The epic journey of Nurjahan Begum

Although it sounds far-fetched, we feel tempted to link the great seven-summit conquests of Wasfia Nazreen to the women's magazine Begum, and its editor Nurjahan Begum. The editor earned the distinction of being a pioneer in the awakening of backward Bengalee Muslim women five to six decades ago. The indomitable Bangladesh mountaineer may not have been a reader or writer of Begum; but her mother or grandmother may have been. Or may not, which does not matter. The Begum lit an ever-shining torch in 1947. Since then the women's weekly has been carrying its flame from one generation to another generation of Bengalee women.
Apart from impacting on their psyche directly, Begum has also shaped the thoughts and views of many women indirectly. Lots of Bengalee women did not have access to this journal, but they did feel the peer pressure, which enabled them to share the thoughts and resolve of the Begum fraternity.
The joining of 44 ocean-going women sailors to Bangladesh Navy came just a few days after the death of Nurjahan Begum late last month. She would have been delighted to hear the news, like myriads of such news telling about spectacular achievements of Bangladesh women in different sectors. The areas range from teaching and academia, the arts, the media, politics, medical profession, entrepreneurship and sport to social activism. In a way, Begum and its editor Nurjahan Begum later came to be viewed as the perfect guides to our educated women who would eventually symbolise female empowerment. The journal had prepared the women in the last 10 to 15 years of Pakistan to play their due role in the struggle for independent Bangladesh.
Nurjahan Begum passed away on  May 23 at the age of 91. The weekly Begum was launched by his legendary editor-father Mohammad Nasiruddin (1888-1994) in the then Kolkata on July 20 in 1947. It was the first women's weekly in the sub-continent. The magazine appeared as a sister concern of the literary monthly Saogat, also founded by her father in Kolkata. Saogat later emerged as a strong platform for Bengalee writers, Muslims in particular.  Appearing in Kolkata in the undivided India in 1947, Begum has been coming out for the last 65 years.
The publication of Saogat in 1918 was a great feat of Mohammad Nasiruddin. The monthly played a major role in catering to the blossoming of the creativity of writers belonging mostly to the Muslim community. In those days, they were desperately in need of a literary foothold which would provide them with enough space to express their creative thoughts comfortably.
In time Saogat emerged as an institution to the Bengalee writers. So did Begum, as it had transformed itself into a strong mouthpiece for Muslim Bengalee women writers. Already marginalised owing to being bound by socio-cultural restrictions, they had found themselves lagging behind the writers from the other dominant communities. The Begum magazine opened before them the long-cherished path to freedom. Eventually it turned out to be a trusted medium of their creative activities. The founding editor of the journal was Poet Sufia Kamal, by then a preeminent poet. Nurjahan Begum took its reins after it was shifted to Dhaka in 1951 along with Saogat.
Keeping in view the radical progress the Bangladesh women have made in the independent country, the great role of Begum can in no way be downplayed. In the pre-independence Bangladesh, the journal prompted a renaissance of sorts in the minds of its female readers and writers. This had to take place as it was what that necessitated the publication of Begum in Kolkata. In an ironical twist of history, the educated Bengalee women began facing a similar adverse environment in the then East Pakistan. The province ruled by an oligarchic clique in a capital hundreds of miles away was made to go by the rulers' cultural decrees. As could be expected, Begum took upon itself the great task of imparting advanced thoughts to its readers. In tandem with the readers' continued rise, younger writers, too, had kept appearing as decades rolled by. A number of today's major women writers began their literary career in this journal. Scores of its avid readers and regular contributors later carved out their niche in different sectors at national and social levels. On the other hand, the general readers in East Pakistan, suppressed and dreaming of political freedom, unmistakably discovered an inspiring beacon in the journal.
Due to its being literature-dominant, Begum has never encouraged direct political writings. But it was found sufficiently patronising popular sentiments of the time. In their literary pieces, its politically conscious writers did not fail to offer socio-political commentaries. Intelligent readers could decipher the message being carried in the subterranean layers of literary pieces. The Begum magazine has never been a mouthpiece of activism, nor was it purely feminist. Yet in the garb of a traditional and leisurely women's journal, it acted as a torchbearer to urban literate women. In the days of East Pakistan, the slowly emerging women's power under Bengalee identity subtly permeated the journal. It helped instill assertiveness and a sense of self-dignity in the womenfolk passing through the critical phase of mass upsurges in the 1960s. It's true, the editor Nurjahan Begum had to accommodate scores of budding and amateur writers. She also had to cater to the taste and demands of the average readers. As the readers of a conventional weekly women's journal would look for, Begum had enough space for typically female areas of day-to-day urban life. Its essentially literary character notwithstanding, the magazine has not wavered from journalism. It used to have a considerable thrust on the mundane aspects of life. Write-ups on these topics came from both senior and young female writers.
 Being the child of a revolution of the mind, Nurjahan Begum could not remain a mere onlooker of the changes taking place around her. She allowed Begum to rightfully earn for itself the role of a trustworthy companion for women. To this end, she floated the Begum Club at the Saogat office in Dhaka upon her father's suggestion. The club acted as an added boost to the mission of the journal. Apart from literary discussions, the sittings at the club would touch upon varied subjects ranging from women's role in the family, society to the spreading of enlightenment. Begum Club began in 1954 and continued until 1970.
Perhaps to prove its courageous editorial policy, Begum was the first ever women's journal in Bengal to publish photographs of its writers. The vogue had been in force since the journal's early years in Kolkata. Two of its special Eid issues between 1947 and 1950 printed photographs of all its female writers. It raised quite a few eyebrows among the Muslim community. But dauntless as Mohammad Nasiruddin was as a journalist and editor, Begum continued the tradition as it was shifted to East Pakistan.
The women readers and writers graciously accepted it. In the following six decades, photographs of writers in its voluminous Eid issues became a hallmark of Begum. It was a happy occasion for the writers to project themselves to their readers; but for Mohammad Nasiruddin and his equally nonconformist editor-daughter it was like throwing a challenge to obscurantism.
The saga of Begum spans six long decades. But when it comes to its catalyst's role in our women's overall uplift, the journal appears to have crossed century-old eras. Without Begum, the educated Bengalee Muslim women may not have been the same as we find them today.
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