Riot : A Memoir.

A frail cacophony of humans with the dark night being blistered was enough for me to stand on my feet and go outside the room to enquire the state of affair that without my sense sent a sensation of fear and anxiety down my spine. I felt numbed. Not knowing what to do next, I opened the front door of our home. For the understanding of my readers, I used to spend my night exactly on the right side of our house's front gate. And you would encounter my room in case you open the front gate of our house. A mob, frenzied mob to be precise, here a question might arise in my readers' minds as to how I placed my sense on the right track so quickly to realize what was happening right before my eyes, but what I have to say is that you can easily separate a mob with celebration of joy on a fine, joyous occasion and a mob with weapons which had already gone berserk. I felt my frail legs gummed to the ground. We were a family of four, my mother, my father my elder brother and I. I rushed in to the house to inform them of what I had just witnessed. I noticed they still were fast asleep. Perhaps the reason behind their such attitude towards a serious issue like this was due to the fact that their respective rooms were quite inside our house. They waked up. My father being a patient of cancer and a man in his early sixties found it hard to bear my account. My mother tried to console him. My elder brother and I went straight onto our roof to get the sight of the marauding crowd. They had sharp weapons in their hands. Soon they met their counterpart which came onto the street with a similar force and rage. The site soon turned into a battle ground. We were witnessing the horror. I seemed to have forgotten everything happening around the globe. I forgot that we were a part of this universe. And to compare ourselves with this universe in terms of vastness, we no where existed. I forgot that we breathed in oxygen to remain alive. I literally forgot everything. I soon realized that I was shivering. I clearly heard that night that darkness too has its own voice and the language with which it interacts is beyond our comprehensive capacity yet it is fearful and can make us shiver. Darkness appeared to be taking part in that battle of men fighting both the parties. Then the marauding crowd followed the tactic of loot and vandalization. A petrol bomb flew to the bushes on the left side of the road and a fire broke out. Fire and fire and fire and fire. Everywhere was fire. It was on the bushes. It was in the minds of the people. Even darkness was charged with fire. The time seemed to have given clean chit to the raging crowd to carry on with their bloodshed. The road soon got flooded with blood. Cries of agony went through the air and resonated all around. We, the two brothers at one point of time, felt nauseating. The next morning I found myself in my bed. But there was a perceived silence all around. And I felt my mind was being pricked. Hopefully, we all were intact. But the neighborhood suffered heavy damage. And with my apology, I beg to all of you to spare me for the time being. I would soon get back to all of you to describe what I saw that morning in my neighborhood on the heels of that devastating riot. Peace, harmony and brotherhood.

My encounter with atheism.

There was a time when I used to be a devout Muslim and used to offer prayers five times a day. But slowly I started realizing that religious scriptures should be taken as allegorically and not literally because there are many parts in the religious scriptures that are beyond the general explanation. One thing behind my transformation from a devout Muslim to an ardent atheist is the religions’ ultimate statement upon being unable to give a suitable explanation to a question raised that we should not raise the question on the existence of God.

On the other hand, science gives one solid explanation and never heckles one from raising a question about a particular subject matter. Religious scriptures are full of fairy tales and a part of world literature itself and nothing else. Religious institutions and people affiliated to them are of the opinion that religious scriptures have come down to this earth undergoing a divine process whose explanation is beyond our scientific comprehension until now. Abrahamic religions (Zionism, Christianity and Islamism) are full of wonders which the religious people belonging to their respective religions cannot explain properly. Their explanations always have serious doubt which is why we cannot accept them.

Albert Einstein is one of the most revered scientists of all times. Unfortunately, he is one of the scientists whose statements have been analyzed without any context. One of the statements that has created a massive worldwide debate between the theists and atheists is that “science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” This is a misinterpreted statement and often taken out of the context. Einstein was a Jew by birth. His parents were not religious but he attended catholic primary school and had received private tuition in Judaism. But by the age of 12, he started questioning various parts of the religious scriptures as doubtful. Einstein penned a letter on January 3, 1954, to his philosopher friend Eric Gutkind. In the letter, he stated the following, “The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”

Furthermore, on the question of the Jews people cited as the “favoured people of the God”, his opinion was clear. He stated that “For me, the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise, I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.”

The process of transformation of mine from a religious Muslim to an ardent atheist started with a book called “Why I am atheist” by Bhagat Singh. Bhagat Singh scientifically explained the reasons behind his practising atheism. He stated that holding no belief in god should not be considered by people as an act of vanity but the supernatural entities like god have no reality-based basis. His revolutionary struggles against the fascist British force inspired me a lot. He did not change his stance even when he was about to be hanged to death. He remained a devout atheist until his death.

