Graffiti adorned the ruinous walls in some places and carried the messages of some groups with specific aims. There were cracks on the floors and holes in the walls. Overgrowth of all kinds devoured all parts of the building and their roots created some natural pillars along the walls. Our artist friends also went about their duty. We explored the ruined building in detail, amazed by the textures created by time. Established in 1927, Radha Shundori SchoolвЂ™s original building was in absolute ruins and looked like shaky enough to come down with any kind of quake. We moved there and got perplexed by the state of the ruins. There was another school adjacent to Mrittunjoy School, which had some old ruins. We arrived at the school just before 10:00AM. His teachers at Mrittunjoy School encouraged him to go for further study in art. He studied here in the early 1920s and then moved to Kolkata to study art at the Government School of Art. Out first target was Mrittunjoy School, the school where Zainul Abedin studied and developed his devotion to art. They're now part of the structure.ДЄ new hope emerges from the ruins. There's always hope at the end of the tunnel. Last time I visited this place was back in 2005. It was planned/designed by a renowned architect Paul Rudolph. A very well-designed campus that provides a real joy to any visitor. This is one of the most organised university campuses IвЂ™ve seen in Bangladesh.

We would be coming back to the campus so, we would get more opportunity shooting the sculpture. But we had to board our vehicles quickly because we have several places to visit within the day. We crossed the Shilpacharya Zaidul Abedin Auditorium and couldnвЂ™t help take some snaps of the great sculpture вЂњBijoy вЂ71вЂќ. Three vehicles carried us through the university campus. As soon as we had our вЂњkhichuriвЂќ breakfast, we moved. But it couldnвЂ™t deter us from starting off. We found them at the breakfast table and didnвЂ™t think that we needed time before we could sit at the table we were hungry like hell.ДЄnyway, even from the morning hours, we could imagine the weather awaiting us it was hot and humid. We fetched the place where our other team members stayed the night. We arrived at the Agricultural University campus in Mymensingh. We reached Mymensingh before 9:00AM early enough to catch everyone at breakfast. He was flying through everything that come his way! Even before we could make it to Mymensingh, we could imagine that we would reach there before our expected time of arrival. Anyway, once we were on board Mustafiz BhaiвЂ™s 4x4, we needed no worry. My humble apologies were trying to hide my face in that sparsely-crowded vehicle without any success though. We started off at around 6:30AM, after an odd, but severe transport problem forced Mustafiz Bhai to pick me from near my place. The artists and other photographers were already there at Mymensingh on Thursday night. I got tagged with Mustafiz Bhai and his small team. Although I couldnвЂ™t become part of the team that left Dhaka on the night of the 7th, I could still be part of a smaller team that was going for a single-day return journey. My official work was canceled and I was free. While I was thinking of the cheap alternative, my luck turned again late on Thusday afternoon, this time towards the brighter side. I lost interest and began to think of some activity that would at least keep me busy on Friday morning. I got official duty on the 9th, which made my going incomplete. But all on a sudden my luck turned towards the dark. A busy Friday and Saturday later we would be at Dhaka once more. I decided to give it a go! The time was the 7th of May 2009, Thurday, evening when we start for Mymensingh. Some renowned artists would break free, and some photographers would capture moments in their frames. They would visit the places that inspired the timeless works of the Shilpacharya. The place was no other than Mymensingh, the place of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin. He was planning to combine two efforts from two types of creative people in the same place.

I got wind of this from Mustafiz Bhai sometime in late April. Following the Footsteps of the Shilpacharya

Bijoy 71 hall