Nazrul and Dhuketu

Nazrul undrtook the responsibility of publication of "Nabayug" and "Sevak". Now he was going to undertake the responsibility of publication of another paper "Dhumketu".
A person , namely Hafiz Masud of Chittagang was willing to publish a paper and came to Muzaffar Ahmed and Nazrul for help. Muzaffar Ahmed didnot agree but Nazrul came forward and took the charge. For publication of paper Hafiz Masud collected Rs 250/- only.The name of the paper was fixed to be "Dhumketu". It would be published twice in a week and printed from Metcafe Press. The printer and publisher was Afzalul Haq, office of publication was 3, College Street, Calcutta. From 8th issue it was published from 7, Pratap Chatterjee Lane. All the arrangements for publication was done but Hafiz Masud didnot pay his promised money of Rs.250/-. He used to serve in the office of Police and paid only Rs.200/-.
The paper was published with the money received by  advance payment of some advertisement. The sole proprietor of the paper was Nazrul till he was not arrested . He handed over his charge to Biraja Sundari before he went to jail. From 1st to 7th issue Nazrul was the editor and from 8th issue he became the pilot.
Dhumketu was first published on and from 11th Aug 1922 (24th Shraban 1329) in 8 pages of 15x10 crown size paper. Price 1 anna , yearly Rs.5/-.After 4 issues the no. of pages was increased to 12 pages. The manager of the paper was Saktipada Sinha.      

Nazrul and "Bidrohi"

Nazrul wrote in his letter to Nargis, "Tumi ei aguner parasmani na dile Agnibina bajate partam na - ami dhumketur bismay niye udita hate partam na."
Really after the incident of Daulatpur Nazrul created some of his best creation  - Kamalpasa, Bidrohi, Pralayollas etc  and Bhangar Gaan.  Nazrul returned from Daulatpur in July 1921. He stayed for a few days in the office of the Sahitya Samity at College Street and then came to 3/4 Taltala Lane. Nazrul went to Santiniketan in Oct 1921 with Muhammad Saheedullah ( later Dr. Saheedullah). Sudhakant Roychoudhury, personal secretary of Rabindranath Tagore and a fan of Nazrul, once wrote a poem " Sainik Kaji Nazrul Sheber Prati" (published in kartik 1327, Moslem Bharat) to congratulate Nazrul Islam. He was the first person to bring  the notice of Rabindranath to a poem written by Nazrul. and made him introduced with Rabindranath. He was given the charge of loking after Nazrul when he came to Santiniketan. The visit of Nazrul and Dr. Saheedullah was described in a book, "Amar Kaishore Smritite Nazrul" (published in Katha Sahitya , Jaishtha 1377),  written by Nisikanta Roychoudhury, brother of Sudhakanta Roychoudhury.
Having returned from Santiniketan Nazrul and Muzaffar Ahmed was staying in 3/4 Taltala Lane. Two important things occurred, 1. Formation of Communist Party and 2. Creation of the poem "Bidrohi".While staying in Taltala Lane Nazrul and Muzaffar Ahmed had a communication through M.N.Roy from Moscow. In Taltala Lane, poets and litterateurs visited regularly. The Poet Satyendranath Dutta (Satyendranath Dutta (also spelt as Satyendranath Datta or Satyendra Nath Dutta) (Bengali: সত্যেন্দ্রনাথ দত্ত) (1882-1922), a Bengali poet, is considered the wizard of rhymes (or ছন্দের যাদুকর - chhonder jadukar in Bengali). Satyendranath Dutta was an expert in many disciplines of intellectual enquiry including medieval Indian history, culture, and mythology)  came to this house  to met Nazrul.
Nazrul wrote his famous poems Anowar, Kamal Pasa, Bhangar Gaan, And Bidrohi. Bidrohi was first published in "Bijali" in 6th Jan 1922 and then Moslem Bharat,  Pravasi etc. Nazrul waxs 22 yars old.

