I am a total freak of Lalon songs. Few folk songs are as attractive to me as the Lalon ones. I was his fan not only when Farida Parveen reigned supreme but also remember the BTV/PTV play on Lalon in which Rathidranath Roy sang all the songs with magic in his voice. I wonder if one song that he sang in that play "Ke kotha koy re dekha dey na" will ever touch me as did that rendering.

Folk song legend Abdul Alim also sang that song and while it is sung perfectly, that rendering lacks the emotional gut punch that Rathin Roy delivered in the context of a play with all the props of the tragic story of his life.

As we moved out of the TV era into the You tube zone, the fusion Lalon, an inevitability emerged that in many ways has saved Lalon music. A new generation of singers emerged for the new generation of listeners whether of the old "fakir" gharana or the new ones like Sumi of the Lalon band.

I am a big fan of her and know her repertoire well, both of Lalon and other kinds. She and her kind have taken Lalon to a new popularity high. It is very different from the folk singing Baul identity to a much more mainstream cultural icon, even good for open stage performance for a young crowd.

But who really is Lalon is a question I never really explored seriously. That is until Cosmos supremo and my old friend Enayetullah Khan said, he wants to do a book on Lalon and would I contribute a chapter?

The pop star-baul poet and philosopher

This is to be a coffee table book focused on a wider comprehensive view of Lalon with an eye on the western reader who may very well be unfamiliar with the Bard of Bengal so to speak. It was not about ignoring pop culture versions of Lalon but to assimilate and explain Lalon in a wider context including history. And thus began my journey to discover Lalon fakir, Lalon Shai, Lalon Shah, Lalon and the rest of the Lalons that seem to be strewn on the Bengali and Bangladeshi mind about who he was.

And to that pot add Lalon the heretic and kafir to the list and the arguments cited to vandalize his various 'akhras' by some elements and you get a picture of the universality of sorts of Lalon which is as multifaceted as a cultural icon this soil may have produced since this land got a name many moons away.

What's in the name?

What's in a name as Shakespeare once famously said but they also denote a person's "identity" and that may indicate the essence of the person's being. In the case of Lalon it can signify the social and economic profile and the surrounding world. While hunting through the net I came across the following entry of a GOB office of the area to which Lalon came from. It says:

"Lalon was born in 1774 in a Hindu Kayastha family of Bharara village under Chapra Union of Kumarkhali Police Station of Kushtia district. The real name of Lalon was Lalitnarayan Kar. The nickname Lalu from this Lalu he was later named Lalon - Lalon Sai or Lalon Fakir. (www.6nochapraup.kushtia.gov.bd)

Why is this important?

The kayasthas are Bengal's most dominant and mainstream caste, they are the professionals. In Bengal, Brahmins are few. Kshatriyas are absent so the kayasthas, a sort of sub-caste just above the sudras, are at the social top. Ritual status of kayasthas in North India is not high but in Bengal they are. So the Baidya - doctors - are considered next to the Brahmins based on social needs. All this to say that Lalon was not a socially marginalized person.

The trigger for Lalitanaryan Kar becoming Lalon was his bout of smallpox infection on a visit to a pilgrimage for which he was abandoned by his family, a common practice. He was however looked after by a Muslim couple and later after recovering when he returned home, was outcast by his family including his mother and his wife. He had committed what was called 'anno pap' or the sin of taking "haram" food as per Hindu social theology. Food is an important signifier in any agro society. Hindus and Muslims couldn't share food - many don't share now either - and continue to be part of their religious communities.

All this is known but the focus is on Lalon and his call for all religions and castes - 'jath' in general - to abhor segregation and religious identity. However, as we explored Lalon we saw that most of his ideas were from present in his community while some from his Muslim guru Siraj Shahi.

But Lalon was not a Sufi but a Baul so what is a Baul identity without all that metaphysical gushy smoke? Who sustained them? Was he socially influential? Was a Vaishnavism influenced soul like Lalon acceptable to local Muslims? The questions grow more than the answers and I keep looking. And now I have even hired a research assistant and we are now both exploring topics that have gone beyond songs.

And how did it all begin? It all began when Enayet asked me to help him with his book. Thanks Enayet on this new journey.