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Babu Bangladesh!
Bangladesh, 2028. A biographer begins to document the life of an enigmatic and controversial political luminary – Babu, also known as ‘Babu Bangladesh’. In unearthing the story of a man whom many thought was the leader of his generation, he begins to uncover the story of a nation itself.
437 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 25, 2019
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December 21, 2019
Melancholy, Nostalgia, and an Attempt at Valiant Patriotism
Bangladesh, 1971. At the roots of a venerable tree, a bot, a young couple press against each other, sobbing in desperation, to create a new life in a country that awaits a direction. A few decades later, Babu Abdul Majumdar emerges as a highly promising political leader, enthralling all he meets. One day, sometime around 2021, he disappears.
The narrator of ‘Babu Bangladesh!’ then takes it upon himself to write about the life and times of this ardent environmentalist, segmenting them into five sections – building, tree, snake, island, bird. Each more mysterious than the other, with one simple entity unfurling into a cornucopia of symbols, motifs, and metaphors. It is a story that depends on the allegories of nature, a desperate plea to save the world of the environmental and social hellhole it has fallen into.
‘Babu Bangladesh’ is not so much a novel as a historical maze, and not a particularly easy one, either. Nothing is as it seems, everything is enmeshed in the long, tumultuous history of the country. It needs the construction and understanding of a bigger picture, the birth and growth of Bangladesh in its entirety, to actually make sense to the reader. There lies its beauty and its trickery, its pull and its allure. It is an ambitious project, efficiently executed on paper, to give a voice to the intricate workings of a country.
This is done with the help of the eccentric character introduced earlier, with whom our narrator is besotted. He makes half-hearted attempts to point out Babu’s flaws, and repeatedly tries to assure us in his avowal that his intention is not to “adulate or elevate (Babu) as an icon”. But the rest of his time is spent in singing paeans of great Babu character, who was on his way to lead Bangladesh to a new era before his spirits collapsed midway.
For Babu’s demotion our narrator blames the political scenario, the hunger and freed of a nation’s leaders to seize prosperity while denouncing citizens that do not help them in their mad ascent. Readers will feel a connection to this disrespect for people’s sentiments that happens again and again, the “abundant treacheries” on a nation and its inhabitants that leave a country hollow and bereft. The novel is, specifically, a gratitude towards the numerous brave who laid their lives for the birth of a new country, and then a lamentation of how poorly the blood has been repaid. There is a distinct sympathy for the forgotten and downtrodden, with details and revelations, like sex workers abusing steroid to appear “robust and plump” to clients, shocking readers and helping them know Bangladesh all the better. It stands in solidarity with the psychology of the oppressed community in Bangladesh and beyond, that turns to violence to vent their fury over being butchered and trampled on.
In the midst of these mangled national aspirations that sashay in and out of time and space, the novel could easily have become staid, just another raw and dry decrial against politics. But Babu Bangladesh! turns out to be much more, a major reason being Numair’s affair with words and sentences, literature and language. He has a formidable vocabulary, bringing words into usage seldom heard of or known, and weaving them expertly into the most beautiful of sentences. Read this, for instance: “Once again, numbers were doomed to repeat themselves, antique mammoths rose wearily, and the integers of time dances deadly to old tunes.” The very preface of the novel is a delight, hinting at the exciting thing to come but not giving too much away; a nifty trick to keep readers hooked.
Just like the narrator is impressed by his hero’s “mastery over environmental research debates, soul sciences, geological and marine biology, and ethno-geographic meditations,” so too are readers taken aback by the writer’s “spiffy verbiage and the vigor and depth of his convictions.” At one point the narrator and writer and Babu merge into one character. Larger than life, carrying a nation’s whorled past within him, and armed with a truly scary vocabulary.
In fact, there is always the danger that a sizeable portion of Numair’s text “goes over the audience’s head,” as it does for Babu’s disciples. For that reason alone, the novel needs careful attention and rigorous fact checks and references, not unlike a Bangladesh 101. And yet not all is serious, there are bouts of humor that show a wicked side to things. Sometimes that writer has fun at the reader’s expense, and at other times at the protagonist’s.
It is the only novel from Numair we will read – after working for 15 years on it and completing the draft, he tragically passed away. The novel was published posthumously. There are so many questions to ask the author, of his intentions and attempt, of his lack of distinction between reality and fantasy, of his impulsive rewriting of history, the hint of bilocation, of magic realism, of the surreal.
We receive few answers, but perhaps it does not matter any more. For, as Choudhury reminds us, throughout the meandering account, we have “rotated like a dervish, with one finger pointing towards the azure and another pointing towards the ground.” Even after this trance-like whirling stops, there are a hundred forms of griefs, wasted opportunities, and regrets oozing through the words. None of them are as ominous and foreboding as the last thing our narrator says to us – Farewell, my friend.
Farewell, Numair Atif Choudhury.
Bangladesh, 1971. At the roots of a venerable tree, a bot, a young couple press against each other, sobbing in desperation, to create a new life in a country that awaits a direction. A few decades later, Babu Abdul Majumdar emerges as a highly promising political leader, enthralling all he meets. One day, sometime around 2021, he disappears.
The narrator of ‘Babu Bangladesh!’ then takes it upon himself to write about the life and times of this ardent environmentalist, segmenting them into five sections – building, tree, snake, island, bird. Each more mysterious than the other, with one simple entity unfurling into a cornucopia of symbols, motifs, and metaphors. It is a story that depends on the allegories of nature, a desperate plea to save the world of the environmental and social hellhole it has fallen into.
‘Babu Bangladesh’ is not so much a novel as a historical maze, and not a particularly easy one, either. Nothing is as it seems, everything is enmeshed in the long, tumultuous history of the country. It needs the construction and understanding of a bigger picture, the birth and growth of Bangladesh in its entirety, to actually make sense to the reader. There lies its beauty and its trickery, its pull and its allure. It is an ambitious project, efficiently executed on paper, to give a voice to the intricate workings of a country.
This is done with the help of the eccentric character introduced earlier, with whom our narrator is besotted. He makes half-hearted attempts to point out Babu’s flaws, and repeatedly tries to assure us in his avowal that his intention is not to “adulate or elevate (Babu) as an icon”. But the rest of his time is spent in singing paeans of great Babu character, who was on his way to lead Bangladesh to a new era before his spirits collapsed midway.
For Babu’s demotion our narrator blames the political scenario, the hunger and freed of a nation’s leaders to seize prosperity while denouncing citizens that do not help them in their mad ascent. Readers will feel a connection to this disrespect for people’s sentiments that happens again and again, the “abundant treacheries” on a nation and its inhabitants that leave a country hollow and bereft. The novel is, specifically, a gratitude towards the numerous brave who laid their lives for the birth of a new country, and then a lamentation of how poorly the blood has been repaid. There is a distinct sympathy for the forgotten and downtrodden, with details and revelations, like sex workers abusing steroid to appear “robust and plump” to clients, shocking readers and helping them know Bangladesh all the better. It stands in solidarity with the psychology of the oppressed community in Bangladesh and beyond, that turns to violence to vent their fury over being butchered and trampled on.
