Remember growing up
with ‘Teen Goyenda’? Or being scolded by your mother when she found out you
were reading ‘Masud Rana’? Remember hiding the ‘Kishore Classics’ inside your
text book and reading while the class is on? Kazi Anwar Hossain, Rakib Hasan,
Neaz Morshed, Khasru Chowdhury, Rawshan Jamil, Asaduzzaman- these names we knew
by heart. These names became our secret best friends. In fact these names
created a whole generation. A generation of liberal, outgoing, adventurous,
unorthodox, progressive, passionate, knowledgeable, educated population
base.
Have you ever wondered
what happened to those legendary writers of Sheba Prokashoni? Here, I shall try
to bring back our childhood heroes to life once again.
The creator of ‘Teen
Goyenda’, the first ever Bangladeshi young detective series, Rakib Hasan still
lives in Dhaka, still writing books like before but not for Sheba. Now he
writes for various publishers as well as magazines. “I literally broke up with
‘Teen Goyenda’ in 2002. And after that, I have been writing for Banglabazaar,
Prothoma and Tamrolipi. My only identity was ‘writer of Sheba’ for a very long
time but now I am myself. And I am quite content about it”- says Rakib.
Publishing house Prothoma has published four books of Rakib’s rendition of
‘Teen Goyenda’ series in two years. The series is called ‘Goyenda Kishore,
Musa, Robin’. Side by side he is writing a whole new series called ‘Kishore
Goyenda (young detective)’ for Banglabazaar. Unlike ‘Teen Goyenda’, the story
of this series is set in Bangladeshi context. Other than detective stories, he
is writing horror novels as well, which is being published by Tamrolipi.
Minimum twelve horror books were published and from the very first year, the
series has been a success. “After creating ‘Teen Goyenda’, I started believing
in myself. My confidence was boosted up and I had faith that I could create
anything. And because of the confidence in myself, I actually could create
different characters and plots. And my new creations became as successful as
the first”. When asked why he left Sheba, his straight forward answer was “We
had disagreements, we were no longer serving each other’s purpose, and so Sheba
and I chose to walk different ways. And I believe my decision was right”.
However, he feels
obligated toward his readers; this is exactly why he writes ‘Goyenda Kishore,
Musa, Robin’. After leaving Sheba, he has also worked for television drama. He
wrote the screenplay for the science fiction series, ‘Biraler Oporadh (cat’s sin)’,
which was aired on Ekushey Television. His first screenplay was for a horror
Television drama, ‘Shayla’. Very soon Maasranga Television will start airing
‘Teen Goyenda’. For this, Maasranga, Sheba and Rakib have a peaceful agreement.
“Even though I still
write like before, I can feel my capacity is reducing every moment. I have become
old and am not physically fit anymore”- with a deep breath came out these words
from Rakib. He is truly grateful to the readers for making his books live for
decades. He gave all the credit to the readers for his success.
Neaz Morshed, who has
opened a new door to world literature for young readers also lives in Dhaka,
currently working at ‘Shomoy Television’. Holding his hands, Bangladeshi children, young
adults and even adults walked a strange and exciting path of world literature. He
translated over 30 books in Bangla including ‘Three Musketeers’ by Alexandre
Dumas (French), ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by Charles Dickens (English), ‘A
Farewell to Arms’, by Earnest Hemingway (American), ‘Wuthering Heights’ by
Emily Bronte (English) and ‘Don Quixote’ by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
(Spnish). He also wrote about 15 books based on foreign literary works, among
which one was written for ‘Kuwasha’ series and another for ‘Masud Rana’ series.
Does he still translate
novels? The answer is ‘no’. “I don’t have time, energy or the will to
translate. Translating or writing is a very difficult and tiresome work. Thirty
years back, I needed money and did not have a job so I started translating
books for Sheba”- said Neaz indifferently. Neaz Morshed Worked for Sheba from
1982 to 1989. As soon as he got a job at The Daily Ittefaq, he quit Sheba but
kept writing occasionally as a contributor. The last book he translated was
‘Morning Star’ by Henry Rider Haggard in 2002, when Ekushey Television was shut
down. For about a year he was jobless and had time to write again. His first
full length translated novel was, ‘Robinson Crusoe’ by Daniel Defoe.
Would he start
translating again for his readers? “No, if the readers ask me to start
translating again, I would not be able to keep their request”- said Neaz.
Contrary to Rakib’s views, Neaz does not feel obligated to his readers at all.
He explained, “I never felt any obligation towards my readers. My obligation
was and is always towards my family. And I started writing to fulfill that
obligation”.
No matter how
indifferent he might portray himself to be, he could not help mentioning that
sometimes he feels nostalgic about his writing days. And after retirement he might
just start writing again. And he would start with short stories this time- “It
has been really long that I have written something. I lost the habit of
writing. Therefore, I will start translating the short stories first. It will
take less effort, time and patience”.
To his readers- “I have
only one request to you. Please be honest and patriotic to make Bangladesh a
beautiful livable place. Our time is up. Only you can make a change now. Only
you can heal Bangladesh”.