Another crucial factor behind my transformation from an ardent Muslim to an atheist is the socio-political scenario of the country in particular and the world in general. I looked at those countries that are religious. The religious countries are suffering more than the ones which are not extremely religious. Extremely religious countries, I noticed, produce religious bigots. They are the ones who should be held responsible for the propagation of social evils. I started feeling suffocated and I needed to be liberated from all this.

Jay Shree Ram.

Jay Shree Ram :

Yes you have read exactly what I have written. There is nothing wrong in chanting religious slogans. But there should be one condition. No one can force me to chant these slogans. Unfortunately this slogan has lost its credibility as a religious one. We have made it political. I myself don't know when and where I will get lynched before being forced by an angry mob to chant "Jay Shree Ram". I will without giving a second thought chant this slogan "Jay Shree Ram" to save my life.

But is it really good for a religion to provide this sort of patronage ? If asked, my answer will be "no". Why ?
If a religion bears humanitarian thought then you need not force others to accept it, people will automatically accept it. Forcing others with unnecessary and inexplicable persecution to embrace something generates nothing but a deep contempt.

Those forcing innocent people to chant the slogans are doing nothing but diluting the spirit of their religion. A Muslim man recently was beaten to death by an angry mob on suspicion of theft after being forced by others to chant "Jay Sree Ram", "Jay Hanuman". He was thrashed with sticks for hours. The videos of the assault have gone viral online highlighting once again the deplorable condition of the minorities in Modi's new India. Why do I call their condition deplorable ? Literally, Indian government has sternly refused a recent U.S. report that pointed out the increasing torture meted out to the Dalits and Minorities calling the findings biased. Then how did the incident happen if they are safe in India ? Police took Ansari to custody instead of  hospitalising him. They did not mention the "assaults" in their report. Later, doctors declared him dead on arrival.
They were wrong, completely wrong. Theft has nothing to do with religion and you can't force others to chant the slogans against their own will. Hate, grudges, intolerance, violence lead to the destruction of any healthy society. You can't conquer anything with hatred, what you need is love and tenderness. By unleashing violence against the innocent people, you yourself tar the images of your religion. People will never accept it rather they will throw it away because what they need is peace.

You are fighting over these trivial things ? Don't forget that you are going to face serious water crisis within a short while. Don't forget that everyday 19 crore of your fellow Indians go to sleep on an empty stomach. Don't forget that you are unemployed.

Mob lynchings don't feed anyone. Rather it transforms humans into beasts. This is a trap to make you forget about your basic rights. Don't get into this. Ask the governments relevant questions. Excoriate the governments in public. Oust the government that creates division among us.
This is my fervent request to all of you, please say no to violence, apartheid, hatred in the name of religion. Let us make this world a beautiful place to live in. Let us take a vow that we will gift a beautiful world to our next generations.


Masidur Rahaman.
26th June, 2019.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and his legacy and what we have done to it :

Let me begin by apologizing to Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar for the tremendous insult he has been made to undergo on behalf of all the Bengalis who have failed to protect his statue from being vandalized by some miscreants.

Being a Bengali, I feel burying myself deep into the earth. This is a massive insult to our 'Bangaliyana'. In my worst nightmare, I couldn't think of the incident which already has grabbed the eyeballs of the country drawing sharp reaction from the intellectuals. Meanwhile the blame game has already started with TMC supremo blaming the BJP supporters for this heinous act. On the other hand, BJP president Amit Shah has pinned blame on the TMC supporters for the vandalization.

A motorcycle was burnt at the gates of the Vidyasagar college, stones thrown and most surprisingly the statue of Vidyasagar was vandalised brutally during BJP chief Amit Shah's roadshow in Kolkata on Tuesday evening.

Bengal Renaissance played an important role to construct a new social structure. It was initiated by Raja Rammohan Roy but Vidyasagar gave a smooth, final touch to it. He actively campaigned for the women education and fought for the equal rights for the women. He with his own money and resources founded a number of schools, colleges, educational institutions for women to empower them, to free them from the shackles of this patriarchal society. On one occasion, some social activists went to meet him and one among them asked him about his views on how to educate this society. He without giving a second thought replied 'give proper education to women, by means of which you can achieve an educated society'. He fight against the Brahminical aggression. He was noted for his philanthropist activities and was a key figure in Bengal Renaissance. He forced the British to introduce Widow Remarriage Bill. Born to poor parents, his quench for knowledge was immense so much so that he used to study under a street light, the fact almost all the Bengalis are well aware of. He reconstructed the Bengali alphabet and simplified Bengali typography. He fought against all the societal viles including untouchability, child marriage, illiteracy and so on. In short, his contribution to the making of modern Bengal is immense which can't be written down in just one go.

 The loss we have suffered by letting the goons commit the crime is unbearable. Just think of those people who follow him at every step of their lives. Whoever has committed this crime must be brought to law and stringent actions must be taken against them without any sort of concession.


Masidur Rahaman.
15th May, 2019. 

