Hasan Azizul Huq: The immortal voice of the people

On 9 September, Hasan Azizul Huq's peers and well wishers breathed a sigh of relief and rejoiced when they heard that the octogenarian storyteller had been discharged from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and Hospital after 19 days of treatment. The news was welcomed specially because Hasan recovered from electrolyte imbalance and lung infection, dodging Covid-19 infection.

Hasan survived. And we anxiously awaited, expecting him to finish his third novel, perhaps, someday soon. But our relief and joy did not last for long.

The prolific litterateur breathed his last at his Rajshahi residence on 15 November. He was 82.

He surrendered to the eternal call, leaving intellectuals and readers of Bangla literature in a void. But his literary works, particularly the short stories, will remain immortal.

While his first novel 'Agunpakhi' was published in 2006, his writing career stretches back 52 years; and his first short story titled Shakun was published in 1960. It was also the same year, when he got married to Shamsun Nahar. 

Since then, he has authored two novels, three novellas, seven collections of short stories and numerous essays on contemporary social, political and cultural issues.

His first published volume is Samudrer Swapna Sheeter Aranya (1964). Among other notable titles are Atmoja O Ekti Karabi Gaach, Pataale Haspataale, Jibon Ghoshe Agun, Rode Jabo, Amra Apeksha Karchi, Ma Meyer Sangsar and Raarbanger Galpa.

During his illustrious career as a writer, Hasan vigorously challenged all the rules of writing, he did not conform to any traditional genre or style; rather wrote freely and that deliberate choice in itself reflected the vigour in his spirit.

When I took his interview on the Bishwa Sahitya Kendra premises three years ago in 2018, Hasan was 79 years old. But he still seemed indomitable. He cherished the idea to continue writing till his death.

A peculiar and perhaps even commendable characteristic about this litterateur is that he was not a busy columnist nor public speaker. In fact, he never lived in Dhaka; he spent his lifetime in Rajshahi and Khulna. He never indulged in the idea of becoming a public figure or celebrity in the spotlight and actively stayed away from the capital city. He believed moving to the city will sever his ties with his hometown and people.

Uninterested in media attention and popularity, this writer's focus was sharp and his intention was incisive - he only wanted to depict the cruel reality of poverty, inequality, faulty nation-building, and social discrimination of the subalterns in his writing.

Hasan's literary merit and vigorous spirit carved out a new space for him in Bangali literature. His fictional characters always speak in local dialects of Rarh region and Khulna, elevating further the voices of the marginalised. It also helps readers to understand the raw feelings of the characters.

He believed that it is impossible to standardise a language for a nation with a diversified culture.

During an interview session in 2020, he told me that fixing a standard language and dialect for a nation is like holding water in a palm. "It always slips out through your fingers. Language cannot be standardised…state machinery cannot control people's use of language. Because language is a social thing and at the same time, it is personal," he said.

Hasan also wrote about poverty, capitalism and its perilous impacts on people.

During his 52-year career, Hasan received nearly all the major literary awards of Bangladesh including the Bangla Academy Award (1970), Adamjee Sahitya Puroshkar (1967), Lekhok Shibir Puroshkar (1973), Alaol Sahitya Puroshkar (1983), Agrani Bank Puroshkar (1984) and Philips Sahitya Puroshkar (1988).

The government of Bangladesh awarded Hasan with Ekushey Padak in 1999.

His beliefs and values: The life and the man

During the Bishwa Sahitya Kendra premises interview, he reiterated the importance of "socialisation," the act (or activity) of meeting with people, speaking with people and social interactions. This was an integral part of his non-city life. And he deeply regretted that children, especially those living in the urban areas, are deprived of this very socialisation, starting early on from their childhood. 

What about his childhood? He was like a wild squirrel roaming restlessly around the village Jabgraam in Burdwan of British India. He was closely tied to the earth while feeling a shared relationship with nature across the Rarh region.

Born on 2 February in1939, Hasan was among the four children of Mohammad Doa Baksh and Zohra Khatun. Although a man of strict discipline, Hasan's father did not restrict social interaction. Their house was open to every neighbouring household, irrespective of caste and religion. He grew up with the children from Hari, Dom, Bagdi, Muchi, Kahar, Bauri, Brahmin and Muslim families.

Hasan's literary works Fire Jai Fire Ashi, Uki Diye Digonto, Ei Puratan Akharguli and Smritigadya-Bandhanhin Granthi portray his indomitable childhood.

Hasan's close attachment to people around him developed his incisive understanding of people's dynamic relationships, sources of intra-personal happiness and sorrows, social and political problems, and broadly, people's daily life struggles.

Hasan believed that he only could narrate something which he had observed or witnessed. His writings were free of superficial or exaggerated plots, with nothing but the voice of toiling masses.

Hasan migrated to Khulna in 1954 for access to better education. Two years later, he passed the higher secondary from the Daulatpur College. He completed his graduation in philosophy from Rajshahi Government College in 1958 and got post-graduation degree from Rajshahi University in 1960. Between 1960 and 1973, Hasan taught philosophy in some colleges including Khulna Girls College and Daulatpur Brajalal College.

In 1973, Hasan joined Rajshahi University as a philosophy teacher. He retired from his 31-year teaching profession in 2004 and became a full-time writer.

An astute observer, the litterateur could feel and understand the changes taking place in society and the impacts quite well. That is why, Marxist Hasan's writings reflect the crucial political changes through the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent, communal riots, Bengali people's upsurge against the colonial Pakistani regime, the 1971 Liberation War, and furthermore the struggle of Bangladeshi people for democracy.

Amid death threats, Hasan did not take shelter in India during the liberation war. He was summoned by the commanders of the Pakistani army because he had been supporting the freedom fighters. Once, the Pakistani army brought him against a firing squad on 4 December 1971. Fortunately, he escaped the execution as India launched an air-strike against Pakistani occupation forces that day.

Like all the other Bangladeshis, Hasan was enthusiastic about a repression-free society in the independent Bangladesh. But he soon became disillusioned.

During an interview, he told me that all the incumbent governments failed to uphold the four fundamental principles of the constitution – nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism.

Some of Hasan's writings including Ghar Gerasthali, Keu Aseni, Phera, and the collection of short stories titled Namheen Gotroheen (published in 1975) depict the war-torn Bangladeshi people's frustration over the future of the country.

By the time I was penning this tribute to the astounding writer, Hasan had been laid to rest in the central library premises of Rajshahi University. We can only bid a farewell to his mortal body. But for those who know of him and his work, he and his literature will forever remain in our minds.