BANGLADESH

The journey begins…

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The Hoopoe in the Sufi poem said:

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“One who enters here will be filled with such longing that they will give themself up completely to the quest symbolized by this valley. Then they will no longer fear the dragons….When the door is opened and they enter, then dogma, belief and unbelief—all cease to exist.”

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And our Anishnawbe elder and Guiding Bird, Duke Redbird, challenged us to consider the difference between Western hierarchies, and indigenous hierarchies that honoured Mother Earth and our co-existence.

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Our birds were asked:

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“What beliefs or dogmas shape or impact you? What superpowers do you possess to take this journey?”

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The Paradoxical Soliloquy of Quest  

Wind of Chan

 

Monologue: 

The Paradoxical Soliloquy of Quest  

Written By 

Shongkar Kumar Biswas  

(Script Translation: Md. Ferdous Alom)

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Safe! The place is quite safe. Safe! The area is safe. To tell and exercise  the truth, the place is safe now…. If it rains, my thoughts and speeches can be  washed away probably. Or, they can fly away with the strong wind before the  wind…. If the sun burns, my words will no longer left….. What if the city  authorities throw tons and tons of dirt on me before I find the ruins of my  memory here? Then my dirt, in other words, memory, I mean history or story;  my issue with the issue of the authority will be mixed, all will become one and  the same. My faith and the burden of the story will be succumbed before their  great speech. Then those will be melted and the stink will spread. Isn’t weird?  Am I afraid of stink sitting in the dirt? Strange! Peculiar!

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But the matter of joy that I will not be afraid here for a while. I mean, I  will pretend not to be afraid. Because if I show off courage, I can go out at any  time like a cracked lamp. I can be mixed with new dirt even though I don’t like  it. But now I am going to complete the essential speech…….. But What if the  sound waves suddenly rise in this wilderness! What if the sire, the authorities  start the Military parade now! 

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Don’t look ahead!

In front…..

Don’t look……

Hoi-Hoi, Hoot-Hoot, Hut, Hut

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If the sound, the chaos bombs are dropped here? Or, If the noise of fear,  the inaudible sound of torture, fills this abandoned wilderness with anguish,  then, I myself will not be able to hear the aborted born words! Yet my ears are  accustomed to hearing long eloquence forever. My tongue has wished and  prayed that it will shake the flattery eloquence! It will hear everything of the  stream of thousands of people like dumbs. My legs are getting stiff like a pillar  out of fear. At the same time, I feel laughing at how a man becomes a pillar! A  man becomes a pillar! A man becomes a bull!

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Ha hahaha (Unwilling laughter)……

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Man buys and sells his bargaining. He sells his voice but he used to  exercise melody like the singing bird. He wanted to be a big tree from the seed!  He wanted to float up in the clouds! He wanted to flow like the flow of pure  water. He wanted to spread whiteness like Night-blooming jasmine, Hasnahena.  (Quickly takes breath like scent) Jasmine.. Jasmine…

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Where did the snake come from!? None has come to earth to fight with snakes  into this garbage dump. A for Ajagar (The python) is coming. B for My belief is  being violated by someone else! What is that? (He finds a dead body)

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Everyone has to live even to make them alive! Let everyone live, let everyone  live! Let everyone live! Let everyone live! (Exit)

In this Valley of Love, journeying birds were asked to consider how love manifested in their communities and to share a ritual that expresses love and teach it to another – after considering:

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“If you look at things with the eye of ordinary reason you will never understand how necessary- it is to love.”– Attar, Conference of the Birds

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“And from strength will come power

The power to Love

And of Love

Humanity shall acquire reconciliation…through the power of Love.” – Duke Redbird

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Duke’s is particularly timely/topical as Canada just announced new calls-to-action on Sept.30, Canada’s national day for Truth and Reconciliation.

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And I believe our project asks us to reconcile our practices, with the planet and others…

In this valley the Hoopoe tells us:

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“I and you are no longer relevant as we are one with everything” – Attar

 

Duke tells us that the Dish with One Spoon philosophy is unity itself:

The “dish” represents the land that is to be shared peacefully and the “spoon” represents the individuals living on and using the resources of the land in a spirit of mutual co-operation.

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And from his poem The Dance:

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“My voice and my heart, if they live, I live...” – Duke Redbird

 

With this wisdom and guidance in mind, we asked the birds:

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“What do you see that has atomized/broken apart in your community or the world? How do we bring it back together?”

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We tasked the artists to create something that symbolizes unifying.

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A Detached Soul
(Valley of Detachment)

Scene 1:
(Soliloquy during walk gazing at the dog for a while on the footpath)
It seems that the dog is following me. A dog was also following the people of the cave who were the followers of Jesus. When they tried to chase the dog, the dog talked to them, “I love those who love God.” The young men took the mysterious dog with them. A group of odd number of youths left the city and went to sleep in a cave to keep their heart alive. That sleep in love of God takes them to the level of perfection. They had been Independent and detached.

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(Looking behind)

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No, the dog is not following me. I am not one of the youths of the cave. This dog is not a
mystic either. Let’s see what he is addicted to– ((The man) calls the dog by throwing a piece of bread)

It is coming! How lucky the people of the cave and their dog were! Now, O bread-addicted dog!Become a follower of this worldly Sufi!

“God alone knows the secret and only he can reveal it!” (Attar)

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Scene 2:
(A boat is leaving the shore and the man is looking at the fire of the rubbish heap)
Fire! Is it for destruction or creation? The flame is coming out. Did a bird fly away? Was
it Phoenix? Phoenix is supposed to fly from the last flame of the fire! No, the phoenix will not fly from the garbage burning fire. Its creation is from the flame of pain.
(Looking at the flying crow realizing the reality)

Crow! The pursuit of survival in the rubbish heap could no longer survive in the heat of the fire. How can a phoenix be compared to a crow? What is the difference? I have never seen a phoenix. Then, how do I compare it to a crow just flying out of a pile of rubbish? Phoenix is a replica of our imagination. Phoenix is the desire to fly away from the last flame of devastation.