In the midst of these mangled national aspirations that sashay in and out of time and space, the novel could easily have become staid, just another raw and dry decrial against politics. But Babu Bangladesh! turns out to be much more, a major reason being Numair’s affair with words and sentences, literature and language. He has a formidable vocabulary, bringing words into usage seldom heard of or known, and weaving them expertly into the most beautiful of sentences. Read this, for instance: “Once again, numbers were doomed to repeat themselves, antique mammoths rose wearily, and the integers of time dances deadly to old tunes.” The very preface of the novel is a delight, hinting at the exciting thing to come but not giving too much away; a nifty trick to keep readers hooked.
Just like the narrator is impressed by his hero’s “mastery over environmental research debates, soul sciences, geological and marine biology, and ethno-geographic meditations,” so too are readers taken aback by the writer’s “spiffy verbiage and the vigor and depth of his convictions.” At one point the narrator and writer and Babu merge into one character. Larger than life, carrying a nation’s whorled past within him, and armed with a truly scary vocabulary.
In fact, there is always the danger that a sizeable portion of Numair’s text “goes over the audience’s head,” as it does for Babu’s disciples. For that reason alone, the novel needs careful attention and rigorous fact checks and references, not unlike a Bangladesh 101. And yet not all is serious, there are bouts of humor that show a wicked side to things. Sometimes that writer has fun at the reader’s expense, and at other times at the protagonist’s.
It is the only novel from Numair we will read – after working for 15 years on it and completing the draft, he tragically passed away. The novel was published posthumously. There are so many questions to ask the author, of his intentions and attempt, of his lack of distinction between reality and fantasy, of his impulsive rewriting of history, the hint of bilocation, of magic realism, of the surreal.
We receive few answers, but perhaps it does not matter any more. For, as Choudhury reminds us, throughout the meandering account, we have “rotated like a dervish, with one finger pointing towards the azure and another pointing towards the ground.” Even after this trance-like whirling stops, there are a hundred forms of griefs, wasted opportunities, and regrets oozing through the words. None of them are as ominous and foreboding as the last thing our narrator says to us – Farewell, my friend.
Farewell, Numair Atif Choudhury.
August 7, 2019
"In Bangladesh, Babu is remembered as a writer, a politician, and as something of a mystic."
Babu Bangladesh, an enigmatic and powerful politician suddenly disappears and people are left to articulate his strange disappearance through half baked stories and conspiracy theories. But when a set of manuscripts written by the legendary Babu Bangladesh falls in the hands of our over-enthusiastic narrator, he wastes no time in bringing this character to life. It's the year 2027, Bangladesh's politics and economy have seen both good and bad days and through the narrator's meticulous research, we are about to know all of it.
.
Babu Bangladesh was always a curious child. He grew up to join Dhaka University and found himself at the center of an institution that birthed and sheltered freedom fighters. His initial days were spent admiring the 'Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban', followed by a keen interest in Louis I. Kahn's geomantic tradition. His subsequent selection into the JSD party and his rise to one of the most respected and visionary politician can best be described as tumultuous.
.
Babu Bangladesh and his parents worked as activists and were a part of many protests and government operations, especially during Bangladesh's clash with India and Pakistan. He even had to flee from Dhaka, only to get back to his beloved motherland after few years to resume his good work.
.
A well-respected politician must have multiple enemies, hundreds of speculations and Babu Bangladesh was no exception. From being arrested for incidents he has no hand into being framed for embezzlement, he had seen it all.
.
Narrated in shifting timelines, 'Babu Bangladesh!' is a vivid portrayal of Bangladesh's political scenario from the 1940s to 2019(right up to Babu's disappearance). Babu has been effectively used as a vessel to give us a more intimate portrayal of how death and destruction, and sometimes happiness once swept through Bangladesh.
However, the book reads like a classic history textbook and Babu is just that- a vessel. His emotions state isn't explored as much as it should have been, giving us a sense of detachment throughout.
.
A fiction that reads like nonfiction, 'Babu Bangladesh!' is also the narrator's journey in gathering facts and information even after being roughed up and threatened countless time. We follow Babu's journey into oblivion and simultaneously follow the author's struggle to bring this story to life.
Babu Bangladesh, an enigmatic and powerful politician suddenly disappears and people are left to articulate his strange disappearance through half baked stories and conspiracy theories. But when a set of manuscripts written by the legendary Babu Bangladesh falls in the hands of our over-enthusiastic narrator, he wastes no time in bringing this character to life. It's the year 2027, Bangladesh's politics and economy have seen both good and bad days and through the narrator's meticulous research, we are about to know all of it.
.
Babu Bangladesh was always a curious child. He grew up to join Dhaka University and found himself at the center of an institution that birthed and sheltered freedom fighters. His initial days were spent admiring the 'Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban', followed by a keen interest in Louis I. Kahn's geomantic tradition. His subsequent selection into the JSD party and his rise to one of the most respected and visionary politician can best be described as tumultuous.
.
Babu Bangladesh and his parents worked as activists and were a part of many protests and government operations, especially during Bangladesh's clash with India and Pakistan. He even had to flee from Dhaka, only to get back to his beloved motherland after few years to resume his good work.
.
A well-respected politician must have multiple enemies, hundreds of speculations and Babu Bangladesh was no exception. From being arrested for incidents he has no hand into being framed for embezzlement, he had seen it all.
.
Narrated in shifting timelines, 'Babu Bangladesh!' is a vivid portrayal of Bangladesh's political scenario from the 1940s to 2019(right up to Babu's disappearance). Babu has been effectively used as a vessel to give us a more intimate portrayal of how death and destruction, and sometimes happiness once swept through Bangladesh.
However, the book reads like a classic history textbook and Babu is just that- a vessel. His emotions state isn't explored as much as it should have been, giving us a sense of detachment throughout.
.
A fiction that reads like nonfiction, 'Babu Bangladesh!' is also the narrator's journey in gathering facts and information even after being roughed up and threatened countless time. We follow Babu's journey into oblivion and simultaneously follow the author's struggle to bring this story to life.
May 18, 2020
Bangladesh, 1971. At the roots of a venerable tree, a bot, a young couple press against each other, sobbing in desperation, to create a new life in a country that awaits a direction. A few decades later, Babu Abdul Majumdar emerges as a highly promising political leader, enthralling all he meets. One day, sometime around 2021, he disappears.
