Journal Of An Inquisitive Mind - ভাবনা ভ্রমণ

No, don't give up!

2010-06-13T10:58:00.002+06:00

In solidarity with the Greek people.

I wish all the mirrors would
Speak the truth out loud
To the faces of our states-persons,
The leaders and chief executives:

"You have failed badly,
You have failed the very people
Who brought your success,
You don't represent the masses,
But the arms and drug dealers,
You don't own your citizens, the workers,
Rather the corporate owns you,
You don't see how your fate is connected to
So many silent and hard working souls.

You were to defend the defenseless,
You were supposed to be the voice of the voiceless,
You have forgotten how to represent
And not to rule,
Your power doesn't come from the people
But from unknown large donations.

So you can sell peoples mandate
For some momentary gain.
You can bargain peoples lives
With soul-less finance.
You can easily ignore
The million worried faces,
For you don't belong to them.

The eyes that doesn't see the light
The mind that is corrupt,
The soul that doesn't know the truth,
Is that a human life to live?
You have become a mare body,
A machine made of flesh and bones,

Look, the mirror never lies!"

I really wish and wait each day
That all the silent watching mirrors
Would speak the truth out loud
Someday!

Another World is Possible

2010-06-13T10:38:00.003+06:00

We will have peace of course,
Once the war is won against humanity.

True silence will prevail
When no one is left
To protest against the wrongdoing,
The discrimination, and the injustice.

Equality will be achieved
After all the poor and deprived souls
Are dead from starving and hardworking.

With our negligence and selfishness
We must wait for the day to come.
And we will be living in peace
In the grave yards of the world,
Happily ever after!

A few dew drops

2010-04-05T18:29:00.007+06:00

1.
Even the small straw hut
Could easily hold the universe,
In poet Basho's heart.
(A tribute to Japanese haiku poet
Matsuo Basho,1644-1694)

2.
While I go to sleep
The spring moon keeps traveling with
Clouds in passing wind.

3.
For a while with the clouds
For a while with the moon
Spring night is awake.

4.
While flying by my window grill
Little bird left a message-
Look outside, it's spring!

5.
Each blade of a grass
Holding a shining sun
In the morning dew drops.

6.
I guess it's the wrong season
Yet my heart long for the autumn fields
Just to sleep in peace with the fallen leaves.

(The "three line" form is inspired by the Japanese Haiku but the rules for the syllables and other things are not strictly maintained.)

On the International Day Aagainst Racial Discrimination

2010-03-24T12:18:00.002+06:00

Poems Everyday

2010-03-19T22:47:00.010+06:00

21st March
The World Poetry Day &
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Graphic design: Dimitris Arvanitis.

Reflection

2010-02-14T16:20:00.014+06:00

An old mountain lives

With a few villages in its green
And stands still
In peace and silence,
Watching above the birds
Like leaves they are floating in the sky.

The sad grains of fog
Like memories of bygone days
Cover the lonely tops
With affection and love.
Somewhat like a mystery
That is part of every heart.

In the moonlit night,
The mountain looks
At the reflections far below
On the heart of the lakes
And wonders upon the waters
Where does it all disappear
Flowing with the waves...

Hope

2010-02-11T11:34:00.010+06:00

Here I am,
Walking down the land.
A way made by the traveling foots
The faces unknown
Who came and
Followed their dreams
They have left a trail
Through the green fields,
Sands and vallyes.

Wide old sky above,
The silent watcher
Great battles were fought
Under Whose eyes.
Lovers were born
As human beings
And they ran through the fields
Knowing no fear no grief.

I feel the sigh of the sky
Touching my shoulders gently.
As I feel sad and lost,
A soft wind blows
From the far away greens
I smell the river ahead
And a hope finds my mind-
Every time I'm lost
And I'm lost again,
The wind and the sky
and the green hills peak
Will surely show me-
The way!

Instead Of A Prayer

2009-12-20T17:37:00.001+07:00

While looking outside through the window, watching the pigeons flying with blue sky at the background, it feels like all too real, very natural, and may be that's why so beautiful. In the cities the greens are diminishing day by day and there is no other animals other than human beings around too, may be that's why it looks so mechanical and boring. Sometime it feels like that human are building a big machine, which is a 'system' actually, where there is no space left for human feelings and emotions, where everything follows the laws of mathematical calculations and where everything is decided by the amount of profit it makes. The endless greed of human for power and to gain control over everything elses is really worrying. Is it out of some great fear that is rooted deep inside our subconscious that human act like this?
When one looks around and see the everyday life of modern people, they appear to be an alien species who is afraid of losing everything, who are not local and that's why their struggle to survive is so prominent and visible. Our days are passed with anxiety, each moment we are confronted with uncertainties to make our living, to ensure security, worries and worries. But it is us the human who have invented this system ourselves with lots of effort for our very own good and we are nourishing it. None other animals than the human possesses the nuclear weapons. This grand arrangements of so much of weapons, defenses, armies is only to fight against one or more group of people by another. The human don't have any alien enemy so it looks like such a big game.
The answer to some of the very fundamental questions of human life is still unknown to us, from where and why we have come here, and where are we going? But we can't just wait for the answers to come and the inevitable needs of physical existence must be fulfilled immediately. We are helpless when it comes to meet our daily needs like all other animals. May be human are unfortunate in the sense that they are more like other animals yet they are not just animals. Most of the animals live out of their strong instinct to survive but human needs something more than just surviving. And it's very difficult to define that what that 'more' actually is.
With all our fantastic and fascinating inventions we have developed a civilization where deprivation and discrimination is still the biggest issues. But is it just an economic and social phenomena or more related to psychology? What is these walls that we are building in the name of security? Why we are so much attracted to destruction? Why this morbid selfishness? Why seek satisfaction by oppressing and depriving others?
As much as we know clearly about the in and outside of our body so much is unknown and not clear about the deep inside of our mind. Still the boast of knowledge is strong in human, so much of greed for the glory and crown. Aren't we able to see the sign of destruction (that is made by our greed and lust) visible all along our way? Are we completely unaware of the walls of our 'prison's that we have created?
What is 'joy' or 'sadness', may be impossible to define perfectly nevertheless like the quest for a meaning of the life human are thirsty for the joy, there is no doubt about this. But the means and tools for having joy, how much they are fulfilling us and how much emptying that is something needs to be think about.
The human has the almighty God, gods and goddess, immensely powerful and omnipresent. Both the faithful and the atheist have their own spirituality. We have got the pride for what we know and the fear for what is unknown. It seem that we are prisoner of our own fear and this fear with continuous effort for self protection and self establishment is pushing us more away from others than taking us close to them. It is so unfortunate to see that the most powerful person on earth seems to be the most afraid person too.
We live not depending only our own, the life of a person is not completely isolated from others, there is hardly anything like ultimate loneliness. We live hands in hands with each other, depending on each other, together. The greatness of our collective life is the greatest experience for us all.
What no one can teach us, which is difficult to explain in words, those things needs to be understood, like love, those have no definite rules.So many things we get to discover through our feelings and that makes us amazed, pleased. Deepest truth may be beyond our intelligence and can only be grasped through our feelings. For we want to understand everything by counting and measuring and is it for tha we couldn't get hold of many things? We don't live only with our intelligence but also with our heart.
Our individual life is made up of different things and it's as big as much as we can hold. For some unknown reason human are more dependent on their meanness and selfishness rather than on their greatness. That is why the richest person who has gained everything in life still seems full of needs and looks poor. Since numerous people are starving so our most expensive, most delicious food isn't not the best yet. Whether we know it or not but the most joyful moments are still beyond our grasp may be, since our doors and windows are shut down, our homes are not as big as the world yet.
May be those who are yet to be born, our descendants, will live in a truly big world, where the colorful nights of the grand festivals will be observed with everyone participating from everywhere and not leaving anyone behind; the sound of laughter of numerous people together will be echoing all over the sky, will keep the earth awake. Those great people like the big wide sky and deep blue sea will be held peacefully in the heart of this greatest world.

