Privacy Policy Cookie Policy
  • TABLE OF CONTENT
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 10
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 9
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 8
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 7
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 6
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 5
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 4
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 3
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 2
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 1
  • THE DREAMING MACHINE
    • The dreaming machine n 10
    • The dreaming machine n 9
    • The dreaming machine n 8
    • The dreaming machine n 7
    • The dreaming machine n 6
    • The dreaming machine n 5
    • The dreaming machine n 4
    • The dreaming machine n 3
    • The dreaming machine n 2
    • The dreaming machine n 1
  • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result

The Dreaming Machine

  • Home
  • Poetry
    A medley of artwork from Le braccianti di Euripide collective

    The dolls have pronounced it – Poems by Mohamed Kheder

    Ukrainian Poetry in La Macchina Sognante – In Solidarity with the People of Ukraine

    Ukrainian Poetry in La Macchina Sognante – In Solidarity with the People of Ukraine

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    Three Poems from “The Bastard and the Bishop” – Gerald Fleming

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    God appeared at midnight: Three poems by Bitasta Ghoshal

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    I dream of the tree of silence: Poems by Rafael Romero

    Always another curtain  to draw open: Five poems by Helen Wickes

    Always another curtain to draw open: Five poems by Helen Wickes

  • Fiction
    FLORAL PRINT FLAT SHOES – Lucia Cupertino

    FLORAL PRINT FLAT SHOES – Lucia Cupertino

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    The Red Bananas – N. Annadurai

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    THE CULPRIT – Gourahari Das

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    A very different story (Part I) – Nandini Sahu

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    After Breaking News – Mojaffor Hossain

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    THE THEATER OF MEMORY – Julio Monteiro Martins

    Let the Rivers Speak! – Lucia Cupertino and the Poetry of the Global Souths, by  Pina Piccolo

    Fanta Blackcurrant – Makena Onjerika

    Photographer Sumana Mitra on her street photography and recent explorations of Surrealist techniques

    All the Sadeqs are getting killed – Mojaffor Hossain, translated by Noora Shamsi Bahar

    Photographer Sumana Mitra on her street photography and recent explorations of Surrealist techniques

    Here, Where We Keep on Meeting – Giuseppe Ferrara

  • Non Fiction
    Figures of Pathos  (Part I)- Salvatore Piermarini

    Figures of Pathos (Part I)- Salvatore Piermarini

    Plowing the publishing world  – Tribute to Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira, by Loretta Emiri

    Plowing the publishing world – Tribute to Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira, by Loretta Emiri

    Jaider Esbell – Specialist in Provocations, by Loretta Emiri

    Jaider Esbell – Specialist in Provocations, by Loretta Emiri

    Farewell, Silver Girl – Carolyn Miller

    Farewell, Silver Girl – Carolyn Miller

    Lino-printing fairy tales over Constitutions- The artwork of Mihaela Šuman

    Layers of overlap: theatre, cinema, memory, imagination – Farah Ahamed

    Architectures of Delusion –  Steve Salaita

    Architectures of Delusion – Steve Salaita

  • Interviews & reviews
    The Power of the Female Gaze: On Maria Antonietta Scarpari’s Artistic Practice – Camilla Boemio

    The Power of the Female Gaze: On Maria Antonietta Scarpari’s Artistic Practice – Camilla Boemio

    A new reality needed –  A conversation with Mathew Emmett, by Camilla Boemio

    A new reality needed – A conversation with Mathew Emmett, by Camilla Boemio

    Farewell, Silver Girl – Carolyn Miller

    A medley of artwork from Le braccianti di Euripide collective

    Sagar Kumar Sharma in Conversation with Santosh Bakaya

    Sagar Kumar Sharma in Conversation with Santosh Bakaya

    Sagar Kumar Sharma in a Literary Conversation with Sarita Jenamani

    Sagar Kumar Sharma in a Literary Conversation with Sarita Jenamani

    That’s how war left me alive – Wesam Almadani interviewed by Le Ortique

    That’s how war left me alive – Wesam Almadani interviewed by Le Ortique

  • Out of bounds
    • All
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
    • Interviews and reviews
    • Non fiction
    • Poetry
    M’aidez, May Day – Pina Piccolo

    M’aidez, May Day – Pina Piccolo

    Desperately seeking Marion: A Review of ” Women, Antifascism and Mussolini’s Italy – The Life of Marion Cave Rosselli”, by Isabelle Richet

