Begum, a history
Nurjahan Begum was born in 1925 in Chandpur district. She passed the matriculation from Sakhawat Memorial High School in Calcutta in 1942. She graduated from Lady Brabourne College, Calcutta in 1946.
After partition of India, the office of the Begum was shifted to Dhaka in 1950, with the new office being installed in what is now Patuyatuli in Old Dhaka. Nurjahan Begum made history with the regional magazine, which taught numerous women to think independently.
Her father Nasiruddin founded the weekly, called ‘Begum’ in Calcutta, a few days before the partition. The cover of the weekly’s first issue on July 20 in 1947 portrayed the photograph of Begum Rokeya, the harbinger of women education in Bengal. Nasiruddin’s daughter Nurjahan Begum began working with poet Sufia Kamal, who was the first editor of the weekly Begum.
Begum’s first Eid issue, in 1948, carried writings by 62 women along with their photos on imitation art paper. The issue had 62 advertisements, and was priced at Rs 2.
After the partition of India in August 1947, Sufia Kamal shifted to Dhaka and Nurjahan assumed the paper’s editorship, just four months into its publication.
It was an extraordinary journey. Nurjahan Begum became the editor of the magazine ‘Begum’ at the age of 22 soon after finishing her studies, and was with it for 69 years.
She was awarded the Begum Rokya Padak in 1997 for her contribution to women’s literacy and literature, besides being honoured by various organisations.
The great lady died on May 23, 2016.
Let the women of Bengal follow her in their professional life.
Khurshida Haque
Dhaka