Myth Of The Planet Incorporated

2009-10-29T10:38:00.005+07:00

Living in a corporate world
Isn’t that bad after all
For everything has a brand here
An attractive logo
An almighty CEO and
His battalion of executives
With shining shoes and suits
As attractive as those legendary gods
And always busy in their holy pursuits
In fast cars or airplanes or ships
They have surely won over
The land and air and the sea
With the help of an Army
Armed with lethal weapons and artillery
From north to south and east to west
Market, market and market
Endless sales to make
Profits, profits & more profits

In this world everything depends
On figures and graphs
For the indexes of stock markets
Are always going up and down
And only the great oracle like economists
Can foresee and guide us what to do
With their voices echoing all around
In this all pervading world of media

We don't exist in real anymore
No more than in movies or
In the TV shows or in the newspapers
And we have long forgotten that too
We do have our profiles
Posted in numerous websites
We exist in the Internet
In our cheap digital photos
In our silly YouTube videos
In million files and
In zillion of hard disks
Somewhere in the heaven
Of Google's Data center
Our stories are written in bits by bits

We don't need religion anymore
No prophets either
For Microsoft is our religion
And windows is our bible
The scriptures are written in C or C++
Which not every mortal can read

We don't have much to say or wish
Or do things anymore of our own
For there are experts
For everything out there now
In TV, in magazines, in blogs
Our tastes are decided by Oprah
Our goals by someone else
We don’t know what’s good or bad or ugly
Unless we see the daily rating

Even the God couldn't have
Imagined a better world
For everything is invented now
Even before we think of it
They are produced everyday
By the poor slave like labors
With human faces and figures and agonies
In factories in far away lands
They exist but aren't meant to be known
Except the brand they create
With hunger and malnutrition

And products are piled up
In our big Superstores
We only need to go and buy
And learn how to make use of them

The best thing in this world is
We don't need a real heart
Or a real Brain anymore
They have long been replaced by
Plastic and AI
Thanks to the technologists
Finally we have our
Everlasting lives
We are the immortal consumers
In The Planet Incorporated.

Part-2: Words Are Alive

2009-10-25T00:39:00.011+07:00

No matter how simple, lifeless forms or objects words may seem at a first glance, a closer look can reveal that they are like living creatures and many a times we encounter their living forces. They do have many similarities with living things too. They have a sort of life cycle and they also evolve but unlike other living creatures they have a longer life period, that may seem almost infinite,but words are as old as our thoughts may be. They hold our collective knowledge, our collective thoughts, they represent our journey, our successes and failures,our insights and our limitations,our conflicts and our mutual understandings as a civilization or whatever we call our journey through time. Each sound and its following symbol,each word and it's associated meaning has a history as we have. Tracing back a history of a word can tell a lot of our own history as human being. That's why words hold enormous power,they are associated with our feelings and our particles of thoughts,our reflections or what we reflect to the world outside. Words build that bridge between an individual and his/her outer world, among individuals and among societies, expanding beyond the boundary of space and time, they are like time machines.

How wonderfully our feelings are associated with words and through our own different experiences they can be quite different. When people look at a certain word,lets say a certain name of a certain person one loves a lot, may be one can imagine that person's existence,appearance, looks in that. An unknown name wouldn't convey the same information or emotion. Our use of words is not always that much conscious and sometime they seem to appear out of no where, and we keep wondering the way they are expressed. People with a creative way of expressing ideas or stories knows this very well, poetry or novel are not just words thought one by one, or sentences thought and written line by line, but a great deal of work goes below the surface and not everything can the conscious mind can explain.

Interestingly, most of the holy books or scriptures are considered as words of Gods, flawless,perfect and not of any mortal beings, they are not simply written anyone but they were received by the chosen people of the almighty. As in the bible it is said,

In Acts 1, Peter told his brethren, "the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David" (v. 16). Heb. 3:7,(1)

And in the Quran,

If you are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down onto Our servant (Muhammad), then produce a chapter of the like thereof, and call your witnesses, supporters, who are apart from God, if you are truthful. (al-Baqara, 2.23) (2)

Without going into the debate of whether they are truly written by supernatural powers or human beings, which is a very interesting debate itself, this reveals an important point which is, even 'God' uses human language and there is no transcendental knowledge without it. Well, it may seem only natural and intuitive that there is no knowledge without words or language. Mathematics is just another language of science and serves the same purpose of conveying ideas and representing natural phenomena in a more precise way.