The narrator of Babu Bangladesh! then takes it upon himself to write about the life and times of this ardent environmentalist, segmenting them into five sections—building, tree, snake, island, bird. Each more mysterious than the other, with one simple entity unfurling into a cornucopia of symbols, motifs, and metaphors. It is a story that depends on the allegories of nature, a desperate plea to save the world of the environmental and social hellhole it has fallen into.
Babu Bangladesh! is not so much a novel as a historical maze, and not a particularly easy one, either. Nothing is as it seems, everything is enmeshed in the long, tumultuous history of the country. It needs the construction and understanding of a bigger picture, the birth and growth of Bangladesh in its entirety, to actually make sense to the reader. There lie its beauty and its trickery, its pull and its allure. It is an ambitious project, efficiently executed on paper, to give a voice to the intricate workings of a country.
This is done with the help of the eccentric character introduced earlier, with whom our narrator is besotted. He makes half-hearted attempts to point out Babu’s flaws, and repeatedly tries to assure us in his avowal that his intention is not to “adulate or elevate (Babu) as an icon”. But the rest of his time is spent in singing paeans of great Babu character, who was on his way to lead Bangladesh to a new era before his spirits collapsed midway.
For Babu’s demotion, our narrator blames the political scenario, the hunger and greed of a nation’s leaders to seize prosperity while denouncing citizens that do not help them in their mad ascent. Readers will feel a connection to this disrespect for people’s sentiments that happens, again and again, the “abundant treacheries” on a nation and its inhabitants that leave a country hollow and bereft. The novel is, specifically, gratitude towards the numerous brave who laid their lives for the birth of a new country, and then a lamentation of how poorly the blood has been repaid. There is a distinct sympathy for the forgotten and downtrodden, with details and revelations, like sex workers abusing steroid to appear “robust and plump” to clients, shocking readers and helping them know Bangladesh all the better. It stands in solidarity with the psychology of the oppressed community in Bangladesh and beyond, that turns to violence to vent their fury over being butchered and trampled on.
In the midst of these mangled national aspirations that sashay in and out of time and space, the novel could easily have become staid, just another raw and dry decrial against politics. But Babu Bangladesh! turns out to be much more, a major reason being Numair’s affair with words and sentences, literature and language. He has a formidable vocabulary, bringing words into usage seldom heard of or known, and weaving them expertly into the most beautiful of sentences. Read this, for instance: “Once again, numbers were doomed to repeat themselves, antique mammoths rose wearily, and the integers of time dances deadly to old tunes.” The very preface of the novel is a delight, hinting at the exciting thing to come but not giving too much away; a nifty trick to keep readers hooked.
Just like the narrator is impressed by his hero’s “mastery over environmental research debates, soul sciences, geological and marine biology, and ethno-geographic meditations,” so too are readers taken aback by the writer’s “spiffy verbiage and the vigour and depth of his convictions.” At one point the narrator and writer and Babu merge into one character. Larger than life, carrying a nation’s whorled past within him, and armed with a truly scary vocabulary.
In fact, there is always the danger that a sizeable portion of Numair’s text goes over the audience’s head, as it does in the book for Babu’s disciples. For that reason alone, the novel needs careful attention and rigorous fact checks and references, not unlike a Bangladesh 101. And yet not all is serious, there are bouts of humour that show a wicked side to things. Sometimes that writer has fun at the reader’s expense, and at other times at the protagonist’s.
It is the only novel from Numair we will read—after working for 15 years on it and completing the draft, he tragically passed away. The novel was published posthumously. There are so many questions to ask the author, of his intentions and attempt, of his lack of distinction between reality and fantasy, of his impulsive rewriting of history, the hint of bilocation, of magic realism, of the surreal.
We receive a few answers, but perhaps it does not matter any more. For, as Choudhury reminds us, throughout the meandering account, we have “rotated like a dervish, with one finger pointing towards the azure and another pointing towards the ground.” Even after this trance-like whirling stops, there are a hundred forms of griefs, wasted opportunities, and regrets oozing through the words. None of them is as ominous and foreboding as the last thing our narrator says to us—farewell, my friend.
Farewell, Numair Atif Choudhury.
The narrator of Babu Bangladesh! then takes it upon himself to write about the life and times of this ardent environmentalist, segmenting them into five sections—building, tree, snake, island, bird. Each more mysterious than the other, with one simple entity unfurling into a cornucopia of symbols, motifs, and metaphors. It is a story that depends on the allegories of nature, a desperate plea to save the world of the environmental and social hellhole it has fallen into.
Babu Bangladesh! is not so much a novel as a historical maze, and not a particularly easy one, either. Nothing is as it seems, everything is enmeshed in the long, tumultuous history of the country. It needs the construction and understanding of a bigger picture, the birth and growth of Bangladesh in its entirety, to actually make sense to the reader. There lie its beauty and its trickery, its pull and its allure. It is an ambitious project, efficiently executed on paper, to give a voice to the intricate workings of a country.
This is done with the help of the eccentric character introduced earlier, with whom our narrator is besotted. He makes half-hearted attempts to point out Babu’s flaws, and repeatedly tries to assure us in his avowal that his intention is not to “adulate or elevate (Babu) as an icon”. But the rest of his time is spent in singing paeans of great Babu character, who was on his way to lead Bangladesh to a new era before his spirits collapsed midway.
For Babu’s demotion, our narrator blames the political scenario, the hunger and greed of a nation’s leaders to seize prosperity while denouncing citizens that do not help them in their mad ascent. Readers will feel a connection to this disrespect for people’s sentiments that happens, again and again, the “abundant treacheries” on a nation and its inhabitants that leave a country hollow and bereft. The novel is, specifically, gratitude towards the numerous brave who laid their lives for the birth of a new country, and then a lamentation of how poorly the blood has been repaid. There is a distinct sympathy for the forgotten and downtrodden, with details and revelations, like sex workers abusing steroid to appear “robust and plump” to clients, shocking readers and helping them know Bangladesh all the better. It stands in solidarity with the psychology of the oppressed community in Bangladesh and beyond, that turns to violence to vent their fury over being butchered and trampled on.
In the midst of these mangled national aspirations that sashay in and out of time and space, the novel could easily have become staid, just another raw and dry decrial against politics. But Babu Bangladesh! turns out to be much more, a major reason being Numair’s affair with words and sentences, literature and language. He has a formidable vocabulary, bringing words into usage seldom heard of or known, and weaving them expertly into the most beautiful of sentences. Read this, for instance: “Once again, numbers were doomed to repeat themselves, antique mammoths rose wearily, and the integers of time dances deadly to old tunes.” The very preface of the novel is a delight, hinting at the exciting thing to come but not giving too much away; a nifty trick to keep readers hooked.