    Desperately seeking Marion: A Review of ” Women, Antifascism and Mussolini’s Italy – The Life of Marion Cave Rosselli”, by Isabelle Richet

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    Tim Ingold’s “Correspondences” – Giuseppe Ferrara

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    But for plants there is no delegating: Seven Poems by Achille Pignatelli

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    Skjelv Du På Handa, Vladimir? / Does Your Hand Shake, Vladimir? –  Transnational Solidarity Project (Odveig Klyve)

    Skjelv Du På Handa, Vladimir? / Does Your Hand Shake, Vladimir? – Transnational Solidarity Project (Odveig Klyve)

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    The malice of desires feeds the power of my imagination – Poems by Mubeen Kishany

    Alahor in Granata: A Forgotten Opera by Donizetti – Fawzi Karim

    Alahor in Granata: A Forgotten Opera by Donizetti – Fawzi Karim

    EARTH ANTHEM : A eulogy of the Earth, its beauty, its biodiversity – Abhay K.

    EARTH ANTHEM : A eulogy of the Earth, its beauty, its biodiversity – Abhay K.

  • News
    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5:  Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5: Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE  FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

    OPEN LETTER BY A GROUP OF BLACK ITALIAN WOMEN

    OPEN LETTER BY A GROUP OF BLACK ITALIAN WOMEN

    Crowdfunding for [DI]SCORDARE project

    Crowdfunding for [DI]SCORDARE project

  • Home
  • Poetry
    A medley of artwork from Le braccianti di Euripide collective

    The dolls have pronounced it – Poems by Mohamed Kheder

    Ukrainian Poetry in La Macchina Sognante – In Solidarity with the People of Ukraine

    Ukrainian Poetry in La Macchina Sognante – In Solidarity with the People of Ukraine

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    Three Poems from “The Bastard and the Bishop” – Gerald Fleming

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    God appeared at midnight: Three poems by Bitasta Ghoshal

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    I dream of the tree of silence: Poems by Rafael Romero

    Always another curtain  to draw open: Five poems by Helen Wickes

    Always another curtain to draw open: Five poems by Helen Wickes

  • Fiction
    FLORAL PRINT FLAT SHOES – Lucia Cupertino

    FLORAL PRINT FLAT SHOES – Lucia Cupertino

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    The Red Bananas – N. Annadurai

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    THE CULPRIT – Gourahari Das

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    A very different story (Part I) – Nandini Sahu

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    After Breaking News – Mojaffor Hossain

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    THE THEATER OF MEMORY – Julio Monteiro Martins

    Let the Rivers Speak! – Lucia Cupertino and the Poetry of the Global Souths, by  Pina Piccolo

    Fanta Blackcurrant – Makena Onjerika

    Photographer Sumana Mitra on her street photography and recent explorations of Surrealist techniques

    All the Sadeqs are getting killed – Mojaffor Hossain, translated by Noora Shamsi Bahar

    Photographer Sumana Mitra on her street photography and recent explorations of Surrealist techniques

    Here, Where We Keep on Meeting – Giuseppe Ferrara

  • Non Fiction
    Figures of Pathos  (Part I)- Salvatore Piermarini

    Figures of Pathos (Part I)- Salvatore Piermarini

    Plowing the publishing world  – Tribute to Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira, by Loretta Emiri

    Plowing the publishing world – Tribute to Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira, by Loretta Emiri

    Jaider Esbell – Specialist in Provocations, by Loretta Emiri

    Jaider Esbell – Specialist in Provocations, by Loretta Emiri

    Farewell, Silver Girl – Carolyn Miller

    Farewell, Silver Girl – Carolyn Miller

    Lino-printing fairy tales over Constitutions- The artwork of Mihaela Šuman

    Layers of overlap: theatre, cinema, memory, imagination – Farah Ahamed

    Architectures of Delusion –  Steve Salaita

    Architectures of Delusion – Steve Salaita

  • Interviews & reviews
    The Power of the Female Gaze: On Maria Antonietta Scarpari’s Artistic Practice – Camilla Boemio

    The Power of the Female Gaze: On Maria Antonietta Scarpari’s Artistic Practice – Camilla Boemio

