic and cosmetic value have certainly motivated rose domestication. The genus Rosa contains approximately 200 species, more than half of which are polyploid1. Roses have undergone extensive reticulate evolution with interspecific hybridization, introgression and polyploidization. Only 8 to 20 rose species are thought to have contributed to the present complex hybrid rose cultivars, namely Rosa × hybrida2. The Chinese rose R. chinensis (diploid) was introduced to Europe in the eighteenth century. This species is considered one of the main species that participated in the subsequent extensive process of hybridization with roses from the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern (mostly tetraploid) sections (Supplementary Note 1). These crosses gave rise to hybrid tea rose cultivars, which are the parents of the modern roses with extraordinarily diverse traits3. Among the breeding traits originating from Chinese roses, the capacity of recurrent flowering as well as color and scent signatures are key4. Despite recent progress5, the lack of a rose genome sequence has hampered the discovery of the molecular and genetic determinants of these traits and of their breeding history.

    […]

  3. মাসুদ করিম - ২ মে ২০১৮ (৯:৩৭ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    পশ্চিমবঙ্গের প্রাক্তন অর্থমন্ত্রী অশোক মিত্র প্রয়াত

    রাজ্যের প্রাক্তন অর্থমন্ত্রী তথা সিপিএম নেতা অশোক মিত্র প্রয়াত হলেন। তাঁর বয়স হয়েছিল ৯০। দীর্ঘদিন ধরেই বার্ধক্যজনিত অসুস্থতায় ভুগছিলেন তিনি। বেশ কয়েকদিন ভর্তি ছিলেন মধ্য কলকাতার একটি বেসরকারি হাসপাতালে। মঙ্গলবার সকাল সওয়া ৯টা নাগাদ ওই হাসপাতালেই মারা গেলেন তিনি। জ্যোতি বসুর নেতৃত্বাধীন রাজ্যের প্রথম বামফ্রন্ট মন্ত্রিসভার অর্থমন্ত্রী অশোক মিত্র ১৯৭৭ থেকে ১৯৮৭ সাল পর্যন্ত অর্থ দপ্তরের দায়িত্বে ছিলেন।
    ১ এপ্রিল রবিবার রাতে তাঁর শারীরিক অবস্থার অবনতি হলে তাঁকে হাসপাতালে ভর্তির সিদ্ধান্ত নেন ভাইপো অরিন্দম মিত্র। আলিপুরের বেসরকারি হাসপাতালে ভর্তি ছিলেন তিনি। অর্থনীতিবিদ হিসেবে কেরিয়ারের শীর্ষে যাওয়ার প্রভূত সুযোগ ছিল অশোক মিত্রের সামনে। কিন্তু সব ছেড়ে দিয়ে তিনি বামপন্থাকেই বেছে নিয়েছিলেন। মোটা মাইনের কেন্দ্রীয় সরকারের চাকরি ছেড়ে দিয়েছিলেন তিনি। বেতন বা সম্মান তাঁকে কখনও মোহিত করেনি। তাই পদ ও সম্মান ছেড়েছিলেন বাম আমলেও। জ্যোতি বসুর সঙ্গে মতবিরোধের কারণে নীরবে মহাকরণ ছেড়ে চলে গিয়েছিলেন তিনি। তিনি গর্ব করে বলতেন, ‘‌আমি ভদ্রলোক নই, কমিউনিস্ট।’‌

    অশোকবাবু রাজ্যসভার সাংসদও ছিলেন। সেই সময় ইন্দিরা গান্ধীর সঙ্গেও তাঁর সখ্যতা গড়ে উঠেছিল। এমনকী ইন্দিরা গান্ধীর অর্থনৈতিক উপদেষ্টামন্ডলীর সদস্যও ছিলেন অশোক মিত্র। ১৯২৮ সালে পূর্ববঙ্গে জন্মেছিলেন এই অর্থনীতিবিদ। ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় থেকে স্নাতক হওয়ার পর ১৯৪৭ সালে ভারতে চলে আসেন তিনি। বারাণসী হিন্দু বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় থেকে অর্থনীতিতে স্নাতকোত্তর পাশ করেন তিনি। ১৯৫৩ সালে রটারডাম বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় থেকে ডক্টরেট পান অশোকবাবু। কলকাতা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের সঙ্গেও তিনি যুক্ত ছিলেন বেশ কিছুদিন। খুরধার যুক্তিনিষ্ঠ এই কমিউনিস্ট নেতা আপিলা চাপিলা নামে বইও লিখেছিলেন। যা খুব বিখ্যাত হয়েছিল। বাংলা ও ইংরেজি ভাষায় সাবলীলভাবে লিখতে পারতেন অশোক মিত্র।

    Ashok Mitra passes away at 90: Marxist economist served as chief economic adviser to GoI during Indira Gandhi’s regime

    Eminent scholar and Marxist economist Ashok Mitra, who also served as the finance minister of West Bengal and Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, passed away on Tuesday morning after protracted illness.

    He was 90 and his wife predeceased him ten years ago.

    Born in Bangladesh, Mitra taught at the Lucknow University after completing master in economics from Benares Hindu University. He got his PhD from Netherlands.

    He worked for the World Bank, taught at the Delhi School of Economics and IIM Calcutta.

    Mitra was finance minister of West Bengal from 1977-87 when Jyoti Basu was the chief minister. In the mid-1990s, he became a member of the Rajya Sabha and was chairman of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Industry and Commerce.

    He was the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India from 1970 to 1972 when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister.

    Mitra was also associated with the prestigious Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) journal in its formative years.

    Besides writing several books, he penned several columns in newspapers and was known for his scathing analysis of contemporary economics and socio-political issue.

    West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee condoled the death of Mitra.

    She tweeted, “Saddened at the passing away of noted economist, former finance minister of West Bengal and former Rajya Sabha MP, Ashok Mitra. He had a long career with the World Bank, IIM Calcutta and as the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. Condolences to his family and well wishers”.

    CPM leader and former Left front minister Surjya Kanta Mishra in his condolence message said Mitra was a great Leftist thinker and his death was an irreparable loss.

    প্রখ্যাত অর্থনীতিবিদ অশোক মিত্র আর নেই
    উপমহাদেশের প্রখ্যাত পণ্ডিত ও মার্ক্সবাদী অর্থনীতিবিদ অশোক মিত্র মারা গেছেন।

    মঙ্গলবার সকালে কলকাতার একটি হাসপাতালে শেষ নিঃশ্বাস ত্যাগ করেন তিনি। তার বয়স হয়েছিল ৯০ বছর। তিনি দীর্ঘদিন অসুস্থ ছিলেন বলে পিটিআইয়ের এক প্রতিবেদনে বলা হয়েছে।

    ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের স্নাতক অশোক মিত্র ভারতের সাবেক প্রধানমন্ত্রী ইন্ধিরা গান্ধীর প্রধান অর্থনৈতিক উপদেষ্টা ছিলেন। তিনি ১০ বছর পশ্চিমবঙ্গ রাজ্য সরকারের অর্থমন্ত্রী ছিলেন।

    তার মৃত্যুতে শোক জানিয়েছেন পশ্চিমবঙ্গের মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়। শোক বার্তায় সিপিআই (এম) এর নেতা সূর্য কান্ত মিশ্র বলেছেন, অশোক মিত্র ছিলেন প্রভাবশালী বামপন্থি চিন্তাবিদ। তার মৃত্যুতে অপূরণীয় ক্ষতি হয়েছে।

    ঢাকার ছেলে অশোক মিত্র ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে অর্থনীতিতে স্নাতক করেন। দেশভাগের পর ভারতে গিয়ে উত্তর প্রদেশের বেনারস হিন্দু বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে স্নাতকোত্তর করেন। নেদারল্যান্ডসে পিএইচডি করেন তিনি।

    বিশ্ব ব্যাংকে কাজ করেছেন অশোক মিত্র। পড়িয়েছেন দিল্লি স্কুল অব ইকোনোমিকস এবংকলকাতার ইন্ডিয়ান ইনস্টিটিউট অফ ম্যানেজমেন্টে।

    ইন্ধিরা গান্ধীর আমলে ১৯৭০ থেকে ১৯৭২ মেয়াদে ভারত সরকারের প্রধান অর্থনৈতিক উপদেষ্টা ছিলেন অশোক মিত্র। জ্যোতি বসু পশ্চিমবঙ্গের মুখ্যমন্ত্রী থাকাকালে ১৯৭৭ থেকে ’৮৭ সাল পর্যন্ত রাজ্য সরকারের অর্থমন্ত্রী ছিলেন তিনি।

    নব্বইয়ের দশকের মাঝামাঝিতে ভারতের পার্লামেন্টের উচ্চ কক্ষ রাজ্যসভার সদস্য হন অশোক মিত্র। সে সময় শিল্প ও বাণিজ্য বিষয়ক পার্লামেন্টের স্থায়ী কমিটির চেয়ারম্যান ছিলেন তিনি।

    খ্যাতনামা সাময়িকী ইকনোমিক অ্যান্ড পলিটিক্যাল উইকলি (ইপিডব্লিউ) প্রতিষ্ঠার সঙ্গে যুক্ত ছিলেন অশোক মিত্র।

    অর্থনীতির ওপর বেশ কয়েকটি বই রয়েছে তার। সংবাদপত্রে প্রচুর কলাম লিখেছেন তিনি। সমসাময়িক অর্থনীতি ও সামাজিক-রাজনৈতিক বিষয় নিয়ে তার বিশ্লেষণ ছিল তীক্ষ্ণ।

    অশোক মিত্রের মৃত্যুতে টুইটরাশি।

    • মাসুদ করিম - ২ মে ২০১৮ (২:৪১ অপরাহ্ণ)

      কবিতা থেকে মিছিলে
      শাক্যজিৎ ভট্টাচার্য

      ডক্টর অশোক মিত্র-র চলে যাবার দেড় বছর আগে থেকে তাঁর সঙ্গে পরিচয়। তাঁর সম্পাদিত ‘আরেক রকম’ পত্রিকাতে লেখালেখি ও পরে সম্পাদকমণ্ডলীর সদস্য হিসেবে বহু কথোপকথন হয়েছে তাঁর সঙ্গে। এবং আশ্চর্যভাবে, কথাবার্তাগুলোর বেশির ভাগই সাহিত্য বিষয়ক, যদিও আরেক রকম ছিল মূলত সমাজ ও রাজনীতি বিষয়ক একটি পাক্ষিক।

      ডক্টর মিত্র থাকতেন আলিপুর পার্ক রোডে। তাঁর অ্যাপার্টমেন্টের যে ঘরটিতে আমরা বসতাম, অথবা সম্পাদকীয় মিটিং হত, সেটার মাটি থেকে ছাদ অবধি ছিল বইয়ে ঠাসা। সম্ভবত ব্রিটিশ কবি শেলী-র ভক্ত ছিলেন। চতুর্দিকে ছিল শেলী-র জীবনি, শেলীর উপর বিভিন্ন আলোচনা গ্রন্থ। মার্ক্স, এঙ্গেলস, ইকোনমিক এন্ড পলিটিকাল উইকলির আর্কাইভ ইত্যাদি তো ছিলই, স্বাভাবিকভাবেই। আর ছিল বিভিন্ন পত্র পত্রিকা। যেটা আশ্চর্য করেছিল, এই বয়েসে এসেও ডক্টর মিত্র সজাগ নজর রাখতেন নতুন পত্র পত্রিকা, লিটল ম্যাগ ইত্যাদির উপর। কোথায় ইন্টারেস্টিং লেখা কী বেরল, সেগুলো নিয়ে খোঁজখবর রাখতেন নিয়মিত। কয়েকটা ঘটনা দাগ কেটে গেছে।

      কথা হচ্ছিল সমর সেনকে নিয়ে। অশোকবাবু সমর সেনের ঘনিষ্ঠ ছিলেন। তাঁর সম্পাদিত ফ্রন্টিয়ারে নিয়মিত লিখেছেন। কিন্তু সমর সেন ছিলেন নক্সালপন্থী, এবং অশোক মিত্র সিপিআই(এম) ঘেঁষা। এই বিষয়ে দুজনের মতবিরোধ ছিল তীব্র। কিন্তু তা সত্ত্বেও সমর সেন অগাধ প্রশ্রয়ে লিখতে দিয়েছেন তাঁকে, এবং অশোক বাবুর শ্রদ্ধাও ছিল অটুট। তো, সমর সেন মারা যাবার পর অনুষ্টুপ পত্রিকা একটা ‘সমর সেন বিশেষ সংখ্যা’ বার করেছিল, যেখানে অশোক মিত্র-র একটা স্মৃতিচারণ ছিল। সেই নিয়ে কথা হচ্ছে। হঠাৎ করে ডক্টর মিত্র বলে উঠলেন, “তবে পত্রিকার পরিবর্ধিত সংস্করণে অনেক ভুল সংশোধন করে নেওয়া হয়েছিল”।

      আমি অবাক, কারণ আমি জানতামই না যে ওটার পরে কোনও সংস্করণ বেরিয়েছিল। এবং অশোক বাবুও তখন চোখে ভাল দেখেন না। উনি বললেন, “আপনি আমার ঘরের বাম দিকের টেবিলের কোণায় বইটাকে দেখতে পাবেন। নিয়ে আসুন, আমি আপনাকে পাতার সংখ্যা বলে দেব। কোথায় কোথায় সংশোধনী আছে”। গিয়ে দেখলাম, নতুন সংস্করণটি ২০১০ বা ‘১২ সালের।

      আবার, একদিন ফোন করে বললেন, “একটা সিরিজ আপনাকে দিয়ে লেখাতে চাই। আমার বাড়ি আসুন”। যাবার পর বললেন, “লাতিন আমেরিকার বামপন্থার পরীক্ষা নিরীক্ষা গুলো নিয়ে আপনি লিখুন। এটা ধারাবাহিকভাবে লিখতে হবে”। বলাই বাহুল্য, তখনো অবধি খুব উৎসাহ পাচ্ছিলাম না, কারণ এই বিষয় নিয়ে বাংলা এবং ইংরেজিতে প্রচুর লেখালেখি হচ্ছে। কিন্তু তারপরেই ডক্টর মিত্র বললেন, “দেখুন, এই বিষয় নিয়ে প্রচুর বই বাংলা ভাষাতেই আছে। তাই আপনার লেখাকে আলাদা হতে হবে। আমি আপনার জন্য ২০১৬ সালের সোশাল সায়েন্টিস্টের একটি সংখ্যা এনে রেখেছি। সেখানে একটা প্রবন্ধ আছে, কীভাবে লাতিন আমেরিকার লেফট ব্লক নির্মাণ হবার পর ওখানকার তেলের অর্থনীতি, শ্রমদিবস, গড় আয় ইত্যাদিতে পরিবর্তন ঘটছিল। আপনি এই জায়গাটাকে ধরুন। এটাকে কেউ ধরেনি। আপনি ডেটা দিয়ে, পরিসংখ্যান দিয়ে, দরকার পড়লে টেবিল এঁকে অংক করে দেখান লাতিন আমেরিকার বামপন্থা কীভাবে সাফল্য অথবা ব্যর্থতার সূচক হয়ে উঠছে”। বলে বইটা এগিয়ে দিলেন। তখন বুঝলাম, মধ্যমেধার জার্গনবাজি আর পাণ্ডিত্যের অনুসন্ধিৎসার মধ্যে পার্থক্য ঠিক কী জিনিস। তখন তাঁর বয়েস প্রায় নব্বই। কিন্তু তা সত্বেও ২০১৬ সালে প্রকাশিত একটি প্রবন্ধ তাঁর নজর এড়াচ্ছে না। সেটাকেও তিনি ব্যবহার করবার কথা ভাবছেন। শুধুমাত্র ইন্টেলেকচুয়াল নয়, এটা হল জায়ান্ট ইন্টেলেকচুয়ালের লক্ষণ।

      অর্থনীতিবিদ হলেও ডক্টর মিত্র-র প্রথম ও শেষ প্রেম ছিল কবিতা। এবং কবিতায় তিনি প্রচলিত রাজনীতির গণ্ডি মানেন নি। সঞ্জয় ভট্টাচার্য-র পূর্বাশা পত্রিকাতে যেমন কবিতা লিখেছেন, সুধীন্দ্রনাথ দত্তদের সঙ্গে সহায়তায় ‘পরিচয়’-এর কাজ সামলিয়েছেন। মনে রাখতে হবে, সঞ্জয় ভট্টাচার্য্য ছিলেন ট্রটস্কিপন্থী এবং সুধীন্দ্রনাথ দত্ত চল্লিশের দশক থেকেই সাম্যবাদ বিরোধী। কিন্তু ডক্টর মিত্র মনে করতেন, শিল্প সাহিত্যের ক্ষেত্রে পার্টির ফরমান সবসময়ে মানা চলে না, সেটা উচিতও নয়। এই বিষয়ে তাঁর ‘কবিতা থেকে মিছিলে’ গ্রন্থের একটি অধ্যায়ই ছিল, ‘একটি ভাষাসমস্যা সম্পর্কে’। সেখানে তিনি মনে করিয়ে দিচ্ছেন যে রুশ বিপ্লবের পর তথাকথিত প্রগতিশীল সাহিত্যের চাপে পড়ে ভাষার নন্দন-আনন্দ জিনিসটি হারিয়ে গিয়েছিল। মায়াকভস্কির কবিতার উচ্ছল গীতি তরঙ্গ অথবা শলোখভের নান্দনিক বাঙ্ময়তা যে পরবর্তীকালে আর নিয়ম থাকেনি, বরং ব্যতিক্রমই হয়ে ছিল, সেটা তাঁর নজর এড়ায়নি।

