There’s a passage in the British-Bangladeshi author Manzu Islam’s new novel Godzilla and the Songbird (published by Speaking Tiger), where the protagonist, a young journalist called Syed Islam Shah aka ‘Bulbul’, is finding it tough to stay ‘objective’ about the student-led protests mushrooming across his country.
It reads: “If he hadn’t been a journalist, reduced to being a pair of watching eyes, he would have entered the fray. He had been tracking the mood among the students, their restlessness, their gatherings under the banyan. Under its circular canopy, throwing caution into the wind, they were venting their passions for the upcoming insurrection. If freedom demanded blood, they were willing to give it in bucket-loads.”
If you didn’t know the story beforehand, you couldn’t be blamed for thinking this is a prescient description of recent events in Bangladesh. After all, university students played a crucial role in the protests that ultimately led to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s exit from the country, and the beginnings of a caretaker government led by the Nobel-winning economist Muhammad Yunus.
However, the passage is actually about the summer of 1969, when Bengali nationalism was at its peak and students in (what was then) East Pakistan were protesting widely against the Pakistani government and its premier, General Ayub Khan.
Godzilla and the Songbird follows young Bulbul from the 1940s up until 1971 and the birth of Bangladesh as a nation-state. Born in Calcutta, Bulbul loses his mother in labour and his father during the Partition-related communal violence. His Westerneducated Muslim-Leaguer grandfather, Syed Amir Shah and his beloved grandmother (Dadu), flee with the young orphan across the border to East Pakistan. However, discrimination on the basis of caste, religion and accent follows Bulbul and his folks.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2024 من Reader's Digest India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2024 من Reader's Digest India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
From the King's Table to Street Food: A Food History of Delhi
Pushpesh Pant, one of India’s pre-eminent food writers, is back with a comprehensive food history of the capital.
Who Wants Coffee?
It’s bitter—but beloved around the world
Prevent The Pain Of Shingles
You don't have to suffer, as long as you take two important steps
The Best And Worst Diets For Your Heart
Dozens of diets are touted as ‘best’, but it’s easy to lose track of the fact that healthy eating needs to be about overall wellness, not just weight loss.
ME & MY SHELF
Journalist Sopan Joshi has worked in a science and environment framework for nearly three decades. His book Mangifera indica: A Biography of the Mango (Aleph Book Company) synthesizes the sensory appeal of India's favourite fruit with its elaborate cultural roots and natural history. He writes in English and Hindi.
SWITCHED
In 1962, nurses at a small Canadian hospital sent home two women with the wrong babies. Then, 50 years later, their children discovered the shocking mistake.
ECHOES OF THE PAST
A VISIT TO THE ANCIENT BARABAR CAVES IN BIHAR REVEALS A SURPRISING CONNECTION TO A LITERARY CLASSIC
Fathers of the Bride
A young woman finds a unique way to honour the many men who helped her survive her childhood
Fiction's Foresight
British-Bangladeshi author Manzu Islam's works reveal startling parallels to recent political upheavals in Bangladesh, begging the question: Besides helping us make sense of our world, can stories also offer a glimpse into the future?
It Happens ONLY IN INDIA
The Divine Defence Picture this: A tractor in Rajasthan‘s Banswara district,a group of loan agents closing in to seize it and the defaulting farmer and his family standing by.
