Bishwa Shahitya kendra

Searching for Lighted People

Bishwa Shahitya kendra a privately organised centre for promoting reading habits among students and general public, movement to promote enlightenment and progressive ideas among people. Located at 14 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Dhaka, Biswa Sahitya Kendra was initiated in December 1978 and formally inaugurated on 6 March 1980. It is a registered public welfare trust, with a five-member trustee board headed by Abdullah Abu Sayeed. The other trustees are Mohammad Fariduddin, AKM Rafiquddin, Lutfar Rahman Sarkar and Mahbub Jamil. Its activities are conducted with funds generated by its own income, donations from philanthropic persons and organisations, and grants from the government. Its activities are gradually spreading throughout the country. An initiative has been taken to build a Biswa Sahitya Bhaban in Dhaka.

The centre's main activities are aimed at expanding the mental horizon of people through exposing them to world literature. Accordingly, it has set up branches with library facilities at places were there are one or two schools or colleges. Students are encouraged to read at least 16 quality books every year. Prizes are offered to encourage reading. The centre's programmes include literary and cultural competitions, book discussions, screening of films, guest lectures and music programmes. Other activities include visits to places of cultural interest and environmental programmes.

The centre aims at extending its activities to 525 cities and towns. Already 396 branches have been established. It has over 72,000 members. When all the branches are established, about 100,000 students will be included in its programmes.

Part of the centre's core programme is to establish libraries all over the country. Its aim is to provide adequate facilities for reading. This programme includes setting up a central library in Dhaka, running mobile libraries in the four main cities, and establishing 300 smaller libraries in other parts of the country. At present there are 40 such libraries. The remaining libraries will be set up by 2003.

The centre publishes good books in Bangla and other world languages. Three categories of books are published: world classics in translation, Bangla classics, and children's books, including both books in Bangla and translations of children's books from other languages.

Under this programme internationally renowned films are shown. Programmes of world music are also arranged. It also offers a film appreciation course and organises film festivals.

A seven-year programme is being organised to arrange the reading of 200 'best books of the world' including literature, philosophy, sciences, politics, economics and social sciences. A four-month course is organised to help participants read books on different subjects.

The centre arranges at least 30 functions every year at its central auditorium. Guest lecturers are also invited to speak.

Under 'Thoughts of Bengalis', works of Bengali intellectuals of the last 200 years are being collected and republished. The rare books programme arranges preservation in the central library of at least five photocopies of each book. There is also an English education programme which arranges reading of 20 important English books to help people learn English easily.

Abdullah Abu Sayeed of Bangladesh: 2004 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts

Believing that literature imparts both wisdom and humane values, Mr. Sayeed dreams of "enriched generations" to come.

Could reading the best books in the world be the answer to the problems of underdeveloped nations?
This year's Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts believes so.
"Only an enlightened and committed people can build a viable nation," Abdullah Abu Sayeed of Bangladesh has said time and again. And, he points out, only a nation of avid readers can hope to gain the enlightenment and commitment that builds a nation. It is these twin convictions that moved him to establish the Bishwa Sahitya Kendra* (World Literature Centre) in Dhaka in 1978.
A member, Rezwanul Islam, finance manager of ACNielsen Bangladesh Ltd., strongly agrees. "Had there been enough enlightened people around the world, fundamentalism and anarchy would not have spread," he says in a message posted on his webpage.
How much reading can do for a person (and by extrapolation, for nations) is something that Sayeed— poet, fictionist, essayist, professor, orator, environmentalist and once well-loved television host—has proven from personal experience.
Invariably described as learned, charismatic, and highly amiable, Sayeed is said to captivate his audiences with his stimulating ideas and humorous anecdotes. In an interview posted at dailystarnews.com, Navine Murshid asked him what he was like as a schoolboy, he replied: "I think I was a dumb boy! My intellect progressed at a very slow rate. I was always the last person to understand a given problem, be it mathematics, science or even any normal conversation! I vividly remember a classmate who was brilliant at everything. His handwriting was like pearls and he was the apple of everyone's eye. At parents-teachers meeting, when his father came, the teachers were full of praise for him. At that point I was wondering where to hide with my father!"
How he dealt with that experience is highly instructive. “I trained myself to do better,” he told Murshid. As he puts it with charming humility and evident gift of expression, “I had no standards to meet, so my brain took its own sweet time to develop. And it did!”
Indeed he has come a long way from that embarrassing moment. Born in Park Circus, Calcutta in 1939, he presumably picked up his love for literature and for teaching from his father, Azimuddin Ahmed, a well-known playwright and English teacher. He lost his mother, Begum Karimunnisa, at a very young age, but even at a tender age he instinctively knew how to turn what he lacked into something positive. Years later, when an interviewer, Rafi Hossain, asked him how he became such a fine orator, he replied: “From the time I lost my mother, I had a strong inferiority complex. A great void filled me. All the time I would wonder how I could fill this gap. I would be humble, and very respectful with people to earn their love. I noticed that those who speak well get a lot of attention from their listeners. So I would watch people who spoke well, and learn from them. I also read a lot of books, so I inevitably learnt from that.”
As a young man he wrote poetry and fiction and while completing his Bachelor of Arts with honors and then his Master of Arts in Bangladesh Literature from Dhaka College (later University) in the 1960s, he led a vibrant literary movement as editor of the magazine Kathashar (Voice). Afterwards he moved over to the new medium of television and became a popular TV host. He also taught literature over the next 25 years at Dhaka College.