      আবার তাঁর পঠনের মধ্যে এক ধরণের একবগ্গা মতামতও লুকিয়ে থাকত, যেটাকে সময়বিশেষে গ্রহণ করা কঠিন। জীবনানন্দ দাশের উপন্যাসগুলিকে তিনি মনে করতেন ‘কিস্যু হয়নি ওগুলো’। তাঁর মতে, জীবনানন্দ কবিতা লিখতে লিখতে হতাশ হয়ে গিয়ে উপন্যাসগুলো লিখতেন। আবার সুভাষ মুখোপাধ্যায় তাঁর কাছে ‘ফেইলড হিরো’। সুভাষের জীবনের প্রথম পর্বের পদলালিত্য ঝংকারময় লিরিকাল কবিতাগুলি যতখানি ডক্টর মিত্র-র প্রিয় ছিল, পরবর্তীকালে বজবজ মহেশতলা অঞ্চলের শ্রমিকজীবন নিয়ে যখন সুভাষ গদ্যকবিতা লিখতে শুরু করলেন, অশোক বাবু সেগুলোকে ততখানিই অপছন্দ করলেন। তবে সম্ভবত এর পিছনে ব্যক্তি সুভাষের রাজনৈতিক মতবদলের একটা প্রভাব থাকতে পারে।

      শুধু একদিন, সুভাষ মুখোপাধ্যায়ের মমতা-প্রীতি সম্পর্কে যখন অশোক বাবু একটু উষ্মার সঙ্গে মতামত প্রকাশ করছিলেন, আমি হালকা ভাবে বলেছিলাম “কিন্তু তা সত্ত্বেও উনি কোনও ব্যক্তিগত সুযোগসুবিধা নেন নি। খুবই দারিদ্র্যের মধ্যে শেষ জীবন কাটিয়েছেন”। অশোক বাবু সঙ্গে সঙ্গে ঘাড় নাড়লেন, “অবশ্যই। চরিত্রবান পুরুষ ছিলেন। ওনার ভুলগুলোও হিরোয়িক। সাধে কি আর বলি যে উনি ফেইলড হিরো? ফেইল করবার পরেও, হিরো তো বটে !’

      কিন্তু বাংলা কবিতা নিয়ে তাঁর পঠন, এতখানি অনুরাগের পরেও, কোথাও গিয়ে আটকে গিয়েছিল বলে মনে হত বারবার। অশোক মিত্র ছিলেন ডাই-হার্ড রোমান্টিক। তিনি চল্লিশ পঞ্চাশ ষাটের লিরিকাল কাব্যঘরানার নস্টালজিয়া থেকে তাই মুক্ত হতে পারেন নি সম্ভবত। নরেশ গুহ, সুধীন্দ্রনাথ দত্ত, অরুণ সরকার অথবা বুদ্ধদেব বসু নিয়ে যতখানি উচ্ছ্বসিত ছিলেন, পরবর্তীকালের শক্তি বা সুনীল নিয়ে তাঁকে কিছু বলতে শুনি নি। সম্ভবত ছন্দের প্রতি তাঁর একটা ছেলেমানুষি আকর্ষণ ছিল। একবার অন্নদাশংকর রায়ের একটি কবিতা, প্রায় ছড়ার স্টাইলে লেখা, সেটা আমাকে বললেন পড়ে শোনাতে। পড়বার পর আমার দিকে তাকিয়ে হাসলেন , “কী অসাধারণ কবিতা না? আপনি এটা নিয়ে একটা লেখা লিখুন”। সংকোচের বশে বলতে পারিনি যে আধুনিক কবিতা এর পরেও অনেকটা রাস্তা এগিয়ে গিয়েছে।

      কথা হত তাঁর ক্যালকাটা ডায়রি নিয়েও।এই লেখাগুচ্ছের মধ্যেই গান্ধীবাদী ভাবুক নির্মলকুমার বসুর প্রতিও নিখাদ শ্রদ্ধা জানিয়ে একটি প্রবন্ধ ছিল। সেটা নিয়ে জিজ্ঞাসা করেছিলাম, যে কংগ্রেসি জমানার ওই বিভীষিকার মধ্যে আপনি একজন গান্ধীবাদীর প্রয়াণে এরকম শোকজ্ঞাপন করছেন? এ তো নেহরুর মৃত্যুতে হীরেন মুখোপাধ্যায়ের ‘আ জেন্টল কলোসাস’ লেখার সামিল হয়ে গিয়েছিল। সেই জিজ্ঞাসার মধ্যে হালকা খোঁচা হয়ত ছিল। কিন্তু অশোক বাবু স্মিতহাস্যে বালকের প্রগলভতা উড়িয়ে দিলেন। উত্তর দেবার প্রয়োজনই বোধ করলেন না। আজ বুঝি, সংকীর্ণ দলবাজীর আঙ্গিনায় তিনি কোনওদিন মুক্তচিন্তাকে বাঁধতে চান নি। সেটা তাঁর নিজস্ব বিবেকের কাছে, যে বিবেক মনেপ্রাণে সাম্যবাদী, সেই সাম্যবাদের খাতিরেই সেই বেঁধে ফেলাটা হত এক প্রকার আত্মপ্রবঞ্চনা।

      কী আশ্চর্য, তাঁর মৃত্যুটাও ঘটল মে দিবসের দিনেই! এটাকে সমাপতন বলব কি না জানি না। কিন্তু ভাবতে ভাল লাগছে, তিনি ছিলেন হয়ত পৃথিবীর শেষ কমিউনিস্ট। না, তাঁর শেষযাত্রায় রাষ্ট্রের পতাকা অর্ধনমিত থাকবে না। একুশখানা গান স্যালুট দেওয়া হবে না। কোনও মেট্রো স্টেশনের নামও সম্ভবত তাঁর নামে হবে না। ভাগ্যিস! বেঁচে থাকলে, এসব যাত্রাপালা যদি সত্যিই ঘটে যেত, তাঁর প্রিয় নায়ক ফ্রেডেরিক এঙ্গেলসের ভাষাতেই ডক্টর মিত্র হয়ত মুচকি হেসে বলতেন ‘সাব্লাইম ননসেন্স!’

      ভেঙে পড়ল এক অভ্যস্ত সখ্যের সেতু
      শঙ্কর রায়

      অনুজপ্রতিম ও প্রবীণ সাংবাদিক শুভাশিস মৈত্রের কাছ থেকে যখন জানলাম যে ডঃ অশোক মিত্রের জীবনের ইনিংসের অবসান হয়েছেন ( ক্রিকেট নিয়েও একাধিক মনোগ্রাহী লেখা লিখেছেন), তখন মনে হল যেন এই অনিবারণীয় বেদনামিশ্রিত মূহূর্তের জন্য প্রস্তুত ছিলাম। স্মৃতির তোরণ আচমকা খুলে গেল। আমার সঙ্গে সঙ্গেই ভেঙে পড়ল তাঁর সঙ্গে গড়ে ওঠা অগণিত পাঠকের সেতু।

      চাঁচাছোলা কথা বলতে ভালোবাসতেন যেমন, তেমনি ওঁর লেখার তীব্র সমালোচনাতে রুষ্ট বা কাতর হতেন না। লেখার প্রতিবাদে কেউ সরব হলে বোধহয় কালেভদ্রেও প্রত্যুত্তর দিতেন না। এমন মানুষের জীবনাবসানের পরে তাঁর সমালোচনা করা হয়ত অনভিপ্রেত নয়। তবু এখন সেই সব কথা বলার বা লেখার অবকাশ নয়। ব্রিটেনে ৩০ দশকের অক্সফোর্ড কবি গোষ্ঠীর (যাঁরা ছিলেন বামপন্থী ও কমিউনিস্ট-ঘেঁষা) অন্যতম জ্যোতিস্ক লুই ম্যাকনিসের অকাল প্রয়াণে( ৩ সেপ্টেম্বর ১৯৬৩) তাঁর কাব্যসংগ্রামে সহযাত্রী উইস্টান হিউ অডেন লেখেন, “ডেথ ইজ নো অকেশ্যন টু পোস্টমর্টেম দি ওয়ার্ক্স অফ ওয়ান’স লাইফটাইম”। কিছুটা দোটানা থাকলেও সেই নীতি মানব এই লেখায়।

      আগেই বলি ডঃ মিত্রের রাজনৈতিক ভাবনার সাথে আমার অবস্থানের অনেক ব্যবধান ছিল। কিন্তু মতান্তর কখনো আমার কাছে মনান্তরের সোপান ছিল না। এ শিক্ষা পেয়েছি আমার অন্যতম রাজনৈতিক পথ প্রদর্শক সত্যেন্দ্রনারায়ণ মজুমদার- প্রায় দেড় দশক আন্দামানে সেলুলার জেলে অন্তরীণ ও ‘কাঞ্চনজঙ্ঘার ঘুম ভাঙছে’র লেখক, ১৯৫২-৫৬ রাজ্যসভায় সিপিআই-এর ডেপুটি লিডারের কাছ থেকে। তাই মিত্রের সমালোচক হলেও তাঁর লেখার প্রতি অনুরক্ত ছিলাম। এজন্যে অনেকে আমাকে ঠেস দিয়ে কথা বলতন, যাঁরা তাঁর পক্ষে লিখতে চাইত না। আমি তাঁর পি এইচ ডি থিসিস ‘শেয়ার অফ ওয়েজেস ইন ন্যাশনাল ইনকাম’ পড়ে মুগ্ধ। সেকথা তাঁকে একাধিকবার জানিয়েছি। তাঁর সুপারভাইজার ছিলেন ইয়ান টিনবার্জেন, অর্থবিজ্ঞানে প্রথম যে দুজন নোবেল পুরস্কার পান, তাঁদের একজন।

      প্রথম সাক্ষাৎ ১৯৭০-এর শেষে। তিনি তখন প্রথম বামফ্রন্ট সরকারের অর্থ মন্ত্রী । ‘ইনডিয়া টু ডে’ থেকে রামন স্বামী (সেই সময়কার একজন স্পেশ্যাল করেসপন্ডেন্ট) আমার দফতরে ফোন করে বললেন , ‘শঙ্করদা, আপনাকে কাল সকাল সাড়ে ৯টায় অশোক মিত্রের ছোট্ট সাক্ষাৎকার নিতে হবে। ব্যবস্থা আমরা করছি। আপনি সময়মতো যাবেন ( আমার তো অভিধানে ‘পাংচুয়ালিটি’ শব্দটা নেই, তাই ‘সময়মতো’ কথাটার ওপর জোর)’। রাজি হলাম এক শর্তে, যে আমার নাম থাকবে না, কারণ আমি তখন অধুনালুপ্ত ‘ক্যাপিটাল’ সাপ্তাহিক-এর সিনিয়র সাব-এডিটর, অন্য পত্রিকায় লেখা নিষেধ । পৌঁছে গেলাম সাড়ে ৯টার আগেই। আমার মনে পড়ছে, আমার একটি প্রশ্নের উত্তরে দুটি শব্দবন্ধ। আমি জিজ্ঞাসা করলাম এই যে পুঁজিবাদী পথে বিকাশে ভারতের মত দেশ এগিয়ে যাবার বদলে পিছু হঠছে, এ বিষয়ে তিনি কী ভাবেন। সোজা সহজ জবাব, ‘লিখতে পারেন, ‘ডেভলপমেন্ট অফ আন্ডারডেভলপমেন্ট’। তার অনেক পরে পড়েছি লাতিন আমেরিকার অর্থনীতির বিশ্ববিশ্রুত অর্থ শাস্ত্রবিদ অধ্যাপক গুন্দার ফ্র্যাঙ্কের তত্ত্ব ‘ডেভলপমেন্ট অফ আন্ডারডেভলপমেন্ট’। তাঁর থিসিস পড়ে মুগ্ধ হবার বিরল অবকাশ পেলেও লিখিত সমালোচনা করেছি তাঁর মুখবন্ধের একাংশ। তিনি বলেছিলেন, ১৯৫৫ সালে তাঁর সিদ্ধান্ত থেকে সরে আসছেন না। তিনি বলেছিলেন যে মার্ক্স-এর সূত্রায়ন (‘রেলেটিভ ইমপভারিশমেন্ট অফ প্রলেটারিয়েট’) আর প্রযোজ্য নয়। এ এল বাউলি ও অন্যান্যদের লেখা উদ্ধৃত করে তাঁর এই সিদ্ধান্ত। আমি মার্ক্সবাদী অর্থবিজ্ঞানী ইয়ান কুকজিনস্কির লেথা থেকে দেখাতে চেষ্টা করেছি যে প্রকৃত মজুরিবৃদ্ধির সূচকের চেয়ে বেশি উৎপাদনবৃদ্ধির সূচক। অর্থাৎ মার্ক্সের সিদ্ধান্ত ভ্রান্ত প্রমাণিত হয়নি।

      অসাধারণ মেধা ছিল, প্রবেশিকা পরীক্ষা থেকে স্নাতকোত্তর পরীক্ষা অব্দি ক্রমান্বয়ে সর্বোচ্চ স্থান বিচার করেই সেই মেধার পরিমাপ। মেধার জন্যেই তিনি ধূর্জটিপ্রসাদ মুখোপাধ্যায়ের মত কিংবদন্তিপ্রতিম প্রজ্ঞাবান চিন্তাবিদের সমীপবর্তী হয়েছিলেন। তাঁর মনন ও চিন্তনের সোপান গড়ে তোলায় অনুঘটক ছিলেন ধূর্জটিপ্রসাদ, সেই সময় ডঃ মিত্র লখনউ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের অর্থবিজ্ঞানের অধ্যাপক।

      তাঁর যেমন ছিল তীক্ষ্ন অম্ল জিহ্বা ( ইংরেজিতে যাকে বলে ‘অ্যাসিড টাংগ’), তেমনি বুদ্ধিদীপ্ত তির্যকতা। একবার রাজ্যের বাজেট পেশ করার পরে প্রথামত সাংবাদিক সম্মেলনে এক সাংবাদিক (যিনি ছিলেন কমিউনিস্ট-বিদ্বেষী, মাঝে মাঝে ডঃ মিত্রের বক্তব্য বিকৃত করতেন) প্রশ্ন করলে সহাস্যে বললেন, ‘ যা খুশি, যেমন খুশি লিখুন। রূপকথা পড়তেও ভালো লাগে’। কিন্তু সেই টিপ্পনি সে সাংবাদিকদের মাথার ওপর দিয়ে গেল।

      অসাধারণ আত্মকথা ‘আপিলা চাপিলা’য় শ্লেষাত্মক ভাষায় সিপি আই(এম) ও বামফ্রন্টকে তুলোধোনা করে লিখলেন – ‘বশ্যতা বনাম দক্ষতা’ অর্থাৎ যাঁরা উঁচু পদে বা বড় দায়িত্বে উঠে আসছে, তাঁদের আগে প্রমাণ করতে হবে বশ্যতা, দক্ষতা নয়। বিষবৃক্ষ যে রোপিত হচ্ছে, তা আঁচ করতে পাচ্ছিলেন।

      জীবনের প্রান্তে এসে এক সাময়িকীতে সাক্ষাৎকারে বলেছিলেন , “জীবনে এ-পাড়া, ও-পাড়া, বে-পাড়া, সৌভাগ্যের চুড়োয় উঠে যাওয়া দেশ, উচ্ছন্নে যাওয়া দেশ, সাদামাটা ম্যাড়মেড়ে দেশ অনেক ঘোরা হয়েছে। কিন্তু কোথাও আর সেই ঝাঁকা-মুটের রান্নার সম্ভারের গন্ধের তুলনা পাইনি। পাইনি স্টিমারের রান্না মুরগির মাংসের সেই পরমাশ্চর্য গন্ধ – এই যুগ্ম গন্ধের স্মৃতি আমাকে হঠাৎ আবার জীবনের চরিতার্থতা কী, তা নিয়ে নতুন করে ভাবতে শেখায়।“

      একটা খেদ রয়ে গেল। তাঁর সম্পাদিত ‘আরেকরকম’ পাক্ষিকে ‘স্মৃতি-বিস্মৃতি’তে উঠে আসছিল ‘আপিলা চাপিলা’র অসমাপ্ত কথামালা। সেসব অসমাপ্তই রয়ে গেল।

      • মাসুদ করিম - ১৮ মে ২০১৮ (৯:৫৭ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

        A friendship to cherish

        All good things of life, one knows, must come to an end; yet when they do one is nonetheless heart-broken. My friendship with Ashok Mitra who passed away on May 1 was among the best things of my life; yet despite the fact that he was 90 years old, with impaired vision and hearing, and ailing for long, I cannot get reconciled to his loss.

