RU Correspondent

‘Chinho’, a little magazine of Rajshahi University (RU) organized a yearly fair to encourage readers and writers across the country. Writers from different districts of Bangladesh and West Bengal of India set stalls at the fair.

Kolkata’s famous little magazine personality Sandeep Dutt on Monday morning inaugurated the two-day long ‘Chinho Mela’ in front of Dr. Md. Shahidullah academic building for the fifth time at the University.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, the chief guest poet Nirmalendu Goon said, “Whenever I hear the name ‘Chinho’, I remember Rabindranath's famous song ‘jokhon porbe na mor payer chinho ei bate’.

He told that in that song Rabindranath’s chinho was used in a negative sense but this ‘Chinho Mela’ is used in a positive sense.

“We want to leave a mark of our love, our struggle, our protest in this world,” stated Goon.

Vice-chancellor of the university Professor Golam Sabbir Sattar said, “Through Chinho Mela, we have crossed the natural geography and joined the geography of language.

“For those who speak Bengali, this fair has become a great ocean. This fair will show us the future direction,” Professor Sattar stated.

In the inauguration ceremony, late eminent writers Shankh Ghosh, Syed Shamsul Haque, Debesh Roy, Anisuzzaman and Hasan Azizul Huq were remembered by poet Nirmalendu Goon, Professor Sanat kumar Saha, Zulfikar Matin, Ruhul Amin Pramanik, Emanul Haque and Amal Sarkar.

On the second day, ‘Tritiyo Chokh’ of Bangladesh and ‘Nouko’ of West Bengal, India will be awarded the ‘Chinho Littlemag Sammanna’.

The ‘Chinho Sahitya Award’ will be given to fiction writer Hamid Qaiser and the ‘Chinho Saraswat Sammanna’ will be given to poet Zulfikar Matin.

University Pro-vice-chancellor Prof Sultan-ul-Islam, Bangabandhu Chair Professor Sanat Kumar Saha, Poet Zulfikar Matin, Bangla Academy Director Aminur Rahman Sultan and ‘Chinho’ Editor Professor Shahid Iqbal were also present during the inauguration ceremony.

Contextually, Chinho started their journey in 2000 with the conviction of creating thoughtful and creative writers in the country and abroad. In 2011, they organized the ‘Chinho Mela’ for the first time. After three years since then, the little magazine has been organizing the fair.

Since then, little magazines from different districts of Bangladesh and West Bengal of India set their stalls at the fair.