"When people migrate, they can't take anything, but definitely take sounds, songs, stories and memories with them. There are tragic stories, new stories hidden in the partition, migration; we have to recognise them."
On Sunday (December 18) at Jahangirnagar University, great musician and researcher Moushumi Bhowmik said this in a discussion about her research work 'Bari Kothay Othoba Bari Kahake Boli' means 'Where is my home or what do I call home?'
At 10:30 am, the discussion meeting was held at Zahir Raihan Auditorium, organised by the Department of Anthropology. In her talk, Moushumi discussed how the story of partition and its consequences emerged through words.
About 2 lakh people were displaced in the partition of 1947. Each of them has its own story. These stories emerge in words, music, and art but may often go unnoticed. These stories include their memories before and after being homeless.
The researcher herself has such a story. Mousumi Bhowmik has discussed exactly these issues in her research work. In her speech, she reminisced about her past. Incidentally, she sang a few songs, too, to quench the audience's thirst.
In her 3 hours long discussion, the massacre of February 18, 1983, in Assam also came up. Tagging as infiltrators, more than 2,000 Muslim peasants were killed in six hours, known in history as the Nellie Massacre.
After the core discussion part, a question and answer session was held, and Moushumi Bhowmik entertained various questions from the teachers and students of the university.
sojib.mhs@gmail.com