        I mostly stayed with him whenever I visited Calcutta; and one of my main reasons for visiting Calcutta was to stay with him. The evenings would be spent in long gossip sessions, about his Dhaka days, about West Bengal politics, about common friends, and about the state of the Left, with him doing the talking and me the listening. In the mornings there would be what I call the famous ‘tea ceremony’ of the Mitra household, when, over several cups of lovely tea and biscuits, a stack of newspapers would be read and discussed, and the Telegraph crossword solved, with occasional help from the Thesaurus. Gouridi, his wife, was the most avid crossword buff amongst all of us; after her passing, exactly a decade ago, the crossword passion subsided somewhat, but the ‘tea ceremony’ continued. Sunday mornings were ‘open house’ in the Mitra household, with friends dropping in for an adda; of late, however, the numbers dropping in had dwindled, with many friends passing away.

        It is ironical that when my wife Utsa and I had first met Ashokda in 1969 at a dinner at Jasodhara and Amiya Bagchi’s house, we had been predisposed to avoid him. He was a celebrity of sorts, and we were of an age where one disliked celebrities. Besides, the usual question raised about Ashokda also gnawed at us: “He says he is a communist, then why is he working for Indira Gandhi’s government?” We tried avoiding him throughout the evening, but he finally buttonholed us, and in the course of conversation found out that Utsa was working on her doctoral thesis at Oxford on the agrarian question in India for which she needed some reports of the Agricultural Prices Commission, of which he was then the chairman. He took down Utsa’s parents’ postal address in Chennai and within a week the reports came by post. This was our first inkling that he was not a celebrity of the usual sort; he kept his word.

        Keeping his word was an inviolable principle for Ashokda. I recollect one occasion when Mihir Bhattacharya and I had accompanied him, shortly after his becoming the finance minister of West Bengal, to a village near Mecheda railway station where he had gone electioneering. The villagers there had asked for a bridge to be built on a local river and Ashokda had agreed. Many years later I happened to ask him if that bridge had indeed been built. He looked at me pityingly and said: “Of course.” What was striking about the incident was not just that he had kept his word but also that he had remembered his promise.

        The other major trait of Ashokda which his sending the APC reports to Utsa reveals was his deep interest in young persons. He would have long arguments with Sudha, the daughter of my colleague, Krishna Bharadwaj, when she was a schoolgirl, even ignoring the rest of us in the room who were engaged in what we thought was serious discussion. And once when I was in Calcutta with my son, Nishad, staying at the Ramakrishna Mission, Ashok da wanted Nishad to spend the night at his place as he wanted to chat with him. Nishad did so, though they hardly chatted much that night, since that was the famous night when India had defeated England in an ODI at Lord’s, chasing a target of 326 runs. They were up most of the night watching that match.

        A fascinating aspect of Ashokda’s life which I have watched from close quarters was his relationship with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). His acute intellect clearly saw that no serious Left project in India was meaningful that bypassed the CPI(M), which was by far the largest Left force; accordingly he never wanted to part company with the CPI(M). Indeed, in the early 1970s, when it was quite common for Calcutta Left intellectuals to be hostile towards the CPI(M), he had chastised them in one of his Calcutta Diary columns as intellectuals who could not see “beyond their noses”. At the same time, however, he was strongly committed to certain principles and would not accept their violation by the party or its government, merely out of party discipline or party loyalty.

        But if Ashokda did not want to part company with the party, the party, too, did not wish to part company with him, because it knew that he would never go against it; indeed, the party itself had been moving away from the typical sledgehammer approach to discipline that its origins in the Communist International had inculcated in it. This is the reason why, when he resigned from the Left Front government and from the CPI(M) in 1986, he was “allowed” to do so; the earlier practice had been to “expel” anyone wanting to resign.

        An incident illustrates the party’s “he-is-one-of-us” attitude towards Ashokda in spite of his criticism of it, which could even be quite strident. A Left Democratic Front government had come to power in Kerala in 1987 with E.K. Nayanar as the chief minister, and had set up a planning board of which Ashokda and I were among a group of five advisory members and I.S. Gulati was the vice-chairman and sole full member. After one of the board meetings, Nayanar invited Ashokda and me to his chamber for some tea and a chat. When we were leaving after the chat he turned to Ashokda and said: “See you at the Party Congress” (which was to happen soon). Ashokda was much tickled, and by no means displeased, that Nayanar, a politburo member, was not even aware of his resignation from party membership which had been much played up in the Calcutta media.

        In spite of his resignation from it, the party sent him to Rajya Sabha in the 1990s where Ashokda strongly opposed the neo-liberal policies being adopted by the government. As the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee for industry and commerce he played a stellar role in fighting the regime of intellectual property rights that American multinational corporations in particular were imposing upon the world through the World Trade Organization. It is a testimony to his powers of persuasion and the respect he commanded that the report of his committee on the IPR regime was unanimous, in spite of the fact that its members were drawn from a spectrum of parties.

        His criticism of the party was particularly strident on its ‘industrialization’ drive that wooed domestic and foreign big business and alienated the peasantry which had stood with the Left Front for decades. Indeed, one of his pieces criticizing the concessions given to the Tatas for the Nano plant was titled “Santa Claus visits the Tatas”. Even such criticism, however, did not mean a parting of ways. When he died, the party was actively involved in organizing his last journey. Ashokda would have been greatly delighted by this fact.

  4. মাসুদ করিম - ৪ মে ২০১৮ (১১:০২ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    কবি মোস্তফা মীর আর নেই

    চিকিৎসকদের সব চেষ্টা ব্যর্থ করে চলে গেলেন কবি, ঔপন্যাসিক ও অনুবাদক মোস্তফা মীর। রাজধানীর ধানমণ্ডিতে গণস্বাস্থ্য হাসপাতালে লাইফ সাপোর্টে থাকা মোস্তফা মীর গত বুধবার রাত ২টা ১০ মিনিটে ইন্তেকাল করেন। তার বয়স হয়েছিল ৬৬ বছর। তার স্ত্রী, এক ছেলে ও এক মেয়ে রয়েছে।

    মোস্তফা মীরের মামাতো ভাই শামীম খান জানান, তার দুটি কিডনিই নষ্ট হয়ে গিয়েছিল। গত সোমবার কিডনি ডায়ালাইসিস করার সময় গুরুতর অসুস্থ হয়ে পড়েন মোস্তফা মীর। ওই দিন বিকেল থেকেই তাকে আইসিইউতে লাইফ সাপোর্টে রাখা হয়।

    গতকাল বৃহস্পতিবার সকালে মোস্তফা মীরের মরদেহ নিয়ে যাওয়া হয় তার রায়েরবাজারের বাসভবনে। এর পর রায়েরবাজার প্রগতি সংঘ মসজিদে বাদ জোহর জানাজা শেষে রায়েরবাজার শহীদ বুদ্ধিজীবী

    কবরস্থানে তার লাশ দাফন করা হয়।

    মোস্তফা মীর মূলত কবি। স্বাধীনতা-উত্তর বাংলাদেশে যারা প্রথম কবিতা লিখতে শুরু করেন এবং সত্তর দশকে বাংলা কবিতাকে যারা এ দেশে জনপ্রিয় করে তোলেন মোস্তফা মীর তাদের অন্যতম। তিনি ১৯৫২ সালে রাজবাড়ী জেলার বড়লক্ষ্মীপুর গ্রামে জন্মগ্রহণ করেন। ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় থেকে বাংলা ভাষা ও সাহিত্যে তিনি মাস্টার্স করেছেন ১৯৭৬ সালে। কর্মজীবনে একাধিকবার পেশা বদল করেছেন এবং একটি বেসরকারি সংস্থায় ১৮ বছর যুক্ত ছিলেন সম্পাদনাকর্মের সঙ্গে।

    আজন্ম উদাসীন ও প্রচারবিমুখ এই কবির কাব্যগ্রন্থের সংখ্যা মাত্র পাঁচটি। পুরো আশির দশকে তিনি কোনো লেখালেখিই করেননি। নব্বই দশকের শুরুতে এসে হঠাৎ করেই লেখেন উপন্যাস ‘দানববংশ’। এ উপন্যাসের বিরুদ্ধে মৌলবাদীরা মামলা ঠুকলেও, তা ধোপে টেকেনি।

    নব্বই দশকের মাঝামাঝি সময় থেকেই তিনি উপন্যাস রচনার পাশাপাশি অনুবাদকর্মে হাত দেন। গদ্য ও পদ্য মিলে তার অনুবাদ গ্রন্থের সংখ্যা ত্রিশের অধিক।

  5. মাসুদ করিম - ৫ মে ২০১৮ (১০:৫৫ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Marx’s theory still shines with truth: Xi

    Two centuries on, despite huge and profound changes in human society, the name of Karl Marx is still respected all over the world and his theory still shines with the brilliant light of truth, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday.

    Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a grand gathering in Beijing to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth.

    Xi said Marx is the “teacher of revolution for the proletariat and working people all over the world, the main founder of Marxism, creator of Marxist parties, a pathfinder for international communism and the greatest thinker of modern times.”

    “Today, we hold this grand gathering with great veneration to mark the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth, to remember his great character and historic deeds and to review his noble spirit and brilliant thoughts,” Xi said at the event.

    With noble ideals and no fear of difficulty or adversity, throughout his life, Marx devoted himself to perseveringly striving for the liberation of humanity, scaling the peak of thought in his pursuit of truth, and the unremitting fight to overturn the old world and establish a new one, according to Xi.

    Marx is not only a great figure who bore the weight of the world, but also an ordinary person with passion for life, who was sincere and true to friendship, Xi said.

    The most valuable and influential spiritual asset that Marx left us is the scientific theory named after him — Marxism. Like a spectacular sunrise, the theory illuminated the path of humanity’s exploration of the law of history, and humanity’s search for their own liberation, Xi said.

    “The thought and theory of Marx are of his times and go beyond his times,” Xi said. “They are the essence of the spirit of that times and the essence of the spirit of all humanity.”

    Xi said Marxism is a scientific theory that reveals the rule of human society development in a creative manner.

    Having developed the materialist conception of history and surplus value theory, Marx showed how humanity would leap from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom and the road for the people to realize freedom and liberation, Xi said.

    Marxism, the first ideology for the liberation of the people themselves, is a theory of the people.

    “Marxism, for the first time, explored the path for humanity’s freedom and liberation from the stance of the people, and pointed out the direction, with scientific theory, toward an ideal society with no oppression or exploitation, where every person would enjoy equality and freedom,” Xi said.

    Stressing that practicality is a prominent characteristic of Marxism that makes it different from other theories, Xi said Marxism is a theory of practices that directs the people to change the world.

    It is an open theory that is constantly developing and always stands at the frontier of the times, Xi said. “That is why it is always able to keep young, explore the new issues in the development of times and respond to the new challenges for human society.”

    The general secretary said that over the 170 years since the publication of The Communist Manifesto, Marxism had been spread around the world, unrivaled in the history of human ideology in terms of the breadth and depth of its influence.

    After the end of the World War II, a large number of socialist countries were established, Xi said, stressing that the founding of the People’s Republic of China, especially, has greatly increased the socialist strength in the world.

    “There might be setbacks in the development of socialism in the world, but the overall trend for human society development has never changed, and it will never change,” Xi said.

    “Marxism has not only profoundly changed the world, but also China,” Xi said.

    The reverberations of the October Revolution in Russia brought Marxism-Leninism to China, pointing out the direction forward, offering a brand new choice for the Chinese people in their struggle to survive, and setting the scene for the birth of the CPC.

    Since the CPC’s birth, it has combined the fundamental principles of Marxism with the reality of Chinese revolution and construction, transforming the Chinese nation from “the sick man of East Asia” to one who has stood up, by uniting and leading the people through long-term struggle.

    “This tremendous transformation serves as cast iron proof that only through socialism can we save China,” Xi said.

    Since reform and opening up, the CPC has combined the fundamental principles of Marxism with the reality of China’s reform and opening up, and the nation who stood up has grown rich.

    “This tremendous transformation serves as cast iron proof that only through socialism with Chinese characteristics can we develop China,” Xi said.

    In the new era, the CPC again combined the fundamental principles of Marxism with the reality of China in this new era, uniting and leading the people in “undertaking the great struggle, building the great project, advancing the great cause and realizing the great dream.”

    The Chinese nation has come to embrace a tremendous transformation, as the one who has grown rich now is becoming strong.

    “This tremendous transformation serves as cast iron proof that only by adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics can we realize national rejuvenation,” Xi said.

    “It is perfectly right for history and the people to choose Marxism, as well as for the CPC to write Marxism on its own flag, to adhere to the principle of combining the fundamental principles of Marxism with China’s reality, and continuously adapt Marxism to the Chinese context and the times.”

  6. মাসুদ করিম - ১০ মে ২০১৮ (১১:৫৫ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    চলে গেলেন মুস্তাফা নূরউল ইসলাম

    নিভে গেল জাতির আরেক বাতিঘর। শিল্প-সাহিত্য-সংস্কৃতি ক্ষেত্রে দেশের অন্যতম অভিভাবক জাতীয় অধ্যাপক মুস্তাফা নূরউল ইসলাম আর নেই। গতকাল বুধবার রাত সাড়ে ৯টায় নিজ বাসভবনে তিনি ইন্তেকাল করেন। বার্ধক্যজনিত নানা জটিলতায় ভুগছিলেন তিনি। তার বয়স হয়েছিল ৯২ বছর। তিনি দুই ছেলে, দুই মেয়েসহ বহু ছাত্র, অনুরাগী রেখে গেছেন। তার মৃত্যুতে গভীর শোক প্রকাশ করেছেন অর্থমন্ত্রী আবুল মাল আবদুল মুহিত ও সংস্কৃতিমন্ত্রী আসাদুজ্জামান নূর।

    মুস্তাফা নূরউল ইসলামের নার্স সাজেদুর রহমান সমকালকে বলেন, বসুন্ধরা আবাসিক এলাকার বাসভবনে তিনি মারা যান। রাত ১০টার দিকে অ্যাপোলো হাসপাতালে নেওয়া হলে চিকিৎসকরা তার মৃত্যুর বিষয়টি নিশ্চিত করেন।

    পারিবারিক সূত্র জানায়, মুস্তাফা নূরউল ইসলামের দাফনের বিষয়ে গত রাতে কোনো সিদ্ধান্ত হয়নি। তার বড় ছেলে মুস্তাফা কাইফ বর্তমানে দেশে রয়েছেন। দুই মেয়ে আতিয়া ইয়াসমিন ও নন্দিতা ইয়াসমিন এবং ছোট ছেলে রাজন দেশের বাইরে আছেন। তারা আলোচনা করে দাফনের বিষয়ে সিদ্ধান্ত নেবেন। আজ বৃহস্পতিবারের মধ্যে বিষয়টি নিশ্চিত হওয়া যাবে বলে জানান তিনি। মরদেহ অ্যাপোলো হাসপাতালে রাখা হয়েছে।

    গত ১ মে ৯২ বছরে পদার্পণ করেছিলেন মুস্তাফা নূরউল ইসলাম। তিনি ১৯২৭ সালের ১ মে বগুড়া জেলার মহাস্থানগড় সংলগ্ন চিঙ্গাশপুর গ্রামে জন্মগ্রহণ করেন। পাঁচ বছর বয়সে কলকাতায় কবি কাজী নজরুল ইসলামের হাতে তার লেখাপড়ায় হাতেখড়ি। বাবা সাদত আলী আখন্দের চাকরিতে ঘন ঘন বদলির কারণে তিনি মোট আটটি বিদ্যালয়ে লেখাপড়া করেন। ময়মনসিংহ জিলা স্কুলে ম্যাট্রিকুলেশন ও আনন্দমোহন কলেজ থেকে আইএসসি পাস করেন। গ্র্যাজুয়েশন করেন কলকাতায় সুরেন্দ্রনাথ কলেজে। ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় থেকে এম এ পাস করেন এবং পিএইচডি করেন লন্ডন ইউনিভার্সিটির প্রাচ্যভাষা ও সংস্কৃতি কেন্দ্র (সোয়াস) থেকে।