Nazrul, Daulatpur and Nargis

Nazrul was acquainted with Ali Akbar Khan in the office of the Bangiya Muslim Sahitya Samity at 32 College Street. Ali Akbar Khan was a writer and sales person of School Text Books. Nazrul wrote "Lichu Chor" for his text book.
He started for Coomillah with Ali Akbar by Chattagram Mail in the month of April 1921. He wrote in the train a poem "Nilpakhi" (pic-2), describing the typical scenery of East Bengal. This was the second time Nazrul came to East Bengal which he left in his teens. Ali Akbar Khan was a student of Coomillah District High School and a classmate of Birendra Kumar Sengupta, son of Indra Kumar Sengupta. Having reached Coomillah Nazrul went to Kandirparh in the house of Indra Kumar Sengupta. Biraja Sundari, the mother of  Birendra, was an affectionate lady and Ali Akbar called her "Ma". Nazrul, too, used to call her "Ma".
There were   other members in the family, two sisters of Birendra, viz, 1. Kamala (Bachchi), 2. Anjali (Jatu), the elder aunt of Birendra Giribala Devi and her daughter Pramila (Duli), wife of Birendra and his son, Rakhal. Indra Kumar Sengupta was an inspector of the wards of Coomillah court. His house was full of cultural environment. All the little girls of the house Duli, Bachchu, Jatu all knew how to sing. Nazrul got acquainted with them very rapidly.
After a few days Nazrul went with Ali Akbar to his village at Daulatpur. The senior member of his house was his elder sister. His another elder sister was married to Munsi Abdul  Khalek of near by village working in marine. She was also an widow and used to come to Ali Akbar's house with her daughter Saiyada Khatun, an unmarried girl., everyday.
Nazrul became close with Saiyad Khatun, alias Nargis. Nargis liked Nazrul for his playing of flute.
In Daulatpur Nazrul wrote many poems in the mnths of Baishakh and Jaishthya and published them in Chanat Kabya Grantha. Both Nazrul and Nargis became close each and fell in love. At the initiative of Ali Albar Khan their marriage was settled and the date was fixed to be 3 Asharh (June) 1921, He brought Saiyada Khatun in his house. Saiyada Khatun read in a primary school. To make her suitable for Nazrul Aliakbar made her to read Saratchandra's book. Everything was finalised but the marriage did not took place and was dismissed on the moment of taking the oath for some conditions laid down by Aliakbar in the contract paper where it was written that Nazrul had to here with Nargis and would not take Nargis to any other place.
Nazrul had to retreat from the place on the day of the marriage in the heavy rains.
Nazrul came to Coomillah in the house of Biraja Sundari Devi and wrote a letter to Muzaffar Ahmed informing that he had been cheated by Alakbar khan and asked him to send some money as he was not fit to move.
Muzaffar Ahmaed came to Nazrul in Coomillah and took  him to Calcutta on 8th July. Nazrul came to Coomillah-Daulatpur in the month of April 1921 and returned to Calcutta July  1921.
At first Nazrul met Afzalul Haq Saheb and stayed in the office of Bangiya Musalman Sahitya Samity at 32 CFollege Street and then came to 3/4 Taltala Lane with Muzaffar Ahmed.
Saiyada Khatun was subseuently married with the poet Azizul Hakim.
After about fifteen years of leaving Daulatpur, Nazrul in reply to a letter written by Nargis to him, wrote addressing her "Kalyaniyesu"; " if you rely on hears say then you will misunderstand me.....My heartfelt god knows that how much pain I had to bear on that day, so that the wound is still giving me pain......."
Nazrul confessed his letter that the pain inspired him to write "Bidrohi" published in Agnibina. In one night he wrote "Bidrohi" in 3/4 Talatala Lane. He als wrote, Anoar, Kamalpasa,mBhangar gaan etc .        