    A new reality needed –  A conversation with Mathew Emmett, by Camilla Boemio

    A new reality needed – A conversation with Mathew Emmett, by Camilla Boemio

    Farewell, Silver Girl – Carolyn Miller

    A medley of artwork from Le braccianti di Euripide collective

    Sagar Kumar Sharma in Conversation with Santosh Bakaya

    Sagar Kumar Sharma in Conversation with Santosh Bakaya

    Sagar Kumar Sharma in a Literary Conversation with Sarita Jenamani

    Sagar Kumar Sharma in a Literary Conversation with Sarita Jenamani

    That’s how war left me alive – Wesam Almadani interviewed by Le Ortique

    That’s how war left me alive – Wesam Almadani interviewed by Le Ortique

  • Out of bounds
    • All
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
    • Interviews and reviews
    • Non fiction
    • Poetry
    M’aidez, May Day – Pina Piccolo

    M’aidez, May Day – Pina Piccolo

    Desperately seeking Marion: A Review of ” Women, Antifascism and Mussolini’s Italy – The Life of Marion Cave Rosselli”, by Isabelle Richet

    Desperately seeking Marion: A Review of ” Women, Antifascism and Mussolini’s Italy – The Life of Marion Cave Rosselli”, by Isabelle Richet

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    Tim Ingold’s “Correspondences” – Giuseppe Ferrara

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    But for plants there is no delegating: Seven Poems by Achille Pignatelli

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    Skjelv Du På Handa, Vladimir? / Does Your Hand Shake, Vladimir? –  Transnational Solidarity Project (Odveig Klyve)

    Skjelv Du På Handa, Vladimir? / Does Your Hand Shake, Vladimir? – Transnational Solidarity Project (Odveig Klyve)

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    The malice of desires feeds the power of my imagination – Poems by Mubeen Kishany

    Alahor in Granata: A Forgotten Opera by Donizetti – Fawzi Karim

    Alahor in Granata: A Forgotten Opera by Donizetti – Fawzi Karim

    EARTH ANTHEM : A eulogy of the Earth, its beauty, its biodiversity – Abhay K.

    EARTH ANTHEM : A eulogy of the Earth, its beauty, its biodiversity – Abhay K.

  • News
    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5:  Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5: Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE  FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

    OPEN LETTER BY A GROUP OF BLACK ITALIAN WOMEN

    OPEN LETTER BY A GROUP OF BLACK ITALIAN WOMEN

    Crowdfunding for [DI]SCORDARE project

    Crowdfunding for [DI]SCORDARE project

No Result
View All Result
The Dreaming Machine
No Result
View All Result
Home Fiction

All the Sadeqs are getting killed – Mojaffor Hossain, translated by Noora Shamsi Bahar

Courtesy of the Antonym- Bridge to Global Literature. Shortlisted for the Tagore Translated Short Fictions Award. Cover artwork by Sumana Mitra

November 29, 2021
in Fiction, The dreaming machine n 9
Photographer Sumana Mitra on her street photography and recent explorations of Surrealist techniques
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

 

 

The most naïve boy of Dhabaldhola village had been murdered. The decapitated body lay on the demarcation line between the Bangari field and the Taro crop-field. The last person who was killed in this village was Dr. Mukul, and that too, about a decade back. He too had been found beheaded on the street. He was an adulterer who had to face his merciless fate. But none of the villagers knew why Sadeq had been murdered. Their assumptions were based on other murders which had taken place. This belief was strengthened when the IS claimed responsibility for the murder on their website, which was then broadcasted as a news ticker on television. But the IS had provided no specific reason, which was why it remained a mystery. A few of Sadeq’s friends were talking about it atop the half-broken boundary wall of their high school, which was where they always gathered before school ended for the day, situated across from the girls’ school.

 

“What the IS did was not right. They could have at least mentioned the reason! That way we wouldn’t have to rack our brains,” said Shafiq.

 

“Listen, if the IS kills, the reason is crystal clear. Have you ever heard of the IS killing over petty disputes, ransoms, or squabbles resulting from romantic affairs? They kill for one reason only,” said Barkat, the wisest of the lot.

 

“Yes, but the ones beheaded were all atheists!”

 

“Not all of them. Priests and clergymen have also been killed. They may be infidels, but they were not atheists.”

 

“Same thing. Is there even a difference between infidels and atheists?”

 

“That’s not the right attitude to have, is it, Asad?” Barkat questioned.

 

“I don’t know what’s right or wrong. I’ve heard that the Hindus in India are burning the Muslims alive!”

 

“Why? Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Amir Khan… then there’s Yusuf Pathan, Zaheer Khan… They’re all Muslims. The Hindus practically worship them,” retorted Akbar, the dimwit in the group. As usual, Barkat and Asad pretended not to hear him.