    ছাত্র বয়স থেকেই দিনাজপুর-রংপুর অঞ্চলে তেভাগা আন্দোলনের সঙ্গে সম্পৃক্ত ছিলেন। ১৯৪৮-১৯৫২-এর ভাষা আন্দোলন থেকে মুক্তিযুদ্ধ প্রতিটি প্রতিবাদী আন্দোলনের সঙ্গেও সক্রিয়ভাবে যুক্ত থাকেন। ষাটের দশকের আইয়ুববিরোধী আন্দোলন, একষট্টিতে পাকিস্তানি শাষকদের রক্তচক্ষু উপেক্ষা করে রবীন্দ্র জন্মশতবার্ষিকী উদযাপনসহ সব প্রগতিশীল গণতান্ত্রিক-সাংস্কৃতিক আন্দোলনের সঙ্গেও সম্পৃক্ত ছিলেন মুস্তাফা নূরউল ইসলাম। বঙ্গবন্ধুর ডাকে ‘সাম্প্রদায়িকতার বিরুদ্ধে পূর্ব পাকিস্তান রুখিয়া দাঁড়াও’ আন্দোলনেও তিনি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ ভূমিকা পালন করেন। ১৯৭১ সালে মুক্তিযুদ্ধের সময় লন্ডনে পিএইচডি করাকালে মুক্তিযুদ্ধের সমর্থনে সক্রিয় আন্দোলনে সম্পৃক্ত হন এবং জনমত গঠনে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ ভূমিকা পালন করেন।

    মুস্তাফা নূরউল ইসলামের কর্মজীবন শুরু সাংবাদিকতা দিয়ে, দৈনিক আজাদ পত্রিকায় রিপোর্টার হিসেবে। পরে তিনি দৈনিক সংবাদে সহযোগী সম্পাদক হিসেবে যোগ দেন। ১৯৫৩ সালের ডিসেম্বর মাসে করাচি বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে তার হাত ধরে যাত্রা শুরু হয় বাংলা বিভাগের। স্বাধীনতার আগের কয়েক বছর তিনি রাজশাহী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়েও অধ্যাপনা করেন এবং ১৯৭১ সালে লন্ডন বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে পিএইচডি করাকালে ওই বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে খণ্ডকালীন অধ্যাপনার চাকরিও করেন। স্বাধীনতা-উত্তর বাংলাদেশে ১৯৭২ সালে তিনি জাহাঙ্গীরনগর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে যোগদান করেন এবং বাংলা বিভাগের প্রতিষ্ঠাতা সভাপতির দায়িত্ব পালন করেন। ১৯৭৪ সালে তিনি শিল্পকলা একাডেমির মহাপরিচালক পদে যোগদান করেন। ১৯৭৫ সালে বাংলা একাডেমির প্রথম মহাপরিচালক হন। সামরিক সরকারের সঙ্গে দ্বিমতের কারণে বাংলা একাডেমিতে চাকরির মেয়াদ অসমাপ্ত রেখেই জাহাঙ্গীরনগর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে ফিরে আসেন এবং ১৯৯২ সালে বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের চাকরি থেকে অবসর গ্রহণের আগে-পরে জাতীয় জাদুঘর পরিচালনা পর্ষদের তিন মেয়াদের চেয়ারম্যান, নজরুল ইনস্টিটিউট ট্রাস্টি বোর্ডের তিন মেয়াদের সদস্যসহ বিভিন্ন গুরুত্বপূর্ণ সরকারি-বেসরকারি প্রতিষ্ঠানে নীতিনির্ধারণী পর্ষদের সদস্য হিসেবে কাজ করেন।

    জাতীয় অধ্যাপক মুস্তাফা নূরউল ইসলামের প্রবন্ধ-সংকলন ও গবেষণাগ্রন্থ আছে ৩০টির অধিক। এর মধ্যে ‘সমকালে নজরুল ইসলাম’, ‘সাময়িকপত্রে জীবন ও জনমত’, ‘আমার বাংলা’, ‘নিবেদন ইতি’, ‘বাঙালির আত্মপরিচয়’, ‘সেরা সুন্দরম’, ‘পূর্বমেঘ’, ‘নির্বাচিত প্রবন্ধ’, ‘আমাদের মাতৃভাষার চেতনা ও ভাষা আন্দোলন’, ‘আবহমান বাংলা’, ‘মুসলিম বাংলা সাহিত্য’, ‘সময়ের মুখ :তাহাদের কথা’, ব্যক্তিগত প্রবন্ধ সংকলন ‘আপন ভুবন’, ‘বেঙ্গলী মুসলিম পাবলিক অপিনিয়ন’, ‘সাদত আলী আখন্দ রচনাসমগ্র’ উল্লেখযোগ্য।

    মুস্তাফা নূরউল ইসলামের আরেক অনন্য বৈশিষ্ট্য তার টেলিভিশন অনুষ্ঠানগুলো। বিটিভিতে তার ‘মুক্তধারা’ ও ‘বাঙালির বাংলা’ অনুষ্ঠান দুটি ব্যাপক জনপ্রিয়তা পায়। এটিএন বাংলায় প্রচারিত ‘কথামালা’ নামে সাপ্তাহিক আরেকটি অনুষ্ঠান তিনি উপস্থাপনা করেন। তার আরেক অনন্য কীর্তি ‘সুন্দরম’ পত্রিকা। প্রায় দুই যুগ তিনি পত্রিকাটি সম্পাদনা করেন। ত্রৈমাসিক এই পত্রিকাটি সমকালে সেরা সাহিত্য, সংস্কৃতি ও ভাষা বিজ্ঞানবিষয়ক সাময়িকীর অভিধা অর্জন করে।

    সাহিত্য ও শিল্পকলায় অসাধারণ অবদানের জন্য তিনি স্বাধীনতা পুরস্কার ও একুশে পদকে ভূষিত হন।

  7. মাসুদ করিম - ১৪ মে ২০১৮ (১০:১৭ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Family of six carried out bombings at three Indonesia churches, killing at least 13 people

    A family of six carried out suicide bombings at three churches in Surabaya in Indonesia’s East Java province during Sunday mass on May 13, killing at least 13 people, according to the police.

    The attacks took place at the Santa Maria Church in the Ngagel Madya area of Indonesia’s second-largest and busiest city, the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church and the GKI Diponegoro Church.

    East Java provincial police spokesman Colonel Frans Barung Mangera told reporters a total of 41 injured victims from the attacks have been sent to hospital. At least two of the injured were police officers on duty guarding the churches.

    Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attacks, the group’s Amaq news agency said, without providing any evidence.

    “Three martyrdom attacks inflicts at least 11 deaths and 41 injuries of the churches’ guards and Christians in the city of Surabaya in East Java province in Indonesia,” the agency said in a statement that gave no further details.

    Police chief General Tito Karnavian said ISIS-affiliated terror network Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) was behind the attacks and that all of the bombers were members of the same family.

    JAD, or Jemaah Ansharut Daulah, is a terror group that first became known to Indonesian intelligence agencies in 2015, when almost two dozen extremist groups pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

    A source told The Straits Times that the family is JAD founder Aman Abdurrahman’s sleeper cell. Police are hunting those who provided the bombs, the source added.

    Gen Tito said two brothers, aged 17 and 15, carried out the first bombing on the Santa Maria Church. They were on a motorcycle and carried the bomb on their lap.

    The second bombing, on the GKI Diponegoro Church, was carried out by the mother who had a belt bomb. She was accompanied by her two daughters, aged nine and 12. This was the first-ever suicide bombing by a woman in Indonesia.

    Their father, who was on a car, staged the third bombing at Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church.

    A planned attack on a fourth church, Cathedral Church, was foiled with the arrest of a suspected bomber.

    A police bomb squad also safely detonated an unexploded bomb that was discovered at the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church.

    “All elements were quickly deployed to all vital places, especially places of worships. Three churches were attacked. Police arrested a person that was about to attack the otherwise a fourth target, the Cathedral Church. It has been foiled,” Surabaya deputy mayor Mr Wisnu Sakti Buana told Elshinta radio.

    Elshinta cited eye witnesses and local residents as saying that the bombings all occurred at around 7am.

    President Joko Widodo condemned the attacks as “barbaric”, noting the use of children to facilitate one of the attacks.

    At a news briefing alongside Gen Tito, Mr Joko said: “I have instructed police to look into and break up networks of perpetrators.”

    Graphic video footage and photographs from the site of the Santa Maria Church bombing showed several injured people lying prone on the ground and a boy covered in blood being carried away. The road outside the church was blocked. The bomb was probably detonated at the gate of the Santa Maria Church .

    Meanwhile, Jakarta police spokesman Inspector General Setyo Wasisto said at a press conference that police killed four terrorists of the JAD terror network in Cianjur, West Java province, at around 2am on Sunday.

    “We seized, among others, revolvers and a bow with arrowheads that contain explosive,” Inspector General Setyo said.

    “They were on their way to Brimob (Mobile Brigade Corps) headquarters. We tailed them from Sukabumi (West Java) and when we reached Cianjur, they were aware of being stalked and they attempted to flee. Our officers tried to stop them, had gunfights and managed to take them down.”

    The terrorists were identified as BCA (age 43), AR (32), HS (23) and BBN (whose age is unknown).

    After the terrorists were killed in the exchange of gunfire, police arrested two terror suspects in West Java. One of them, known only by the initial G, was arrested in Sukabumi, while the other – initialled M – was apprehended in Cikarang.

    Inspector General Setyo said police were investigating if the terrorists were linked to the Surabaya attacks. The four terrorists were from the JAD’s greater Jakarta network.

    • মাসুদ করিম - ১৪ মে ২০১৮ (১১:১১ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

      BREAKING: Another bomb attack hits Surabaya Police HQ

      A bomb attack has been reported at Surabaya Police headquarters on Monday morning, just a few hours after a bomb prematurely went off in Sidoarjo, East Java, late on Sunday and bomb attacks on three churches in the city earlier in the day.

      East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Frans Barung Mangera confirmed the attack on the police headquarters.

      The attack took place at the entrance of the headquarters on Jl. Sikatan at 8:50 a.m.

      Frans said four police officers and six civilians were injured in the attack.

      However, he did not disclose the number of fatalities in the attack, which appears to be a suicide bombing.

      CCTV video footage circulating of the attack shows that the source of the explosion came from a motorcycle. Eyewitnesses said a man rode the motorcycle along with a woman and child sitting on the passenger seat.

      Meanwhile, East Java Police have found a connection between the church bombings and Sidoarjo bombing.

      “Similar types of explosives were used,” Frans said.

      Both the Surabaya church bombings and Sidoarjo bomb explosion also involved family members, Frans said. (dmr)

  8. মাসুদ করিম - ১৬ মে ২০১৮ (১১:১২ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Tom Wolfe, ‘New Journalist’ With Electric Style and Acid Pen, Dies at 88

    Tom Wolfe, an innovative journalist and novelist whose technicolor, wildly punctuated prose brought to life the worlds of California surfers, car customizers, astronauts and Manhattan’s moneyed status-seekers in works like “The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby,” “The Right Stuff” and “Bonfire of the Vanities,” died on Monday in a Manhattan hospital. He was 88.

    His death was confirmed by his agent, Lynn Nesbit, who said Mr. Wolfe had been hospitalized with an infection. He had lived in New York since joining The New York Herald Tribune as a reporter in 1962.

    In his use of novelistic techniques in his nonfiction, Mr. Wolfe, beginning in the 1960s, helped create the enormously influential hybrid known as the New Journalism.

    But as an unabashed contrarian, he was almost as well known for his attire as his satire. He was instantly recognizable as he strolled down Madison Avenue — a tall, slender, blue-eyed, still boyish-looking man in his spotless three-piece vanilla bespoke suit, pinstriped silk shirt with a starched white high collar, bright handkerchief peeking from his breast pocket, watch on a fob, faux spats and white shoes. Once asked to describe his get-up, Mr. Wolfe replied brightly, “Neo-pretentious.”

    It was a typically wry response from a writer who found delight in lacerating the pretentiousness of others. He had a pitiless eye and a penchant for spotting trends and then giving them names, some of which — like “Radical Chic” and “the Me Decade” — became American idioms.

    His talent as a writer and caricaturist was evident from the start in his verbal pyrotechnics and perfect mimicry of speech patterns, his meticulous reporting, and his creative use of pop language and explosive punctuation.

    “As a titlist of flamboyance he is without peer in the Western world,” Joseph Epstein wrote in the The New Republic. “His prose style is normally shotgun baroque, sometimes edging over into machine-gun rococo, as in his article on Las Vegas which begins by repeating the word ‘hernia’ 57 times.”

    William F. Buckley Jr., writing in National Review, put it more simply: “He is probably the most skillful writer in America — I mean by that he can do more things with words than anyone else.”

    From 1965 to 1981 Mr. Wolfe produced nine nonfiction books. “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” an account of his reportorial travels in California with Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters as they spread the gospel of LSD, remains a classic chronicle of the counterculture, “still the best account — fictional or non, in print or on film — of the genesis of the ’60s hipster subculture,” the media critic Jack Shafer wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review on the book’s 40th anniversary.

    Even more impressive, to many critics, was “The Right Stuff,” his exhaustively reported narrative about the first American astronauts and the Mercury space program. The book, adapted into a film in 1983 with a cast that included Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid and Ed Harris, made the test pilot Chuck Yeager a cultural hero and added yet another phrase to the English language. It won the National Book Award.

    At the same time, Mr. Wolfe continued to turn out a stream of essays and magazine pieces for New York, Harper’s and Esquire. His theory of literature, which he preached in print and in person and to anyone who would listen, was that journalism and nonfiction had “wiped out the novel as American literature’s main event.”

    After “The Right Stuff,” published in 1979, he confronted what he called “the question that rebuked every writer who had made a point of experimenting with nonfiction over the preceding 10 or 15 years: Are you merely ducking the big challenge — The Novel?”

    ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’

    The answer came with “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” Published initially as a serial in Rolling Stone magazine and in book form in 1987 after extensive revisions, it offered a sweeping, bitingly satirical picture of money, power, greed and vanity in New York during the shameless excesses of the 1980s.

    The action jumps back and forth from Park Avenue to Wall Street to the terrifying holding pens in Bronx Criminal Court, after the Yale-educated bond trader Sherman McCoy (a self-proclaimed “Master of the Universe”) becomes lost in the Bronx at night in his Mercedes with his foxy young mistress, Maria. After the car, with Maria at the wheel, runs over a black man and nearly ignites a race riot, Sherman enters the nightmare world of the criminal justice system.

    Although a runaway best seller, “Bonfire” divided critics into two camps: those who praised its author as a worthy heir of his fictional idols Balzac, Zola, Dickens and Dreiser, and those who dismissed the book as clever journalism, a charge that would dog him throughout his fictional career.

    Mr. Wolfe responded with a manifesto in Harper’s, “Stalking the Billion-Footed Beast,” in which he lambasted American fiction for failing to perform the time-honored sociological duty of reporting on the facts of contemporary life, in all their complexity and variety.

    His second novel, “A Man in Full” (1998), also a whopping commercial success, was another sprawling social panorama. Set in Atlanta, it charted the rise and fall of Charlie Croker, a 60-year-old former Georgia Tech football star turned millionaire real estate developer.

    Mr. Wolfe’s fictional ambitions and commercial success earned him enemies — big ones.

    “Extraordinarily good writing forces one to contemplate the uncomfortable possibility that Tom Wolfe might yet be seen as our best writer,” Norman Mailer wrote in The New York Review of Books. “How grateful one can feel then for his failures and his final inability to be great — his absence of truly large compass. There may even be an endemic inability to look into the depth of his characters with more than a consummate journalist’s eye.”

    “Tom may be the hardest-working show-off the literary world has ever owned,” Mr. Mailer continued. “But now he will no longer belong to us. (If indeed he ever did!) He lives in the King Kong Kingdom of the Mega-bestsellers — he is already a Media Immortal. He has married his large talent to real money and very few can do that or allow themselves to do that.”

    Mr. Mailer’s sentiments were echoed by John Updike and John Irving.

    Two years later, Mr. Wolfe took revenge. In an essay titled “My Three Stooges,” included in his 2001 collection, “Hooking Up,” he wrote that his eminent critics had clearly been “shaken” by “A Man in Full” because it was an “intensely realistic novel, based upon reporting, that plunges wholeheartedly into the social reality of America today, right now,” and it signaled the new direction in late-20th- and early-21st-century literature and would soon make many prestigious artists, “such as our three old novelists, appear effete and irrelevant.”

    And, he added, “It must gall them a bit that everyone — even them — is talking about me, and nobody is talking about them.”

    Cocky words from a man best known for his gentle manner and unfailing courtesy in person. For many years Mr. Wolfe lived a relatively private life in his 12-room apartment on the Upper East Side with his wife, Sheila (Berger) Wolfe, a graphic designer and former art director of Harper’s Magazine, whom he married when he was 48 years old. She and their two children, Alexandra Wolfe, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and Tommy Wolfe, a sculptor and furniture designer, survive him.

    Every morning he dressed in one of his signature outfits — a silk jacket, say, and double-breasted white vest, shirt, tie, pleated pants, red-and-white socks and white shoes — and sat down at his typewriter. Every day he set himself a quota of 10 pages, triple-spaced. If he finished in three hours, he was done for the day.

    “If it takes me 12 hours, that’s too bad, I’ve got to do it,” he told George Plimpton in a 1991 interview for The Paris Review.