Words are alive in the sense that they can held a certain meaning or emotion or hint for years after they have been expressed. That is why when we read some old or ancient texts it gives us a very different feeling, a very different picture, whether we understand them fully or not, even just looking at the complex Egyptian engravings of hieroglyphics, our mind is stirred, what seem to be some meaningless pictures to our modern eyes unaware of their significance. Most of the ancient primitive alphabets were more like pictures similar to animals,humans or other known things, which have evolved to our modern day alphabets in more abstract forms but they have a long history of association with things both living or no living. This is why children often find similarity of a certain alphabet with a certain known thing to them, but not the adults as they are used to associate them with more abstract and delicate meanings. See how words also grow and become adult and wise with us growing. The meaning of the term "hieroglyph" can be quoted here:

Hieroglyph: Character in any of several systems of writing that is pictorial in nature, though not necessarily in the way it is read. The term was originally used for the oldest system of writing Ancient Egyptian. Egyptian hieroglyphs could be read iconically (the representation of a house enclosure stood for the word pr, “house”), phonetically (the “house” sign could have the phonetic value pr), or associatively (a sign representing one thing could stand for a homophone meaning something else) (3)

The sound of a particular symbol and it's associated meaning can be of enormous significance and importance. Lets have a look at the following explanations of Om (AUM) (a sacred Hindu mantra), one of many interpretations that are available in the internet:

Before the beginning, the Brahman (absolute reality) was one and non-dual. It thought, "I am only one -- may I become many." This caused a vibration which eventually became sound, and this sound was Om. Creation itself was set in motion by the vibration of Om. The closest approach to Brahman is that first sound, Om. Thus, this sacred symbol has become emblematic of Brahman just as images are emblematic of material objects.

The vibration produced by chanting Om in the physical universe corresponds to the original vibration that first arose at the time of creation. The sound of Om is also called Pranava, meaning that it sustains life and runs through Prana or breath. Om also represents the four states of the Supreme Being. The three sounds in Om (AUM) represent the waking, dream and deep sleep states and the silence which surrounds Om represents the "Turiya" state.

Because the first of the three states of consciousness is the waking state, it is represented by the sound "A" pronounced like "A" in 'accounting'. Because the dream state of consciousness lies between the waking and the deep sleep states, it is represented by the letter "U" which lies between the "A" and "M". This "U" is pronounced like the "U" in would. The last state of consciousness is the deep sleep state and is represented by "M" pronounced as in "sum." This closes the pronunciation of Om just as deep sleep is the final stage of the mind at rest.

Whenever Om is recited in succession there is an inevitable period of silence between two successive Oms. This silence represents the "fourth state" known as "Turiya" which is the state of perfect bliss when the individual self recognizes his identity with the supreme. (4)

Just as the sound of Om represents the four states of Brahman, the symbol Om written in Sanskrit also represents everything. The material world of the waking state is symbolized by the large lower curve. The deep sleep state is represented by the upper left curve. The dream state, lying between the waking state below and the deep sleep state above, emanates from the confluence of the two. The point and semicircle are separate from the rest and rule the whole. The point represents the turiya state of absolute consciousness. The open semicircle is symbolic of the infinite and the fact that the meaning of the point can not be grasped if one limits oneself to finite thinking. (5)

As you can see, even an apparently single symbol word can thus be associated with so different meanings both in visual and phonetic way and it is even going as far as encompassing the whole universe in it's representation. One can possibly find huge amount of information in most of the written symbols, in their appearances and sounds and meanings, if one digs really deep. It's not only from a sacred or holy point of view, but the words in general are more than they appear or sound, when we see them with more attention and care, abandoning our usual idea of them. May be next time you encounter a dictionary or a thesaurus or a book of semantics or specially etymology dictionary, there are good many resources available in the web, you may find them as interesting as a good fiction.

(1) http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissar99.htm
(2) http://www.thewaytotruth.org/theholyquran/wordofgod.html
(3) http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Hyroglifics
(4) http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/ganesh/ohm.htm
(5) http://www.omsakthi.org/worship/mantra.html

In the world of words

2009-10-23T15:52:00.006+07:00

Sometime I feel we are navigators in the world of words of numerous ideas, our mind is like a traveler in the land of words. Words always amaze me,many of them,the way they are written using symbols, they way they sound when pronounced and the way that sound or the written form conveys ideas of so many different things,the way they symbolizes our visible or invisible world using a set of fixed symbols. When I think of words and languages it really amazes me, and I find it is to be the most amazing invention of human civilization after all. In most of the cases a word can summarize a whole lot of things, a very critical idea or a complex thing and then we need to define that very word using some more words.

Even the most familiar words we are using in every day conversation and work can be quite difficult to define using other words,although it's possible and then we can possibly see through it,it's like looking at a peace of artwork and to try to understand it. Each word may seem as a piece of critical art work. We are confronted by this problem of defining many a times like when a young boy says with great passion to her girlfriend that he loves her so much and the girl in reply asks what does that 'love' means. Surely the boy is at his wits end for the time being and then if he is wise enough to borrow a few lines from great romantic poets then he can save himself.

What I believe that how familiar a word may seem, how well known,it is never well defined in most of the cases and it's always an approximation and so there are endless possibilities to redefine it in numerous ways,adding more and more and subtracting some parts. This process continues through ages, and this is how words and ideas survives, helping each other to enrich and evolve.

A meaning of a word isn't that constant as it may seem and over time it's meaning can become completely opposite or something it wasn't meant initially. I think there are lots of examples of them. What I find important is not to take words and their meanings for granted and to constantly review it,question it, for establishment,rulers, majority always tries to set a fixed meaning,they always want to create statues of words or should I say iron cast of words,to establish a set of rules that can't be disobeyed, a system we must follow unquestionably. This is how the idea of holy or sacred comes in, we are being said that we must follow the code and honor it and should not think otherwise, the end of freedom or start of slavery can only be fulfilled through the end of meaning or I should say making a certain meaning of a certain word fixed. All of the religions follow this code of fixing the scriptures, making it holy and unquestionable, for they fear of newer interpretations and review which can reveal the emptiness or invalidity of many ideas or logic found there,which in turn can make the whole system of faith pointless.

Over a certain period of time any word can lose it's primary meaning and can stand for something else. When people talk of peace these days they certainly don't mean the same thing what was meant by this word hundreds of years ago. When I think of peace I find it difficult to define too,is it a ceasefire or a treaty or the absence or end of war, or more? Is it only a political situation or a state of mind? When president of the united states says there are peace in the Iraq now, this can make a lots people thinking about peace. Well it's difficult to explain. Even two different people can mean very different things with the same word like peace. And that is why communication with the same language can be difficult too at times.

People in general prefer a certain rigidity and like to follow certain codes, they don't like experiments most of the time nor questions that make them uncomfortable. That's why new ideas are hardly welcome in any society if they are not instantly seen as good business ideas or can be used to create consumer products to gain popularity in the market. We don't even want to accept redefining of words easily. But this exploring of ideas is something more important than any thing else and which is something that has kept the civilization going I believe. There have always been brave people who have questioned certain ideas and tried to reshape them and caused revolution. At the primary level, any revolution is redefining and creating new meanings, that's how I feel. And when an inquisitive beginner looks at the very known used words of everyday life,one can discover how they are worn out and it needs a lot of hard work to make them look better.

