Reading from In a Land Far from Home -- a translation of Syed Mujtaba Ali's 'Desh Bideshe' 

 

Followed by 

A Conversation between Prof Tanika Sarkar with the translator, Shri Nazes Afroz

An intrepid traveller and a true cosmopolitan, the legendary Bengali writer Syed Mujtaba Ali from Sylhet (in erstwhile East Bengal and now Bangladesh) spent a year and a half teaching in Kabul from 1927. Drawing from his experience, he later wrote Deshe Bideshe, which was published in 1948. His account gives a first-hand insight into events at a crucial point in Afghanistan’s modern history, when the reformist King Amanullah tried to steer his country towards modernity by encouraging education for girls and giving them the choice of removing the burqa. Through a humorous narrative and a most fascinating cast of characters, Mujtaba Ali turns Deshe Bideshe into more than a memoir or a travel book  

Nazes has worked as a journalist for more than 34 years, 15 of which for the BBC World Service, covering news, features and current affairs spanning South, Central and West Asia. Currently he is based in Delhi, writing in English and Bengali and doing photography 

 

Nazes is also a keen photographer for decades. He held his first photography exhibition, ‘From Kabul to Kolkata/Of Memories, Belonging and Identity’, with Moska Najib, in four cities across South Asia – Kabul, Delhi, Dhaka and Kolkata – in early 2015. The Alliance Francaise, Delhi hosted a solo exhibition with Nazes’ photos from his trips to Afghanistan  since 2002 – ‘Behind the Veil/The Other Afghanistan’ – as part of the 3rd Delhi Photo Festival in October 2015