    For many summers the Wolfes rented a house in Southampton, N.Y., where Mr. Wolfe continued to observe his daily writing routine as well as the fitness regimen from which he rarely faltered. In 1996 he suffered a heart attack at his gym and underwent quintuple bypass surgery. A period of severe depression followed, which Charlie Croker relived, in fictional form, in “A Man in Full.”

    As for his remarkable attire, he called it “a harmless form of aggression.”

    “I found early in the game that for me there’s no use trying to blend in,” he told The Paris Review. “I might as well be the village information-gatherer, the man from Mars who simply wants to know. Fortunately the world is full of people with information-compulsion who want to tell you their stories. They want to tell you things that you don’t know.”

    The eccentricities of his adult life were a far cry from the normalcy of his childhood, which by all accounts was a happy one.
    A Professor’s Son

    Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. was born on March 2, 1930, in Richmond, Va. His father was a professor of agronomy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, editor of The Southern Planter, an agricultural journal, and director of distribution for the Southern States Cooperative, which later became a Fortune 500 Company. His mother, Helen Perkins Hughes Wolfe, a garden designer, encouraged him to become an artist and gave him a love of reading.

    Young Tom was educated at a private boys’ school in Richmond. He graduated cum laude from Washington and Lee University in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree in English and enough skill as a pitcher to earn a tryout with the New York Giants. He did not make the cut.

    He enrolled at Yale University in the American studies program and received his Ph.D. in 1957. After sending out job applications to more than 100 newspapers and receiving three responses, two of them “no,” he went to work as a general-assignment reporter at The Springfield Union in Springfield, Mass., and later joined the staff of The Washington Post. He was assigned to cover Latin America and in 1961 won an award for a series on Cuba.

    In 1962, Mr. Wolfe joined The Herald Tribune as a reporter on the city desk, where he found his voice as a social chronicler. Fascinated by the status wars and shifting power bases of the city, he poured his energy and insatiable curiosity into his reporting and soon became one of the stars on the staff. The next year he began writing for New York, the newspaper’s newly revamped Sunday supplement, edited by Clay Felker.

    “Together they attacked what each regarded as the greatest untold and uncovered story of the age: the vanities, extravagances, pretensions and artifice of America two decades after World War II, the wealthiest society the world had ever known,” Richard Kluger wrote in “The Paper: The Life and Death of the New York Herald Tribune” (1986).

    Those were heady days for journalists. Mr. Wolfe became one of the standard-bearers of the New Journalism, along with Jimmy Breslin, Gay Talese, Hunter Thompson, Joan Didion and others. Most were represented in “The New Journalism” (1973), an anthology he edited with E. W. Johnson.

    In an author’s statement for the reference work World Authors, Mr. Wolfe wrote that to him the term “meant writing nonfiction, from newspaper stories to books, using basic reporting to gather the material but techniques ordinarily associated with fiction, such as scene-by-scene construction, to narrate it.”

    He added, “In nonfiction I could combine two loves: reporting and the sociological concepts American Studies had introduced me to, especially status theory as first developed by the German sociologist Max Weber.”

    It was the perfect showcase for his own extravagant and inventive style, increasingly on display in Esquire, for which he began writing during the 1963 New York City newspaper strike.

    One of his most dazzling essays for Esquire, about the subculture of car customizers in Los Angeles, started out as a 49-page memo to Byron Dobell, his editor there, who simply deleted the words “Dear Byron” at the top of the page and ran it as is. It became the title essay in Mr. Wolfe’s first collection, “The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby,” published in 1968.

    “Girl of the Year,” his 1964 portrait of the Manhattan “it” girl Baby Jane Holzer, opened with the literary equivalent of a cinematic pan shot at a Rolling Stones concert:

    “Bangs manes bouffants beehive Beatle caps butter faces brush-on lashes decal eyes puffy sweaters French thrust bras flailing leather blue jeans stretch pants stretch jeans honey dew bottoms éclair shanks elf boots ballerinas Knight slippers, hundreds of them these flaming little buds, bobbing and screaming, rocketing around inside the Academy of Music Theater underneath that vast old moldering cherub dome up there — aren’t they super-marvelous?”
    ‘Radical Chic’ Skewered

    In June 1970, New York magazine devoted an entire issue to “These Radical Chic Evenings,” Mr. Wolfe’s 20,000-word sendup of a fund-raiser given for the Black Panthers by Leonard Bernstein, the conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and his wife, the Chilean actress Felicia Montealegre, in their 13-room Park Avenue penthouse duplex — an affair attended by scores of the Bernsteins’ liberal, rich and mostly famous friends.

    “Do Panthers like little Roquefort cheese morsels rolled on crushed nuts this way, and asparagus tips in mayonnaise dabs, and meatballs petites au Coq Hardi, all of which are at the very moment being offered to them on gadrooned silver platters by maids in black uniforms with hand-ironed white aprons?,” Mr. Wolfe wrote, outraging liberals and Panthers alike.

    When a Time reporter asked a minister for the Black Panthers to comment on the accuracy of Mr. Wolfe’s account, he said, “You mean that dirty, blatant, lying, racist dog who wrote that fascist disgusting thing in New York magazine?”

    The article was included in Mr. Wolfe’s essay collection “Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers,” published in 1970.

    Storms did not seem to bother Mr. Wolfe, as his forays into the art world demonstrated. He had always had an interest in art and was indeed an artist himself, sometimes illustrating his work with pen-and-ink drawings. He was a contributing artist at Harper’s from 1978 to 1981 and exhibited his work on occasion at Manhattan galleries. Many of his illustrations were collected in “In Our Time” (1980).

    Earlier, in “The Painted Word” (1975), he produced a gleeful screed denouncing contemporary art as a con job perpetrated by cultural high priests, notably the critics Clement Greenberg, Harold Rosenberg and Leo Steinberg — “the kings of cultureburg,” as he called them.

    The art world, en masse, rejected the argument, and the book, with disdain.

    “If someone who is tone-deaf goes to Carnegie Hall every night of the year, he is, of course, entitled to his opinion of what he has listened to, just as a eunuch is entitled to his opinion of sex,” the art critic John Russell wrote in The New York Times Book Review.

    Undeterred, in “From Bauhaus to Our House,” Mr. Wolfe attacked modern architecture and what he saw as its determination to put dogma before buildings. Published in 1981, it met with the same derisive response from critics. “The problem, I think,” Paul Goldberger wrote in The Times Book Review, “is that Tom Wolfe has no eye.”

    Mr. Wolfe’s later novels earned mixed reviews. Many critics found “I Am Charlotte Simmons” (2004), about a naïve freshman’s disillusioning experiences at a liberal arts college fueled by sex and alcohol, unconvincing and out of touch. In “Back to Blood” (2012), Mr. Wolfe created one of his most sympathetic, multidimensional characters in Nestor Camacho, a young Cuban-American police officer trying to navigate the treacherous waters of multiethnic Miami.

    In the end it was his ear — acute and finely tuned — that served him best and enabled him to write with perfect pitch. And then there was his considerable writing talent.

    “There is this about Tom,” Mr. Dobell, Mr. Wolfe’s editor at Esquire, told the London newspaper The Independent in 1998. “He has this unique gift of language that sets him apart as Tom Wolfe. It is full of hyperbole; it is brilliant; it is funny, and he has a wonderful ear for how people look and feel.

    “He has a gift of fluency that pours out of him the way Balzac had it.”

  9. মাসুদ করিম - ১৯ মে ২০১৮ (৯:০৭ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    MIL CLICKS

    Media and Information Literacy: Critical-thinking, Creativity, Literacy, Intercultural, Citizenship, Knowledge and Sustainability (MIL CLICKS)

    MIL CLICKS is a way for people to acquire media and information literacy (MIL) competencies in their normal day-to-day use of the Internet and social media and to engage peer education in an atmosphere of browsing, playing, connecting, sharing, and socializing.

    Many people are using social media to access information and media. This is especially so for youth who spend much time on different networks. Therefore, social media can be used to train people, in their normal social context, to be more MIL competent. Social media can also deliver compelling information to raise awareness about the importance of media and information literacy to all levels of society.

    UNESCO invites you to label your online/offline space as a “MIL CLICKS Space” by displaying the MIL CLICKS Space logo on your website/mobile application, in your classroom/meeting room/office, or in other forms of spaces. In so doing, you agree to:

    1. Promote Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in your space
    2. In addition to make your space a space for: critical thinking & creativity, literacy, intercultural dialogue, citizenship, knowledge and sustainability (CLICKS);

    The logo is available for downloading in two formats: • PNG • PDF

  10. মাসুদ করিম - ১৯ মে ২০১৮ (৯:১০ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Bosnian Martyred Couple’s Memory Renews Mixed Marriage Debate

    The anniversary of the death of the couple who became famous around the world as ‘Sarajevo’s Romeo and Juliet’ has put the spotlight back on the vexed issue of mixed marriages.

    Senad and Ivana are a young couple from Banja Luka who currently live in Sarajevo. Senad is a Bosniak and Ivana is a Serb, and they plan to crown their long-term relationship with marriage “someday”, as Senad says with a smile.

    They told BIRN that, so far, they had not encountered any major problems because of their “peculiarity”, though, according to Ivana, “it is hard not to notice the strange looks of people when we say that we are a couple”.

    “Mixed marriages and mixed relationships between Bosnia’s different nationalities can work just fine… regardless of the strange looks,” Senad adds.

    This May, like in the previous 23 years, the anniversary of the death of Sarajevo’s Romeo and Juliet has renewed public debate about the fate, status and future of ethnically mixed couples and marriages in the still divided country.

    Admira Ismic, a 25-year old Bosniak [Bosnian Muslim] and Bosko Brkic, a 24-year old Bosnian Serb, were the couple that were famously killed in the middle of a raging war in Bosnia as they tried to flee from the besieged capital and seek a better future elsewhere.

    An unknown sniper killed them on May 19, 1993, as they tried to cross one of the most dangerous front lines in the centre of Sarajevo. Bosnian Serb forces and the Bosniak-led Bosnian army both denied that the deadly fire came from their positions.

    Their bodies remained marooned in no man’s land for days until Bosnian Serb forces removed and buried them in the Serb-held suburb of Lukavica. On the request of their families, their remains were moved after the war to Sarajevo’s Lion cemetery.

    Photos, TV footage and news articles about the couple, who became known around the world as Sarajevo’s “Romeo and Juliet”, have circulated ever since as a kind of testimony to human madness. Artists have written songs about them while plays and even operas were inspired by their brief, tragic lives.

    “Difficult times always bring great romance. They were not from the same tribe, they did not have the same God, but they had each other and a dream of escaping if it all,” say the lyrics of “Bosko and Admira”, a song composed by one of the most famous rock bands in Sarajevo, Zabranjeno Pusenje [No Smoking] in 2013, on the 20th anniversary of the couple’s death.

    “Mixed marriages in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Courage to get out of your own ‘[ethnic] flock,’” read one article on this issue published by Radio Free Europe last week.

    In the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina was known as the republic with the most so-called “mixed” marriages.

    Today, however, according to the data published by the media, less than 4 per cent of all marriages in Bosnia involve people from different ethnic groups.

    After trying to settle down, first in Banja Luka and now in Sarajevo, Senad and Ivana are now exploring options to leave the country, not just for their own sake but for the sake of their future children.

    Children from mixed marriages face more serious problems than the adults do.

    For example, when they go to kindergarten, and later to schools, they often have to choose which religious classes to attend. When they apply for school, or later for a job, they must also state their nationality.

    A 2010 study, “Mixed marriage in BiH: from desirable to contemptible,” says that most Bosnian children from mixed marriages refuse to state which nationality they belong to.
    http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/sarajevo/09259.pdf

    However, when people refuse to declare themselves members of one of the three main ethnic and religious groups in the country, they automatically get transferred to the fourth constitutional category, designated “others”, which many people find demeaning and offensive.

    “Before the war, during the time of socialism, so-called mixed marriages had a certain value, and the state looked on them in a friendly way. Now, the dominant ideology in Bosnia and Herzegovina is against mixed marriages. Nowadays, ideology holds us in ethnic pens,” psychologist Srdjan Puhalo observes.

    Ironically, marriages between Bosnians – of whatever ethnic group – and foreigner, such as Germans, Britons, Americans, do not have the same problem. They are not considered “mixed” marriages, and, as a result, they are more accepted than marriages between Bosnians of a different nationality, Puhalo concluded.

  11. মাসুদ করিম - ১৯ মে ২০১৮ (১১:৪৯ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Of loss and ‘load shedding’ in Calcutta

    In the 1980s and 1990s, the city I grew up in was yet to shed its colonial name, or adorn itself with white and blue streetlights, as it now does, every evening. The arrival of summer in Calcutta (now Kolkata) was announced by a sudden rise in humidity, leading to an infernal sweatiness that refused to leave the skin despite showers and bucket baths through the day. Occasionally, a nor’wester, a thundershower locally called kalboishakhi, would bring in blessed relief in the late afternoons. But, typically, the season would assert its presence with the relentless power cuts that befell the citizens through days and nights, often stretching on for hours.

    Apart from its disastrous anti-industry politics and aggressive trade unionism, the Left Front government, which ruled West Bengal from 1977-2011, added a term as ubiquitous as maachh (fish) and rosogolla to the Bengali vocabulary: load shedding, a euphemism for power cut. It could be the middle of the school day or at the time of a post-lunch siesta, or you could finally be asleep after tossing and turning all night from the mugginess (most middle-income homes didn’t have air-conditioning then), there was no knowing how long the ceiling fans would continue to spin. Power cuts in the evenings, which promised a respite from homework, were welcomed by schoolgoers, though adults, turned surly by the heat, often forced us to finish our lessons by candlelight. If the mood was more charitable, our entire joint family of 12 would go up to the terrace of our 100-year-old ancestral home in south Calcutta, in the desperate hope of catching a whiff of a breeze. Impromptu singing or storytelling sessions helped us while away the hours of darkness. For the tired adults, it was also the moment to exchange some gossip.

    In the clear skies over the city, far less tainted by vehicular pollution so many years ago, the stars would gleam fiercely. My father, a geographer by profession, gave me my first lessons in constellations, galaxies and the universe, as we stared at the inky vastness of the sky on those summer evenings. Apart from the distant gurgle of a generator, trying to keep a dim electric bulb flickering in someone’s home, the drone of the mosquitoes that flew around like tiny missiles, and the rumble of the trams passing by, there would be little else to hear—maybe strains of reluctant singing from the next-door neighbour’s balcony, where the little girl was made to practise her scales if she refused to work on her sums by the light of a kerosene lantern.

    But the afternoons sang out with a myriad other voices. My school, which ended by noon, would bring me back home, to lunch and a compulsory postprandial nap next to my mother, when the heat of the day was at its peak. My earliest memories go back to those hours, when the entire world seemed to be drooping into a stupor, broken suddenly by the tinkle of a hand-pulled rickshaw’s bell or the cry of a hawker selling jasmine buds. Shadows would trickle into the room through the slats in the windows, leaving upside-down impressions on the walls. Unable to sleep, too young to read by myself (or even to sit still with a picture book unsupervised), and not allowed to step outside to play in the heat, I’d fidget in bed, my mother tut-tutting at my restlessness in between light snores. There was nothing else to do but count the minutes till teatime or hope that a brief spell of load shedding would come to my rescue, forcing my mother to get up and throw open the doors to let in some fresh air.

    The charm of those Arcadian summer afternoons waned the year my mother died. I was 7 and had, for the first time in my short life, encountered loss in such an absolute form but I didn’t immediately process its implications. There was no one to keep me bound to the bedroom after lunch. No one to berate me for disturbing the peace. Yet, ironically, I felt no urge that year to escape the confines of the bed, occupied by me alone in the afternoons. As the rest of the household sought their forty winks, I discovered the most magical gift of my short life so far: silent reading.

    The background score of empty summer afternoons—the neighbourhood boys playing cricket with tennis balls, cats fighting over leftovers, crows cawing for a drop of water—would recede from my consciousness. The fever and fret of the world dissolved as my eyes focused on the mysterious signs that formed words, which, in turn, unleashed an ever-flowing fount of stories. Reading didn’t take away the edge of my grief, which, in hindsight, manifested itself more as confusion than as a clearly articulated sense of loss to my young mind. But books did lead me out of that room, without my physically ever leaving the bed where I felt my mother’s presence most keenly.

    The summer I lost my mother, I read a volume of poems called Shishu (which means the child in Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore, written ostensibly for young readers, and the memoirs of his boyhood days, called Chhelebela, apart from all the Tintin comics. Over the next few years, I would make my way through my father’s bookshelves (mostly filled with the classics of Bengali literature, especially the collected works of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, his personal favourite), before raiding my aunt’s collection. From Russian folk tales to the plays of Anton Chekov to the novels of Charles Dickens to the erotic stories of Guy de Maupassant—nothing escaped my adolescent eyes.