 

“Alright, let’s agree they’re killing infidels and atheists. But what about the professor from Rajshahi University who was fond of music? He wasn’t an atheist. Why was he killed?”

 

“Music is forbidden in Islam. The students went there to receive an education, but that man would teach them how to make music and show them foreign films. You know what foreign films mean? Remember the time when we watched two films with one ticket? You know the type,” added Habel.

 

“I don’t know if music is good or bad. But in the Hadith, I’ve yet to see a part where our Prophet told the Sahabis, ‘Come, let’s indulge in merriment with some music.’ Nothing of the sort is mentioned anywhere.” Skinny, aka Chiku Mokles established his own argument in agreement.

 

“Fine. But why Sadeq? Only a week ago, Sadeq and I were standing next to each other during the Friday prayers. Just before, I had whispered to him, ‘Today is a special day. Whoever performs 50 rakats at a stretch today will see the shadow of Mika’il in the skies at the stroke of midnight.’ He gave me a look of surprise, but he didn’t utter a single word. The next day, on the way to school, he ran towards me, putting up his fists as if he was about to beat me up and asked, ‘Where? I didn’t see anything in the midnight sky!’ So tell me, why would this person get killed? He didn’t even know how to sing. Once, when he was asked to sing in school, he ran away, having his shirt torn by the broken back door. Don’t you remember?” Hadisur asked.

 

“Say what you will. The IS is not the kind of group to make mistakes when it comes to their targets. I’ve heard they’re more powerful than America. They spy on their targets for years before taking any decision. They’ve set up who-knows-what equipment in the skies,” Habel said.

 

“Hmm. They’ve been spying on twenty-one-year-old Sadeq for twenty five years now!”

 

“Stop ridiculing me, Barkat. The IS will overhear our conversation. What is it to me? It’s not like I’m saying anything against them! There’s nothing for me to be afraid of!” Habel cowered as soon as he uttered these words.

 

“Why? Shah Rukh, Salman, Amir… then Irfan, Zaheer… They’re all Muslims. Hindus put them up on a pedestal.” Akbar the dimwit repeated himself. He will repeat the same thing a few more times. When he has an idea, he keeps repeating it now and then. The others had gotten used to it by now and were not bothered by it anymore. But upon hearing Shah Rukh Khan’s name, Asad couldn’t sit still.

 

“Hey, have you guys watched the movie Fan? I tried watching it several times, but I just couldn’t sit through it all. It’s just not masala enough!” Asad complained.

 

“Hmm. They could have included an item song. I’ve watched it, but it was such a drag. Sunny Leone’s Mastizaade is so much better!”

 

“Have you seen the music video of Sunny Leone’s ‘Pink Lips’? It’s on my phone,” said Habel, and Sunny became the focus for the whole group.

 

 

 

2.

 

Friday. Gofur Mian, – Sadeq’s father, had gone to the mosque a little early. Gofur Mian is the kind of man who wouldn’t pray regularly. He would pray five days at a stretch and then not pray for three. It was the first Friday after Sadeq’s death. He hurried to the mosque to ask the huzoor to dedicate a prayer to Sadeq after the usual Friday prayers. He had planned to sit at a corner and pray ardently after the Friday prayers were done. The police and the journalists had harassed him with questions the past few days and he barely had the chance to grieve over his son.

 

The request for Sadeq took the huzoor aback. “Will that be the right thing to do?” He asked.

 

“Why wouldn’t it be right?” Gofur felt anxious. “Why huzoor?”

 

“You know… There’s no proof of whether your son was a believer or non-believer. If he turns out to be an atheist, what’s the point of praying for him? The current situation of the country is not safe and I don’t want to get involved.” The huzoor was being rational. There was no point pressing on. Upset, Gofur got done with the prayers and came straight home. He went to his room, shut the door, and sat on the prayer mat. He eventually got out after sundown, his eyes swollen. He had cried, he cried, he would continue to cry – this was the vow he had made to himself. He had gone to the MP sahib of his district to seek justice. A day prior to that, the MP sahib had told the reporters that no matter who the killers were, they would be brought to justice. But he had summoned Gofur to tell him something else entirely – he would not get involved in any atheist’s business.

 

“Sir, everyone in the village can testify that my son was a believer. We didn’t even know what or who atheists are!” Gofur implored.

 

“The villagers will testify, you say? But no one has! Whenever anyone asks about your boy, they run away.”