Just like the narrator is impressed by his hero’s “mastery over environmental research debates, soul sciences, geological and marine biology, and ethno-geographic meditations,” so too are readers taken aback by the writer’s “spiffy verbiage and the vigour and depth of his convictions.” At one point the narrator and writer and Babu merge into one character. Larger than life, carrying a nation’s whorled past within him, and armed with a truly scary vocabulary.
In fact, there is always the danger that a sizeable portion of Numair’s text goes over the audience’s head, as it does in the book for Babu’s disciples. For that reason alone, the novel needs careful attention and rigorous fact checks and references, not unlike a Bangladesh 101. And yet not all is serious, there are bouts of humour that show a wicked side to things. Sometimes that writer has fun at the reader’s expense, and at other times at the protagonist’s.
It is the only novel from Numair we will read—after working for 15 years on it and completing the draft, he tragically passed away. The novel was published posthumously. There are so many questions to ask the author, of his intentions and attempt, of his lack of distinction between reality and fantasy, of his impulsive rewriting of history, the hint of bilocation, of magic realism, of the surreal.
We receive a few answers, but perhaps it does not matter any more. For, as Choudhury reminds us, throughout the meandering account, we have “rotated like a dervish, with one finger pointing towards the azure and another pointing towards the ground.” Even after this trance-like whirling stops, there are a hundred forms of griefs, wasted opportunities, and regrets oozing through the words. None of them is as ominous and foreboding as the last thing our narrator says to us—farewell, my friend.
Farewell, Numair Atif Choudhury.
September 13, 2019
The book is good, not great. It is well researched and you can see the effort that went into writing it. However, it would be unfair to compare it to Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children or classify it as “magical realism”. As a first book by new writer it is not bad. Unfortunately, it is not the great Bangladesh novel that I am still waiting for someone write.
October 26, 2019
Babu Bangladesh was a wild ride, with steep ups and downs. Numair has crafted a story drenched in Bangladeshi history without getting too nostalgic. Sadly, a pedantic tone and a narrative that never settles mars the overall experience of enjoying the story.
Numair, I believe, focuses on the idea that reality is subjective. What we perceive is 'personal' reality and that a 'communal' existence may be massively different. His thesis is the malleability or the fragile nature of memories on which histories are built and stories are told.
Can memory be trusted?
He contends that people, especially those in power, shape reality. Babu is a case study, as we see him explored from various angles: his friends and family, his supporters and detractors, and his diary.
Each of these groups gives insight into Babu's personality. Each perception is different, and he continually appears to be in flux. To his friends and family, Babu is a quiet introvert, while his supporters and rivals see him as a political powerhouse. His diary informs us of the academic within, presenting a highly reflective and self-aware side to him.
This second-hand view of Babu works quite interestingly throughout the text. There is no 'definite' Babu to speak of. No one can agree on a singular Babu. He changes continuously, turning into what the narrative needs him to be.
His relationship with Bangladesh is deeply entrenched in paranormal aspects. The first chapter looks at Jatiya Sangsad's geometric mystical powers, while the second uses a quasi-supernatural bot tree to symbolize the nation's indomitable spirit. The rest of the chapters use a long-lost, extinct breed of snake, a purported island home to merpeople, and a human-sized bird.
Lost in Ostentation
Numair builds the story on a foundation of pseudo-academic mumbo jumbo that he indulges in extensively. The narrative is held back by an insane level of pedantry that is almost bordering on self-parody. The writing is serious and academic in tone, though the story takes comedic turns at times. It results in a confusing tone, a mishmash of ideas that are discordant with each other.
The writing gets bogged down by unnecessary details, making it a slog of a read. The story also takes a back seat to academia. I often forgot what was happening because there would be massive info dumps. It inevitably lost its charm very soon. The writing also is more concerned with 'telling' rather than 'showing.'
There is a genuinely fascinating story about Bangladesh hidden in there under all the pretension. It highlights Bangladesh's ups and downs, especially the potential buried under politics and corruption. However, it's held back by its pompous nature and an apparent unwillingness to tell a 'complete' story. Numair makes a good point about perceived reality and 'post-truth.' The only problem: he comes across as trying too hard.
Numair, I believe, focuses on the idea that reality is subjective. What we perceive is 'personal' reality and that a 'communal' existence may be massively different. His thesis is the malleability or the fragile nature of memories on which histories are built and stories are told.
Can memory be trusted?
He contends that people, especially those in power, shape reality. Babu is a case study, as we see him explored from various angles: his friends and family, his supporters and detractors, and his diary.
Each of these groups gives insight into Babu's personality. Each perception is different, and he continually appears to be in flux. To his friends and family, Babu is a quiet introvert, while his supporters and rivals see him as a political powerhouse. His diary informs us of the academic within, presenting a highly reflective and self-aware side to him.
This second-hand view of Babu works quite interestingly throughout the text. There is no 'definite' Babu to speak of. No one can agree on a singular Babu. He changes continuously, turning into what the narrative needs him to be.
His relationship with Bangladesh is deeply entrenched in paranormal aspects. The first chapter looks at Jatiya Sangsad's geometric mystical powers, while the second uses a quasi-supernatural bot tree to symbolize the nation's indomitable spirit. The rest of the chapters use a long-lost, extinct breed of snake, a purported island home to merpeople, and a human-sized bird.
Lost in Ostentation
Numair builds the story on a foundation of pseudo-academic mumbo jumbo that he indulges in extensively. The narrative is held back by an insane level of pedantry that is almost bordering on self-parody. The writing is serious and academic in tone, though the story takes comedic turns at times. It results in a confusing tone, a mishmash of ideas that are discordant with each other.
The writing gets bogged down by unnecessary details, making it a slog of a read. The story also takes a back seat to academia. I often forgot what was happening because there would be massive info dumps. It inevitably lost its charm very soon. The writing also is more concerned with 'telling' rather than 'showing.'
There is a genuinely fascinating story about Bangladesh hidden in there under all the pretension. It highlights Bangladesh's ups and downs, especially the potential buried under politics and corruption. However, it's held back by its pompous nature and an apparent unwillingness to tell a 'complete' story. Numair makes a good point about perceived reality and 'post-truth.' The only problem: he comes across as trying too hard.
August 26, 2019
Brilliant! What Midnight's Children was to Indian English fiction, this book is to Bangladeshi English fiction. Folklore, Magic realism, dystopia and more, this is a work of a genius! Sad to know that this is the first and only published work from the author who died in a tragic accident after the final draft of this book was completed in 2018.
May 1, 2022
So I’ve been hearing about this book since a couple of DLF’s past, and finally made the ill-advised decision to pick this up during a really bad reading slump. Ill-advised because I had promised myself to allow myself to heal from the burnout by avoiding issues that trigger my paranoia regarding surveillance and censorship. Reading this novel brought all those fears back to the surface.
