As a young man, I uttered a few lines of poetry in a lonely room, but no one was there to listen to my voice. This did not dampen my spirit.

 

B.    Award Ceremony

In her citation, she said ‘To know Shamsur Rahman’s poetry is to know his people and his country’. Ajeet Cour stated that the Awards Committee had unanimously decided to present, in all humility, the first ever SAARC Literary Award for Life-Time Achievement to Mr. Shamsur Rahman as he was not merely a Bangla poet but a poet who represented the voices of the masses of the SAARC Region.

After the citation, Ms Ajeet Cour presented the cash award of 2,23,120 takas along with a shawl to Mr. Shamsur Rahman. For distribution on this occasion, the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature, ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS AND LITERATURE, had also brought out booklets in which eminent writers had recorded their impressions of Mr. Shamsur Rahman’s poetry. The impressions that were included were those of :

These booklets were distributed among the Delegates.

Ajeet Cour presented shawls to all the members of the Organizing Committee in Dhaka. A print of Ms Arpana Caur’s painting ‘Women hold up Half the Sky’ was also presented to Mr. Shamsur Rahman and the other to Mr. Shamsuzzaman Khan the Director General of the National Museum of Dhaka, where the Conference was being held. The recipient of the Award, Mr. Shamsur Rahman, while expressing his gratitude to the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature, ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS AND LITERATURE, for honouring him with the Award For Life-Time Achievement, said :

"As a young man, I uttered a few lines of poetry in a lonely room, but no one was there to listen to my voice. This did not dampen my spirit. I am now 72 years old and have to my credit more than 60 volumes of poems. And have been the recipient of all the prestigious Awards of my country. Though I am a recipient, this honour and glory belongs to Bangladesh, in particular to my predecessor poets like Rabindra Nath Tagore, Bishnu Dev and others. I am only enjoying the reflected glory of my predecessors. I perceive that under the continuous guidance of Madam Ajeet Cour, if translations of different books of literature are done in different countries, it will help all writers of the region."

The concluding speech was delivered by Prof. Anisuzzaman. He stated that it was Ajeet Cour who had taken upon herself the onus of bringing the SAARC writers together, and had therefore been in touch with writers from all the SAARC countries, and had persuaded them to get together in such meaningful Conferences. Prof. Anisuzzaman added that although expressions can never be similar as every worthy writer is a different person, there is an urgent need to build bridges through personal exchanges which become possible through such Conferences.

Prof. Anisuzzaman also thanked Ajeet Cour for bringing her caravan of crusaders to Bangladesh and expressed optimism in the success of the Conference.

Ms. Ajeet Cour presenting the cash award of 2,23,120 Takas to Mr. Shamsur Rahman