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The 145th birth anniversary of Bishwakabi Rabindranath Tagore was celebrated by the Bangladesh Rabindra Sangeet Shilpi Sangstha, a canopy organisation of the Rabindra Sangeet singers of the country, in a daylong celebration programme on May 8 at the auditorium of the Bangladesh Shishu Academy in the city.
   Veteran Rabindra Sangeet singer Kalim Sharafi inaugurated the programme at 9:00am.
   The singers of the organisation began the programme with the national anthem, and this was followed by ‘He nutan dekha dik arbar’. The singers Anushri Bhattacharya, Supani Das, Ima Hasan and Raiyan Khalid, sang other Tagore songs.
   The former students of Sangeet Bhaban, members of the cultural organisations, Abhuydaya, Geetsudha, Rabirag, Bhiswabeena and Surer Dhara sang at the inaugural session of the function.
   The programme resumed at 4:00pm, when the students of Surtirtha, Boitalik, Geetangali and Rabirashmi sang Tagore songs.
   During the programme, the organisers celebrated Kalim Sharafi’s 83rd birthday.
   The organisers also reiterated their seven-point demand, which included the demand for the declaration of the birthdays of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam as national festivals.
   They also demanded obligatory celebration of the days in all educational institutes, renaming of major streets after the names of Rabindranath Tagore, Fakir Lalon Shah and mystic poet Hason Raja and the establishment of an academy on Rabindranath Tagore.
   They also wanted multinational companies to spend money for the development of local culture, the preservation of the Kuthi Bari at Shilaidah and the preservation of the memoirs of Rabindranath Tagore in Shahjadpur, Patishwar and Dakhshindibi.
   According to the organisers, the programmes were dedicated to the memories of Afsari Khanam and Husna Banu Khanam.
   Book Fair on Rabindranath Tagore
   To mark the 145th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, the Public Library Directorate has organised a three-day book fair at the auditorium of the Central public Library in Shahbagh on May 8.
   Jointly inaugurated by the director general of the Bangladesh National Museum Professor Mahmudul Haque and the director of archives Professor Dr Sharifuddin Ahmed, the fair will remain open everyday from 10:00am to 5:00pm.
   Apart from the Central Public Library, the Bangla Academy, Shilpakala Academy, Nazrul Institute, Bangladesh National Museum, National Book Centre and National Library are taking part in the fair.
   The participants are displaying their own collections and publications. Unfortunately, the organisers have arranged this fair in a small place that reduces the significance of the day and the books which were only for display annoyed the visitors.

The publication ceremony of a book titled ‘Turbulence and Tranquillity’ by Azizul Jalil was held on Sunday at the Hamidur Rahman Sinha Lounge of the Dhaka Club Limited.
   Justice Mustafa Kamal, former chief justice and chairman of the Law Commission, was present as chief guest. The function was chaired by Professor Zillur Rahman Siddiqui, former vice-chancellor of the Jahangirnagar University.
   Eminent writer Badruddin Umar, Dr Anisuzaman of Dhaka University, Sayed Kamaluddin, acting editor of Holiday, Mahfuz Anam, editor of The Daily Star, executive editor of Dhaka Courier Syed Badrul Ahsan and Justice Reefat Ahmed discussed different aspects of the book.
   Talking about the book the discussants said that this book beautifully and simply presented various incidents during the latter half of the twentieth century.
   They further said that the book would be considered as a document of the geopolitical history of south Asian countries. ‘The incidents, put in the book should also have been more elaborate,’ they added.
   Remarking on his own book, Azizul Jalil, who was a diplomat and also worked for the World Bank, said that he had written what he had seen. The author hoped that the next generation would get information about a particular period.
   The University Press Limited has published the book, priced at Taka 500.

Cox’s Bazar Theatre Group staged its nineteenth production ‘Two Idiots’ on Saturday at the Experimental Theatre Hall as part of an eight day theatre festival organised by the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
   The story of the play was taken from Russian writer Mekhail Saltikov Schedrin and was translated and directed by Swapan Bhatyacharia. From the beginning, the play is narrated by Bahadur to the audience.
   Focusing two idiots, the writer introduces two types of people: one is the hypocrite politician and the other is the retired corrupt police officer and both of them were friends more than twenty years ago.
   ‘Titir Mou’ is an idyllic island where the main plot of the drama is performed. The people of the island are very happy and cooperative. The writer takes these two wretched souls to this island for the demand of his story and here, they try practising their evil deeds so that they can get power of the island. They get some success by misguiding Manahar, an inhabitant of the island, but when the people realise their motive they protest against them and drive them away from the island. They also make a hole at the bottom of their boat to ensure that they drown.
   In fact, the moral of the play is: such wicked people do not have the right to live.
   Abul Manzur and Tapash Rakhshit played the roles of the hypocrite politician and the corrupt police officer to near perfection. Swapan Bhatyachaira, Shushanta Pal and Shahana Mazumder did their jobs of stage designing, set designing and costume designing perfectly.