Nazrul in Deoghar

Nazrul Islam gave up all connections with Nabayug in Dec 1920, at the advice of two persons seemed  to be his friends, 1. the person in charge  of the paper "Moslem Bharat", Afzalul Haq, and 2. The writer of text books for children , Ali Akhbar Khan. They inspired Nazrul to go to Deoghar for a change weather. They thought that if Nazrul would have been detached from Nabayug, he would find time  and could find sufficient time for writing for other publications. They might fulfill their own requirements.With that expectation  they committed to bear the expenses of Nazrul's tour programme. They also arranged a farewell ceremony of Nazrul's departure. Mr. Afzalul Haq in his address committed that he would remit Rs. 100/- p.m. during the period Nzrul would stay in Deoghar. In exchange to this Nazrul would supply all his writings written during this time to "Moslem Bharat" for publication. Nazrul left Calcutta for Deoghar (pic. in the margin).
One funny thing happened in the train when Nazrul was moving for Deoghar. Some Pandas appeared and captured Nazrul and fetched him upto their dwellings. Nazrul had to open his box to show them the type of his dresses including typical caps of Muslims (Serwani) to prove that he was a muslim. When they became convinced, they took him to the house of Rajnarayan Basu in Deoghar. Rajnarayan Basu was the maternal grand father of Baridra Kumar Ghosh. Nazrul passed his first night at Deoghar in the house of Manindra Basu, the son of Rajnarayan Basu. Then he hired a cottage in the Sanatorium of Kartick Basu, the elder brother of Sachindra Basu the editor of "Byabsa-banijya". Kumudini Basu, daughter of Krishna Kumar Mitra, the editor of "Sanjibani,   wife of Sachindra Basu and grand daughter of Rajnarayan Basu, ex-editor of Supravat,  was in Deoghar at that time.
Nazrul had good times in deoghar with  the litterateurs.
In the mean time an incident happened. Once in the night a young man came with a young lady and begged  from Nazrul a permission to stay for one night. Thinking that they were married couple Nazrul allowed  them to stay for one night. But soonafter their departure it bwas revealed that they were not married . The whole Deoghar took it as an exception and Kumudini Basu became annoyed with this behavior and refused talking with Nazrulk.. After some time, of course, Kumudini made to understand that Nazrul was not responsible for this nasty affairs.She wanted to revive their good relations. But Nanzrul did not agree.
Nazrul could not create more literature as was expected by Afzalul Haq and Aliakbar Khan. He constructed only four songs. For this Afzalul did not send money as he promised to do. Nazrul wrote a letter to his friend Pabitra Gangopadhyay saying ;
" now I am Penniless and ask Afzalul to send money . If they send money today it will not go astray."Lastly Muzaffar Ahmed saved the situation.
Nazrul again joined for a short periiod in Nabayug orgaised by the political leader of Burdwan, Abul Kasem. After some time he went to Coomillah-Daulatpur accompanying Aliakbar Khan. 

Nazrul and Journalism (contd-1)

The 1919 Amritsar massacre, known alternatively as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre after the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden) in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, was ordered by General R.E.H. Dyer. On Sunday April 13, 1919, which happened to be 'Baisakhi', one of Punjab's largest religious festivals, fifty British Indian Army soldiers, commanded by Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, began shooting at an unarmed gathering of men, women, and children without warning. Dyer marched his fifty riflemen to a raised bank and ordered them to kneel and fire. Dyer ordered soldiers to reload their rifles several times and they were ordered to shoot to kill. Official British Raj sources estimated the fatalities at 379, and with 1,100 wounded. Civil Surgeon Dr Williams DeeMeddy indicated that there were 1,526 casualties. However, the casualty number quoted by the Indian National Congress was more than 1,500, with roughly 1,000 killed.
Nazrul wrote a book, "Yugabani",  recommending  to construct a monument in the name of The Great Hero Dyer inscribing "Dyer's Smritistanbha" and for this the book was banded .
Nazrul used to write highly againstthe oppression of British Imperialism on Indian people . In 1920, Nazrul wrote an essay in Nabayug on " Who is responsible for the murder of Muhajirin" and for this reason the deposit money of Nabayug was confiscated in Aug-Sept.
Fazlul Haq tried a lot, collected Rs.2,000/- and deposited it again the money for re-publishing Nabayug. Nazrul had cut of his connection ith Nabayug in the month of Dec 1920, Muzaffar Ahmed continued for another one month and gave up his connection with Nabayug in jan 1921.

