The Amnesiacs
The themes of the thirty-three odd essays in this slim volume range widely: from the propriety of saying Bismillah to begin commemoration of Rabindranath\'s birthday to the collective amnesia of the Bengalis; from the defence of standard Bangia pronunciation to an examination of the pervasive corruption in society; from a call for banning the brutal lathee to globalisation. Mahfuzur Rahman writes with wit, insight, and mordant humour in sparkling English. A lifelong advocate of critical inquiry and reason, he returns again and again to secularist ideology and liberal beliefs. A humanist, he brings to bear on his writing his passionate sympathy for the wretched of the society. (n his eclectic presentation, the lover of the Bengali language in him appears in his never-ending allusion to the language movement. A devotee of nature, he turns to poems on the sizzling Bengali summer. The economist in him comes through in a number of essays on stark economic problems and policy. And the sceptic in him mocks the sorry state of polity and politicians in the country, just as easily as he derides pride, prejudice and hypocrisy. To readers ofMahruzur Rahman\'s essays, hon appctit!
মাহফুজুর রহমান (ফেব্রুয়ারি ১৯৩৫) ঢাকা (১৯৫৫) ও ম্যানচেস্টার (১৯৬৬) বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় থেকে ইকনমিক্সে মাস্টার্স ডিগ্রী নিয়েছেন; নেদারল্যান্ডস্ স্কুল অব ইকনমিক্স (রটরডাম, ১৯৭৩) থেকে পিএইচ. ডি.। পূর্ব পাকিস্তান প্ল্যানিং ডিপার্টমেন্ট ও বাংলাদেশ প্ল্যানিং কমিশনে দায়িত্বপূর্ণ অর্থনীতিবিদের পদে নিয়োজিত ছিলেন। পরবর্তীকালে প্রায় দু’যুগ ধরে জাতিসংঘের (নিউইয়র্ক) ইকনমিক অ্যান্ড সোশ্যাল অ্যাফেয়ার্স ডিপার্টমেন্টে ঊর্ধ্বতন ইকনমিস্টের পদে অধিষ্ঠিত ছিলেন। ............................................................ Mahfuzur Rahman, a former economist with the United Nations, has authored a number of books. His publications include: World Economic Issues at the United Nations: Half a century of debate, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston (2001), Flowers of Bengal, Agamee Prakashani, Dhaka (2000), Two collections of articles, Khoda Hafez vs Allah Hafez and Other Critical essays, The University Press Ltd, Dhaka (2007) and The Amnesiacs, Adorn Publication, Dhaka (2010), and Koto Ghare Dile Thai, his memoir in Bengali, Adorn Publication, Dhaka (2008 and 2009) The author was educated in Dhaka, Manchester, England, and The Netherlands. He earned his Master’s degrees in economics from the Universities of Dacca (1955) and Manchester (1966) and Ph.D. from the Netherlands School of Economics (1973). He served as an economist in the former East Pakistan Planning Department and Bangladesh Planning Commission. He was assistant director for economic policy analysis, and headed a branch in the department of economic and social affairs at the United Nations headquarters in New York charged with the preparation of the department’s flagship publication, The World Economic Survey.