 

“Sir, he used to pray all the time. People are just too scared to say anything. But Allah is my witness.”

 

“That’s what I say too. Allah knows the truth. You won’t be able to bring back your dead son even if you can prove that he was a believer. But if evidence turns up to prove that he was in fact an atheist, will you be able to stay in your village? You have two girls who are of marriageable age. Will you be able to marry them off? Whoever is gone is gone. Tell the reporters that you have accepted what has happened. If needed, I will make an announcement and give you ten thousand taka. I don’t always have cash at hand. Take two goats as well. They will come in handy at the time of your daughters’ weddings.” MP sahib always had to have the last word.

 

On the day Gofur returned from the district capital, he was visited by one of the MP’s own men, who was joined by the local leader of the village. It was around midnight and Gofur had finally been able to get some sleep. The restlessness and hostility that had been ignited within him upon hearing the MP’s words had fizzled out. He had vowed not to seek justice from anyone besides God, despite having concluded that there was no point in looking heavenward either. He didn’t know how to react when he saw these two powerful men entering his home like thieves.

 

“Listen, Gofur, you’re in luck. In fact, I envy your good fortune.” Gofur fidgeted at the local leader’s words. Since his son’s death, these words seemed unfamiliar to him. No one said such words to him anymore. The local leader went on, “MP sahib has a proposition. He will give you a shop in the city, and with it, all the goods you’ll need. Instead of farming on someone else’s land like you’re doing now, you’ll be running your own store. What do you think?”

 

“Yes, good,” Gofur responded fearfully.

 

“Not just good, damn good!” This was the first time the MP sahib’s man had spoken. Gofur wasn’t so sure about owning a shop in the city.

 

“But you will have to do one thing,” the leader said.

 

“A very minor little thing,” added the MP’s man. Silently, Gofur waited, still wary of the offer.

 

“You will just have to point your finger at Monsur Mullah as the culprit behind your son’s murder. We will do the rest. You will just have to go to the police station tomorrow and accuse Monsur Mullah’s men. We will fill in the rest of the story. You won’t have to do anything else. You will just sit comfortably in your shop.”

 

“And don’t you dare tell anyone what we’ve asked you to do here. People might understand what’s going on, but that doesn’t matter as long as you keep your mouth shut,” the local leader added.

 

“Sir, may I take a few days to think it through?” Gofur asked.

 

“We haven’t come here to give you time to think! We haven’t come here to ask for your permission. This is the MP sahib’s order. We’ve come here to tell you what to do.” The leaders left just as they had come in – silently. Gofur’s wife had stood hidden in a corner and heard everything. Otherwise, Gofur could have passed off the entire episode as a nightmare and put it behind him.

 

“Let’s sell off our land and move to another village. It seems that we can’t live here anymore,” Nosiron, his wife, said.

 

“It’s not like we can leave the country! Besides, do you really think we can sell our land if we leave the village? The chairman is planning to build a mill here. He won’t buy the land, and he will not allow anyone else to buy it either.”

 

 

 

3.

 

A month or two had gone by. Justice for Sadeq’s murder was far from anyone’s mind; instead, the villagers had concluded that he must have been an atheist. Gofur somehow managed to leave the village. Just then, there was another incident. A Sadeq in the neighboring village was also found dead, killed in the same way.  A different Sadeq. He had been studying in the city and had come home for the holidays. When the weapon struck his neck, someone had heard one of the killers say, “Shala, no mistaking you this time!”

 

Mojaffor Hossain is a notable fiction writer of contemporary Bangla literature. Starting his career as a journalist and now working as translator in the Bangla Academy, Dhaka, he has published six books packed with awe-inspiring short-stories, which, in the recent years, have attracted much acclaim from both general readers and literary critics. His signature style is using native realities as his settings, and giving them magic-realistic or surrealistic colours. He has been awarded four times for his short stories. His debut novel Timiryatra has gained popularity in very recent time. He is also known as a translator and literary critic and published 14 books so far.

 

 

Noora Shamsi Bahar is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of English and Modern Languages, North South University. She completed her MA in English from The University of Western Ontario and has been teaching undergraduate students since 2010. She has presented research papers on the themes of violence (on the page, stage, and screen), performative revenge, rape trauma, childhood defiance, and transgressive womanhood in Oxford, Prague, and Dhaka. Despite being born to Iranian parents, she finds pleasure in reading short fiction in Bengali – her third language, and translating them into English. Her translations have been published in anthologies, magazines, and dailies.

