Shakur, Abdush
Shakur, Abdush (1941-2013) fiction writer, storyteller and novelist. He was a music expert, Rabindra researcher and Nisarga (nature) writer. Abdush Shakur was born on 25 February 1941 in a noble family at Ramesharpur village of Sudharam thana in Noakhali district. His father’s name is Maqbool Ahmad and mother’s name is Faizunnisa. His educational career began with the teaching of Arabic-Persian-Urdu and Quran-Hadith according to the family tradition. He obtained Alim, Fazil and Kamil degrees from Dhaka Aliya Madrasa. He was conferred the certificate of ‘Mumtazul Muhaddesin’ in recognition of his outstanding talent. Despite his father’s wish to continue studies in a madrasa, he passed matriculation in 1956 with merit and Intermediate in 1960 from Comilla Victoria College. He received BA (Honours) in English literature from Dhaka University in 1963 and MA in 1964. He also obtained his second Master’s degree in Economics from ISS, the Netherlands in 1980. Abdush Shakur started his career by teaching at Shaheen School in Dhaka. Later he taught English literature at Dhaka College and Rajshahi University. He passed the CSP (Civil Service of Pakistan) examination and joined the government service in 1967. He retired in 1999 after being promoted to the rank of Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh. In personal life, he is married to his maternal sister Laila. They have two daughters and two sons.
Abdush Shakur started writing in Urdu. Young Shakur was inspired by reading the ‘Mishti-Wit’ letters of Urdu poets in the ‘Bisavi Sadi’ literary magazine published from Delhi. His first story ‘Sahittik’ was published in the second volume of ‘Shatadal Shatagalpa’ collection edited by Shahid Qadri. In 1961, the first story book ‘Khyaman’ was published with ten stories selected by him, while studying in Honors first year. The second story book ‘Crisis’ was published in 1976. The titles of his story-books include ‘Dosh’, ‘Bichalita Prarthana’, ‘Aghat’ (2006), ‘Sharir’ (2011), ‘Ghor’ (2013). Abdush Shakur, famous as a storyteller, wrote novels titled ‘Dialogue’ (2007), ‘North-South Dialogue’ (2010), ‘Bhalobasha’ (2011), etc. As a fiction writer, he was also unrivalled. In the seventies, the weekly ‘Bichitra’ published ‘Abdush Shakur’s Karcha’ and personal essays regularly. Social, political, administrative discriminations were the subjects of his poetry. His writings ‘Chuattarer Karcha’, ‘Abdush Shakur-er’ Karcha’ and ‘Madhyabitter Karcha’ added a new dimension to the field of satirical literature. Abdush Shakur: The Best of Romance (1996), edited by Abdullah Abu Sayyid, was published by Bisva Sahitya Kendra as a book in the classical book series. He also wrote anthologies of satires called ‘Vejal Bengali’ (2009), ‘Nirbachita Ramyanio Rachana’ (2010) and ‘Nirbachita Karcha’ (2010) and a book of essays about the romance writers called ‘Rasik Bengali’ (2009). Edited books are ‘Selected Romances in Bengali Literature’ (2 vols, 2003), ‘Selected Romances and Stories in Bengali Literature’ (2 vols, 1990), ‘Parshuram’s Best Laughter Story’ (1989), ‘Ashab Uddin Ahmad: Best Romances’ (1998). Parshuramer Shrestha Galpa’ (2007), ‘Shivaram Chakraborty’s Shrestha Galpa’ (2009), etc.
At a mature age, he became immersed in Rabindranath’s writings and creations. The publications of his ‘Mahamahim Rabindranath’ (1997) and ‘Ever New Rabindranath’ from Bangla Academy were followed by ‘Paramparahin Rabindranath’ (2009), ‘Maha Gadya Kabi Rabindranath’ (2012), ‘Rabindranath: Swadesh Bhavana’, ‘Rabindranathke Jatatuku Jani’ (2012) ‘Rabindranath Manushi Chhilen’, etc. After the books ‘Mahamhim Rabindranath’ (2011), ‘Rabindranath Ke Jatuktu Jani’ and ‘Rabindranath Manush-e-Chilen’ were published in West Bengal. However, his greatest work on Rabindranath is the five volumes ‘Rabindra Jibani’ published by Bangla Academy. Abdush Shakur wrote some thoughtful prose. The prose books include ‘Language and Literature’ (2008), ‘Society and Sociology’ (2008), ‘Selected Essays’ (2010), ‘Best Essays of Abdush Shakur’ (2011).
Music practice was prevalent in Abdush Shakur’s family. In personal life, he practiced music. He practiced different genres of music like Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul geeti, Dwijendra geeti, Rajanikantha Sen’s song, Atul Prasad Sen’s song, Bhajan, Kirtan, Ghazal, old Bengali song. In 2004, his two CDs were released by Sound Tech Audio publishing house, one of which contains the music by Rabindranath and songs by Dwijendra Lal Roy, Rajanikanth Sen, Atul Prasad Sen and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Abdush Shakur’s research, reviews and thoughts on music include ‘Songeet Sangeet’ (2005), ‘Songeet Sanvit’, ‘Great Audience’ (2006), ‘Songeet Bichitra’ (2009), ‘Bengali Liberation Song’ (2007), ‘Musical Literacy’ ‘(2012), ‘Listener’s Apology’, ‘Swara Sur Shabda o Sangeet’ (2012), ‘Panchapradeep of Hindustani Music’ have been published in book forms.
Abdush Shakur was a nature lover. He was a ‘floriculturalist’. The Bangladesh National Rose Society awarded him with a gold medal (1988) in the ‘Best Lawn Rose Garden’ category. His book ‘Golapsangraha’ (2004) received the ‘Prothom-alo Best Thoughtful Book of the year’ award. This book was published in an enlarged and revised edition under the title ‘Golapanama’ (2012) by Prativas Prakashani, Kolkata. He used to write regularly in the monthly papers of Kolkata called ‘Srishtir Shatak’ and ‘Milemishe’. His autobiography, written in three volumes, is titled Atmakathane Abdush Shakur: There Are Roses in Thorns (2008). He wrote a book on children’s literature called ‘Akkelgurum’ and a comedy book ‘Tricks and Trouble’.
Abdush Shakur received the ‘Bangla Academy Award’ for short stories in 1979. In 2003, he received the ‘Amiyabhushan Award’ from Jalpaiguri for his anthology on short stories. This versatile and talented fiction writer passed away on 15 January 2013. [Shahnaz Nasrin Ila]
