Blogging’s been relatively slow because I’ve had to finish a paper. (Jajabor on the other hand has no excuse!) I also haven’t been able to check out the rest of the Bangla-blogosphere as often as I usually do…  A couple of days ago, Drishtipat blog reported the horrific killing of a brave indigenous rights (and Eco-park) activist in Modhupur, Cholesh Ritchill. In the comments section, which remained empty for some time, Asif movingly wrote:

Monta ei khobor peye bikel theke bharakranto. Kintu aro dukhkho pai eta dekhe, je eder pashe daranor moto ekti lok-o nei. Eto bhoyonkor ekta ghotona ghote gelo, othocho ei entry-te kono comment nei, nei kono outrage. Eta kono chor dakat khuni noi..ekta shthaniyo neta ke pitiye mera fela holo, othocho key kichu bolche na.

[My translation, which fails inevitably to carry the raw emotion of his comment:

My mind has been weighed down by this news since the evening. But I feel sadder seeing this that there is not one person to stand by their side. This was such a frightening event, but there is not even one comment on this entry, no outrage. This is not the death of a thief or a dacoit... A local leader has been beaten to death, but noone has said a thing.]

Asif is entirely right to call his readers (including us) out this way. Take a moment to remember Cholesh Ritchill, for

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.  -   

John Donne, Meditation XVII