Bimal Guha

Bimal Guha
Bimal Guha in Delhi, 2011

Bimal Guha (Bangla: বিমল গুহ) (born 27 October 1952) is a Bangladeshi poet, and a leading poet of his generation. He appeared on the literary scene of Bangladesh in the seventies of last century. His themes revolve round our war of liberation and the eternal subjects of love, nature, motherland, mother-tongue, tradition and modernity.

Life and work

Bimal Guha was born at Bajalia village under Satkania Upajila of Chittagong district. He is the eldest among the four children of Prasanna Kumar Guha and Manadabala Guha. He had his early education at local Bajalia High School and Satkania College from where he had his Secondary and Higher Secondary education during 1968-70. He received his MA in Bengali literature from the University of Chittagong in 1975. Later he studied publishing studies at Napier Polytechnic of Edinburgh (Napier University), UK. He also received higher training in editing and publication from Philippines and Thailand. He had his PhD in modern Bengali poetry from the University of Dhaka in 1997. In personal life he got married to Meena Guha in 1980 and they have three daughters. Dr. Guha has been working at the University of Dhaka since 1979 and now heads an administrative office.

Bimal Guha entered the literary arena in 1968 while he was in school. He read the Sanchaita (collected poems) by Rabindranath Tagore during his leisure time after secondary examination. He was then inspired by it and took pen for writing. His first poem Akash (The Sky) which was published in Satkania college magazine Rashmi in 1969 and almost at the same time his poems began to appear in different literary periodicals and literary sections of the newspapers. His first book of poems Ahongkar, Tomar Shabdo (Pride, Your Words) is published in 1982, and then he transcends into newer perceptions from one volume to another. Without following the regular path of his predecessors he creates his own way and style of writing. Imagery, simile, metaphors and symbolisms that Bimal applies in his poems are so very special and striking that these imply the probabilities of his specialty in creating individualistic style in the poetic world of Bangladesh. He has as many as 23 books to his credit including poetry, research, travelogue, edited books and 38 articles on literatures and culture. Uncompromising in life-struggle Bimal never bends down to the ungraceful. He has revolting fire in himself; he struggles with quick-sand all through his life. During seventies, specially after the liberation war, those who transformed Bangladesh poetry into a newer consciousness and human rejuvenation and have developed expression of art to arrest time and space into a newer vision, Bimal is remarkable of them. He is associated with many literary and cultural organizations including Bangladesh Writers Club, Editing and Publication Association of Bangladesh, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh and Bangla Academy.

Critical acclaim

Poet-Critic Shudhasattwa Bose of West Bengal, India remarked- ‘Since the seventies, poems developed a newer feelings and understanding, poetic diction has changed, delivery of words and phrases has totally changed overnight. It has started a new without touching the old totally. We can take references from Bimal’s poems’. Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam has described in an introductory note- ‘Bimal Guha’s poems are about the problems of our time, more particularly about the difficulties of adjustment that a feeling and thinking individual faces in an increasingly alienating world. As values are forgotten or become obsolete, and relationships become problematic, individuals have to struggle to cling to their dreams. Guha writes movingly about love which can offer a way out but which is constantly thwarted by a mechanical universe. Guha also writes about the need for social change. What makes his poems remarkable is his crisp style which both invokes the rich tradition of the 1930s and charts its distance from it. His diction is personal, contemporary and colloquial. His poems are indeed records of a creative pursuit that excels when it find challenges’. British poet Benjamin Zephaniah has remarked in an interview- ‘Bimal’s poetry is so conversational, and he is also very passionate about the poetry of Bangladesh’.

Literary works

Poetry

• Ahongkar, Tomar Shabdo (1982)
• Sanko Par Hole Kholapath (1985)
• Swapne Jwale Shartohin Bhor (1986)
• Bhalobasar Kobita (1989)
• Poetry (1989)
• Nasto Manush O Onnanno Kobita (1995)
• Pratibadi Shabder Michhil (2000)
• Nirbachito Kobita (2001)
• Selected Poems of Bimal Guha (Tr. Siddique Mahmudur Rahman (2010)
• Amra Rayechhi Mati Chhunye (2011)

Juvenile poetry

• Megh Gurgur Brishti Name (2000)
• Aguner Dim (2001)
• Chadai Chhana (2002)
• Shada Megher Bhela (2008)

Research

• Ohidul Alam : Life and Literature (1999)
• Adhunik Bangla Kobitay Lokojo Upadan (2001)

Travelogue

• Onno Deshe Onno Bhubane (2008)

Awards and honour

• Young Writers National Literary Award for poetry by Ministry of Information, Govt. of Bangladesh (1979)
• Kingbadontir Amra National Literary Award for poetry (1385 Bangla Era)
• Bangabandhu Memorial Award (1408 Bangla Era)
• Palal Prokashani 50th Birth anniversary celebration (2002)
• Poet-Celebrity of Bangladesh Writers’ Club (2002)
• Shilpa O Sahitya (literary journal) ed.Ferdous Salam, Vol.2, no.1, Oct. 2002, Special issue on Bimal Guha
• Bimal Guha: Kobi-O-Kobita, a book ed. Farook Mahmud & Khan Mahbub, Palal Prokashani, Dhaka, Oct. 2003
• Faridpur Nirnoy Shilpigoshthi Gold Medal (2008)
• Poet Jibanananda Das Award (2009).

External links

• Interview remark
• Professional site
• Critic's remark
• A few poems of Bimal Guha
• A few books of Bimal Guha
• News item
• Asiatic Society