Our Forefathers Journey Through the Salty Water

I don’t know why the theatre brings Abraham Lincoln to my mind. That infamous shooting of a great American President has become a vivid representation of theatre for me. As British Bangladeshi’s living at the East End of London, on the one hand we are privileged to enjoy a very Bangladeshi life which one can live outside of Bangladesh, and on the other hand this often deprives us of enjoying the very best of British culture because we are too consumed in our own community. Theatre is one of the aspects of British culture I often regret not being able to enjoy as much as I would like to.

So when I was invited by some of my associates to watch the play ‘Salty Water and Us’, produced by Purbanat production, a professional theatre company from the West Midlands, I was curious and positively cautious in what I should expect. I was keen on the story of the play. It was about lascars from Sylhet who worked on the merchant ships of the East India Company during the British Raj in India from the 17^th to mid-20^th century.

Rushing into the medium sized theatre room at the Brady Arts Centre in the heart of the East End of London, I could immediately feel shared aspiration and expectation from the crowd.  Would the drama will take us back to past, to our forefathers when they embarked on an unknown journey in a ship to London? Would the actors let us feel the struggles and dreams that the lascars embraced?

The play began with Samira, a selfie obsessed young student from Birmingham University who craves to find her roots. The play takes us smoothly to the early 19^th century when Soidulla, a young man from Sylhet secures a job through his friend Shamruddi at the port of Calcutta and sets off for London in one of the Raj’s merchant ship. The journey of this ship to London through salty waters then introduces other characters of the drama.

The story of the play is inspired by a short story written by prominent Bangla writer, Syed Mujtaba Ali and adapted into a play by the writer Murad Khan. The backdrop is the uprising in Sylhet and Assam that resulted from British Raj’s new tax policy from 1800 – 1810.

Lascar Shamruddi works hard in the ship to earn money and fulfil his dream of owning a large paddy field and building a mosque in his village. Bohemian Kutub Ali, another Sylheti young character wants to see the whole world. The stubborn Soidulla is the grandson of Hada Miah who was a peasant rebel killed by a British personnel Robert Lindsey. Soidulla is seeking revenge.

The journey was beautifully portrayed with a powerful Bengali voice occasionally singing with tragic tone and grief, a powerful grief. The Shareng, the guardian of the ship about whom we don’t learn much about along with others tirelessly fill the engine with coal supply to keep the ship going. 

English Captain Lindsey, Shivani and Kutub’s life gradually comes into light with certain twists in their personality, values and ambitions. The occasional ‘dhuro’ from Kutub made me feel absorbed in a Sylheti atmosphere and the actor did a fantastic job in portraying common Sylheti attitudes.

At times it crossed my mind that there was deliberate effort to keep out any religious reference in the Sylheti characters or it could merely be my own expectation derived from my own experience of first generation Sylheti grandfathers I met who would have certainly uttered a prayer for a deceased friend they were missing. 

Powerful acting by all the actors kept us glued into the perfectly adjusted theatre lights and the simplistic use of dialogue. The flawless maneuvering of the story from the floor did not make me feel at once that I am not in a Leicester Square theatre in Central London.

LASKARS

There was an interesting reference to the famine that the Bengal suffered, though there could have been a clearer indication on why Winston Churchill and the British aministration should have been recorded in history as the cause of the famine. What was brilliant was the effort to resolve the key character’s moral transformation once he reached his desired goal.

Written by Murad Khan a British Bangladeshi writer and directed by Filiz Ozcan, a Turkish director, both came across as sincere and passionate about what they do and the ‘Salty Water and Us’ certainly reflects that.

Though the play depicted early 19^th centuries Bengalis embarking on a journey through the salty waters, I returned home with my personal reflections on how I, as a 21^st century Bangladeshi, have too become a very subject of ‘the myth of return’. Any Bangladeshi’s in the UK wanting to go on a nostalgic journey to discover your roots, I would recommend watching this play.

Bangladeshi Muslims, Sin and the Wolf Hall

I recently watched Wolf Hall, a great historical drama series produced by the BBC on Thomas Cromwell’s (1485- 1540) life. History remembers him as a great English lawyer and statesman who served as the Chief Minister to King Henry the VIII of England from 1532 to 1540.

Can’t wait for the next season, I hope BBC will make another series to depict the life of Thomas Cromwell in full, as this series has so far focused on King Henry the VIII’s troubles with his first wife Catherine of Aragon and his mistress who later became his wife, Anne Boleyn.  The series ends (spoiler warning) with Queen Anne Boleyn being hanged at the Tower of London because of her multiple affairs with King’s associates. At times it also seemed that she was also flirting with Thomas Cromwell and the wise man somehow passed her tests.

Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540)

King Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell

I am fascinated by British history, in particular, with the Age of Enlightenment or as some put it as the ‘Age of reason’ (1650s to 1780s). I think it is wise to start looking at the context of this age of reason which certainly was born out of England’s politics in the 15th and 16th century. I believe the events in Henry VIII’s life and Thomas Cromwell’s mastery in government played a role in shaping the mind of the 16^th century thinkers like another Thomas, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), who has written extensively on liberty, government and the social contract, a great philosopher of the modern time.

King Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell’s life is particularly significant in British history because of the separation of state from the Church and the fall out between the King and the Pope on the matter of King Henry VIII’s divorce from with his first wife Catherine of Aragon who failed to give him a masculine child (to borrow The Godfather’s term).

Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII(1491-1547)

The drama is based on famous English author Hilary Mantel’s novels Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies which chronicle the rise of Thomas Cromwell, the son of a humble blacksmith who became the right-hand man of the King Henry VIII. I think apart from his political skills and great ability to manipulate in power, Thomas Cromwell’s unprivileged background made him a great subject of British history. Otherwise, why is that we don’t hear of the other chief ministers of many kings who came and went in those times.  

Sense of Sin | 16^th Century England and 21^st Century’s Bangladeshi Muslims

One observation I made during the drama is the significance of sin in 16^th century British people’s life and the constant reference of it in many dialogues between the actors. This reminded me of the psyche of many in the Bangladeshi community in Bangladesh and here in East London and the constant reference of sin they make in everyday life. Bangladeshi Muslim society is probably as religious as the people of 16^th century Britain.  The sense of sin plays a big part in our life. Morality is defined and enshrined in our psyche through the idea of sin which we are taught in childhood mostly though lessons from mullahs (religious teacher) and parents who were taught by mullahs.

  

My favourite philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) dedicated a whole chapter to this called ‘Sense of sin’ in one of his best work ‘The Conquest of Happiness’. He argued that ‘Sin is one of the most important of the underlying psychological causes of unhappiness in adult life.’ Another interesting quote his book cites is from the 13^th century philosopher and Oxford scholar Roger Bacon, who says: 'for more sins reign in these days of ours than in any past age, and sin is incompatible with wisdom.’

In our life, I observe the idea of sin is mostly concerned with the contesting the oneness of God (shirk) and the status of the messengers etc. Interestingly however, I observe that a lot of practical moral issues we are burdened with in everyday life are not necessarily prevalent substance in defining sin i.e. lying, discriminating others especially for their economic or employment status or gender, promoting hatred, envy, bullying, physical, verbal and psychological abuse, etc. This is not to say our scriptures didn’t have instructions regarding them. I am just noting the apparent highlight of the sins related to sex amongst the religious community and its obsession with it.

Comparative sin

An example of the sense of sin amongst first generation British Bangladeshi parents is that they sometimes justify forcing their son or daughter to marry cousins from Bangladesh in order to fulfil responsibility to extended family in Bangladesh and provide them with economic security and also strengthen the family bond. Interestingly they are not likely to be concerned of their son or daughter’s choice and will. Uncles and aunties of Bangladeshi community often justify this because they think they are being loyal to the wellbeing of their extended family and clan.

Now there is dilemma they face when their son/daughter have chosen their partner and would like to marry them. Especially when they are concerned about the moral police that exist in society combined of extended family, neighbours and so on. It will be interesting to establish what plays the main role in influencing their decision. Is it the very idea of being immoral or is it the society that imposes the idea of right/wrong?

In some communities, I have observed that the belief that it is ones duty to look after his or her family than to give in to individual choice, allowing your daughter to marry a man she/he chose is to give in to an idea of sin. There are further gender implications in this as it is mostly the daughters that are subjected in this moral dilemma. Moreover, the idea of love and affection between two genders prior to marriage is probably the biggest general sin to exist in our society. In fact I have observed this in Islam that the second most significant idea of sin is hugely concerned with sex after the sin of ‘shirk’ which is to associate partners with God. I wonder why that has become the second key issue in the idea of sin. Wolf Hall demonstrates Christianity’s obsession with the same issue in 16^th century England.

The English Quran

One particular scene in the drama was when at a church the priest was shocked to suddenly hear some attendees rebelliously starting to recite the Bible in English. An English version of the Bible was commissioned by King Henry VIII called the Great Bible and was translated from Greek (New Testament) and Hebrew (Old Testament). I imagine a similar situation and shock if someone in the East London Mosque was to start reciting the Quran in English. I wonder why the exclusivity of people of certain language that earns God’s blessings by default. Will God discriminate his creations based on the languages He has blessed them with or will God hold language as a big criterion in how He will bestow his forgiving on the Day of Judgement?