Having said that, this seems to be the late Numair Atif Chowdhury’s only published novel, and what a masterwork it is! Weaving political history, social commentary, local tradition and folklore into a rich tapestry of fantasy, he’s created something truly original. Tracing the rise, ascension and disappearance of the fictional political superhero Babu Bangladesh, Chowdhury has shown the multi-faceted, often self-contradictory nature of his motherland. As hard as it was to read it, one feels more keenly the loss of the brilliant mind that created it. Such a tragedy.
January 26, 2020
This book is a gem. Completely unexpected from an author of such origin but I think this book heralds a whole new dimension to Bangladeshi literature. Merging the past and current politics of the country with surrealism while throwing in a few subtle punches - this book redefines how you witness your very own city and its surroundings in a whole new light!
August 14, 2025
This one is a mix of genres, a fascinating work that covers unexpected terrains, mixing up history, biography and magical realism to bring together a potent cocktail of thoughts, but it feels the author tries too hard, ultimately having the effect of straining the narration.
A biographer, interested in the life of Babu Bangladesh (originally Babu Abdul Majumdar), a moniker Babu uses while contesting elections, using many sources as guidance presents the story of Babu to the readers. The book is divided into five sections – Building, Tree, Snake, Island and Bird - and through these sections that deal with different aspects of Bangladesh's history, we get an amalgamation of Babu's life story and the nation's story.
In the section Building, the focus is on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, the Bangladesh parliament build by Louis i Kahn, who also built the Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital and IIM Ahmedabad. Babu studies the architecture of the Sangsad Bhaban, joins a group dedicated to unearth the mysteries of these structures and later gets involved in politics by joining a small party, the JSD. The section also describes the Presidential plaza incident, where the Awami League politician Aman gathered right wing groups to bomb the place in order to take over the brothel at Tanbazar and Nimtoli, but it fails partially due to Babu's involvement and also a mysterious unexplainable event that appears to have blanked out the events for 30 minutes.
In the section Tree, the focus is on the Bangladesh independence moment, specifically the Pakistani attack on Bangladesh and how the Bangladeshis, including parents of Babu (Mr. and Mrs Majumdar) fought mostly around Dhaka University, how the Pakistanis wanted to destroy the Banyan Tree (Bot Tala) that remain the symbol of independence and the different tricks by which Babu and fate delayed the inevitable.
The section Snake focuses on Babu's political ventures. Babu plans to contest election and by virtue of promises about installing Eco friendly projects & special considerations for the forest dwellers, he gets across the line, but he is not able to implement what he desires. The presence of a snake, previously considered extinct, gets the world's attention and instead of infrastructure boom, the forested area becomes a protective biosphere.
The Island section is about an island where apparently a different species of hominid lived. Some remains were discovered, and from historical notes, it can be seen that there are myths around such people, all this prompted the arrival of scientists and this made the area a protected water reserve, but later as the researches show that this this might have been a false story.
Lastly in the Bird section, the author focuses on the incident that led to the disappearance of Babu. Babu Bangladesh is a sprawling, tapestry of a novel, ambitious and shape-shifting. It is a demanding read, and is very rewarding. The only quip I have is that until we get to the mood of the novel, the deliberate usage of complicated words puts one off, sample - a pivotal time in the shaping of his weltanschauung and when Babu conveyed his discoveries, he was to find that they were already au courant - that aside, this was an excellent read.
A biographer, interested in the life of Babu Bangladesh (originally Babu Abdul Majumdar), a moniker Babu uses while contesting elections, using many sources as guidance presents the story of Babu to the readers. The book is divided into five sections – Building, Tree, Snake, Island and Bird - and through these sections that deal with different aspects of Bangladesh's history, we get an amalgamation of Babu's life story and the nation's story.
In the section Building, the focus is on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, the Bangladesh parliament build by Louis i Kahn, who also built the Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital and IIM Ahmedabad. Babu studies the architecture of the Sangsad Bhaban, joins a group dedicated to unearth the mysteries of these structures and later gets involved in politics by joining a small party, the JSD. The section also describes the Presidential plaza incident, where the Awami League politician Aman gathered right wing groups to bomb the place in order to take over the brothel at Tanbazar and Nimtoli, but it fails partially due to Babu's involvement and also a mysterious unexplainable event that appears to have blanked out the events for 30 minutes.
In the section Tree, the focus is on the Bangladesh independence moment, specifically the Pakistani attack on Bangladesh and how the Bangladeshis, including parents of Babu (Mr. and Mrs Majumdar) fought mostly around Dhaka University, how the Pakistanis wanted to destroy the Banyan Tree (Bot Tala) that remain the symbol of independence and the different tricks by which Babu and fate delayed the inevitable.
The section Snake focuses on Babu's political ventures. Babu plans to contest election and by virtue of promises about installing Eco friendly projects & special considerations for the forest dwellers, he gets across the line, but he is not able to implement what he desires. The presence of a snake, previously considered extinct, gets the world's attention and instead of infrastructure boom, the forested area becomes a protective biosphere.
The Island section is about an island where apparently a different species of hominid lived. Some remains were discovered, and from historical notes, it can be seen that there are myths around such people, all this prompted the arrival of scientists and this made the area a protected water reserve, but later as the researches show that this this might have been a false story.
Lastly in the Bird section, the author focuses on the incident that led to the disappearance of Babu. Babu Bangladesh is a sprawling, tapestry of a novel, ambitious and shape-shifting. It is a demanding read, and is very rewarding. The only quip I have is that until we get to the mood of the novel, the deliberate usage of complicated words puts one off, sample - a pivotal time in the shaping of his weltanschauung and when Babu conveyed his discoveries, he was to find that they were already au courant - that aside, this was an excellent read.
October 12, 2021
The late Numair Atif Choudhury's "Babu Bangladesh" is a stunning, if extremely underrated book. A relatively simplistic biography of a political luminary and his tribulations mixed in with little hints and aftertastes of magic realism, it also hides within itself several keen observations and biting critiques of Bangladesh as both a society and a polity, as well as the struggles and reality of the honest, common, Bengali folk. With its poetic, grandiose prose to match, this book is a tour-de-force of Bangladeshi writing in English. I do have some questions about the very last chapter and how rushed it became, but all of that seems insignificant when I remember that the author himself is no more. Regardless, get the book, read it, and glare at it in indignance when it calls you out.
I thought I'd add some quotes to this just to show the beauty of his writing.
"In his Bangladeshi journey, Kahn must have brushed up against a certain Nestorian grace, that of the genteel Bengali who refuses to be anything less than welcoming of everyone around him. Egalitarian to the bone, this learned creature championed an unceasing renaissance. This sort of Bengali treads softly, as if the ground beneath is sacred and as though the heavens may at any moment call him home."
"In the groves of the Capitol, I endeavour to imagine the nature of the balance on which martyrs are weighed. And to what end? What victory will give compensation to those who have gone under and for that which has been irrevocably lost? But the Bhaban does not yield this to me. Like a child, like some Ulysses or Hafez, I too must drink from its cup."