Now 65, Sayeed has published 10 books--one a collection of essays, another of literary criticism, two collections of poetry, two plays, one autobiographical account, a history of Bengal and Bengali literature, and a book on world classics. He has translated 25 world classics, edited 12 volumes of essays and poems and articles as supplementary reading for students and general readers.

That he has not written more attests to the price that he has generously paid to pursue his dream for his countrymen. Although he has done it willingly, he cannot but turn pensive at the thought of the enormous sacrifice that he made: giving up the great passions of his life—teaching, writing, and hosting his well-loved educational TV programs. He has truly dedicated his life to the creation of “a medium through which true freedom is attained--the freedom of the human spirit."
That medium is the Bishwa Sahitya Kendra (BSK) or World Literature Centre. In 1978, saddened by the decline of intellectual life in Bangladesh, Sayeed founded the Centre to “enlighten human beings” by reviving interest in reading among the youth.
He had formed a study circle for that purpose in 1968. After it failed, he formed another one in 1978, with a few very talented young students who gravitated toward him. That study circle, which met once a week, was the beginning of the Centre. Every member had to read a book and participate in the discussion that he moderated. This went on for five years. The members read a total of 250 books over that period.
Critics of the practicality of Sayeed's dream may be interested to learn how the participants of that program turned out. One became an executive director of an export firm, another a chief executive officer of a hospital, two held important posts in the foreign office, five became joint secretaries in the government, and about a dozen found teaching posts overseas.
The World Literature Centre began in a small rented house that had 10 copies of a single book in mathematics. Now the center has its own building at Bangla Motor and boasts of more than 100,000 books on literature, science, philosophy, religion, politics, etc. Cultural programs and film showings are also held in the center.
Sayeed laments that “[e]ducation, the backbone of a nation, is now in shambles...” This is so, he says, because “The core purpose of education—to enlighten a person—has been overlooked.” Good books, he points out, are a logical source of enlightenment. Sayeed believes that “[b]etter knowledge of world history and the eagerness to emulate great persons' struggle for great causes would enable people to become better persons.” Thus he wants to create a hunger for the pleasure of the search for knowledge. During his 25 years of teaching he confirmed that many students no longer enjoy mechanical, limited learning undertaken for the sake of passing examinations. He also saw that many teachers had lost “the pleasure of sharing knowledge.”
Today's Bangladesh is a poor, overpopulated land often devastated by drought, floods and cyclones, and kept economically backward by political infighting and corruption at all levels of government. Sayeed dreams of seeing his country emerge as a vital, progressive nation through the creation of “a generation of individuals with talent, vision, and commitment who have the will, the training, and the authority to do all that is necessary.”
One of the Kendro's major projects is the Nationwide Enrichment Programme. Through this program, the Kendro “endeavors to nurture the intellectual potential of its members, develop them into dynamic, enlightened men and women, and strengthen their social base as an organized, positive force.”
The goal is accomplished through a program of study that is open to all that wish to participate. The Kendro has established more than 500 branches in 54 districts to date. Each is headed “by an erudite manor woman of integrity who runs the programme in the pattern of an enlightened family.”
The Schoolchildren's Enrichment Program is based on the belief that “Tomorrow's leader lies dormant in today's child.” Thus the Kendro's Nationwide Enrichment Programme starts with schoolchildren of 10 to 15 years of age. School officials, interested faculty members and the students themselves all encourage boys and girls to participate. These young people find themselves in “a meeting place of creative minds, where they ultimately blossom...”
They have two paths to choose from. Under the Book Reading Program, students have the opportunity to read the great books in the Bengali language and Bangla translations of world classics in various disciplines appropriate to their age and interests. Every year members of each class group read 16 books selected by the Kendro. Each week the participants take one book home to read. They return the book after seven days and borrow another title for the next week. Students record their responses, questions and comments in a notebook. To determine whether they have actually read and understood the books, the Kendro evaluates their written and oral responses and the contents of their notebooks.
“We are trying,” he told Aasha Mehreen Amin of Bangladesh' s The Daily Star on November 7, 1997, “to get these young people to be in touch with a particular dream. We are trying to expand his/her mental horizon, to awaken his/her values about life. So that we can make him/her into an enlightened person"
He was quick to stress, "...how inspired he will be or how committed he will be to these values, whether he will be moved by another's suffering and how fierce he will be in trying to remove this suffering, this is something we cannot say now. What we do know is that we are awakening the person's heart, his dreams, his love for other human beings. But how strong he will be in using this in life, we do not know. So we have taken this task as an uncertain gain. Perhaps there will be positive effects. I will quote Rabindranath's words: "How many fruits does a mango tree bear, yet how many blossoms come into being?"
In other words, he continued, "Scores of blossoms may bloom, some will perish from the harsh rays of the sun, from drought or thunderstorms, insects will eat them, but a few will remain." According to him, among the young people whom the BSK draws, if even just one or two turn out to be gifted individuals, “then their inner talents will be ignited and create a great spark.”
To the kindling of that spark, which shall light the path of individuals and nations out of the shadows of ignorance, Abdullah Abu Sayeed has dedicated his life. ***