More than 45 remarkable
Sheba books including ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ by Hemmingway
and many from the ‘Western series’ are translated by Rowshan Jamil. A
big community of Bangladeshi youth got introduced to old West frontier of
America by Jamil. The person, who successfully took all those young hearts to
the era of cowboys and gun fights, is now in New York. And currently working at
the New York City Department of Education as a translator. “Old habits die
hard”- said Jamil sarcastically.
Jamil worked for Sheba
for about 10 years. “I didn't leave Sheba. In fact, a couple
of years ago, I spoke to Qazida about writing again, it did not work out. I
guess, because our worldview has changed. He wanted me to start where I left
off, but you know you cannot wade in the same stream twice”- explained Jamil.
Kazi Anwar Hossain wanted him to write thrillers again. But Jamil wanted to
work on more serious type of literature and publish in hard cover. He had
stopped writing for a long time. However, after the break of twenty long years,
he came back recently. A translation work, "Juddher Meyera ebong onyanyo
golpo" came out in last Ekushey Book Fare from Prothoma. It is translated
from Chinua Achebe's short stories. His another translation is in the pipeline,
‘Short Story Collection of Haruki Murakami’. He is also working on essays of
Camus. Just like Rakib, Jamil also could not write for Sheba because of disagreements.
But if the opportunity presents itself, he sure will contribute to Sheba again-
“I am still alive and kicking. If ever Sheba’s worldview coincides with mine, I
shall definitely work with them”.
Jamil
is truly thankful to his readers. They are the sole reason for him to be back
at writing again. He feels, at Sheba, him and Neaz were a little out of the
circle. “Neaz translated classics and I, in my complex Bangla, translated
westerns. Never realized, someday I would have so many readers and admirers who
would find me on Facebook and force me to start writing all over again”. Jamil
feels indebted to his readers and could not stop saying “thank you” to them.
“I
am fine, still staying at Shegunbagicha. Because of old age, I cannot hear well
these days”- said the father of ‘Kuwasha’ and ‘Masud Rana’. Kazi Anwar Hossain,
who founded ‘Sheba Prokashoni’ and gave opportunities to so many writers and translators,
is still writing ‘Thrillers’ and ‘Masud Rana’.
He
shed some light on where some of the other Sheba writers are. Urmi Rahman went
away to London. From there she continued writing for a short while but then
slowly she became busy and stopped writing. Asaduzzaman (the translator of ‘The
Invisible Man’ by H. G. Wells) is now a secretary of the Government. He has big
responsibilities now, therefore, does not have any time to write for Sheba. But
he is with ‘Bishwa Shahitya Kendra’. Asad still visits Kazi Anwar Hossain on
his birthdays. Roksana Naznin, one of the writers of ‘Sheba Romantic Series’,
is now in Canada.
When
asked about the Masud Rana controversy, Kazi explains- “I still write ‘Masud
Rana’. There is a misconception that ‘Masud Rana’ is being published in my name
but the books are actually written by various other writers. This is not true.
Because of my old age and increasing demand of ‘Masud Rana’, I often seek help
from others in exchange of money. Many people have assisted me in writing
‘Masud Rana’, many have written fractions of a whole book”. The next question
arises here, whether ‘Masud Rana’ will die with Kazi Anwar Hossain or not. His
spontaneous answer was, “I have no plan of killing ‘Masud Rana’. After my
death, my sons will carry on writing the series. If they want to kill ‘Masud
Rana’, they will. It is up to them. I can guarantee that ‘Masud Rana’ will not
be killed before my death.”
Another
famous series was ‘Kuwasha, which is out of print for decades. According to
Kazi, ‘Kuwasha’ was unsuccessful. The sale was so low that it was not possible
for us to keep on publishing the series. However, there are still some crazy
fans of ‘Kuwasha’. Considering the readers’ emotion, Sheba published three more
of ‘Kuwasha’ books 7-8 years back. But it was again unsuccessful. Therefore,
Sheba is not considering reprinting ‘Kuwasha series’.
Kazi
Anwar Hossain does not have public appearances. He does not attend interviews.
But why? His confessional statement was- “I am camera shy. Even when I used to
sing, I never liked doing it in front of camera. I avoid self-proclamation. I
have got everything I wanted. I am completely satisfied and content.”
When
asked about the poor quality of paper and binding of Sheba books, he explained-
“I want to give out books at very cheap price. The quality of a book does not
depend on the quality of the paper. Sheba is an organization from where you
will get good books for cheap price. Anybody can afford Sheba books. If
Rabindranath Tagore wrote on news print papers, the quality and depth of his
writing would not have reduces”.
Even
though Sheba is going through a difficult time and the business is not flying
anymore, Kazi thinks that Sheba will not be shut down. After his time, his sons
will continue writing and they will look after the business. Kazi does not
think the other publishers are competitors of Sheba. According to him;
technology, social media, entertainment media and various other forms of media
are the competitors of Sheba. “When I will not be around, my sons will take the
decisions. They are wise enough to do the right thing. If they feel that Sheba
needs to be shut down, they will shut it down”.
To
the readers- “I am who I am because of the readers. Readers gave me
unconditional love and admiration. They gave me the opportunity to give them
something. I am honored and grateful to them’.
Will
Sheba survive? Only time will tell. But Sheba will live in the hearts of
millions of readers. Sheba will be passed down from generation to generation.