"If every human is but a Sisyphus, forever rolling a boulder uphill only for it to roll back down, why can we not spare some lovefrom our amor fati to extend to others around us, each of whom rolls their own boulder?"
"As Bilal and I concur, for the powerless and oppressed in Bangladesh, right-wingers package Islam as a Procrustean axe with which to hew conformity on to a monstrous and mutating world. To this, they channel in other disenfranchised Muslims from overseas. Devotees who fall prey to this spiritual abyss carry bleak and grieving souls. The twisted and malformed piety that marks these unfortunate and damaged individuals offers little in the way of love or solace."
"Supernumerary minds, like Prophet Suleiman, have shrewdly observed that there is nothing new under the sun. But what about moonlight? Or dawn, or dusk? It can be universally perceived that when solar dials are turned down, the quotient of the familiar to the unascertainable turns in counter-revolutions. In half light, the uncanny is free to leap, no longer constrained by the fear of solar flames."
I thought I'd add some quotes to this just to show the beauty of his writing.
"In his Bangladeshi journey, Kahn must have brushed up against a certain Nestorian grace, that of the genteel Bengali who refuses to be anything less than welcoming of everyone around him. Egalitarian to the bone, this learned creature championed an unceasing renaissance. This sort of Bengali treads softly, as if the ground beneath is sacred and as though the heavens may at any moment call him home."
"In the groves of the Capitol, I endeavour to imagine the nature of the balance on which martyrs are weighed. And to what end? What victory will give compensation to those who have gone under and for that which has been irrevocably lost? But the Bhaban does not yield this to me. Like a child, like some Ulysses or Hafez, I too must drink from its cup."
"If every human is but a Sisyphus, forever rolling a boulder uphill only for it to roll back down, why can we not spare some lovefrom our amor fati to extend to others around us, each of whom rolls their own boulder?"
"As Bilal and I concur, for the powerless and oppressed in Bangladesh, right-wingers package Islam as a Procrustean axe with which to hew conformity on to a monstrous and mutating world. To this, they channel in other disenfranchised Muslims from overseas. Devotees who fall prey to this spiritual abyss carry bleak and grieving souls. The twisted and malformed piety that marks these unfortunate and damaged individuals offers little in the way of love or solace."
"Supernumerary minds, like Prophet Suleiman, have shrewdly observed that there is nothing new under the sun. But what about moonlight? Or dawn, or dusk? It can be universally perceived that when solar dials are turned down, the quotient of the familiar to the unascertainable turns in counter-revolutions. In half light, the uncanny is free to leap, no longer constrained by the fear of solar flames."
August 2, 2022
What do I say about this book? It is the most tedious and exasperating piece of literature I have read in a long, long time. Even setting it aside for several months and coming back to it didn't help, as the language stays the same (or grows more annoying, whatever you prefer) as you keep reading along.
Sample: "In its element, this is a story that is as indecisive, capricious and shilly-shally as water. In the examination of the times that Babu inhabited, the narrative challenges we face repeatedly assume aquatic qualities."
WTF???
412 pages of this to plod through. I almost gave up, more than once.
Of course, it is not just the writing. Our protagonist, a Howard Roark-esque character, gets into all sorts of impossible swings with all sorts of people and events in post-independent Bangladeshi history. Besides Ayn Rand, there is plenty of inspiration from magic realism, fantasy, and historical fiction - all of which collide badly, in a cesspool of incomprehensible words.
The novel deserves only two stars. My third is for the author. Intrigued by the mysterious description on the flap, and wanting to know more about the person who spent fifteen years crafting this thing, I Googled him. Found a handful of stories about his mysterious demise in a strange land (rural Japan) - and one enigmatic tribute. Suffice it to say, I have concluded that parts of the writing, especially the last chapter, were semi-autobiographical, in a sense, and this book was a spectacular attempt to troll his readers (and, I suppose, the world at large). In this, sir, you have succeeded. I doff my hat.
I still feel cheated.
Sample: "In its element, this is a story that is as indecisive, capricious and shilly-shally as water. In the examination of the times that Babu inhabited, the narrative challenges we face repeatedly assume aquatic qualities."
WTF???
412 pages of this to plod through. I almost gave up, more than once.
Of course, it is not just the writing. Our protagonist, a Howard Roark-esque character, gets into all sorts of impossible swings with all sorts of people and events in post-independent Bangladeshi history. Besides Ayn Rand, there is plenty of inspiration from magic realism, fantasy, and historical fiction - all of which collide badly, in a cesspool of incomprehensible words.
The novel deserves only two stars. My third is for the author. Intrigued by the mysterious description on the flap, and wanting to know more about the person who spent fifteen years crafting this thing, I Googled him. Found a handful of stories about his mysterious demise in a strange land (rural Japan) - and one enigmatic tribute. Suffice it to say, I have concluded that parts of the writing, especially the last chapter, were semi-autobiographical, in a sense, and this book was a spectacular attempt to troll his readers (and, I suppose, the world at large). In this, sir, you have succeeded. I doff my hat.
I still feel cheated.
February 6, 2025
Babu Bangladesh by Numair Atif Choudhury radiates with the author’s intelligence.
The novel traces the journey from birth till disappearance of Babu Abdul Majumdar from Tangail near Dhaka, a political luminary with a mysterious image. Babu’s birth and his travails runs parallel to that of Bangladesh both having come into existence around the same time, the protagonist being the son of idealist educator parents who had participated in the Liberation War from West Pakistan.
The novel is divided into 5 phases namely Building, Tree, Snake, Island and Bird wherein each phase represents a certain aspect of the country’s journey through Babu’s life.
The “Building”, The Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban (The National Parliament of Bangladesh) represents the founding ideals of the country. Despite all the troubles, the Bengalis wished to have a Grand National monument for their newly independent country. Thus was built the Sangsad Bhaban with sweat, blood and tears. He became fascinated by it during his stay at his paternal uncle’s place at Dhaka and puts in considerable efforts to learn about its rich history and the various influences, Louis I. Kahn, its American architect imbibed to create this symbol of Bangladesh. The gates were thrown open for ordinary citizens to sit in its lawns and marvel at its grandeur with a sense of national pride. But things didn’t remain that way. As the country gradually drifted away from its ideals due to human greed, so did the Bhaban. For example, all kinds of shady deals involving kickbacks negotiated and signed within its precincts.
The “Tree” symbolizes the Bengali resistance against West Pakistani atrocities and military aggression. The protection of the Banyan tree within the sprawling campus of the Dhaka University (bore the brunt of the Pakistani ire) by the students, including Babu’s parents, lit the fire of resistance. Students stood up to Pakistani bullets for their beloved “tree”. Like the tree, man wants to stand tall and upright against calamities and odds and how human history is intertwined with trees. Hence, indulgence in dendrolatry by numerous ancient civilizations and venerated in several religions. A new banyan sapling was planted to grow anew with the country. The national emblem includes the water lily.
