Flight of the Bangladeshis, for the sake of art

february 21— bangla bhasa shahid dibas. a day that is observed in bangladesh as a mark of honour for the martyrs of the language. for the uninitiated, it was a fight for the recognition of the bengali identity— that took language, culture and lifestyle within its purview.
fifty years after, the scene is far from it. students of performing and visual arts do not feel at home in their own country and choose to migrate to india, especially kolkata and santiniketan.the reasons are not far to seek.
talking to the bangladeshi students of rabindra bharati university, the main reason appeared to be the religious fundamentalism that controls artistic freedom and results in a lack of proper training. sharif suzauddin, a student of ma second year, mass communication, recalled an incident which he had read in the papers.
“there was a huge raid on dhaka university hostels and 300 people were caught possessing arms,� he said. “but can you believe that out of 300, only 80 were students of the university and the rest outsiders?� sharif himself was actively involved in students’ politics in his high school days. realising the fallacy, he moved away — from politics as well as his country.
“how can one study in bangladesh?� asked anup biswas, a sixth year student of visual arts. “every alternate month there’s a ‘session jot’ (block) in the university due to student unrest and you never know when you’ll finish your course,� he added.
the situation being such, people hardly pursue visual and performing arts. “since there are few good teachers it involves a huge cost,� said fakir suman, a student of vocal music who’s doing his phd in bishnupur gharana. “after ustad barin majumder, ustad fuljhuri khan and ustad phool mohammed, renowned bangladeshi maestros who have expired, we do not have any good teacher,� he said.
the problem of lack of opportunities is multiplied by an absence of an appreciative audience and the bar on artistic freedom. “there is nothing called artistic freedom in bangladesh. anything that goes against the religious beliefs of fundamentalist groups are challenged,� said arindam mukherjee, drama (ba, ist year). in fact, performing and visual arts is an area which is looked down upon by most bangladeshis.
indian council for cultural relations (iccr) has a scholarship scheme for students. abani banerjee, programme coordinator of iccr, said, “we have a reservation for 100 seats for bangladeshi students in india. they can pursue any stream of study under any institution — and that’s their choice.� but this is just an official figure and a fraction of the actual number of bangladeshi students here.