Three poets: Sunil, Syed Huq and Shahid Quadri

Three poets: Sunil, Syed Huq and Shahid Quadri

Last week, we witnessed a rare occurrence. At New York's annual Bangla book fair, three living legends of Bangla poetry got together to read poetry and share their thoughts on poetry and on each other. Syed Huq put it best, “a historic event."

Huq and Shahid Quadri, good old friends of yesteryears, saw each other after a separation of over 30 years. Shahid Quadri had left Dhaka in the 1970s. Though he returned intermittently, he has been living in self-imposed exile ever since. For us, lovers of Bangla poetry, this was a thrilling moment. Huq and Sunil, both in their mid-70s, are still active and as ebullient as ever. Huq read a few poems, including a really nice one about the 1971 liberation war. Spoken through an imaginary freedom fighter - an everyday man who fell in the war but never died because his spirit stayed with us - crystallized the great struggle of our time: reviving the spirit of the liberation war. Shahid Quadri, who has been silent - or almost silent - for the past three decades, spoke eloquently about Bangla poetry and its evolution. Sunil, the senior-most among the three - was most generous in his tribute to both Huq and Quadri. They are old friends. Their friendship grew in the 1970s, especially during and in the immediate aftermath of the liberation war.

However, when it comes to reciting poetry, no one could match the dramatic flair of Huq. Like a wizard who had the entire audience in his thrall, he read one poem after another, spell bounding the listeners with his knack for dramatic pauses, hand gestures and thoughtful whispers.

I attach a few pictures from the great encounter. Enjoy.