In the “Snake” phase, the author, through Babu’s political struggles, gives an account of the corruption that pervades every aspect of the country – politicians, bureaucrats, NGOs, party men, businessmen, media, military causing massive loss of biodiversity, forest cover, flora, fauna and exploitation of the indigenous tribal people with the loss of their traditional lands. The author’s lament, as the dream of a golden Bangladesh (Sonar Bangla) is lost somewhere, is poignant.
The “Island” phase is about the submersion of a landmass known as Samadhi Island. The submersion of the island in a way represents the downfall of society because of its inability to accept difference and its failure to look at the “other” with compassion and as equals. While Babu’s fight against corrupt trade practices and efforts at making authorities accountable endeared him to the people who got the raw end of the stick, it also earned him enmity from certain powerful quarters. The good days don’t last forever and they didn’t. The author yearns for a country that embraces diversity that lay within its fold.
The “Bird” phase signifies freedom and disappearance, freedom from human attachments and disappearance of anger and hatred. It begins with a quote from Rabindranath Tagore,
“Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.”
Disappearance of Babu conveys the disappearance of the space for secular credentials, erosion of intellectual and social activism whether it is fighting for the oppressed or against exploitation of natural resources and wildlife. But all is not lost for there is hope of societal reformation and of a better tomorrow through humanity’s ability to self-introspect and collective resolve.
The author’s language felt a bit dry to begin with but gradually grows on the reader by the time one gets to the middle of the first phase. The use of subtle sarcasm is hard to miss. Moreover, there is a marked improvement in the narration in the second phase and is even better in the third one as he manages to create quite a bit of suspense in this phase. Myth and reality are interwoven with wider imagination as the narration moves forward and the author’s skill comes to the fore.
One can see a greater emphasis on a handful of characters around the protagonist but not much in terms of plots and sub-plots, except for when the students of Dhaka University hatched plans in secrecy to protect their beloved banyan tree from Pakistani fire. Despite being a fictional character, one does get the impression that some of the convictions of Babu are a reflection of the author’s own.
Numair Atif Choudhury has deftly used his academic background in anthropological magical realism by drawing parallels between ancient civilizations and their modern counterparts throughout his narration. This novel is not only his debut work but also his swansong for this very talented Bangladeshi writer sadly passed away in a freak accident in Japan.
This novel is hard to pin down to a particular genre. Although the author starts off by calling it a biographical work of Babu but there are very clear elements of magical realism such as the author’s interactions with a bird (mynah) in the course of his research on the protagonist or when the author mentions the protagonist's possible disappearance in the form of a large winged bird. There are also elements of literary fiction given the emphasis on select characters.
A recommended read to understand the diversity, politics, religion, history and society of Bangladesh through a fictional narrative.
The novel traces the journey from birth till disappearance of Babu Abdul Majumdar from Tangail near Dhaka, a political luminary with a mysterious image. Babu’s birth and his travails runs parallel to that of Bangladesh both having come into existence around the same time, the protagonist being the son of idealist educator parents who had participated in the Liberation War from West Pakistan.
The novel is divided into 5 phases namely Building, Tree, Snake, Island and Bird wherein each phase represents a certain aspect of the country’s journey through Babu’s life.
The “Building”, The Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban (The National Parliament of Bangladesh) represents the founding ideals of the country. Despite all the troubles, the Bengalis wished to have a Grand National monument for their newly independent country. Thus was built the Sangsad Bhaban with sweat, blood and tears. He became fascinated by it during his stay at his paternal uncle’s place at Dhaka and puts in considerable efforts to learn about its rich history and the various influences, Louis I. Kahn, its American architect imbibed to create this symbol of Bangladesh. The gates were thrown open for ordinary citizens to sit in its lawns and marvel at its grandeur with a sense of national pride. But things didn’t remain that way. As the country gradually drifted away from its ideals due to human greed, so did the Bhaban. For example, all kinds of shady deals involving kickbacks negotiated and signed within its precincts.
The “Tree” symbolizes the Bengali resistance against West Pakistani atrocities and military aggression. The protection of the Banyan tree within the sprawling campus of the Dhaka University (bore the brunt of the Pakistani ire) by the students, including Babu’s parents, lit the fire of resistance. Students stood up to Pakistani bullets for their beloved “tree”. Like the tree, man wants to stand tall and upright against calamities and odds and how human history is intertwined with trees. Hence, indulgence in dendrolatry by numerous ancient civilizations and venerated in several religions. A new banyan sapling was planted to grow anew with the country. The national emblem includes the water lily.
In the “Snake” phase, the author, through Babu’s political struggles, gives an account of the corruption that pervades every aspect of the country – politicians, bureaucrats, NGOs, party men, businessmen, media, military causing massive loss of biodiversity, forest cover, flora, fauna and exploitation of the indigenous tribal people with the loss of their traditional lands. The author’s lament, as the dream of a golden Bangladesh (Sonar Bangla) is lost somewhere, is poignant.
The “Island” phase is about the submersion of a landmass known as Samadhi Island. The submersion of the island in a way represents the downfall of society because of its inability to accept difference and its failure to look at the “other” with compassion and as equals. While Babu’s fight against corrupt trade practices and efforts at making authorities accountable endeared him to the people who got the raw end of the stick, it also earned him enmity from certain powerful quarters. The good days don’t last forever and they didn’t. The author yearns for a country that embraces diversity that lay within its fold.
The “Bird” phase signifies freedom and disappearance, freedom from human attachments and disappearance of anger and hatred. It begins with a quote from Rabindranath Tagore,
“Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.”
Disappearance of Babu conveys the disappearance of the space for secular credentials, erosion of intellectual and social activism whether it is fighting for the oppressed or against exploitation of natural resources and wildlife. But all is not lost for there is hope of societal reformation and of a better tomorrow through humanity’s ability to self-introspect and collective resolve.
The author’s language felt a bit dry to begin with but gradually grows on the reader by the time one gets to the middle of the first phase. The use of subtle sarcasm is hard to miss. Moreover, there is a marked improvement in the narration in the second phase and is even better in the third one as he manages to create quite a bit of suspense in this phase. Myth and reality are interwoven with wider imagination as the narration moves forward and the author’s skill comes to the fore.
One can see a greater emphasis on a handful of characters around the protagonist but not much in terms of plots and sub-plots, except for when the students of Dhaka University hatched plans in secrecy to protect their beloved banyan tree from Pakistani fire. Despite being a fictional character, one does get the impression that some of the convictions of Babu are a reflection of the author’s own.
