Silent Rebellion

Silent Rebellion

Bengalen, 1930

was 1930. The grip of the British Empire was still iron, but the fire was still on fire in the heart of villagers, students and poets. Among them was a young bar - 16 years old - Annealvan, from a quiet village near the banks of the Padma River.

Anneal Van was not a fighter. He was not a politician or speaker. He barely spoke. But he saw, heard, and remembered everything. His father, a local Pathshala teacher, taught him to read Ramayana and the newspaper on the same Wew. But more importantly, he taught him to think.

When British officers came to the village to raise taxes, they entered a stormy house - a program of grain, breaks, insults. It will endure the villagers. Anneal Bang was watching. One day they beat the peasants - his neighbor - because they had not paid. That night, Annealvan sat quietly on the river, and the full moon threw a silver path over the water. Something has changed in him.

Although the other boys in Calcutta and the cricket team dreamed, Annealvan began writing.

He began leaving small letters - anonymous poems in front of Tana (the police station), Tesilder's office, and even the British barracks. His words were sold as poetry. The poem that laughed at the kingdom, the martyr praised it and whispered the promise of free Bengal. First, the British officer laughed. "It's just village nonsense," they said.

But then the poem spread. They copied students from nearby cities. One was read out loud in the classroom, and the teacher influenced the protest. Another person was found. It was glued to the door of a wealthy landlord known for working with the British. Words had power.

The villagers had no idea who the poet was. They called him "Ogon Jora" - the person who sets the fire.

Annealvan told anyone, even her sister Meera. He hid the poem under an old bed of jute fabric. After working, he sat near the clay lamp every night, writing until his fingers hurt.

One night, an English officer searched the school. They arrested the teacher for "spreading rebellious ideas." They closed the school indefinitely. Annealvan's father asked her to reconsider, but she warned in

"In other words, you will be next."

Annealvan's next poem tonight was not a poem, but an explanation. It was short and sharp:

"You burned our book. You cannot burn our dreams.

You have closed our school. You opened our eyes.

They are afraid of ink. You should. "

The next morning, poetry was inserted into a strong letter in the emergency management of the district headquarters.

Panic Spread.

British officers placed traps. They patrolled the village. They interviewed boys who could read. They didn't know that they had persecuted a boy who had never kept a weapon, just a pen.

But the secrets are not buried forever.

On a rainy afternoon, when Anneal Van gathered with fire, officers came to his house to find an "accidental search." His sister Meera (only 10) didn't know what to hide. They found a jute bundle under the bed.

Anneal Van was arrested that night.

The villagers were silent and silent when he was taken away; his wrists were tied, but their heads were maintained. He didn't talk. There are no words. Even when she hit him, he cried out and offered to release him in exchange for his name - he was silent.

The British called him a quiet rebel.

He was sentenced to two years in a prison near Jessor. The words of arrest spread quickly. In Kalkutta, in Khulna, Sylhet, students began writing "Ogon Jora Live" on the wall. His old poems were recited at the protest meeting. The boy who never screamed is now a generation.

When he returned two years later, thin and unbroken, the villagers welcomed him with tears and songs. Now, 12 Meera whispered, holding him tightly,

"The fire didn't die, Dada. It's just spread it out. "

Anirban smiled for the first time in years. Now, all children knew how to hold the pen like a sword.

Epilog

Years later, and long after independence, historians discovered a collection of handwritten poems at the National Archives. The author was marked as unknown, but the file was named

"Ogon Jhora: The Stilt Rebel."

Some fires start without noise, but they burn the rich.