Social injustices, Political crises, Ignoring the nature are the common topic of our daily life. We are leaving in a civilized world, as a member of this large civilized society. Most of the time we failed to fell the rhythm between the thought, words and act, every where there is a conflict . . . monirul alam
26 Oct. 2011 Dhaka. Bangladesh- Cultural personalities, eminent citizens and his fellow photojournalist paid their last respect to renowned photojournalist at the Central Shaheed Minar premises in the city on 26 Oct 2011.
Photojournalist Rashid Talukder, the first Bangladeshi to win prestigious Pioneer Photographer Award, has passed away at a hospital in the city. He was 72. Talukder died at Square Hospital around 6:30pm on Tuesday while undergoing treatment there, his cousin Sheikh Mohammad Sumon told media. He was admitted to the hospital on Oct 19 following a brain stroke. © Monirul Alam
Renowned photojournalist Rashid Talukder, the first Bangladeshi to win prestigious Pioneer Photographer Award, has passed away at a hospital in the city. He was 72. Talukder died at Square Hospital around 6:30pm on Tuesday while undergoing treatment there, his cousin Sheikh Mohammad Sumon told media. He was admitted to the hospital on Oct 19 following a brain stroke.
Talukder was born on Oct 24, 1939, in Chabbish Pargana, West Bengal, India. He developed interest in photography while he was in school. He began working in the darkroom in 1945 when he was a student of class 8. Talukder joined the Daily Sangbad as a photojournalist in 1962, and has been a press photographer since then, for 46 years. He worked with the Daily Ittefaq for 29 years.
His photographs of the 1971 liberation war are considered invaluable documents. For several decades, he recorded various aspects of Bangladeshi life.
Talukder received several awards and honours at home and abroad. He got a lifetime achievement award at Chobi Mela, an international festival of photography in Dhaka, for his contribution to the field.
His photograph of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic speech on March 7, 1971 was nominated for the Encyclopaedia on Southeast Asia, published by Cambridge University, England.
Talukder has been a member of advisory councils of several photographic organisations, including Bangladesh Photographic Society. He is also the founder of the Bangladesh Photo Journalists’ Association.
“No one can help me, and I don’t have any other way to live except through begging. I live on the street and everyday earn Taka 30 to 40 and I am taking drugs as I am frustrated by life.”
-Zahid, a street beggar and drug user
A lame man walks the streets at night. He is Zahid, who has lost the use of his left leg as a result of a childhood illness. He came to Dhaka from his village in Bagura, in the northern part of Bangladesh and started begging to survive.
“No one can help me, and I don’t have any other way to live except through begging. I live on the street and everyday earn Taka 30 to 40 and I am taking drugs, as I am frustrated with life. Sometimes the police pick me up from the street and release me on the outskirts of Dhaka. We suffer a lot but no one can help us get a good job or rehabilitate us.”
Like Zahid, there are many people, especially women and girls whose human rights are violated daily. These can include physical, sexual, psychological and economic abuse, and they cut across boundaries of age, race, culture, wealth and geography.
Drug abuse in Bangladesh is a national issue of concern as it directly impacts the economy and society. There are millions of drug-addicted people in Bangladesh and most of them are young, between the ages of 18 and 30 and they are from all strata of society. The country as a whole is deemed by the UN to be “low-risk.” However, the disease is spreading at an alarming rate among the intravenous drug addicts who reuse dirty needles in the urban slums of the capital. The first HIV positive patient in the country was identified in 1989. According to the Health Ministry statistics for last year 123 people died of AIDS, 365 others got infected and 1207 were found HIV positive. According to UNAIDS statistics, the number of HIV-positive drug users more than doubled between 2001 and 2005. Health experts warn that the risk of an epidemic is increased by that fact that many of the addicts also admit paying for sex and only 10 percent say they always use a condom.
Most of the addicts are young, homeless and unemployed. Some of them don’t know anything about the diseases they have. Frustrated with lives they have turned to drugs. When you talk to them you realize they are just waiting for death because they have nothing else to do.
Artist statement
“A deadly game” is my self-photography project. My work started many years ago when I got to know about HIV/AIDS. As a photojournalist, I find the street drug users suffer more and face more problems as they do not know their basic rights. At the same time they don’t know enough about diseases to be concerned about them.
My main focus is on the street drug user is to show their actual condition in a humane way . At the same time, I also would like our society to see the drug users and to respect their human rights through my photo story.
Note: Recently Bangladesh Human Rights Networks, banglarights.net published my Photo Story, A Deadly Game to their on line publication. Please visit on the following link pages
Link: http://banglarights.net/a-deadly-game-moniul-alam.html
Note: One of my picture “Bangladesh Mob Beating” published on AP, The Associated Press .Please click on the Image to see the link page.
Road Block & Protest:
A group of Rickshaw and van pullers block the second Buriganga bridge and set fire on Thursday demanding daylong movement of non-motorized . . .
http://monirul.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Reportages/G0000VoJ.1Jrzk3o/I0000nIvRKRmUHaA
BNP Protest:
The opposition BNP holds a meeting blocking the road in front of its Naya Paltan office in the city on Thursday protesting the . . .
http://monirul.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Reportages/G0000VoJ.1Jrzk3o/I0000MgGNePygZ6s
I would like to request all, Please visit my REPORTAGES PICTURE on the following URL http://monirul.photoshelter.com/gallery/Reportages/G0000VoJ.1Jrzk3o/ and send it to your feed back . . .
MONIRUL ALAM 