A Man Of Wisdom With An Utmost Simplicity.

"You need not stand up all the time while answering the question.", a gentle, kind Partha Babu smiled. And surprisingly this statement was enough to remove my fear in no time. Being a village boy and a student of Bengali medium school, I was a bit nervous. Frankly speaking quite nervous. I had heard from my seniors that the students from cities are far more advanced than us, the ones who come from villages. I can recollect even today that I entered the class room with a sense of anxiety and fear. A strange class room looked at me maintaining similar strangeness. I have never seen girls wearing T-shirt and jeans before. I felt ( May be I am wrong) handsome boys and pretty girls were grinning at me. I was wearing a chappal. And I believe my loose pant helped be become a laughing stock among them.

Partha Babu entered. I was highly indebted to him for his entry drew an end to my insult. It was my belief that professors are aliens. They don't generally speak to students. And students like me in no way can approach them. Their only duty is to come to college and open the books and teach us nonchalantly. Neither they will talk to us nor will be interested in what we are doing in the class room. But he broke my fallacy into pieces. I fell off the sky.

Partha Babu is a man of respect and great wisdom. His manner of speaking and benign smile are two things which no one can avoid. How the interaction between us started I can not tell you. But it started and got consolidated within a very short span of time. His knowledge in English literature often made us think that he was born for it. We often put before him questions that sounded almost nonsense and meaningless yet he never got disturbed. I can remember that a guy named Sujoy Ghosh from our class asked him a question that invoked laughter among some students. Partha Babu smiled and started giving reply to his query laughing on those people who laughed at Sujoy's query.

I wrote a short piece of article on the release of the film Padmavat when I was in Krishnath College. I asked for his permission to submit it on our department's wall magazine. Before I kept the proposal of submitting the article to him, I revealed that the article was political by nature. He smiled and took the article away from my hand. The next day I saw the article was there on the wall magazine.
I can recollect those striking memories born out of our "scholarly" discussions with Partha Babu in our department room ranging from the History of English Literature to how English has beaten other languages with its capacity to adapt to any major crisis to the similarities of the three Semitic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

My last wish when I left the college was to touch his feet and embrace him. But something else was in store for me which prevented me from fulfilling my last wish. I still miss him a lot. Whenever my respected professors issue discouraging statements directed against me for my naivety, a smiling, decent, gentle, soothing Partha Babu keeps his hands on my head with words charged with energy and vigour.

I really don't know whether Partha Babu would be able to see this article or not, but at the conclusion, let me say one more thing, "The more I say about this wonderful human being, the less is spoken".

Masidur Rahaman.
11th May, 2019. 

State of the minorities in any country regardless of time and place.

It is said that bitter truth hurts. But let it hurt if you are a seeker of truth. Because truth may hurt you but it gives you a sense of completion. So let the truth prevail.

Context : state of the minorities in any country regardless of time and place.

Minorities in any country specially those ruled obeying the laws and rituals of religions lead a very despicable life which is inexplicable. Be it India, be it USA, be it Bangladesh, be it Pakistan the picture is same everywhere. In USA black people are considered to be a perceived threat to the USA itself. Then there is islamophobia prevailing among the white supremacists Americans. Black people are considered to be the second class citizens in USA. A few years back probably 3-4 years ago, a black American woman was set on fire in public with everyone watching the horrible incident from a close distance. No one came to her rescue. The incident sent a shock of wave across the world most probably due to the fact that Barack Obama , a black American was then the president of USA. The picture in India is same. India is known across the globe for many reasons. Among them 'unity in diversity' is the most popular one. It is a land of many religions, rituals, customs, languages and so on. But recently, a sense of patriotism completely based on the hatred towards the minorities and dalits has engulfed the entire nation prompting others to abuse them, lynch them, call them anti nationals. Such is the situation in India. India's ruling party's parent organization RSS wants to implement this throughout the country in a bid to make this nation completely a Hindu rashtra going against the values of Indian constitution. Flogging of the dalits and lynching of the minorities under the suspicion of consumption of beef make it to headlines on a daily basis.

The condition of the minorities who mostly make up as Non Muslims in Pakistan and Bangladesh is same too. A few days back, two Pakistani teenaged girls were abducted , forcefully converted and then married off to men much older than them. In Bangladesh, Hindus are treated as second class citizens and often are accused of being passive in the Bangladesh war. Their temples, places of worships come under assault every now and then from the radical Muslims. Their women are forcefully dragged from their homes and sexually abused. Reports show the minorities in Bangladesh have dwindled in number significantly.

Now note the mode of governance in all these nations. All of them are ruled by some brain washed people who don't hold any regard for tolerance, peaceful coexistence, unity in diversity. They are all fascists by nature and want to rule their respective nations accordingly.

The entire world as a family is going through a very tough situation and we all should come forward to fix the problems defeating each and every fascist element.

10th May, 2019.