A generation owes Sheba Prokashoni

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.