It feels kind of surreal to write ‘late’ before the name of Syed Manzoorul Islam; it would be like accepting the reality that Manzoorul Islam is no more. It is still difficult to believe that he has travelled across the thin line between here and hereafter. His mortal remains are not here anymore, but he would live in the memory of those who knew him closely until they themselves will depart one by one and join him in the celestial abode for an adda on literature. He was amongst us only the other day, breathing the same air as we did, and though he is not here physically, he will be there for many more years as scholars will write tributes in his memory.
Syed Manzoorul Islam was a larger than life personality who touched the lives of people, friends, his students and colleagues in many appealing ways. Tributes to his memory have started to pour in from those who admired him in life, remembering the soft natured gentleman, a rarity these days, that he was.
As for this writer, it was a privilege to know him quite personally since the 80s at family level. We used to go to different programmes together and eating out was a memorable experience. It was an honour indeed when he unlocked the bookshelf for me where he kept some of his rare collections. He would lend me books with confidence knowing very well that I would return them in due course of time. It is needless to say that he was an insatiable reader of books and journals, and a music aficionado as well. Many afternoons we would sit in his library and spend hours talking about various writers and their works. He once kept me spellbound with his talk on Henrik Ibsen and his works. A long discussion on ‘An Enemy of the People’ came up ultimately and it was only obvious that we would conclude the adda with Satyajit Ray’s film ‘Ganashatru’ which was based on Ibsen’s Enemy of the People. He was impressed by the film and commented that Ray’s script did justice to the original play. He had studied Rabindranath Tagore with great fervour and admiration. He lent me a book titled ‘Mughdho O Mukto Drishtite Rabindranath.’ It was a collection of some wonderful essays contributed by some renowned writers of the country.
Manzoorul Islam encouraged me to keep writing on many occasions. He would go through some of my articles and poems and oblige me with his positive comments. And I was a fan of his columns from day one. I remember subscribing to the Bengali daily that published his amazing column titled ‘Alosh Diner Hawa’ every week. I think it ran for years together.
As a literary critic, he wrote on Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sudhindranath Dutta, Samar Sen, Shamsur Rahman and a few others. Manzoorul Islam won Ekushey Padak in 2018 in the language and literature category. He also received Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1996. His 2005 short stories collection Prem o Prarthanar Galpo was Prothom Alo’s book of the year.