Numair Atif Choudhury has deftly used his academic background in anthropological magical realism by drawing parallels between ancient civilizations and their modern counterparts throughout his narration. This novel is not only his debut work but also his swansong for this very talented Bangladeshi writer sadly passed away in a freak accident in Japan.
This novel is hard to pin down to a particular genre. Although the author starts off by calling it a biographical work of Babu but there are very clear elements of magical realism such as the author’s interactions with a bird (mynah) in the course of his research on the protagonist or when the author mentions the protagonist's possible disappearance in the form of a large winged bird. There are also elements of literary fiction given the emphasis on select characters.
A recommended read to understand the diversity, politics, religion, history and society of Bangladesh through a fictional narrative.
July 27, 2021
More than being a story, it acts as a history - of the fictional Babu Bangladesh and the actual Bangladesh as well.
Divided into 5 sections, it is a wild ride through religion, architecture, mystique, politics, environmental protection and disappearing tradition.
I was not sure what was fiction and what was fact as I read through the journey of Babu, but I was sure hooked and entertained.
Parts of it could have been better for me.
Divided into 5 sections, it is a wild ride through religion, architecture, mystique, politics, environmental protection and disappearing tradition.
I was not sure what was fiction and what was fact as I read through the journey of Babu, but I was sure hooked and entertained.
Parts of it could have been better for me.
May 6, 2021
Too good
January 26, 2026
The parts on the architecture of the Sangsad Bhaban and on Operation Searchlight were really really good. I was less into the chapter on birds. Overall, 3.5
September 26, 2019
BABU BANGLADESH ! , seemed to me yet another account of the Liberation War of the Muktibahinis , Birshreshtos and the Muktijodhas. Being an avid fan of the legends of the Muktijodhas , I immediately picked it up and started reading without any second thoughts.
To my utter supersize it was a tale beyond the legends of 1971.
Babu Bangladesh , to be precise is Bangladesh personified. It is a tale beyond the genres of historical fiction and non-fictional history. Yet a blend of both. The book is biography of a fictional leader Babu Abdul Mazumdar who was born on the dusk of the Liberation Treaty signed by the troops of Pakistan and later attains the status of Hamsa/Huma amongst the people of "secular" Bangladesh. The story later covers the beautiful never-before journey of Bangladesh and its people finding their physical , metaphysical and spiritual abode and purpose in this world and beyond.
Being born in a violent ambush and in search of an intellectual infrastructure and polity , Bangladesh has suffered a lot and so has our Babu Bangladesh. Beginning with the minute details of the sufferings and counter to the genocide launched by President Yahya Khan of Pakistan, the story narrates the hsitory of establishment of this nation and how it has till now being gripped by domestic violent violence against the non-Muslim Bengalis , Biharis and the indigenous population. The unheard anecdotes of the nation attaining finding its integrity and nirvana in the architecture of Louis Kahn, in the unioted fight against the BNP, to fight capitalists driven poverty, unemployment , unwanted migrations and abuse of natural endowment, the corrupt power plays of bureaucracy and diplomacy in exploiting a young and humble nation are indeed very beautifully narrated.
This book is a wonderful treatise on Polity, Anthropology, Social-strata and Spiritual discoveries of a tiny impossible nation we now know as Bangladesh!
I was filled with serious awe after realising the role of this nation we often term as "insignificant" has in making our planet a much better place to live.
The author had spent spent over fifteen years in writing this masterpiece which was published posthumously. I feel this is a treasure gifted by a djinn who has attained the din and wants our duniya to be a much better place.
Thank you Numair Atif Choudhury for giving us this treatise before you left us.
September 17, 2020
Babu Bangladesh is the story of a biographer in the future, who traces the life of an enigmatic politician. The result is a curious mix of mythology, history, magic and fiction. Written by Numair Atif Choudhury (his only book- he took 15 years to write this one) and published posthumously, the work is definitely ambitious and imaginative. The history about Bangladeshi war of Independence, the struggle of the people due to the violence of religious extremists, the author’s love for his land and the politics hold your interest. There are some portions which are really arresting- the history of how Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban (the parliament of Dhaka) was built, the clash of sex workers with the politicians in the country, the various indigenous tribals and clans of Bengal and their relentless fight for their rights (the snake worshipping Manasa clans and tree devotee clans with a twist of magical realism), the mythology around the world that caters to mermaids and fish people, and the power of birds in ancient religious faiths around the globe.
You can clearly see the extensive research that the author has done for his work. However, there are shortcomings. The story never really sticks to Babu and the transition from history to fiction and fantasy leaves you with an odd feeling of incompleteness. The author uses complicated bookish words in the place of simple ones that only take away from the reading pleasure. But for the sheer effort of the writer and an interesting perspective on history and folklores, give it a shot.
You can clearly see the extensive research that the author has done for his work. However, there are shortcomings. The story never really sticks to Babu and the transition from history to fiction and fantasy leaves you with an odd feeling of incompleteness. The author uses complicated bookish words in the place of simple ones that only take away from the reading pleasure. But for the sheer effort of the writer and an interesting perspective on history and folklores, give it a shot.
August 28, 2019
This book took 15 years to complete and as a result, the writing is amazing. The characters and the biographical style used in the book is one of a kind, something I haven’t really seen in any fictitious book. But, at some point of the book, it felt like I was reading I was reading a textbook which I wouldn’t really want if I am trying to relax while reading.
The story is about Babu who is an eminent character in Bangladesh and suddenly disappears in 2021. The book starts in the future where the author is trying to find out who he was- which leads him to dig up Babu’s past – from Babu’s childhood to him growing up and turning into a powerful influence and his sudden disappearance.
The book has a lot of characters and a huge storyline as a result, it is easy to get lost in the book. In the beginning, all the characters was a jumble for me and slowly as they connected with the plot it was easier for me to understand them.
I feel the author could have cut off some unnecessary elements in the book, it would have been more compact that way! However, i liked the writing style of the book and i think anybody who is interested in politics would enjoy it!
While reading the book, I found out that the author died in an accident days after submitting the final draft. Truly disheartening to lose such a talent!
The story is about Babu who is an eminent character in Bangladesh and suddenly disappears in 2021. The book starts in the future where the author is trying to find out who he was- which leads him to dig up Babu’s past – from Babu’s childhood to him growing up and turning into a powerful influence and his sudden disappearance.
The book has a lot of characters and a huge storyline as a result, it is easy to get lost in the book. In the beginning, all the characters was a jumble for me and slowly as they connected with the plot it was easier for me to understand them.
I feel the author could have cut off some unnecessary elements in the book, it would have been more compact that way! However, i liked the writing style of the book and i think anybody who is interested in politics would enjoy it!
While reading the book, I found out that the author died in an accident days after submitting the final draft. Truly disheartening to lose such a talent!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews