A Beautiful Sculptor, and...
As I stopped at the traffic signal on the intersection of Mirpur Road and Panthapath, I noticed someone engrossed in making something with clay on top of a road divider. I parked my bike and decided to take a look at what she was doing.
When she noticed I was watching, we greeted each other with a smile. I asked her where she learnt how to make sculptures. She said she has been making them all her life, self-taught. As I asked her name she said "Hasina, I am Sheikh Hasina!" and burst into laughter.
She was facing Russel Square as she made her art works. It felt as if they were tributes.
As I sat with her, a couple of young men came nearby. One looked like a madrasa student, the other one was wearing a suit, holding his phone in his hand, which was attached with hands-free earphones. He said something out loud which caught my attention. "She is making idols" he said. The beautiful moment I was having got interrupted. I returned to the political reality that we face everyday, nowadays.
I decided to engage, even though I have recently told myself not to. I went up to him and said "There is a difference, between an idol and a sculpture". He would not hear of it. "They are all idols" he said. I tried again "You look like an educated person, look up the word sculpture". "I don't need to, when Allah will ask her to give life to these images, what will she do?" he asked. I have heard this growing up as a child. That on the day of judgement sculptors will be challenged, they will be persecuted. As if The Almighty would take offence that humans are trying to mimic Him. And that He would ask these humans to complete the task by putting souls into the dolls they have made. I tried to tell the gentleman "Do you know that our prophet (p.b.u.h.) when banishing idolatry from within Kaaba Sharif had saved one from being destroyed, appreciating its delicate craftsmanship?". "No he did not, this is a wrong idea. You know nothing" he countered. I retreated by saying "Then you only must know!".
They rest of the afternoon and evening I was miserable. I got reminded of so many things, including the drama involving the sculpture in front of Dhaka airport.
Allah amader hedayet korun.
Sadhu shabdhan!!!