Great poets,writers or thinkers and social leaders are good at looking at words, using them creatively and redefining them. For most of us live in the usual meaning of words and worlds unless someone shows us the other sides we are least bothered to do so. This is how new words and new meanings are created each day to accommodate our new found lands of ideas, new things and innovations.

Words are sort of images too, though we fail to see it initially, but they are and they can represent a certain things to certain people's mind. In this way words are like colors or paintings, they have a spatial meaning too. We are used to think of certain things when we look at certain words as if we can visualize them. That's how our ideas of certain things become rigid and shaped to a particular way. This is why we need to constantly look at them from different perspectives, exploring it can be thrilling, there are endless possibilities hidden, this can be as rewarding as discovering a new land.

Tashichoedzong, Thimphu,Bhutan

2009-10-22T15:09:00.003+07:00

Tashichoedzong
Originally uploaded by M Hasan

I visited Thimphu in April 2008 and took lots of photos using my friends new Nikon camera:) It was an wonderful trip altogether. This is the fortress of the glorious religion.Tashichoedzong is a Buddhist monastery and fortress on the northern edge of the city of Thimphu in Bhutan. It was built in the 17th century, has been the seat of Bhutan's government since 1952.

Listening to the rain falling

2009-10-21T12:38:00.001+07:00

Here, sitting in my room and
Looking through the window
I see the rain falling steadily
Over the green trees,houses
Roads and fields

Rain has taken over everything
As the greatest warrior
And i hear nothing
But the roar of its victory
While the tree leaves tremble
And the ponds water vibrates

I close my eyes for my eyes
Hurts looking at it falling
Sharply on the ground
Still i can not escape its sound

Helplessly i try to sleep
While the rain keeps on falling
And wining whatever remaining
On the ground....

Words of My Silence

2009-10-11T22:09:00.003+07:00

I enjoy true silence most of the time,to be with the world quietly and peacefully, absorbed in it,while not to hurry for anything, not to be worried, and then sometime words may seem to appear to float in my mind...

1
When words have lost their meanings
And you have become speechless deep inside
Then only you can wait in silence
For the birth of a new language from within.

2
Tired is your soul,lost
For you have seen the cycle
The repeating makes you mad
Yet the sun rises each day
To lighten up your windows.

3
Like everyone else
You are looking for a perfect instrument
Tuned to your soul,matched
Why not let yourself be the one.

4
Things you have seen
Things you have heard
Things you have felt
Yet the things you have never known.

5
For how long you have been here
As old as the stars may be
Or the mountains or the seas
The trees only know through their roots.

6
You hear the words
You believe in the sounds
The grammar makes your meaning
They don't mean a thing just for you.

7
Neither the losses or the wins
Is yours always
You never lose a thing
That belonged to you.

8
Trivial is nothing
Or big how it may be
When you look at it
Nothing is less or small anymore.

9
Every little moment
Insignificant
Every little day
Is the day that you have lived.

10
When you look at the sky and the stars
The sky and stars watch you too
When you look at the seas and the waves
The waves flow through.

11
Does worrying make
The beginning or the ends any different
No one is indifferent
Nor the beginning or the end.

To my silent friends

2009-08-05T10:20:00.001+07:00

My beloved silent friends
Here I speak to you
I wonder what has
Kept you so silent
And what is that
Resist you from responding
Is it the knowledge that age gives
To the older ones as a reward
For talking a lot as young

For its the response that I seek
That can ignite a conversation
Between you and me
And a conversation may well
Can turn into an action
What more this world is
But a conversation?
Only often we are
Capable to understand
At other times
All seem so meaningless!
There is no truth outside you
Nor the meaning is anywhere else
Its all just within

why are you afraid to imagine?
For I don't see any greater truth
Beyond imagination
Here or after
It's you, your word
And your imagination

Why you still remain silent?
As speechless into your dreams

It's not the silence that the
Mountains hold inside it for years
Nor the silence that the
Quiet lake and the blue sky
Hold together for ever
It's not the silence that
Can hear everything
And absorb
With Godlike wisdom

Man is yet to find that

Why my friend keep silent then?
Why stop imagining and dreaming?
For the void is yet to fill
The empty canvas waits
For a thousand years or so
The ice waits to melt
To turn into a stream...

বৃষ্টি

2009-08-05T10:09:00.001+07:00

এখন আদিগন্ত বৃষ্টি আছে শুধু
তার প্রাচীন ছন্দে
ঝরে পড়ার শব্দ নিয়ে
এতোটা বয়স হলো
তবুও নতুন

বল নিয়ে খেলতে থাকা শিশুগুলো মাঠে
কিংবা ছাদে কিশোরীর স্নান
জানলা দিয়ে তাকিয়ে থাকা প্রৌঢ়া
মগ্নতায় সুস্থির
ভিজে জুবুথুবু কয়েকটি কাক
কার্নিসে অসহায়
বৃষ্টি সে সকলের সমান বয়সী
কত সহজেই।

বৃষ্টি, প্রাগৈতিহাসিক
সঙ্গী আমার।

উডি গাথরি (১৯১২-১৯৬৭) ও তার একটি গান (Woody Guthrie & One of His Songs)

2009-05-04T09:29:00.001+06:00

উডি বেরিয়ে পড়েছিলেন, যেমন অনেকেই বেড়িয়ে পড়তে চায় কিন্তু পারে না। ক্ষুদ্র আত্মস্বার্থের অর্গল ছিড়ে কিছুতেই নিজেদের স্বপ্নের সমান সাহসী হয়ে উঠতে পারে না। কিন্তু উডি পেরেছিলেন,বঞ্চিত হতভাগ্য মানুষদের অনেক কাছে গিয়েছিলেন, তাদের একজন হয়েই আজীবন তাদের কথা বলবার সংগ্রাম চালিয়ে গেছেন। মানুষের অধিকারের কথা, মানুয়ের দুর্ভোগ, শোষণ, সামাজিক অসাম্য, রাষ্ট্রের ব্যর্থতা এসবই বলে গেছেন নিরলস; গান লিখেছেন, সুর করেছেন আর গেয়েছেন সেইসব মানুষদের জন্যেই, যাদের কথা বলবার কেউ নেই। পথে পথে ঘুরে বেড়িয়েছেন রিফিউজিদের সাথে, খেয়ে-না খেয়ে, ছেঁড়া পোশাকে, কপর্দকহীন, মুখোমুখি হয়েছেন চরম বর্বরতার, রাষ্ট্রের, বিত্তবানদের,ক্ষমতাশালীদের,মালিকদের বর্বরতার। এসবের তীব্র প্রতিবাদে আপন গিটারে লিখে রেখেছিলেন দুঃসাহসী ঘোষনা "This machine kills fascists"। এই গিটার হাতেই পাহারা এড়িয়ে গোপনে ঢুকে পড়তেন ক্ষেতে, ক্ষেতমজুরদের গান শোনাতে। ঝুকি নিয়ে ঢুকে পড়তেন কারখানায় শ্রমিকদের গান শোনাতে। মালিকের গুন্ডারা মেরে তাড়িয়ে দিয়েছে, গিটার ভেঙে টুকরো টুকরো করে দিয়েছে বহুবার।