From the deep-water fish to the sun,
(Fish again in polluted water!) If all is broken.
The leg of a lame antin the depths of a pit’s abdomen,
Will it be found all of a sudden? (Attar)

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Scene 3:
(A little further away on the board)
Losing the color and smell,this river flowed far and wide. Touching the edge of the city, the color has returned, the smell has returned as it flows through the heart of the village. Or, cities are built on the banks of the river, villages on both sides. It becomes purified before it merges into the sea. Otherwise, the sea is eagerly waiting to purify. This stench is coming to the nose; this spoiled color of water is reflecting in the eyes. What is the connectionof these sensual conversations to the heart? May be! The pure sense moves the pure mind, doesn’t it?

A cold wind blows,
The heart wakes up and responds.
The seven seas seem to be reservoirs,
An ant has the strength of elephants! (Attar)

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The mind wakes up in the breeze! This feeling is extinctin the brick and stone wall of that city! People are ignoring life in the pursuit of life! The material walls have hidden the light.

Light and darkness! Ha! Ha! Ha! Is the light that all I see? Is not there any light outside of my eyesight? Many creatures see better at night! Adam came to an unknown world and seeks Eve in the dark. Darkness! It disappeared with the appearance of Eve. That was the darkness of the mind! Love had revealed her in a heavenly light.

 

In the day of the angels’ confusion, 

Adam recognized the light of heaven!
Noah’s ark floated over The tomb of the world in water!

 

Abraham’s army was mosquitoes,
Enough to devastate the army of Nimrod!
To hide the newborn Moses,
Pharaoh killed all the kids!
Jesus possessed the secret of God,
Christians have nothing to do with that!
Thousands of hearts and souls were pillaged so that,
Muhammad might ascend to heaven for one night! (Attar)

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Scene 04:
(Stagnated in the middle of the river)
I am free. I have nothing to do with the shores like this stagnated boat. Stagnated is as
detached as this boat. I have left all the rituals in that city and that village on the other
side. People go to the city in the pursuit of happiness, to the village for peace! ‘Happiness’ and ‘Peace’ are not but a mess of words! But how long this detachment! The boat floats to reach the shore. Yet its actual relationship is with water.
From here, all the rituals of the city, of the village, all seem illusory. These all are such a
small part of this universe! If I take a drop of water from this river, how much will it change?

Yet the rivers and oceans are made of these dropsof water. The love in the universal family of God is enough for all. In the midst of this universe, just as human beings live on a small planet, God’s love is rare among billions of people. Precious is just rare!
I… I am nobody, nothing. God’s will is all. Thank you, Lord, for me you are the one who
praises yourself. My experience of this late afternoon is coming true! Nothing is attracting me. I have no complaints about my fate! Self-improvement is my goal now. I do not want to lose this independence at any cost. O God! You are my freedom! I surrender my mind in peace with gratitude.

 

O God! Address me with love,
As a sober soul I want to have.
Pleasing to you and reassured
Among your righteous slaves! (Al-Quran)

 

Scene 5:

O loving Lord, the king of kings!
Grant us from yourself kindness.
Provide us for our affair right guidance.
Through the ordeal, make us success! (Al-Quran)

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Wisdom! Like the water of this river, I do not know what is under it. It is flowing deep and
deeper. I do not see any change. But the water dropscontain particles. So the island wakes up
suddenly. Surprisingly! Whatever the Lord wills it becomes. Kun-fa-Yakun (‘Be,’ and it is!).
Yet how deep the pursuit of creation is! He (Allah) has organized human settlement in this
world for hundreds of millions of years! Time had nothing to do with that! He has sown the
seeds of destruction with creation. Destruction is in development! Resurrection is from
destruction! We become shocked to see the destruction. But the pursuit of destruction is also
deep. Creation and destruction are absorbed in His love. Phoenix will be born from the last
flame of destruction. Heavens awake anew. Hell will be ashes.

 

O loving Lord!
Spread your loveInto the rivers and in adobe!
Reveal everything with your love.

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Scene 6:
(The boat is rocking quite softly)
Oh my God! I can no longer stay steady in the water! Where is your waterway
superintendent, Khizir? My knowledge, meditation–everything is becoming aimless! I want the company of Khizir like Moses, whom water gave the way. I want to see what Khizir had seen! I know for sure, my illusory knowledge will not tolerateKhizir at all. How dare..! I will forget everything. Leaving everything, I will be free in my heart. Becoming self-reliant, I will be annihilated in the pursuit of creation. I know that I will not be able to see Khizirwithout self-improvement even everything inside and outside is absorbed. Now, it is better to absorbed in work than to beunconscious and careless. I do not want to be trapped in the food trap like short-sighted flies by engaging in temporal needs.

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Scene 7:
(The boat turning to the shore)
The dog seems to be still waiting on the shore, hoping for another piece of bread. But I have
nothing else!

To purify this contaminated water,
That is none my business, brother.
Pure, more water can purifytheBuriganga’swater body!
O waves! Carry on with joy,
You will reach the sea by the way!
Whatever pollution, the sea will absorb;
But you have to move.
Have to go to the sea!
Otherwise, the smaller and confined,the more polluted you will be!
Your true taste, color and smell–neither milk nor honey can return.
Your only panacea is the deep seasea, the ocean.

 

Md. FerdousAlom
Student of International Relations,
University of Dhaka.