Rabindra Award 2018 goes to Abul Momen, Fahim

This year's Rabindra Award-2018 has been given to Abul Momen and Fahim Hossain Chowdhury. Bangla Academy conferred this year's award titled Rabindra Puraskar on May 7. At the Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisarad Auditorium of the academy the awards were delivered to the distinguished personalities amidst a solemn cultural milieu. Every year one day before the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore awards are given to distinct personalities for research on his works and practice of his works. This year marking the 157th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore the awards were given. Abul Momen got his award for his research works on Rabindranath Tagore while Fahim Hossain Chowdhury got his award for Tagore songs. Present at the award giving ceremony were Professor Emeritus Anisuzzaman, Bangla Academy Director General Shamsuzzaman Khan, Vice-Chancellor of Rabindra University- Professor Biswajit Ghosh. Professor Bishwajit Ghosh gave the keynote speech. He elaborated on how Rabindranath's short stories reflected the tracks for Bangla's emancipation. He said that Rabindranath's short stories depicted the varied impacts of colonialism on the people of the country. Effects are very much present to this day, he commented. He elaborated that widespread disparity between urban and rural people, breakup of Indian unity, the growing middle-income earners getting more and more self-centered with their growth, poisonous fuelling of nationalism were caused by colonialism and Rabindranath's writings echo these concerns verily. Rabindranath's short stories serve as a documentary about how these problems became widespread. Though Rabindranath himself was a man from colonial era he could see beyond the colonial realm into Bengali's emancipation.
Professor Emeritus Anissuzaman said celebration of Rabindranath's birth-death anniversaries should not be confined to rituals only. Rather his teachings should be taken before the youth. Afterwards a cultural programme was held where Golam Sarwar presented recitations and Iffat Ara Dewan and Kamalika Chakraborty rendered songs.