রেডিওতে গণমুখী গান গেয়ে জনপ্রিয়তা পেয়েছিলেন আর চাইলে তা বিক্রি করে অঢেল আয় করতে পারতেন, সুখ কিনতে পারতেন, খ্যাতিও জুটতো। কিন্তু দুরে বসে আয়েশ করে দারিদ্র, বঞ্চনা ইত্যদি নিয়ে কথা বলবার ভন্ডামী করতে চাননি।তাই সেসব আপোষের আহ্বান সজোরেই প্রত্যাখান করেছিলেন। বলেছিলেন, "জনগনের সাথে বিচ্ছিন্নতার চেয়ে খারাপ আমার জীবনে আর কি ঘটতে পারে?" সেই ভূমিহীন, নিজদেশে পরবাসী মানুষদের সাথে ঘুরতে ঘুরতে লিখেছিলেন তার সেই কালজয়ী গান, "This land is your land, this land is my land...", যা আজ পৃথিবীর দেশে দেশে সব মানুষের গান হয়ে উঠেছে।

১৯৪৮ এর ২৯ জানুয়ারিতে ক্যালিফোর্নিয়ার লস গাটোস ক্যনিয়নের কাছে এক বিমান দূর্ঘটনায় ক্রু সহ সকল আরোহীরা নিহত হয়। যাত্রীরা সকলেই ছিলেন মেক্সিকো থেকে আসা দরিদ্র অবৈধ অভিবাসী, যারা ফলের বাগানের শ্রমিক হিসেবে কাজ করতে আসতেন। কাজের মেয়াদ ফুরোলে তাদের ধরে সীমান্তে নিয়ে যাওয়া হচ্ছিলো। সংবাদপত্র আর রেডিওর খবরে সকল মার্কিন ক্রদের নাম বলা হলেও মৃত অভিবাসিদের বর্ননা করা হয়েছিলো কেবল "deportee" হিসেবে। একটা বিরাট গণকবরে ঐ সাতাশজন দরিদ্র শ্রমিককে সমাধীস্থ করা হয় যাদের মাত্র বারো জনকে শেষমেষ সণাক্ত করা গিয়েছিলো।

প্রচারমাধ্যমের ও রাষ্ট্রের এমন ভূমিকার প্রতিবাদে উডি তখন এই গানটি রচনা করেন। গানটি যেনো পৃথিবীর অসংখ্য শ্রমিকদের আত্মদানের কথা স্মরণ করিয়ে দেয়, ইতিহাসের পাতায় যারা চিরকাল নাম-পরিচয়হীন, অসনাক্তই থেকে গেলেন।

Plane Wreck At Los Gatos (Deportee)

The crops are all in and the peaches are rott'ning,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They're flying 'em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again

Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria;
You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will be "deportees"

My father's own father, he waded that river,
They took all the money he made in his life;
My brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees,
And they rode the truck till they took down and died.

Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
Our work contract's out and we have to move on;
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.

We died in your hills, we died in your deserts,
We died in your valleys and died on your plains.
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes,
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.

The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon,
A fireball of lightning, and shook all our hills,
Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says, "They are just deportees"

Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil
And be called by no name except "deportees"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportee_(Plane_Wreck_at_Los_Gatos)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2eO65BqxBE

Rebirth

2009-03-15T14:41:00.001+06:00

Towards the soldiers guarding the capital (wealth) worldwide

You were not born with a rifle I guess
Perhaps you have long forgotten
The uniform you put on your body
Is not exactly your skin
I can't see your hair
For they are always covered
With a metal helmet
Hard and ugly
And those heavy boots
That never notices
The earth under your feet

And they keep telling you
How vital are all these
For you are a soldier
Guarding your land from enemy
And they give you all the bullets
You need to kill your prey
They have taught you
And so you know
That its always a choice
Between Us and Them

I wonder if you were born
With an identity card
Right in front your chest
And a license to kill anyone
In the name of a war
Or a game

I know for sure
you are not made of machine
Like products
they produce everyday

But how strange that you behave
Like robots programmed
With certain codes
Like mindless creatures
Who have no ancestors
No family nor a name

I wonder if this gives you peace
This machine like life for you
And I just dare to ask you
If you would try
How a human life feels

If you would let the wind
To touch your hairs for once
And the sun
To burn your skin
If you would take a walk
On soft sea sands
barefooted for a while

May be then you could
Hear the birds singing nearby
You would know
The beauty of a child's laughter
Then you would recognize
The breath inside
The life
That you are no different
Than the son
Of this mother Earth
Like millions all around.
Then you would know
Its not 'us' and 'them'
For we are just
One big family
With members different names
You don't kill 'others'
But you kill
A part of you...