    Many years later, in college as a student of literature, I encountered Lord Tennyson’s famous poem, The Lotos-Eaters, where the Greek hero, Odysseus, and his crew hit a shore after being lost at sea for years. “In the afternoon they came unto a land,” the poet writes, “In which it seemed always afternoon.” Although perceived as a terrible curse by the lost men mired in an inescapable indolence, to me, the thought of such endless afternoons brought back the sweet odour of mouldy books and the dulcet ring of my mother’s gentle snores.

  12. মাসুদ করিম - ১৯ মে ২০১৮ (৪:৩২ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Iranian Media Speculates About Possible Death of Saudi Crown Prince

    The apparent disappearance of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from the public eye has led several Iranian media outlets to wonder if one of the most powerful men in the kingdom might’ve been killed during an attempted coup last month.

    Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was allegedly hit by two bullets during the April 21 attack on the royal palace in Riyadh and may actually be dead as he has not appeared in public since the incident, Kayhan newspaper reports citing “a secret service report sent to the senior officials of an unnamed Arab state.”

    As Press TV points out, no new photo or video of bin Salman has been released by Saudi authorities since that day, and the prince “was not even seen on camera when new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made his maiden visit to Riyadh in late April.”

    On April 21 several media agencies reported heavy gunfire emanating from the Saudi royal palace in Riyadh, prompting speculations about a possible coup attempt taking place. The Saudi authorities however claimed that the incident merely involved palace security guards firing upon a drone which allegedly was flying too close to the premises. A number of local media outlets however reported that King Salman himself was evacuated to a nearby military installation during the shooting, with Saudi analyst Ali al-Ahmed naming the King Khaled base as the monarch’s destination.

    However, a week after the coup speculations, the Crown Prince, along with Saudi King Salman, was seen at the opening ceremony of a huge entertainment resort Qiddiya – an ambitious multi-billion dollar project that is expected to include a Six Flags theme park, water parks, motor sports, cultural events and vacation homes.

    On May 18, the Director of the Private Office of the Crown Prince, Bader al-Asaker, tweeted a group picture of Prince bin Salman and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, King of Bahrain bin Isa and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

    The two major powers in the Middle East – Iran and Saudi Arabia – have been longtime rivals for dominance in the region, supporting opposite sides in the conflicts in Yemen and Syria. The relations between Riyadh and Tehran have further deteriorated following the Yemeni Houthi rebels’ missile launches targeting the kingdom, with the latter blaming the Islamic Republic for providing the insurgents with weapons. Iranian authorities have consistently denied the allegations.

    In January 2016, Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran after attacks on its diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad, prompted by the execution of top Iranian Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, along with 42 other people convicted of terrorism by Riyadh. In December 2017, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani named two conditions for restoring “good relations” between the two countries: Riyadh should “stop the misguided friendship with Israel and the inhumane bombardment of Yemen.”

    In a March interview with the Wall Street Journal, the Crown Prince warned of a possible war with Iran in 10-15 years, calling on the international community to impose tougher sanctions against Tehran to avoid a military confrontation.

    Daily: Arab Intel Says Saudi Crown Prince Likely Killed in Coup

    According to the Persian-language newspaper, Keyhan, a secret service report sent to the senior officials of an unnamed Arab state disclosed that bin Salman has been hit by two bullets during the April 21 attack on his palace, adding that he might well be dead as he has never appeared in the public eversince.

    Heavy gunfire was heard near the Saudi King’s palace in Riyadh Saudi Arabia on April 21, while King Salman was taken to a US bunker at an airbase in the city.

    A growing number of videos surfaced the media at the time displaying that a heavy gunfire erupted around King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s palace in the capital, Riyadh.

    Reports said the king and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, were evacuated to a bunker at an airbase in the city that is under the protection of the US troops.

    While Saudi officials and media were quiet over the incident, there were contradicting reports over the incident. Witnesses and residents of the neighborhoods near the palace said a coup was underway, adding that the soldiers attacking the palace were guided by footage and intel they were receiving from a drone flying over the palace.

    Saudi opposition members claimed that “a senior ground force officer has led a raid on the palace to kill the king and the crown prince”.

    Videos also showed that a growing number of armored vehicles were deployed around the palace. ‘Bin Salman’s special guard’ then took charge of security in the capital. Riyadh’s sky was then closed to all civil and military flights as military helicopters from ‘Bin Salman’s special guard’ were flying over the palace.

    Bin Salman was a man who almost often appeared before the media but his 27-day absence since the gunfire in Riyadh has raised questions about his health.

    Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has witnessed a series of radical political changes over the past year as Mohammed bin Salman ousted his cousin as crown prince and jailed well-known princes in an anti-corruption purge.

    Moreover, bin Salman oversees social and economic reforms that have been censured by several powerful Wahhabi clerics.

    Saudi Arabia is also embroiled in a long running conflict in its Southern neighbor Yemen, dubbed by the United Nations as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

    Notably, bin Salman made no media appearance during the April 28 visit of the newly-appointed US State Secretary Mike Pompeo to Riyadh, his first foreign trip as the top US diplomat.

    During his stay in Riyadh, Saudi media outlets published images of Pompeo’s meetings with King Salman and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.

    This is while the state-run outlets used to publish images of meetings in Riyadh between bin Salman and former US secretary of state Rex Tillerson.

    A few days after the April 21 incident, Saudi media published footage and images of bin Salman meeting several Saudi and foreign officials. But the date of the meetings could not be verified, so the release of the videos could be aimed at dispelling rumors about bin Salman’s conditions.

    It is not clear if bin Salman’s disappearance is due to reasons such as him feeling threatened or being injured in the incident.

  13. মাসুদ করিম - ১৯ মে ২০১৮ (৪:৪৯ অপরাহ্ণ)

    S. Arabia Starts New Wave of Arrests over Ties with Israel

    The Arabic-language al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper quoted social media activists as saying that the Saudi authorities have last Thursday detained two male activists named Dr. Mohammad al-Rabi’eh and Dr. Ibrahim al-Madimiq and four female activists, including Lajin al-Hazloul, Azizeh al-Yousef, Iman al-Nafjan and Noureh Faqih, who are all against Riyadh’s attempts to normalize relations with Israel.

    Also, Abdollah al-Qamedi, a Saudi activist living in Britain, said that the Saudi authorities have imprisoned his mother and brother for over 50 years with permission to visit family members.

    In a relevant report in February, Qatar’s Arabic-language al-Arab newspaper, reported that Saudi forces detained Noha al-Balawi, a female activist, over a post she published on her Twitter page, criticizing normalization of ties with Israel.

    Balawi, wearing a niqab in the video, stated that Israeli-Saudi relations would only serve the interests of the Tel Aviv regime, and would be to the detriment of Arab nations.

    Speaking in an interview with France 24 television news network on December 13, 2017, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom had a “roadmap” to establish full diplomatic ties with the Tel Aviv regime.

    In mid-November last year, a Lebanese paper published a secret document that showed that the Saudis were willing to normalize relations with Israel as part of a US-led Israeli-Palestinian peace effort and unite Saudi-allied countries against Iran.

    The document, published by al-Akhbar daily, was a letter from the Saudi foreign minister to bin Salman, explaining why it was in the kingdom’s interest to normalize relations with Israel. The letter said a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel has risks for the kingdom due to the strength of the Palestinian cause among Muslims.

    The Saudis’ willingness to boost ties with Israel has offended several Arab countries, including Jordan.

    As for the Palestinian refugee issue, the letter says the Saudis would be willing to help the estimated five million Palestinian refugees worldwide settle in the host countries rather than being brought back to the occupied Palestinian territories.

  14. মাসুদ করিম - ১৯ মে ২০১৮ (৭:১৩ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Who Is Moqtada al-Sadr? The Cleric Who Attacked U.S. Troops and Is Iraq’s Likely Next PM

    Sadr is the only Iraqi Shi’ite leader who has challenged both Iran and the United States, a calculation that appears to have made him popular with millions of poor Shi’ites

    Nationalist Shi’ite Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr took a surprise lead in Iraq’s elections by tapping into public resentment with Iran and what some voters say is a corrupt political elite it supports.

    Sadr is the only Iraqi Shi’ite leader who has challenged both Iran and the United States, a calculation that appears to have made him popular with millions of poor Shi’ites who felt they hadn’t benefited from their government’s close ties to Tehran or Washington.

    The nationalist cleric’s success in the election dealt a blow to Iran, which has steadily increased its influence in Iraq since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

    His success marks a remarkable comeback for Sadr, who for years had been sidelined by Iranian-backed rivals. He reached out to dispossessed Shi’ites and marginalised Sunnis, and restored links with Sunni neighbours while keeping Iran at bay.

    As news spread of Sadr’s gains in the election, some of his followers celebrated in Baghdad and chanted “Iran out.”

    “Iraq is rich, the country doesn’t need Iran, it can stand on its feet and be prosperous it just need good management,” said Mohammed Sadeq, a trader in the city of Hilla who voted for Sadr’s list.

    Forty-four year old Sadr will not become prime minister as he did not run in the election but his almost certain victory puts him in a position to pick someone for the job. Winning the largest number of seats does not automatically guarantee that, however. The other winning blocs would have to agree on the nomination.

    Sadr has long been viewed by the U.S. and Iraqi government officials seen as an unpredictable maverick. But a Western diplomat, who met him in his villa in the city of Najaf just after he formed a political bloc with communists in March described Sadr as composed, articulate and a pragmatist.

    “He didn’t come across as a rabble rouser,” said the diplomat.

    Sadr, usually stern-faced, joked about the diplomat’s ring. “Then he showed me his ring, which had an effigy of his father,” he said.

    Fierce nationalist

    Sadr was virtually unknown outside Iraq before the 2003 U.S. invasion. But he soon became a symbol of resistance to foreign occupation, deriving much of his authority from his family.

    He is the son of the revered Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, killed for defying Saddam Hussein. His father’s cousin, Mohammed Baqir, was also killed by the Iraqi dictator, in 1980.

    Sadr was the first to form a Shi’ite militia that fought against U.S. troops after the liberation of Iraq turned into an occupation. He led two uprisings against U.S. troops, prompting the Pentagon to call his Mehdi army the biggest threat to Iraq’s security.

    U.S. officials and Sunni Arab leaders have accused Sadr’s Mehdi Army of being behind many sectarian killings that ravaged Iraq. Sadr has disavowed violence against fellow Iraqis.

    Sadr has always portrayed himself as an uncompromising nationalist. He looked down on other opposition figures who safely returned from Iran seeking power after Saddam’s demise while others put their lives at risk by staying in the country.

    In 2004, the U.S. occupation authority issued an arrest warrant for Sadr in connection with the 2003 murder of moderate Shi’ite leader Abdul Majid al-Khoei who the Americans had brought into the holy Shi’ite city of Najaf during the invasion. Sadr, who denied any role, was never charged.

    His image as a patriot appears to have resonated with those who voted in the election, which saw a historically low turnout.

    “We won’t allow the Iraqis to be cannon fodder for the wars of others nor be used in proxy wars outside Iraq,” said Jumah Bahadily, a member of the outgoing parliament who belongs to the Sadrist movement, referring to Syria. “We are proud of our Arab identity.”

    Unlikely alliance

    With his trademark turban, Sadr can easily mobilise thousands of followers on the streets of Iraq.

    In 2016, hundreds of Sadr’s supporters stormed parliament inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone after he denounced politicians’ failure to reform a political quota system blamed for rampant corruption.

    Sadr issued an ultimatum.

    “If corrupt (officials) and quotas remain the entire government will be brought down and no one will be exempt.” For the election, Sadr formed an unlikely alliance with communists and other independent secular supporters to demand the formation of a government of independent technocrats to end corruption. His bloc, known as “Sairoon” in Arabic, or On The Move, has said it would focus on rebuilding infrastructure and providing health and education to the poor.

    “The importance of this vote is that it is a clear message that the people want to change the system of governance which has produced corruption and weakened the state institutions,” Raed Fahmy, secretary general of the Iraqi Communist Party, told Reuters.

    “It is a message in support of having balanced relations with all based on the respect of non interference in Iraq’s internal affairs.”

    Comeback

    Sadr has made a notable comeback after being sidelined for years by Shi’ite rivals backed by Tehran.

    Two of them were seen as top contenders for prime minister after the election.

    Hadi al-Amiri is widely regarded as Iran’s man in Iraq and is arguably the most powerful figure in the country. Amiri’s bloc was in second place in the poll with more than half the votes counted, according to Reuters calculations.

    The other is Nuri al-Maliki, who served as prime minister for a total of eight years. Maliki’s bloc has so far fared poorly. Incumbent Haider al-Abadi had been tipped to win by a narrow margin.

    Sadr’s growing popularity has not gone unnoticed in Tehran, where he went into self-imposed exile in 2007.

    Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in February that Tehran would prevent Sadr and his alliance from governing in Iraq.

    “We will not allow liberals and communists to govern in Iraq,” he said during a speech at a conference in Iraq in February.

    Iraq, which lies in the heart of the Gulf, is critical for Iran. The countries share a border and Iraq is Iran’s main route for supplying arms and fighters to Syria to back President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war.

    Sadr and his allies “benefited from the weak participation of the other parties and from widespread popular discontent regarding corruption and the mismanagement of the state, and also the perception that Iraq is being led from outside, by the Iranians and the Americans,” said Wathiq al-Hashimi, an independent analyst based in Iraq.

  15. মাসুদ করিম - ২৩ মে ২০১৮ (১০:৫২ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Philip Roth, Towering Novelist Who Explored Lust, Jewish Life and America, Dies at 85

    Philip Roth, the prolific, protean, and often blackly comic novelist who was a pre-eminent figure in 20th century literature, died on Tuesday night at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 85.

    The cause was congestive heart failure, said Judith Thurman, a close friend. Mr. Roth had homes in Manhattan and Connecticut.

    In the course of a very long career, Mr. Roth took on many guises — mainly versions of himself — in the exploration of what it means to be an American, a Jew, a writer, a man. He was a champion of Eastern European novelists like Ivan Klima and Bruno Schulz, and also a passionate student of American history and the American vernacular. And more than just about any other writer of his time he was tireless in his exploration of male sexuality. His creations include Alexander Portnoy, a teenager so libidinous he has sex with both his baseball mitt and the family dinner, and David Kepesh, a professor who turns into an exquisitely sensitive 155-pound female breast.

    Mr. Roth was the last of the great white males: the triumvirate of writers — Saul Bellow and John Updike were the others — who towered over American letters in the second half of the 20th century. Outliving both and borne aloft by an extraordinary second wind, Mr. Roth wrote more novels than either of them. In 2005 he became only the third living writer (after Bellow and Eudora Welty) to have his books enshrined in the Library of America.

    “Updike and Bellow hold their flashlights out into the world, reveal the world as it is now,” Mr. Roth once said. “I dig a hole and shine my flashlight into the hole.”

    The Nobel Prize eluded Mr. Roth, but he won most of the other top honors: two National Book Awards, two National Book Critics Circle awards, three PEN/Faulkner Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Man Booker International Prize.

    In his 60s, an age when many writers are winding down, he produced an exceptional sequence of historical novels — “American Pastoral,” “The Human Stain” and “I Married a Communist” — a product of his personal re-engagement with America and American themes. And starting with “Everyman” in 2006, when he was 73, he kept up a relentless book-a-year pace, publishing works that while not necessarily major were nevertheless fiercely intelligent and sharply observed. Their theme in one way or another was the ravages of age and mortality itself, and in publishing them Mr. Roth seemed to be defiantly staving off his own decline.

    Mr. Roth was often lumped together with Bellow and Bernard Malamud as part of the “Hart, Schaffner & Marx of American letters,” but he resisted the label. “The epithet American-Jewish writer has no meaning for me,” he said. “If I’m not an American, I’m nothing.”

    And yet, almost against his will sometimes, he was drawn again and again to writing about themes of Jewish identity, anti-Semitism and the Jewish experience in America. He returned often, especially in his later work, to the Weequahic neighborhood of Newark, where he grew up and which became in his writing a kind of vanished Eden: a place of middle-class pride, frugality, diligence and aspiration.

    It was a place where no one was unaware “of the power to intimidate that emanated from the highest and lowest reaches of gentile America,” he wrote, and yet where being Jewish and being American were practically indistinguishable. Speaking of his father in “The Facts,” an autobiography, Mr. Roth said: “His repertoire has never been large: family, family, family, Newark, Newark, Newark, Jew, Jew, Jew. Somewhat like mine.”

    Reality and Fiction Blur

    Mr. Roth’s favorite vehicle for exploring this repertory was himself, or rather one of several fictional alter egos he deployed as a go-between, negotiating the tricky boundary between autobiography and invention and deliberately blurring the boundaries between real life and fiction. Nine of Mr. Roth’s novels are narrated by Nathan Zuckerman, a novelist whose career closely parallels that of his creator. Three more are narrated by David Kepesh, a writerly academic who shares some of Mr. Roth’s preoccupations, women especially. And sometimes Mr. Roth dispensed with the disguise altogether — or seemed to.