 

 

 

Tags: Bangladeshconcerncritique of societyindifferenceIslamic Statelocal elitesMojjafor HossainmotivemurderNoora Shamsi Baharopportunismparadoxshort storyspeculationSurrealismThe Antonym- Bridge to Global Literaturethe fantastic in literatureThe Tagore Award for Translated Fictionvillage life

Related Posts

A medley of artwork from Le braccianti di Euripide collective
Poetry

The dolls have pronounced it – Poems by Mohamed Kheder

April 30, 2022
Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo
Fiction

After Breaking News – Mojaffor Hossain

April 23, 2022
Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo
Fiction

THE THEATER OF MEMORY – Julio Monteiro Martins

April 23, 2022
Photographer Sumana Mitra on her street photography and recent explorations of Surrealist techniques
Interviews and reviews

Photographer Sumana Mitra on her street photography and recent explorations of Surrealist techniques

November 30, 2021
Let the Rivers Speak! – Lucia Cupertino and the Poetry of the Global Souths, by  Pina Piccolo
Fiction

Fanta Blackcurrant – Makena Onjerika

November 29, 2021
Photographer Sumana Mitra on her street photography and recent explorations of Surrealist techniques
Poetry

LIFE – Ali Moshtaq Askari

November 29, 2021
Next Post
Photographer Sumana Mitra on her street photography and recent explorations of Surrealist techniques

LIFE - Ali Moshtaq Askari

The Dreaming Machine

Writing and visual arts from the world.

Non Fiction

Farewell, Silver Girl – Carolyn Miller

Farewell, Silver Girl   It was an ’82 Honda Accord that I bought used in 1986. It had been in ...

April 26, 2022
Intersections

“Through the Fluid Mosaic” – Following Maica Gugolati though the Permeable Borders of the Art Exhibition

The art exhibition “Through the Fluid Mosaic” was created with the support of the digital platform Art Curator Grid; https://www.artcuratorgrid.com/online-exhibition/passing-through-the-fluid-mosaic. ...

November 27, 2020
Non Fiction

Anti-racism without race: a pernicious, ongoing problem in the Italian movement against racism – Camilla Hawthorne and Pina Piccolo

    By the end of 2016, we have witnessed a resurgence of both verbal and deadly physical aggressions against ...

December 2, 2018
Poetry

Four Poets from The Encyclopedic Poetry School – Part I

A Brief Introduction to Encyclopedic Poetry School The Encyclopedic Poetry School is an avant-garde, experimental and technology-intensive literary group, based ...

May 1, 2019
Fiction

A Child of Snow, a new story by Mia Funk

A Child of Snow  The stranger had large hands and a face slender like a wolf. Taiki liked wolves. The ...

November 26, 2020

Latest

The Power of the Female Gaze: On Maria Antonietta Scarpari’s Artistic Practice – Camilla Boemio

The Power of the Female Gaze: On Maria Antonietta Scarpari’s Artistic Practice – Camilla Boemio

May 4, 2022
M’aidez, May Day – Pina Piccolo

M’aidez, May Day – Pina Piccolo

May 1, 2022
A medley of artwork from Le braccianti di Euripide collective

The dolls have pronounced it – Poems by Mohamed Kheder

April 30, 2022
A new reality needed –  A conversation with Mathew Emmett, by Camilla Boemio

A new reality needed – A conversation with Mathew Emmett, by Camilla Boemio

April 30, 2022

Follow Us

news

RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT
News

RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

by Dreaming Machine
2 years ago
0

3 SEPTEMBER 2020 – DEADLINE FOR RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT   Rucksack, at Global Poetry Patchwork is an...

Read more
  • TABLE OF CONTENT
  • THE DREAMING MACHINE
  • CONTACT

© 2019 thedreamingmachine.com

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Poetry
  • Fiction
  • Non Fiction
  • Interviews and reviews
  • Out of bounds
    • Poetry
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
  • THE DREAMING MACHINE
    • The dreaming machine n 8
    • The dreaming machine n 7
    • The dreaming machine n 6
    • The dreaming machine n 5
    • The dreaming machine n 4
    • The dreaming machine n 3
    • The dreaming machine n 2
    • The dreaming machine n 1
  • TABLE OF CONTENTS
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 7
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 6
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 5
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 4
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 3
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 2
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 1
  • News
  • Contacts

© 2019 thedreamingmachine.com

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In