What came first Bangla or Tagore?

It is often a big misgiving to believe the Bangla language started with Tagore. Whilst he is a literary great and his poetry and stories speak great depth of the human emotions and educate you of the Bengali political movements at the time of the Raj, often it feels we owe all of the Bangla language to this one man alone.

It is almost parallel with what we have with Shakespeare and the English language  There is a danger of popularising one artist's work to point of forgetting the other greats. Language is not developed by the one person but rather myriad of people, common people, popular people, but they all play a part.

I do think it is worth thinking about what we take for granted. Democracy did not start with the Greeks. Shakespeare was not the orginator of Romeo and Juliet. The sun does not rise in the East (if we reverse the Earth's axis :) )...

Below is a video depicting the Bangla language before Tagore - research which we need more of. Move over Radice...

Before Tagore: Music, Farce, and Muslim Patrons in 19th Century Bengal - By Richard David Williams and Priyanka Basu from bricklanecircle on Vimeo.

It's time to get back

It's been over a year since my last post and I can safely say nothing interesting has happened in my life in that year. Nothing. Part of the reason I stopped posting because I felt I didn't have time to post about my normal subjects (see below). I resisted posting about teaching and education but have come round to think it would be stupid not to shed some light on the profession that I am in now.

I guess it has taken me some time to accept what is my profession. It is education. I won't call myself a teacher as I think I deliver much more than that. I have discovered I enjoy teaching. I am good at teaching. I have ideas with regards to what makes a 'good' teacher. I'm not going to to reveal it all at once; it will unravel itself as I continue to blog, I hope.

So here is to my first post in 2011...

What Dreams?

Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is the current exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. It claims to depict 150 years of photography from the subcontinent, of its people by its people. The exhibition is in most parts is not trying to show great photography but how photography has developed in the three countries.

Walking through the gallery it made uncomfortable viewing. It felt like yet another exhibition displaying of the other. In this case, watching how the other uses the camera. Although, this show was curated by Asian artists it did not feel as though their talents shone. They were merely performers depicted through the eye of the imperialists. (Sorry to get all political – but that’s how it made me feel!)

Most of the photographs looked like home albums that many of us Asians possess. There was nothing spectacular about them; what’s so fascinating about family albums of Southasian origin?

So there were portraits of some political leaders like Jinnah, Nehru, Gandhi etc. There were also, some bollywood and lollywood posters and photographs, stills of shows with Asian people in it, pictures of paddy fields and trains. Transvestites, prostitutes, acrobatics, to name others.

Nothing really took fancy to me, but what I found quirky was a selection of photographs of this young Indian boy, with mental health problems; who one day decided he was Mohammed Bin Qassam and converted to Islam, immigrated to Pakistan and rode on his horse in Arab gear. Other than that nothing much held my attention.

Also, I did not understand the title of the show, what was it supposed to mean? The three nations are not really crossing but merely stem from the same root, I just don't get what its suggesting. Perhaps you could have a stab at the meaning?

It's such a shame, I was really looking forward to this exhibition but its obvious that I am not its audience. I need to be white, (maybe) middle class and someone completely ignorant of the Asian culture to appreciate it because then, all the colours and paddy fields and sarees and women will look ever so "exotic", "powerful" and "in-terest-ing"...

I recommend keep your money for this exhibition. It was merely a tick-box situation, not one for showcasing talent.

Please Note: I am not an art critic (obvious from my review), merely relaying what I thought of the show as a lay person.

Tu Jaane Na...

Atif Aslam is probably the most famous Pakistani pop singer in current times. I've been following Atif for a while, have not seen him in concert, although did turn down the opportunity to do so. Would have been the perfect opportunity to have seen him in concert before he got mega mega big.

Tu Janne Na is a track from Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani written by Irshad Kamil sang by Atif. Atif as always delivers on voice, guess that's why his songs are so popular. Irshad also wrote a few of the songs in Chameli (good movie with a good soundtrack).

Funny Maths

ok so in maths i is known as an imaginary number (its is the square root of -1) and Pi is an irrational number since it goes on forever. Geddit? haha?