    The protagonist of “Operation Shylock” is a character named Philip Roth, who is being impersonated by another character, who has stolen Roth’s identity. At the center of “The Plot Against America,” a book that invents an America where Charles Lindbergh wins the 1940 presidential election and initiates a secret pogrom against Jews, is a New Jersey family named Roth that resembles the author’s in every particular.

    “Making fake biography, false history, concocting a half-imaginary existence out of the actual drama of my life is my life,” Mr. Roth told Hermione Lee in a 1984 interview in The Paris Review. “There has to be some pleasure in this life, and that’s it.”

    Occasionally, as in “Deception,” a slender 1990 novel about a writer named Philip who is writing about a writer having an affair with one of his made-up characters, this sleight of hand feels stuntlike and a little dizzying. More often, and especially in “The Counterlife” (1986), Mr. Roth’s masterpiece in this vein, what results is a profound investigation into the competing and overlapping claims of fiction and reality, in which each aspires to the condition of the other and the very idea of a self becomes a fabrication at once heroic and treacherous.

    Mr. Roth’s other great theme was sex, or male lust, which in his books is both a life force and a principle of rage and disorder. It is sex, the uncontrollable need to have it, that torments poor, guilt-ridden Portnoy, probably Mr. Roth’s most famous character, who desperately wants to “be bad — and to enjoy it.” And Mickey Sabbath, the protagonist of “Sabbath’s Theater,” one of Mr. Roth’s major late-career novels, is in many ways Portnoy grown old but still in the grip of lust and longing, raging against the indignity of old age and yet saved from suicidal impulses by the realization that there are too many people he loves to hate.

    In public Mr. Roth, tall and good-looking, was gracious and charming but with little use for small talk. In private he was a gifted mimic and comedian. Friends used to say that if his writing career had ever fizzled he could have made a nice living doing stand-up. But there was about his person, as about his writing, a kind of simmering intensity, an impatience with art that didn’t take itself seriously.

    Some writers “pretend to be more lovable than they are and some pretend to be less,” he told Ms. Lee. “Beside the point. Literature isn’t a moral beauty contest. Its power arises from the authority and audacity with which the impersonation is pulled off; the belief it inspires is what counts.”

    Philip Milton Roth was born in Newark on March 19, 1933, the younger of two sons. (His brother, Sandy, a commercial artist, died in 2009.) His father, Herman, was an insurance manager for Metropolitan Life who felt that his career had been thwarted by the gentile executives who ran the company. Mr. Roth once described him as a cross between Captain Ahab and Willy Loman. His mother, the former Bess Finkel, was a secretary before she married and then became a housekeeper of the heroic old school — the kind, he once suggested, who raised cleaning to an art form.

    The family lived in a five-room apartment on Summit Avenue within which were only three books when he was growing up — given as presents when someone was ill, Mr. Roth said. He went to Weequahic High, where he was a good student but not good enough to win a scholarship to Rutgers, as he had hoped. In 1951 he enrolled as a pre-law student at the Newark branch of Rutgers, with vague notions of becoming “a lawyer for the underdog.”

    But he yearned to live away from home, and the following year he transferred to Bucknell College in Lewisburg, Pa., a place about which he knew almost nothing except that a Newark neighbor seemed to have thrived there. Inspired by one of his professors, Mildred Martin, with whom he remained a lasting friend, Mr. Roth switched his interests from law to literature. He helped found a campus literary magazine, where in an early burst of his satiric power he published a parody of the college newspaper so devastating that it earned him an admonition from the dean.

    Mr. Roth graduated from Bucknell, magna cum laude, in 1954 and won a scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he was awarded an M.A. in 1955. That same year, rather than wait for the draft, he enlisted in the Army but suffered a back injury during basic training and received a medical discharge. In 1956 he returned to Chicago to study for a Ph.D. in English but dropped out after one term.

    Irritating the Rabbis

    Mr. Roth had begun to write and publish short stories by then, and in 1959 he won a Houghton Mifflin Fellowship to publish what became his first collection, “Goodbye, Columbus.” It won the National Book Award in 1960 but was denounced — in an inkling of trouble to come — by some influential rabbis, who objected to the portrayal of the worldly, assimilated Patimkin family in the title novella, and even more to the story “Defender of the Faith,” about a Jewish Army sergeant plagued by goldbricking draftees of his own faith.

    In 1962, while appearing on a panel at Yeshiva University, Mr. Roth was so denounced, for that story especially, that he resolved never to write about Jews again. He quickly changed his mind.

    “My humiliation before the Yeshiva belligerents — indeed, the angry Jewish resistance that I aroused virtually from the start — was the luckiest break I could have had,” he later wrote. “I was branded.”

    Mr. Roth later called his first two novels “apprentice work.” “Letting Go,” published in 1962, was derived in about equal parts from Bellow and Henry James. “When She Was Good,” which came out in 1967, is the most un-Rothian of his books, a Theodore Dreiser- or Sherwood Anderson-like story set in the WASP Midwest in the 1940s.

    “When She Was Good” was based in part on the life and family of Margaret Martinson Williams, with whom Mr. Roth had entered a calamitous relationship in 1959. Ms. Williams, who was divorced and had a daughter, met Mr. Roth while she was waiting tables in Chicago, and she tricked him into marriage by pretending to be pregnant. He was “enslaved” to her own sense of victimization, he wrote. They separated in 1963, but Ms. Williams refused to divorce, and she remained a vexatious presence in his life until she died in a car crash in 1968. (She appears as Josie Jensen in “The Facts” and, more or less undisguised, as the exasperating Margaret Tarnopol in Mr. Roth’s novel “My Life as a Man.”)

    After the separation, Mr. Roth moved back East and began work on “Portnoy’s Complaint,” the novel for which he may be best known and which surely set a record for most masturbation scenes per page. It was a breakthrough not just for Mr. Roth but for American letters, which had never known anything like it: an extended, unhinged monologue, at once filthy and hilarious, by a neurotic young Jewish man trying to break free of his suffocating parents and tormented by a longing to have sex with gentile women, shiksas.

    The book was “an experiment in verbal exuberance,” Mr. Roth said, and it deliberately broke all the rules.

    The novel, published in 1969, became a best seller but received mixed reviews. Josh Greenfeld, writing in The New York Times Book Review, called it “the very novel that every American-Jewish writer has been trying to write in one guise or another since the end of World War II.” On the other hand, Irving Howe (on whom Mr. Roth later modeled the pompous, stuffy critic Milton Appel in “The Anatomy Lesson”) wrote in a lengthy takedown in 1972, “The cruelest thing anyone can do with ‘Portnoy’s Complaint’ is read it twice.”

    And once again the rabbis complained. Gershom Scholem, the great kabbalah scholar, declared that the book was more harmful to Jews than “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

    Mr. Roth’s autobiographical phase began in 1974 with “My Life as a Man,” which he said was probably the least factually altered of his books, and continued with the Zuckerman trilogy — “The Ghost Writer” (1979), “Zuckerman Unbound” (1981) and “The Anatomy Lesson” (1983) — which examined the authorial vocation and even the nature of writing itself.

    Zuckerman reappeared in “The Counterlife” (1986), where he seems to die of a heart attack and is then resurrected. “Operation Shylock” (1993), which Mr. Roth pretended was a “confession,” not a novel (though in the very last sentence he says, “This confession is false”), involved two Roths, one real and one phony, and the real one claims to have been a spy for the Mossad. The book, with its sense of shifting reality and unstable identity, partly stemmed from a near-breakdown Mr. Roth experienced when he became addicted to the sleeping pill Halcion after knee surgery in 1983 and from severe depression he suffered after emergency bypass surgery in 1989.

    For much of this time Mr. Roth had been spending half the year in London with the actress Claire Bloom, with whom he began living in 1976. They married in 1990 but divorced four years later. In 1996, Ms. Bloom published a memoir, “Leaving the Doll’s House,” in which she depicted him as a misogynist and control freak, so self-involved that he refused to let her daughter, from her marriage to the actor Rod Steiger, live with them because she bored him.

    Never fond of attention, Mr. Roth became even more reclusive after this accusation and never publicly replied to it, though he privately denied it. Some critics found unflattering parallels to Ms. Bloom and her daughter in the characters Eve Frame and her daughter, Sylphid, in “I Married a Communist.”

    An American Trilogy

    The marriage over, Mr. Roth moved permanently back to the United States and began what proved to be the third major phase of his career. He returned, he said, because he felt out of touch: “It was really my rediscovering America as a writer.”

    “Sabbath’s Theater,” which came out in 1995 and won the National Book Award, is about neither Roth nor Zuckerman but rather Morris Sabbath, known as Mickey, an ex-puppeteer in his 60s. His voice is nothing if not American: an angry, comic, lustful harangue.

    “In this new book life is represented as anarchic horniness on the rampage against death and its harbingers, old age and impotence,” Frank Kermode wrote in The New York Review of Books, adding, “There is really only one way for him to tell the story — defiantly with outraged phallic energy.”

    Like “Portnoy’s Complaint,” “Sabbath’s Theater” seemed to liberate its author, and yet the work that followed — what Mr. Roth called his American trilogy: “American Pastoral,” “I Married a Communist” and “The Human Stain” — is less about sex than about history or traumatic moments in American culture. Zuckerman returns as the narrator of all three novels, but he is in his 60s now, impotent and suffering from prostate cancer. His prose is plainer, crisper, less show-offy, and he is less an actor than an observer and interpreter.

    The books are full of dense reportorial detail — about such seemingly un-Rothian subjects as glove making and ice fishing — as they tell Job-like stories. There is Swede Lvov, a seemingly gilded Newark businessman, a gifted athlete married to Miss New Jersey of 1949, whose life is destroyed in the 1960s when his teenage daughter becomes an antiwar terrorist and plants a bomb that kills an innocent bystander. Ira Ringold is a star of a radio serial during the McCarthy era who is blacklisted and becomes the subject of an exposé published by his own wife. And Coleman Silk, a black classics professor passing as white, commits an innocent classroom gaffe while the Clinton impeachment is taking place and finds himself mercilessly hounded by the politically correct.

    These books are not without their comic moments, but history here is no joke; it is more nearly a tragedy. In 2007, Mr. Roth killed Zuckerman off in the sad and affecting “Exit Ghost,” a novel that cleverly echoes and inverts the themes of “The Ghost Writer,” the first of the Zuckerman novels. Meanwhile he had begun writing a series of shorter novels that, after the publication of “Nemesis” in 2010, he began calling “Nemeses.” The sequence began in 2005 with “Everyman,” which starts in a graveyard and ends on an operating table.

    That work set the tone for the rest: “Indignation” (2008), a ghost story of sorts about a young student unfairly expelled from college and sent off to fight in the Korean War; “The Humbling” (2009), about an actor who has lost his powers; and “Nemesis,” about the polio epidemic of the 1950s. The prose became even sparer and, in the case of “Nemesis,” deliberately matter-of-fact and unliterary, and though the books have plenty of sexual moments, they are haunted by something darker and bleaker.

    Yet the very existence of these books, coming reliably almost one every year, seemed to belie their message. “Time doesn’t prey on my mind. It should, but it doesn’t,” Mr. Roth told David Remnick. He added: “I don’t know yet what this will all add up to, and it no longer matters, because there’s no stopping. All you want to do is the obvious. Just get it right.”

    Increasingly, Mr. Roth spent most of his time alone in his 18th-century Connecticut farmhouse, returning to New York mostly in the winter when he grew so stir-crazy he found himself talking to woodchucks. He worked, read in the evenings (nonfiction mostly) and occasionally listened to a ballgame. In some ways he came to resemble his own creation, Nathan Zuckerman, who asks at the end of a chapter in “Exit Ghost,” “Isn’t one’s pain quotient shocking enough without fictional amplification, without giving things an intensity that is ephemeral in life and sometimes even unseen?”

    “Not for some,” he goes on. “For some very, very few that amplification, evolving uncertainly out of nothing, constitutes their only assurance, and the unlived, the surmise, fully drawn in print on paper, is the life whose meaning comes to matter most.”

    In 2010, right after “Nemesis,” Mr. Roth decided to quit writing. He didn’t tell anyone at first, because, as he said, he didn’t want to be like Frank Sinatra, announcing his retirement one minute and making a comeback the next. But he stuck with his plan and in 2012, he officially announced that he was done. A Post-it note on his computer said, “The struggle with writing is done.”

    He had been famous for putting in endless days at his stand-up desk, throwing out more pages than he kept, and in a 2018 interview he said he was worn out. “I was by this time no longer in possession of the mental vitality or the physical fitness needed to mount and sustain a large creative attack of any duration.” He settled into the contented life of an Upper West Side retiree, seeing friends, going to concerts.

    He was in frequent communication with his appointed biographer, Blake Bailey, whom he sometimes flooded with notes, and he was also at pains to straighten out an erroneous Wikipedia account of his life. Mostly, he read — nonfiction by preference, but he made exception for the occasional novel. One of the last he read was “Asymmetry,” by Lisa Halliday, a book about a young woman who has a romance with an aging novelist who bore an unmistakable resemblance to Mr. Roth — funny, kind, acerbic, passionate, immensely well-read, a devotee of Zabar’s and old movies. In an interview, Mr. Roth acknowledged that he and Ms. Halliday had been friends, and added: “She got me.”

  16. মাসুদ করিম - ২৪ মে ২০১৮ (১০:১৫ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    বিদায় হাস্যময়ী

    তাজিন আহমেদ [জন্ম :৩০ জুলাই ১৯৭৫, মৃত্যু :২২ মে ২০১৮]

    ওর হাসিটার মতো হাসি আর কারও ছিল না। ওর হাসিটা কেবল ওর মতোই ছিল। অকপট এক হাসি। ও হেসে উঠলেই পরিবেশটা বদলে যেত। হাসতে গিয়ে চোখটা একটু ছোট হয়ে যেত, আর ওকে লাগতোও দারুণ। একদম পাশের বাড়ির আপন মেয়েটার মতো। সেই হাসি আর সে হাসবে না। অবিশ্বাস্য। ক’দিন আগেই কথা হলো টেলিফোনে। কক্সবাজার থেকে নাট্যকার মোহন খান ফোন করে কয়েকটা কাজের কথা বলে মেতে উঠলেন হাসিঠাট্টায়। বললেন, আমাকে নাট্যকার সংঘের মেম্বার করে না নিলে আপনার ডাইহার্ট ফ্যান তাজিন কিন্তু আপনার সঙ্গে আর কথা বলবে না। পাশ থেকে তাজিন মোহন ভাইয়ের কাছ থেকে মোবাইলটা নিয়ে বলে উঠল- না মাসুম ভাই, না; এটা হতেই পারে না। আমি আপনার চিরকালের ভক্ত, চিরকাল ভক্তই থাকব। ফোনে ওর হাসিটা আমি দেখতে পেলাম। ওর হাসিতে হাসি মিলিয়ে কথা শেষ হলো। ওটাই ওর সঙ্গে শেষ কথা।

    ‘শেষ কথা’ লিখতে গিয়ে বুকটা কেঁপে উঠল। তাজিনের মৃত্যুই কি সব শেষ? তা কেন হবে। তাজিনের সঙ্গে আমাদের কথা কোনোদিনই শেষ হবে না। কারণ, ও আমাদের হৃদয়ে স্থান করে নিয়েছে। ওর সারল্য, ওর কোমল ব্যবহার, ওর অভিনয় প্রতিভা- ওকে বারবার স্মরণ করাবে আমাদের। তাজিনের সঙ্গে আমার পরিচয় প্রায় কুড়ি বছরের। তখন তাজিন এক কিশোরী মাত্র। থাকত আদাবরে। আমি থাকতাম পিসিকালচারে। একদম কাছাকাছি। আবু সাঈদ আমার প্রথম ধারাবাহিক নাটক বানাল। নাম ‘যুগলবন্দী’। তাজিন ছিল সেই নাটকে। তাজিনের বোন হয়েছিল তানিয়া। ওদের মামা হয়েছিলেন খালেদ খান। ইনামুল হক আর লায়লা হাসানের দুই মেয়ে ছিল ওরা। নাটকটা ভীষণ জনপ্রিয় হয়েছিল বিটিভির প্যাকেজ শুরুর প্রথম দিকে। খুব ভালো অভিনয় করেছিল তাজিন। আর শুটিংয়ের সময় কী যে আড্ডা হতো। এমনিতেই যুবদা ছিলেন আড্ডাপ্রিয় মানুষ, তার ওপরে তানিয়া, তাজিন, আজাদ আবুল কালাম, হায়াত ভাই, লাকী আপা সবাইকে পেয়ে তুমুল জমে যেত। সবকিছু ছাপিয়ে সবাইকে মাতিয়ে দিত তাজিনের হাসি। আমার লেখা ‘বীজমন্ত্র’ নাটকের জন্য একটা মিষ্টি হাসির মেয়ে খুঁজছিল পরিচালক জাহিদুর রহিম অঞ্জন। আমি তাকে তাজিনের কথা বললাম। তাজিন হয়ে গেল আমার বীজমন্ত্রের নোলক। জয়ন্তদার ছোটবউ।