Monday, February 16, 2009

ভিক্টর হারা

2009-02-24T14:46:00.001+06:00

ভিক্টর হারা Victor Jara (১৯৩২-১৯৭৩) ছিলেন চিলির একজন শিক্ষক, নাট্য নির্দেশক, কবি, গায়ক-গীতিকার ও রাজনৈতিক কর্মী। চিলির মঞ্চ নাটকের বিকাশে তার অবদান ব্যপক, স্থানীয় আঞ্চলিক নাটক থেকে শুরু করে বিশ্বের চিরায়ত এবং নিরীক্ষাধর্মী নাটকেরও নির্দেশনা দিয়েছেন। একই সংগে সংগীতের বিকাশে তার ভূমিকাও বিশেষ গুরুত্বপূর্ন। তিনি ছিলেন চিলির নতুন গানের আন্দোলন-এর পুরোধা যা সালভাদর আয়েন্দের সরকারের সময় সমকালীন দেশীয় জনপ্রিয় সংগীতে এক বিপ্লবের সূচনা করে। চিলির ১৯৭৩-এর ১১ সেপ্টেম্বর মার্কিন সমর্থিত সামরিক অভ্যূত্থ্যানের পরপরই তাকে গ্রেফতার করা হয়। জেনারেল পিনোশের সমর্থক সেনারা চিলির স্টেডিয়ামে আরো পাঁচ হাজার প্রগতিশীল সহযোদ্ধার সংগে তাকেও বন্দি করে নির্মম নির্যাতন চালায়। বন্দি অবস্থায়ই তিনি “এস্তাদিও চিলে” নামে একটি অসাধারণ কবিতা রচনা করেন এবং সহযোদ্ধা বন্দিদের মনোবল বাড়ানোর জন্যে গান গাইতে থাকেন। সৈন্যরা তাঁকে গান থামাতে নিষেধ করলেও তিনি গান চালিয়ে যান তাই রাইফেলের বাঁটের আঘাতে তার দুহাত দুমড়ে-মুচড়ে থেঁতলে পরে তাঁর মাথায় গুলি করে তাঁকে হত্যা করে। তাঁর ক্ষত-বিক্ষত মৃতদেহ সান্তিয়াগোর এক শহরতলীর রাস্তায় ফেলে দেয়া হয়। শুধু তাই নয়, পিনোশের সৈন্যরা তাঁর অধিকাংশ সংগীতের মূল রেকর্ড, পান্ডুলিপি ইত্যাদিও ধ্বংস করে ফেলে।

==================

নির্মম দ্রুততায়

নেমে আসে রাইফেলের বাঁট

একের পর এক

থেঁতলে দিতে তোমার হাত

তোমার কব্জি, তোমার আঙুল

যে আঙুল দিয়ে তুমি

কী দারুণ ভালোবাসা নিয়ে

বাজাও তোমার গিটার

ঐ আঙুল গুলো দিয়ে

তুমি লিখে চলো

সাম্য-মুক্তি আর

ভালোবাসার গান

তাই রাইফেলের বাঁট

আঘাত করে চলে একের পর এক

আঁধার করে

নেমে আসে যন্ত্রনা

সূর্য নিভে যায়

যখন ঘাতক সৈনিকেরা

তোমার গান, তোমার প্রতিবাদ,

তোমার কন্ঠ স্তব্ধ করে দিতে উদ্যত

ওরা দেখতে পায়না

সব আলো নিভে গিয়ে

পৃথিবীতে আঁধার নেমে আসে

ওরা শুনতে পায়না

তোমার আর্ত চিৎকারে

পৃথিবীর সব শব্দ থেমে যায়

তুমি তবু গেয়ে চলো

তাই রাইফেলের বাঁট নেমে আসে

তোমার মাথার খুলিতে

তোমায় স্তব্ধ করতে ত্প্ত বুলেট

চিলির স্টেডিয়ামে সেদিন মধ্যাহ্নে

সময় থেমে যায় একটি বিন্দুতে

স্বার্থপরতা-লোভ

ক্ষমতা আর পূঁজির দম্ভে

নিষ্ঠুরতায় অন্ধ-বধির সময়

কিন্তু মাঠ জুড়ে সবুজ ঘাসে

ছড়িয়েপড়া তোমার লাল রক্ত

ধীরে ধীরে পৌঁছে যায়

ঘাসগুলোর গোড়া চুঁইয়ে মাটির গভীরে

গভীর থেকে আরো গভীরে

যেখানে এই ধরীত্রী মাতার হৃদয়

এখনো কোমল আর করূণ

ঘাসে কান পাতলে আমি

সেই বেদনার ক্রন্দন

শুনতে পাই আজো

যে বেদনা শরীরে নিয়ে

বেড়ে ওঠে সবুজ বৃক্ষ

আর পাখিদের কন্ঠে

সেই বেদনার সুর ছড়িয়ে পড়ে

আকাশ থেকে আকাশে

যারা সেদিন তোমায়

স্তব্ধ করতে চেয়েছিলো

সেই অন্ধ আর বধিরেরা

জানবে না কোনদিন

তুমি বেঁচে আছো পৃথিবীর হৃদয়ে

ভালোবাসার মতো

তোমার স্বপ্নগুলো আজো

আমাদের আকাশে

নক্ষত্রের মতো জ্বলজ্বলে

তোমার কবিতা-সুর

তোমার ভালোবাসার গান

বৃক্ষের সবুজে, সমুদ্রের নীলে

আর পাখির ডানায়

চিরঅম্লান...

আমার জেন (২)

2009-01-19T15:17:00.001+06:00

‍‍‌আকাশ জানে তার সীমা, সমুদ্রও জানে,
আর তারা বাতাসের কানে কানে বলে যায়,
"যে মুক্ত সেই সীমা হীন..."

~~The sky knows the limit and so does the ocean; and they keep whispering in the air, "there is no limit for the one who is free..."

তুমি অংশ আবার তুমিই সমগ্র,
এখন এখানে তুমি আবার তুমি সর্বত্র
তোমার মধ্যে শুধু তুমি আবার তোমাতেই সব...

~~You are part of the whole and you are the whole; you are here now and you are everywhere; you are what you are and you are everything...

কেন বয়স নিয়ে ভেবে মরা?
তুমিতো এই মহাবিশ্বের সমবয়সী
আর প্রতি মুহুর্তেই নবজন্ম তোমার

~~Why bother about age? u r as old as this universe is and every moment u r newborn!

অপেক্ষা করো অসচেতন আর
বেড়ে ওঠো বৃক্ষের মতো
তখন তোমার শেকড় পৌঁছে যাবে
মাটির গভীরে
শুদ্ধতম জলের সংস্পর্শে
শূন্যে বিস্তৃত তোমার ডালপালা
সিক্ত হবে বৃষ্টি ধারায়
ও রৌদ্রালোকে...

~~Wait unaware and grow.. just like a tree.. then ur roots will go deep under the earth and will get the purest of water.. and your branches as growing towards the sky will be showered by more rain and sunshine...

Palestine

2009-01-19T10:55:00.001+06:00

Its been long,
I can't tell you exactly how much
But since I was a child
I have been watching all those scenes repeatedly
Destructed houses
Bullet wounds and bloods
Children are screaming in fears
And the parents and relatives crying
Over the dead body of their beloved
A big monstrous tank
And soldiers with helmet and machine guns
As if an endless war is going on
Between machine and men!

