Himal calls from Kathmandu. They want a piece on English writing in Bangladesh. Deadline is not so long away. Is it possible? I suppose so. Dhaka e-mails are all knocked out or virused to death. Infecting global networks and friends. Life is a bit unsettled as usual for me here. I pine for the Valley so much. Never been away from it for so long.
I call Asha Mehreen Amin of Daily Star who runs an excellent weekend magazine. Get a load of phone numbers from her including that of her mother, Razia Khan Amin, who is one of the recognised bilingual writers in town. Asha is putting the magazine to bed and has little time to talk till after the deadline. I start practising being brave about deadlines. The magazine she edits is a good example of what is wrong and right with English writing in Bangladesh. It is a potpourri of columns, some sweet and some pedantic. Travel pieces, belle letteres, art and literary reviews, occasional fiction and practically everything else that fit into the weekend insert of any major daily.
Some of the columns are very popular. The English varies from expat Bangladeshi to the more home-grown chatpatti. Asha herself is very good. Genes? But the essential weekend nature of the magazine determines style and ambition. It serves the purpose of the newspaper and goes no further. Most of the contributors write modern, and one believes that given a chance at least some could graduate to more sustainable stuff. But most offerings are primarily one-two pagers. Heavier stuff has to look for other parking lots. Still, to say that it's the best place to catch mostly correct English is saying a lot.
Poems, fiction and translation, and, increasingly, 'lifts' and excerpts figure in the literary section of Daily Star every Saturday. It's managed by Ziaul Karim but he proves elusive. Ten calls later, he is still just in and just out. Wonder whether he will figure in the piece.