Durikata / ডুরিকাটা
We never used to go to book binders. Neither did our fathers. But I used to go to the Press-para (প্রেসপাড়া) – to cut the books and copies I bound, and just to roam around. I would often compare my bindings with the works of the professionals there. Maybe just looking for ways to polish up my own skills.
It was almost a decade since I had left Bogura and moved to Dhaka. After moving back home, I started roaming around Press-para regularly again. This time, looking for inspirations. On the corner of the first-floor stairs in the Talukdar Market, sat Abdur Rashid, who slowly took me as his disciple. Every other day, I’d ask him for new binding techniques. He, having spent twice my time on this planet, couldn’t really understand my childlike enthusiasm. But he kept up with the requests and kept teaching me new techniques; even gifted me some of his instruments. Also for the novice, he instructed field trips to Shapla Market, Thangamara and the alleys of Press-para. At this point, my cousin Tatai bhai, neighbor Ashim da and friend Showrid started finding new ways for me to explore. This led me to meet Saju bhai, Proshanto da, Shamsur bhai, Shakhawat bhai, Jolil bhai and many more. I tried to learn as much as I could.
Over time, it felt like I knew those alleys like the back of my hand. A feeling of connection – to the people, to the place. The tea-stalls of Rail Ghunti, Bou Bazar and Kalitola became my place from the evening to late night till I went home, caught up in cheap tea and futile discussions. Funny how while learning to bind books, I somehow bound myself to the people of my home. Now how do I leave them and move somewhere else again? I don’t know…
Durikata searches for the different types of paper-based bindings (book, notebook, conventional, lost/old techniques) and combines them together in a form of illustrations, photographs (microscopic), and words.
The whole research is based on Bogura, a northern city of Bangladesh that has a history of more than a thousand years. This is the birthplace of one of the earliest universities (Bhashu Bihar) and the culture of studying in the subcontinent. The press is a colonial gift but with the lack of machinery people solved it by inventing some local methods of binding (cutting/decorating). Considering the facts of paper-based binding (preserving/sharing knowledge), Durikata questions and does not limit itself only by showing conventional ways of bindings but rather adding some local techniques of sharing thoughts or emotions. For example, Durikata counts crumbling a page and throwing it to someone to share a note as a binding technique. After talking to the local binders and recording the binding techniques we came up with nearly sixty types of binding techniques; which can be divided into ten chapters (or main branches).
The binding technique Durikata itself is a lost technique that is no more practice in our area. I searched for it for months. In between the research, I was lucky enough to meet many binders. They were not able to show how to bind Durikata but gave some knowledge of the other kinds of bindings. I looked from ally to ally, a few binders of different specialities that helped me to combine bindings, collect history and some precious friends.