I have seen those so many times
On TVs and on newspapers
Like so many others around the world I guess
As if we have become almost used to it
As if its a different reality altogether
Another world that only exists in the media
But not in our lives

As I keep writing this here
The destruction goes on and
The bloodshed doesn't stop
I don't understand the reason
Why someone's happiness
Have to come in the cost of others?
Why some people have to live
In the cost of others lives?
Isn't life all equally important on earth?
Don't we share the same human fate?

As I keep writing
I think of all those posters I have seen
that was telling me of a free Palestine
The poems I have read
The cries I have heard
The faces I have seen from distant
With pain permanently painted on their face
Faces of children with fear
and tears on their eyes
And everything was only telling me
of a free Palestine

A Palestine
Where the young and the old walks without fears
And the children grow up playing
Where the lovers walks with hands in hands
Where the poet writes the poems of love and joy
And the sound of joyful song fills the night
Where the sun comes shining
with hope of ray everyday

I wait to see the Palestine
A white free bird
flying with all its joy and pride in the sky...

আজ আঁধার ভালো লাগে

2008-09-06T00:53:00.001+06:00

আজ আঁধার ভালো লাগে

আজ এইরকম ভালো লাগে
এই যে এখন মধ্যরাত
নিস্তব্ধতা
কেবল কম্পিউটারে প্রিয় গান
ছোট্ট চার্জারের অনুজ্জ্বল আলো
ছড়িয়ে পড়েছে সাদা কাগজটুকুতে
মসৃন নিব ও কৃষ্ণ সঞ্চয় নিয়ে
ভাবনায় স্থির
অপেক্ষা।

দখিনের বাতাস চলে যায়
কাঁপন না ধরিয়ে
শব্দ পার হয়ে নৈ:শব্দে
চেতনা ছাড়িয়ে
অদৃশ্য জ্যেতির আঁধারে ছড়িয়ে যাওয়া।

আঁধারও নি:শব্দ
একটা কালো ফোঁটার বিন্দু
সাদা কাগজের জমিনে
পরিপূর্ন সুস্থির।

আমার জেন

2007-04-30T17:47:00.001+06:00

জেন দর্শন বৌদ্ধ দর্শনের একটি খুব জনপ্রীয় ধারা।জেন কি এটা বলা কঠিন।তবে, খুব সাধারণের মধ্যে অসাধারণের সন্ধান, প্রাত্যহিকতার মধ্যেই নির্বাণলাভ এই দর্শনের মূল কথা।এইগুলো নিয়মিত জেন বাণী, গল্প-কবিতা পড়ার ফল:

~~~The sky knows the limit and so does the ocean; and they keep whispering in the air, "there is no limit for the one who is free..."

