Sajjim Shine

A civic mourning meeting was held in Netrokona in memory of poet Helal Hafiz. A civic mourning meeting was held under the banner of Netrokona Civic Society at the District Press Club auditorium on Monday evening.

Deputy Commissioner Banani Biswas was the chief guest at the civic mourning meeting presided over by former vice-president of the District Press Club and freedom fighter Haider Jahan Chowdhury, while the main discussant was poet Rezauddin Stalin, member secretary of the National Poetry Council.
The poet’s sister Latifa Ahmed, Professor Rahul Amin, cultural activist Rafiqul Islam Apel, Udichi president Mostafizur Rahman, Professor Nani Gopal Sarkar, poet Mrinal Chakraborty, Alpana Begum, Professor Anwar Hossain, Monir Hossain Barun, poet and editor Kamal Hossain, poet Sajim Shine, and others spoke at the event.

Poet Helal Hafiz was born in 1948 in Baratoli village of Atpara upazila of Netrokona. He spent his childhood, adolescence and youth in Moktarpara, Netrokona town.
He passed his SSC from Dutta High School in Netrokona town in 1965 and his HSC from Netrokona College in 1967 and was admitted to Dhaka University. He became a resident of the capital and never returned to his native area. The poet had been in a love relationship with a woman from Netrokona since his adolescence. But when he was just starting university, his parents married that woman off to someone else. For this reason, the poet lived with the pain of separation throughout his life. And he has woven all his unique poems with it. The calculation of wants and needs was completely insignificant to him. For these reasons, he also had a kind of hidden pride towards his birthplace, Netrokona.
The poet has visited Netrakona only three times in the last 50 years. The last time he came was in 2019, at the Netrakona Spring Literary Festival, to receive the Khalekdad Chowdhury Literary Award. That too at the special insistence of local fans, classmates, and relatives.

Helal Hafiz’s poetry was recited at the event.