    যারা বীজমন্ত্র নাটকটা দেখেছেন, তারা জানেন ও কী অসাধারণ অভিনয় করেছিল সেই নাটকে। জয়ন্ত চট্টোপাধ্যায়, ওয়াহিদা মল্লিক জলি, আবুল খায়ের, বিপাশা হায়াত, তৌকীর আহমেদের মতো বড় বড় শিল্পীর সঙ্গে পাল্লা দিয়ে অভিনয় করেছিল তাজিন। এবারের বইমেলায় ওর সঙ্গে দেখা হলো। এ-স্টল থেকে ও-স্টলে গেলাম। ফেরদৌস হাসান রানা ভাইয়ের ‘ভালোবাসি’ উপন্যাসটা কিনতে গিয়ে একসঙ্গে ছবি তুললাম। সেই ছবির একটা ফেসবুকে পোস্ট করে লিখলাম, তাজিন আমার ‘বীজমন্ত্র’ নাটকে অভিনয় করেছিল। তার সুঅভিনয় নাটকটাকে ভীষণ জনপ্রিয় করেছিল। আজ বইমেলায় তার সঙ্গে দেখা, সেই আগের মতোই মিষ্টি হাসিটা তার মুখে লেগে আছে। এই পোস্টে আড়াইশ’র ওপরে কমেন্ট। প্রতিটি কমেন্টের ভাষা প্রায় এক- ‘উনি আমার খুব প্রিয় অভিনেত্রী।’ তাজিন বেশ কষ্টের ভেতরে ছিল। জীবনের ভাঙা-গড়ার আবর্তে তাজিন একদম একা হয়ে গিয়েছিল। ও আমার ইনবক্সে লিখেছিল, ‘আমি ভালো নেই, মাসুম ভাই।’ আরও অনেক কথা। ও মাঝেমধ্যেই ফেসবুকে ওর মাকে দীর্ঘ একটা ডাক দিত। মা…। আমি জানতে চাইতাম, কী হয়েছে তাজিন। ও বলত- কিছু না, মাসুম ভাই। আর আজ ওর মৃত্যুতে সারা ফেসবুক ওকে ডেকে চলেছে- ‘তাজিন… তুমি কেন চলে গেলে।’ ওর মৃত্যুসংবাদ প্রচার হওয়ার সঙ্গে সঙ্গে ফেসবুকে শোকের বন্যা বয়ে যাচ্ছে। তাজিন তুমি কি দেখতে পাচ্ছো, তোমাকে কত মানুষ ভালোবাসত। তোমার জন্য ফেসবুক হয়ে উঠেছে এক শোকগাথা। ভক্তদের অন্তরে তুমি ভালো থেকো। ইতি, তোমার এক ভক্ত।

  17. মাসুদ করিম - ২৬ মে ২০১৮ (২:২৯ অপরাহ্ণ)

    A Modest Proposal: Break the Art Fair

    As a system, art fairs are like America: They’re broken and no one knows how to fix them. Like America, they also benefit those at the very top more than anyone else, and this gap is only growing. Like America, the art world is preoccupied by spectacle — which means nonstop art fairs, biennials, and other blowouts. Yet the place where new art comes from, where it is seen for free and where almost all the risk and innovation takes place — medium and smaller galleries – are ever pressured by rising art fair costs, shrinking attendance and business at the gallery itself, rents, and overhead. This art-fair industrial complex makes it next to impossible for any medium/small gallery to take a chance on bringing unknown or lower-priced artists to art fairs without risking major financial losses. Meanwhile high-end galleries clean up without showing much, if anything, that’s risky or innovative.

    Look at the basic cost for doing this week’s Frieze New York.
    A large booth costs $125,000. A gallery can sometimes pay another $15,000 to $18,000 to build out the booth. On-site handling costs can run another $5,000. One dealer told me he paid $350 to have an electric socket installed at the Armory Show. If you’re a local space you don’t have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for long-distance shipping, travel, and hotel costs for staff. Still, even a local gallery pays about $5,000 to get the art packed and shipped to and from Frieze; for those traveling from abroad, or those American galleries traveling to art fairs in London or Hong Kong, of course the cost is much higher. Never mind that these galleries are double-staffing at the fair and for their New York galleries at the same time.

    Many people will object, “Yes, but galleries make lots of money at fairs.” The big ones almost always do. The smaller ones can too if the fair costs aren’t too high, and/or if they get lucky or have a good year. But, as you move away from the upper-crust galleries sales can be scanty. Know that when galleries do sell a work of art they split half or more of the sale-price with the artist. (In some cases, it’s said that top-end artists can get as much as 80 percent of the sales price.) So any gallery with a large booth at Frieze is probably counting on at least $350,000 in sales, just to break even. If a gallery does sell less-known or less-expensive work the dealer is still all but guaranteed to take a major loss.

    I accept that one often does find work we don’t know at fairs, that it’s wonderful for newer galleries to be seen at big fairs, and that you can have fun at them when you’re not feeling alienated or worn out from it all. Even so, the large art fairs (Frieze London and New York and Basel everywhere) turn everything into roadkill — including attendees. First-time fairgoers often have a hard time getting past a half-dozen booths before burning out. Old hands tend to know how to “skim” a bit better — but that isn’t good for the art, either!

    Everyone talks about these problems. Notably, of late, the harrowingly honest, brilliantly incisive ArtNet interview with Team Gallery’s Jose Freire — one of the better art dealers of the last 22 years, a gallerist whose taste is razor-sharp and extremely difficult for some (me included). Since 2001 Freire has done 78 art fairs so he knows whereof he speaks. He says “we’re in the end game” phase of art fairs …“money can’t corrupt the art world any more than it already has … I haven’t met a new person in Basel in at least ten years.” Whether he’s talking about the aesthetic emptiness of fairs or a broken business model he surmises that you can now miss an art fair and by “scrolling through Instagram you will know the same thing.” All this strikes me as about right. Meanwhile local gallerists have to travel halfway around the world to participate in fairs to maybe meet a curator who works less than a mile from the gallery but who now does much of his/her gallery-looking en masse at art fairs. We’re all busy these days, I know, but curators ignoring local galleries should be fired; ditto directors not making certain that curators regularly visit local galleries. Freire observes that curators who formerly did look for new work at art fairs are now there mainly “to walk their trustees around.”

    So what about the claim that an art fair can make half-a-year’s gallery operating expense in a single weekend? Freire counters, “Fairs accounted for this gallery’s biggest financial loses.” At fairs you’re seeing businesses in the balance. Freire says he might expect to make $35,000 in profit for a booth that costs $200,000 after fees, fabrication, packing, shipping, travel expenses, staffing, and entertainment; and if a work doesn’t sell at a fair “the value is gone, burned,” he says, since the work will have been seen and known not to have sold. This is a rotten system.

    None of this applies to megagalleries or to many of the larger galleries. For these galleries the system may be exhausting but it’s working fine. Indeed, when I asked one high-flyer about doing fewer fairs she said, “Yes, we’ve cut back to only 11 this year.” Attend the opening day of any fair and you’ll see why the big galleries like this system. Their booths are buzzing with gaggles of well-shod people you don’t recognize and celebrities with entourages. You’re seeing a shinier parallel art world acted out before your eyes. You can safely assume that, whenever you show up, most of the big-ticket items in these booths — the works by Warhol, Koons, Murakami, Basquiat, Stingel, De Kooning, et al — have been sold almost immediately. The action is so fast that now some of these dealers arrive on private planes, schmooze the clients, make a killing, and fly out. Like hired killers, you never really see them; they blend in, do their business, and disappear into the night.

    But medium and small dealers are caught in this Catch-22.
    Since big fairs are now one of the definitions of success, of being a player, smaller galleries compete to appear in them, even if they won’t make money doing so; not to be in them sometimes signifies weakness. But this pressure to participate (Keeping up With the Gagosians) makes it almost impossible to grow a gallery to the next level — all the energy and money is pumped into just keeping up. At the same time the bigger dealers love having the look of underground, hip, young galleries in the mix in because it allows collectors, artists, and even dealers to think of themselves as engaged in a big, messy, underground riot when in fact the whole business passes through a half-dozen corporate megagalleries and everything else is negligible window dressing. Indeed, art fairs have become like great malls curated to lure people in without focusing on business, employing a stagecraft of entertainments, fine foods, wine-tastings, valet parking, VIP lounges, lectures, performances, special prizes, and panel discussions that are mostly about the market or the ubiquity of art fairs and biennials — often paneled with a rotating few of the same 55 movers-and-shakers providing self-congratulatory self-flagellating gravitas to the traveling caravan. The camouflage of choice then is art fair as resort and mercantile Burning Man. It’s hard to say if smaller galleries could do fairs without the bigger galleries but my guess is that most bigger galleries, once they see a smaller fair picking up speed will want a piece of that action too. The smaller galleries may have more power than they think if they band together, make demands, put pressure back on the big art fairs rather than dancing exclusively to the art fair tune. The NADA and Independent fairs are now doing this nicely; more well-curated medium and small gallery fairs sprouting up might provide viable alternatives to these galleries paying gigantic costs for little return.

    With all this in mind, I spoke to a number of part-owners, directors, and other functionaries of art fairs and asked whether art fairs can be fixed. All agree that things need fixing. The bad news is that I came away thinking that while I really like these people, they don’t really have the impulse to fix things because these are the things that work so well for them. Fairs as they are now aren’t broken, they say. I kept sputtering back, “They’re not broken for you yet.”

    Here was my boilerplate pitch. In a friendly huff, I said, “You’re killing the geese that laid the golden eggs!” and talked about how fairs are charging way too much for booths at fairs. Then I suggested cutting booth fees by as much as 40 percent. I don’t have to tell you the agog silence and wry smiles this met with. I suggested perhaps using the same sort of tax structure used in all Western democracies: Employ a graduated fee-schedule with the megagalleries paying more than other galleries. Especially because the current system benefits these galleries the most. Crickets and blinks.

    I continued that the burden of profit should not fall exclusively on the backs of galleries as it does in the current system! The responsibility for profit should fall on the art fairs in the same measures it does in similar venues that present entertainment and performances. Carnegie Hall doesn’t charge Yo-Yo Ma exorbitant prices to perform there. Carnegie Hall pays him! Again, each proprietor looked at me like I was mad. They’re not evil and they love art as much as anyone, but they all know who’s in the driver’s seat and that if they lose galleries because of high fees that there are hundreds of others takers dying to get in.

    I said that the procedures for gallery inclusion should be changed too. Now, galleries apply, filling out costly applications describing what they’re bringing to the fairs. These proposals then are judged by a jury of their peers. What goes unsaid is that there can be real conflicts of interest involved with jurors benefiting from the exclusion or inclusion of galleries that might exhibit some of the same artists as they do. Let alone longtime vendettas. Numerous middle-size and smaller gallerists have told me that their proposals were rejected for being “too boring.” I would argue that in the current jury system with mostly well-established dealers as jurors (along with fair owners), it’s possible that when it comes to interesting art fair ideas, the closer a juror is to the top of the pyramid, the less this established dealer might actually know what a good idea is and what’s happening on the ground!

    I’m not alone in my squawking. In just the last weeks megagallerists David Zwirner, Marc Glimcher, Thaddaeus Ropac, Marc Payot (of Hauser & Wirth) and Almine Rech-Picasso have suggested that top-tier galleries “should pay higher prices to subsidize smaller galleries.” This is quite remarkable coming from those very top-tier galleries —perhaps they understand how much value there is in being surrounded by smaller and more dynamic colleagues, and how much their own success is squeezing out those very galleries. In response to this, my very good old friend Marc Spiegler, global director of Art Basel since 2012, talked the perfect art-fair owner talk. “We have no issue with the idea of trying to work more closely in terms of helping the younger galleries at the fair,” he said, “but the algorithm for figuring this out … is difficult to reach.” Then he talked about “square meters, transfer fees, and micro-financing for smaller galleries,” and concluded that the “real issue is cashflow because galleries that have a lot of successful artists often have the problem that they are funding a lot of museum and biennial shows and production costs.” Marc — talk about disconnect!

    I’m not the art fair bogey man. I go to the opening day of local art fairs; I love seeing the art world under one roof, touching antennas; trying to catch up with this peripatetic world. Moreover I presume that the system is so stuck on success-breeding-success that Frieze’s announced expansion later this year into Los Angeles will meet with more eventual success. The Basels will rumble on — except maybe for Art Basel Miami Beach, which many hope will eventually be supplanted by something, anything. (Almost every gallerist I spoke voiced animus for Art Basel Miami Beach, one calling it “the seventh circle of hell.”) But all this is triumph-of-the-system talk. I conclude that since the system now benefits those at the top so well, let them pay for it!

  18. মাসুদ করিম - ৩০ মে ২০১৮ (৯:৫০ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    At current rates, Bangladesh could top India’s per capita income by 2020

    After trailing its big neighbour for four decades, Bangladesh has gone ahead of India in economic growth and on social development indicators.

    In the three years ending 2016, Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (at current prices) in dollar terms grew at a compounded annual rate (CAGR) of 12.9 per cent, more than twice India’s 5.6 per cent. Over the same period, Pakistan grew faster than India too, at a CAGR of 8.6 per cent, driven by a surge in investment and export. The Chinese economy expanded at an annualised 5.2 per cent.

    As a result, per capita income (in dollar terms) in Bangladesh is now growing at nearly thrice the pace of income growth in India. At $1,355 in 2016, Bangladesh’s per capita income was up 40 per cent in three years against 14 per cent growth in India and 21 per cent growth in Pakistan. At this rate, Bangladesh’s per capita income would top India’s by the year 2020. Currently, a typical Indian has 25 per cent higher income than her eastern neighbour; in 2011, Indians earned 87 per cent more.

    India was the top performing economy in South Asia for the 40 years between 1970 and 2010. Annualised GDP growth of 8.7 per cent in dollar terms at current prices against Bangladesh’s 7.6 per cent and Pakistan’s 6.7 per cent.

    Bangladesh is also ahead of India in the human or social development indicators of infant mortality rate and life expectancy at birth. A newborn in Bangladesh is more likely to see her fifth birthday than her Indian or Pakistani counterpart. She is also likely to live longer in Bangladesh (72.5 years) than India (68.6 years) and Pakistan (66.5 years).

    Bangladesh’s economic success lies in its ability to plug itself into the gap created by the slowdown in the Chinese export engine as policymakers in Beijing shift their focus to pushing domestic demand and investment and away from exports. Total exports from China declined to $2.2 trillion in 2016 from a record high of $2.35 trillion three years ago, creating space for others in the global market for labour intensive consumer goods.

    India missed this bus as evidenced by a contraction in exports during the period. Instead the country’s growth is being largely driven by consumption even as savings, investment and exports reduce. India’s total exports of goods & services declined to $433 billion in 2016 from record high of $488 billion during 2013 calendar year.

    The contrast shows in the Bangladesh’s headline statistics. In last three years, the country’s exports of goods & services grew at a CAGR of 7 per cent in dollar terms against 3.9 per cent annualised contraction in India’s export during the period. In the same period, capital formation or investment in Bangladesh grew at a CAGR of 14.5 per cent against investment stagnation in India.

    Economic growth in Pakistan is largely driven by capital formation and consumption demand financed by a surge in foreign investments mostly from China as the latter invests close to $60 billion in upgrading Pakistan’s power and transport infrastructure.

  19. মাসুদ করিম - ৩০ মে ২০১৮ (১১:৩৮ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Monsoon is here! Hits Kerala three days ahead of schedule, says IMD

    The southwest monsoon on Tuesday hit Kerala, three days before its scheduled arrival, says the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

    The onset of monsoon over the southern state marks the commencement of the four-month long rainy season in the country.

    June 1 is the official onset date for arrival of monsoon in the country and it takes more than a month-and-half to cover the entire country.

    The IMD has made a forecast of “normal” rainfall this season.

    Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency and a rival of the IMD, had said that the monsoon made its arrival in Kerala yesterday.

    According to the IMD, if after May 10, 60 per cent of the available 14 stations –Minicoy, Amini, Thiruvananthapuram, Punalur, Kollam, Allapuzha, Kottayam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Thalassery, Kannur, Kudulu and Mangalore — report 2.5 mm or more rainfall for two consecutive days, the onset of monsoon over Kerala can be declared on the second day. This is one of the main parameters for declaring the arrival of monsoon.

    Besides this factor, the westerly winds must be up to 15,000 feet above main sea level and outgoing long-wave radiation less than 200 wm-2 (watt per square metre) to declare the arrival of monsoon.

    All the necessary parameters were met following which the onset of monsoon over Kerala was announced, Mritunjay Mohapatra, Additional Director General, IMD said.

  • Sign up
Password Strength Very Weak
Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.
We do not share your personal details with anyone.