Nazrul and Journalism

In the background of Non-cooperation movement and Khilafat Movement Muzaffar Ahmed and Nazrul Islam decided to publish a daily news  paper . In this respect they contacted leaders of Congress and Khilafat . They also approached the advocate of Calcutta High Court, A.K.Fazlul Haq for extending his cooperation in this regard. It was a desire nourished by Haq Saheb to publish a dsily news paper. He assured them of all possible help.Fazlul Haq had a English press and he purchased a set of Bengali type for publication of the news paper. The name of the paper was fixed to be "Nabayug". The chief editor of the paper became A.K.Fazlul Haq.  Muzaffar Ahmed and Nazrul Islam became  Active Joint Editors.daily Nabayug was first published on 12th July 1920 which was 20" inches in breadth, 26" inches in length of one sheet of paper and cost One Paisa only. The address of the press of the paper was 22 Turner Street and the office of publication was 6 Turner Street, the ground floor of the residence of Fazlul Haq. For convenience Muzaffar Ahmed and Nazrul left the office of the Bangiya Muslim Sahitya Samity and came 8 Turner Street . For a short period they stayed in the office of Nabayug. Just at the publication of Nabayug, it became popular among both the communities, Hindus and Muslims. the demand of the paper was gradually increasing which became impossible to cope with. The role played by Nazrul was solely responsible for this popularity of Nabayug.. Muzaffar Ahmed wrote;
"... it is due to the powerful writing of Nazrul .....".      

Nazrul and Rabindranath- 1921

Nazrul and Muzaffar Ahmed left the office building of Muslim Sahitya Samity and changed their  abode to at first Marquise Lane and then in the office of Naba Yug at 6, Tarner Streetand lastly to 8A, Tarner Street, a rented house, for their convenience of publication of Naba Yug. But that place also was becoming full with the presence of different persons of poets and litterateurs.Poet Mohitlal Majumdar (1888-1952) was one who used to come regularly. He was then a teacher of Calcutta High School of Nebutala. He wrote an article in Moslem Bharat saying high of the poem Bidrohi of Nazrul. Oneday Nazrul along with Pabitra Gangopadhyay went to the residence of Mohit Babu at Amhirst Street to see him and they had long discussion on different topics of literature. From that day on , Nazrul became a close associate of Mohit Babu. Mohit expressed his likings and dislikings relating to the other poets and litterateurs. He showed his dislikings about the magazine "Pravasi". Nazrul too did not send any of his writings to Pravasi till he had good relation with Mohitbabu..
At that time there were two groups amongst the litterateurs. One was "Bharatir Adda" assembled at the office of the Bharati, and the other was "Gajendar adda" . In the former one, the poets and other artists and litterateurs  used to assemble there were Atul Prasad sen, Dinendranath Thaskur, Abanindranath Thakur, Satyendranath Datta, Charuchandra Bandyopadhyay, Sisir Bhaduri, Hemendra kumar Roy etc, and in the  latter the persons used to come were Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Nirmalendu Lahiri, Abanindranath Thakur, Ostad Karamatullah Khan, Satyendranath Datta, Premankuratirtha, Narendra Dev, Dhurjati Prasad etc. Nazrul used  to come in both the Addas. In GajendraChandra Ghosh's Adda at 38 Cornwallis Street Nazrul was introduced with Satyendranath Datta. Pabitra Gangopadhyay described the introduction between the two poets in his book ," Chalaman Jiban". Satyen datta said, " you have brought new wave in the literature. We are insignificant, you have  already impressed Gurudev." Nazrul enquired whether he has read any writings of Nazrul. Satyen Datta replied, "to speak you frankly , Gurudev asked me whether  I have read any poem of Narul." In his opinion, as Gurudev said, Nazrul was bringing harmony in literaure, a new avenue of cultural coordination.
Nazrul met Rabindranath some times in July/August of 1921 at  Jorasanko. As usual, Nazrul appeared before Rabindranath with his common dialogue " De garur ga Dhuiye" astonishing everybody present there.
The two poets became gradually close and closer.