Poet Asad Chowdhury tells New Age
Today is Bhadra 12 on Bangla calendar, the 38th death anniversary of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, who holds a permanent place in Bangla literature. Noted contemporary poet Asad Chowdhury talked to New Age about how Nazrul inspired him as a poet.
As a token of respect and love to Nazrul, Asad Chowdhury has written several poems on him (Nazrul) including Premik O Kobi, Bhaggish Tumi Esechhiley, and others. Besides, as a poet Asad Chowdhury has always felt himself enriched to have read Nazrul’s works.
‘Nazrul has been an immense help and inspiration in more than one way to me since my childhood. I was, am and will always be a great admirer of the creations of the great poet,’ shared Asad Chowdhury.
‘The way Nazrul fought against injustice through his writings makes him unique and separates him from his contemporaries. Nazrul was a professional soldier in his youth and a passionate rebel in his late life. But what makes him endearing to me is the combination of this soldierly stance with his romantic side,’ added Chowdhury in further praise of the rebel poet.
Nazrul’s spirit and courage thrills Asad Chowdhury. ‘I still wonder how Nazrul could accumulate the courage to write against the British colonial rule and also social injustices during the British Raj era. Nazrul was among the first poets to be vocal against the British rulers and he suffered a lot for that. However, he wasn’t someone to shy away from telling and writing about the truth,’ said Asad Chowdhury.
The poet also shared that he found Nazrul exceptional as a writer in his period. ‘In 1930s, Nazrul’s contemporary poets were highly influenced by English language and European literature, and some of them profusely translated English texts in Bengali. But Nazrul was different and he abundantly used Persian, Arabic and Sanskrit words in his writings, carefully avoiding European influence and, thereby, created his signature style of writing’, Asad Chowdhury told New Age.
Chowdhury believes that Nazrul will live among us, inspire us and enlighten us for centuries to come.
-With New Age input
