Humayun Ahmed

I have been thinking about writing about Humayun Ahmed lately. Well another Humayun Ahmed post! I know the entire Bangladesh is in Humayun fever. But in my view this guy truly deserve some attention from many of us, well maybe from most of us. So I think adding one more buzz to the Humayun fever is well justified and not only that, if I don't do it, I am probably not giving enough respect where it is indeed due. Am I a Humayun Ahmed fan? Well fan is rather extreme word for me; technically I am not fan of anybody but I enjoyed reading some of his early novels.

When I heard that he passed away the first thing came into my mind is there will be no 'Himu.' There will be no 'Misir Ali' or 'Shuvro.' Really, that means when a writer leaves he basically leaves with all of his characters. So does it mean all of them also passed away? Well I don't know! Did he have intellectual right for those character? Is there any such thing? or Some other guy can start writing about Himu now? Anyway, until then all of them are gone.

In my view Humayun Ahmed's greatest creation is the juxtaposition of 'what we are' and 'what we want to be'. Bengali literature after Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was revolving around 'what we are.' Humayun Ahmed was the first man who introduced 'what we wanna be' inside too many 'what we are.' His characters were very strong. Back in 90s and 00s it is hard to find a young adult who does not have little bit of Himu, who does not dream being of Misir Ali, who does not long for the pristine mind of Shuvro. It does not matter we agree or not Humayun Ahmed has an strong impact on all of our life. I am not going to explain how these small things matters Neurologically (if you are interested find Sam Harris on free will), but they do matter and they do change the course of our life.

Let me wrap up the entire thing with a little story. The story goes back in 2004. I don't remember very well but one night I was bored at my dorm room and thinking of going out for fresh air. So I get out of my room and ambling around Dhaka University campus. And after some time I found myself walking unconsciously in the pedestrian path for quite some time. I was a bit surprised when I realized I was walking for some time and I reached Biman Bondor! Apparently the story has nothing to with Humayun Ahmed, really? I have been thinking of that day for quite some time. The only reasonable explanation that hit my mind is I was Himu for that night. I wanted to be Himu knowingly, unknowingly! How come I not write anything about Humayun Ahmed. He was the man of our time, it was impossible to ignore him. 

Image courtesy Radio Foorti. A collage from a picture of Faisal Masum.