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The presence of a large Bengali diaspora in such countries as the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada is cause for happiness. Bengalis who reside in these countries as also in other places have in recent times been actively involved in demonstrating their cultural heritage in their adopted lands. That is a cheering thought.
These compatriots of ours, having set up homes and careers abroad, have kept in touch among themselves and with their fellow Bengalis back home in Bangladesh through activities --- musical programmes, drama, cinema and publications --- which testify to their links with the home country. In all the three countries mentioned above, Bengalis have regularly organised book fairs that are well-attended, that bring together a community ready and willing to keep its heritage alive on foreign soil. There are often the occasions when literary luminaries from Bangladesh are invited to them, thereby enriching the cultural scene.
And yet there is, among non-Bengalis abroad there is a yawning culture deficit where knowledge of Bangladesh's heritage is the issue. And that has to do with the fact that an important element of culture, the production and publication of books on Bangladesh in the English language, is conspicuous by its absence. At the book fairs organised by Bengali expatriates abroad, there is certainly a rich array of works in the Bangla language.
But English language publications are few and far between, which is a contributing factor to the lack of an adequate understanding of Bangladesh among people abroad. But, yes, at the book fairs --- Ekushey boi mela and others --- which are organised in Bangladesh, a plenitude of works in Bangla and a paucity of books in English are clear reasons why our fairs abroad suffer from such linguistic poverty.
This makes the case for books in the English language to be written in Bangladesh. Just how far behind other countries we happen to be in writing or producing works in English comes through a visit to any bookshop in Dhaka and other towns and cities in the country.
On the shelves are stacks of works published abroad, in Britain and America. And add to that the many works which are published in English in India and which our book lovers are compelled to purchase at exorbitant prices. Bibliophiles will, no matter the price, go back home with books they know will be a delight to read.
And that takes us to libraries abroad, where once again the absence of works on Bangladesh's literature, politics, history and society are hardly to be found on the shelves. You let the eyes rove across all those shelves, where rich collections of works from India and even Pakistan, to say nothing of other countries in the region, stand proudly before the prospective reader.
Why is there nothing on Bangladesh? Yes, Bangladesh gets to be talked about a good deal in terms of its politics, in terms of what ought to be happening regarding elections and governance. But books? They are not there because we do not write in English.
So where do we go from here? Obviously there is the matter of the rather poor state of English --- and standards in the language are slipping every day --- in Bangladesh these days. You see it in journalism, in drawing room conversations, in the attempts by some of our people to inject certain Americanisms into their otherwise Bengali conversations.
And one of the factors behind this slide in English has to do with the dumbing down of English --- 'wow' and 'awesome' --- in the country. We do not go beyond the headlines. On social media, many users of it lapse into English, and bad English at that.
Complaints apart, a nation is known abroad not merely by its politics but, on a higher level, by its cultural background. There is little question that Bengali culture is a rich fountain of knowledge arising out of its heritage. It then becomes a responsibility of the state as well as cultural organisations to undertake measures geared to a writing and publication of works that will take Bangladesh to non-Bengali homes and libraries and research organisations overseas.
Additionally, the literary works of our essayists, novelists, playwrights and poets ought to be taken up for translation, a responsibility which leading publishers in the country can initiate through having panels of individuals known for their skills in understanding the nuances of literature and employing their understanding in English.
In the field of political history and biography, it is essential that compilations on the subjects be prepared and projected abroad. If a nation is known by its cultural heritage abroad, it is knowledge that is further enriched through writers focusing on the lives of its political leadership and on the history of the country. Books on the causes behind the emergence of Bangladesh ought to have been on overseas library and bookstore shelves long ago.
There is yet time to make up for lost opportunities. Books must be written objectively, offering good historical insights into the subjects, such as those that will assist researchers in their analyses of Bangladesh.
Here at home, with as many as thirty-plus private television channels offering tons of entertainment to viewers, it should be for their management to include in their schedules serious and focused weekly discussions on newly published books, discussions which will bring reviewers as well as the writers of the books into intellectually stimulating conversations on the subject.
For citizens in our towns and villages, efforts must be made to inform them of publications in the country, which information will add to the knowledge quotient in the young in educational institutions. An individual becomes a citizen of the world through a knowledge of books. Our media, especially the electronic component of it, should be playing its role in preparing our people for that role.
There used to be a time when our mothers' generation looked forward to the day when peripatetic booksellers would turn up in the locality with their new collections of books and journals. Our fathers' generation, despite their different stations in life, were well-versed through their reading with the ways of the world.
At rural teashops, villagers shared news of their surroundings even as they sat reading the newspaper. The young in school and college, inspired by their teachers, went looking for books to borrow from libraries or friends or relatives to read at home.
We need to recreate that world. And then take that world to the world beyond our frontiers, to have people across the globe know that we are the inheritors of a great literary tradition, that we are ready to gift them this tradition in English, the language understood across vast regions of the planet.