~~~ You are part of the whole and you are the whole; you are here now and you are everywhere; you are what you are and you are everything...

~~~ফেরার সময় হেঁটেছি অনেকটা পথ। গাছগুলোকে জিজ্ঞেস করলাম,তোমরা এতো স্থির কি করে ? উত্তর এলো, ছুটে বেড়াই না যে তাই...

যা কিছু প্রকাশে অক্ষম: সহৃদয় পাঠকের উদ্দেশ্যে

2007-04-29T11:19:00.001+06:00

অনেকদিন যে কিছু লিখিনি তবু লেখবার বাসনাটা মরে যায়নি ভেতরে। যদি দ্যাখো কতো কিছুই না লিখবার বিষয়বস্তু হতে পারতো! কতো কিছু ছাপ ফেলে যায়, কতো কিছু গভীর দাগ কাটে, কতো কিছু যেনো একটা শক্ত ঝাঁকি দ্যায়। কতো কিছুইতো দূর্লভ প্রশান্তি আনে। কতো স্বপ্ন-কতো হতাশা-কতো কতো ক্ষোভ-ভালোবাসা-দু:স্বপ্ন-নৈরাশ্য-হাহাকার। আরো কতো রোদ্দুর, কতো গাছের ছায়া, মেঘ, অনাবিল বৃষ্টি। যদি ভাবি তো এর কতোটুকুই বা এই আমি প্রকাশে সক্ষম ? তাই দয়ালু পাঠক, এ সবই কেবল প্রকাশের অক্ষম প্রয়াস। তবু তোমায় স্বাগতম...

১
আমি যে ছয়তলা বাসাটিতে থাকি তার জানালাগুলো খুললেই আলো-রোদ, তার ছাদ সুন্দর- প্রশস্ত। নানা বয়সের কতোগুলো শিশু এই ভবনের চারপাশের রাস্তাটুকুকে মুখরিত করে রাখে। এদের মধ্যে একজনকে না খেয়াল করে কেউ পারেনা তার বেঢপ পেটের কারনে। অধিকাংশ সময় তাকে পাওয়া যায় প্রায় পোশাকহীন। তার পুষ্টিহীনতায় রোগাক্রান্ত বেঢপ পেট নিয়ে সে এই আবাসিক থেকে বের হবার গেটটির আশেপাশেই ঘোরাঘুরি করে বা শুয়ে বসে সময় কাটায়। হতে পারে দৃষ্টিপথের নিত্যযন্ত্রণা থেকে রেহাই পেতেই ওর চিকিৎসার কথা ভেবেছিলাম। এক পরিচিত ডাক্তারের সংগে কথাও হয়। আমাদের চায়ের দোকানী জামান ভাই জানায় যে, ওর মা কাজ করে কাছের কোন বাসা-বাড়িতে। কথা বলবো বলে ওর মাকে খবর দিতে বলে আমি কিছুটা স্বস্তি পাই। যাক এইবার বিষয়টার একটা বিহিত হবে। কিন্তু সময় মেলেনা কিছুতেই, আমার অফিসের সময়ের সাথে ঐ ছেলেটার মায়ের সময়ের। এই সময়টাতে অন্য একটা ঝামেলায় পড়ে যাই এবং ছেলেটাও কোন অজানা কারনে অদৃশ্য হয়ে যায়।
এই ভাবে আরো কিছু দিন গেলে, একদিন চমৎকার সন্ধ্যায় চা খেতে খেতে আচমকা জামান ভাই আমায় খবরটা দেয়, ঐ ছেলেটা মারা গেছে। আমার বুঝে উঠতে কিছুটা সময় লাগে। অবহেলা করেছিলাম কিন্তু তা বলে এতো বড় শাস্তি পাবো ভাবিনি। পাঠক, এই অপরাধবোধের বোঝার ভার, এই অক্ষমতার কষ্ট তোমায় আমি কি করে বোঝাই?

পাঠক, যখন তোমার সময় হাতছাড়া হয়ে যায় আর তুমি অনেক পরে তা ধরতে পারো, তখন তুমি কি ই বা করতে পারো ? শুধু তোমার ভেতরে এক নিরব মৃতু্য। এই ভাবে অজস্র মৃতু্য বয়ে চলা...

২
খুব ব্যাক্তিগত এইসব। এই আকাশ-এই জল-এই সব। যে সমাজ গড়ে উঠেছে প্রধানত মানুষের বস্তগত প্রয়োজনের ভিত্তিতে তারই ফলাফল এই শহর- এই সব শহর। যেনো এক বিরাট কারখানা যেখানে কেবল সেবা/পণ্য উৎপাদনের জন্যে মানুষদের জড়ো করা হয়েছে। কেবল প্রয়োজন মিটলেই কি সব মেটে ? কতো প্রয়োজন কতোভাবেই তো মেটানো যেতে পারে। আসলে সব অর্থেই মানুষ এক অসহায় প্রাণী। তার শরীর আছে আবার শরীরের অতিরিক্ত মন বা আত্মার ঝামেলা আছে। আহ্ যদি শুধু শরীরটাই থাকতো।

৩
আমার পায়ের কাছে মানুষ ঘুমিয়ে থাকে রাস্তায়। মনে হয় যেনো প্রায় পায়ে মাড়িয়ে যাই ওদের রোজ। আর আমায় মাড়িয়ে যেতে চায় মার্সিডিজ। এ এক অদ্ভূত খাদ্য-খাদক শৃঙ্খল। ইতিহাসেও এমনই হয়ে আসছে - বর্তমানেও। যদি তোমার টিভি দ্যাখার বা দৈনিক পত্রিকা পড়বার অভ্যাস থাকে তবে তুমি জানো এই সব। তোমাকে অনেক খবর দেয়া হয় রোজ, অনেক ছবি, অনেক শব্দ। তোমাকে কি আক্রান্ত করে এই সব?

৪
কয়েকবছর আগে ঠিক ঈদের আগে আমরা বিভিন্ন বিশ্ববিদ্যায়ের ছাত্র-ছাত্রীদের কাছ থেকে চাঁদা তুলে কিছু টাকা জোগাড় করে নীলফামারী যাই মঙ্গার্তদের সাহায্য করতে। যখন সার্ভের জন্যে গ্রাম ঘুরতে যাই, মানুষ আমাদের ছেঁকে ধরে- অসংখ্য অসহায় দরিদ্র মানুষ। আমাদের তারা প্রথমে সরকারী কর্মকর্তা মনে করে পেছনে পেছনে ঘুরতে থাকে কার্ডের জন্যে। অথচ আমরা তো কতিপয় অতি সাধারণ ছাত্র ছাড়া কিছু নই। আমাদের স্বপ্ন ও বাস্তবতার মধ্যে বিরাট ব্যবধান আমাদের বিহ্বল করে দ্যায়। এই বাংলাদেশেই এমন গ্রামের আমরা সন্ধান পাই যেখানে শিশুরা বংশপরম্পরায় প্রতিবন্ধী। তবু মানুষগুলো হাসতে পারে। দাবি জানায়, রিলিফে তাদের অধিকারের কথা প্রকাশ করে বিনিত ভাবে, খুব অল্পতেই সন্তুষ্ট হয়। তাই সে যাত্রা আমরা বেঁচে যাই। কিছূটা হলেও সাহায্য করা গেছে ু এমন একটা তৃপ্তি নিয়ে আমরা ফিরতে পারি ঢাকাতে। কিন্তু কোথাও একটা অপমানের তীব্র খোঁচাও সাথে করে বয়ে আনি। পাঠক কি করে তা আমি তোমায় বোঝাই?

৫
অনেক হলো। এই বার তবে শোনো, মানুষ যতোটা ভাবে, তার চেয়ে সে অনেক মহৎ, এই সত্যটা ক্রমশ সে ভুলতে বসেছে,তাই এতো গ্লানি চারপাশে। কেউ তাকে বলে দেবার নেই সে কেবল একটা উপকরণ নয়- সে কেবল ক্লান্তিহীন ভোক্তা নয়। আসলে বিরাট উদার আকাশ না দেখতে দেখতে তার চোখ আটকে গেছে নিচু ছাদে। জলে এখন আর অবগাহন হয় না তাই কিছুতেই শরীরের ময়লা যেনো যেতে চায় না। মনের ময়লা যাবে কি ভাবে ?

৬
...আমার আবাসিক থেকে বেরোতে নিরাপত্তার গেট। ঐ গেটের কাছেই হুইল চেয়ারে একটা প্রতিবন্ধি ছেলেকে রেখে যায় রোজ সকালে। ভোরে অফিসে যাবার সময় ওকে দেখি বসে আছে, সন্ধ্যায় ফেরবার সময়ও কোনোদিন দেখা হয়। ও কাউকে লক্ষ করে এমন মনে হয়না। ছোট্ট ছেলেমেয়েগুলো ওকে ঘিরে হৈ চৈ করে মাঝে মাঝে। ও হাসে চুপচাপ। একদিন দেখি নানা রঙের স্ট্র দিয়ে একটা বেশ লম্বা প্লাস্টিকের রঙিন দড়ি মতো বুনে চলেছে এক মনে। ভাবি ছেলেটাকে ব্যস্ত রাখবার ভালো উপায়।
সেদিন বেশ বৃষ্টিতে অফিসের জন্য বেরোতে দেখি, গেটের কাছে বৃষ্টিতে ভিজতে ভিজতে ছেলেটা খুব মনোযোগ দিয়ে বুনে চলেছে। ভিজে গেছে সবকিছু একেবারে, তবু মুখে অদ্ভুত এক হাসি। আমি থমকে দঁড়িয়ে ওর হাসি মুখটা যেনো ভেতরে গেঁথে নেবার চেষ্ঠা করি। তারপর এগিয়ে যাই। পাঠক ঐ দূর্লভ মুহুর্তের ছবিটুকু আমি তোমায় কি করে দেখাই?

কেনো কি কারণে ঐ ছেলে অমন হাসি মূখ নিয়ে বৃষ্টিতে ভিজে রঙিন পাইপ দিয়ে বুনে চলে? মানুষ তো সুন্দর কিছুই করতে চায় আর চায় শত কষ্টেও হাসতে- এমন অদ্ভুত এক প্রাণী সে। তাকে কি করে সম্যক প্রকাশ করতে পারি?