Abdul Matin
Litterateur Humayun Ahmed was laid to eternal rest on Tuesday at his favourite retreat at Nuhash Polli in Gazipur even though most of his family members desired to bury him at Mirpur Intellectuals’ Graveyard. The family’s decision must have been taken in view the last wishes of Humayun Ahmed as expressed by his wife Shaon. Personally, I would have been happier if Ahmed were buried on the Dhaka University campus. This would have been a more appropriate place for his burial in view of his popularity as a writer, a dramatist and a filmmaker. Shaon made it clear that the door of Nuhash Polli would remain open to his fans and admirers who would like to visit his grave.
The intention of this article is not to evaluate the literary value of Ahmed’s works. I shall evaluate him by his success as a writer. He created a new generation of readers among the Bengali communities at home and abroad. It will be no exaggeration to state that by virtue of his popularity, Humayun is perhaps next only to Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Tagore’s popularity is limited mainly to the educated class. Nazrul went a step further by being popular among the common people through his revolutionary songs. Ahmed’s popularity spread further, even among the illiterate people in the rural areas, through his dramas.
Humayun Ahmed is admired by people of all ages, though his younger fans outnumber the elder ones. We should be proud that a writer of his calibre was born in Bangladesh. I am particularly proud because he was born in the same municipal town of Mohanganj in Netrakona where I was born. When I was in school, during mid 1950s, I heard from his maternal grandfather that both Ahmed and his brother Zafar Iqbal had been very meritorious students even during their early childhood.
I recollect that Ahmed once competed in an essay competition on East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) while he was a child and got the first prize. This was perhaps the first recognition of his talent as a writer.
I remember to have seen Ahmed when he was about four years old. His maternal uncle Nazrul and I travelled together by train from Mohanganj to Sylhet in 1952. From the Sylhet railway station, we went straight to Ahmed’s parents’ house.
I was really amazed to see how people from all walks of life admired Ahmed. His fans and admirers lined up along the long road from the capital city to Nuhash Polli to pay their respect during his last journey. There were long queues of people at Shaheed Minar on Monday and big crowds at all the three janazas in New York, Dhaka and Gazipur.
There is no doubt that Ahmed will be remembered for his works as long as Bangla language survives. People will continue to read his books, see his dramas and films. Many will visit his grave to offer Fateha. Many scholars and researchers would like to study Humayun Ahmed in depth to discover what we missed in his works.
Once the initial bereavement is over, I would suggest that Ahmed’s family members should seriously contemplate setting up a museum at Nuhash Polli where all his works, manuscripts, dramas, films, collections of books, pictures, personal belongings and other memorabilia will be preserved. The museum should be complete with a library, a big hall for conferences and screening of his dramas and films and a rest house. The architecture of the museum should be designed with minimum disturbance or dislocation to the existing nature of Nuhash Polli.
Humayun Ahmed’s grave, a museum, the serenity and the natural beauty of the place will make Nuhash Polli an ideal retreat for the millions of his fans, friends and admirers and a meeting place for writers, poets, scholars and researchers who would like know more about the great writer we are so proud of.
Dr. Abdul Matin is a nuclear engineer and an academician.
Article originally published on The Daily Star
