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 113th Birth Anniversary of Sufia Kamal

The Poet Speaks

Excerpts from 'The Poet Speaks' – an exclusive interview of Sufia Kamal by Editor and Publisher of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam, taken on December 28-29, 1995 and published on January 1, 1996 – the year Sufia Kamal was awarded 'Woman of the Year' by The Daily Star. We are reprinting this on the occasion of the poet's 113th birth anniversary

Now I am very sick. I cannot go out into the streets and listen to the people or talk to them, as I have been doing all my life. What worries me most is the condition of the common people. How are they? Have their situation improved?

One of the things that worries me very much is our increasing foreign dependence. I agree that over the last several years a lot has been achieved, many bridges, miles of roads, some factories and big buildings in the cities. But have all these really helped our people? With whose money have we done all these? Is it with borrowed money that all these have been built? What will happen if money from abroad suddenly stops coming? Have we not become more and more dependent on foreign aid over the years? I do not understand much about economics, but I have been taught this much that the growth that does not come from my own wealth and is dependent on somebody else's assistance cannot be all that good for me.see more....