Guys, I'm going to share with you my favourite poet Kazi Nazrul Islam's soldier life.
Nazrul joined the army at the end of 1918. First to Fort William in Calcutta and later to Nowshera in the border province for training.
After the training, the soldier started living in Karachi cantonment. He was in the army from late 1917 to March-April 1920, about two and a half years. During this period he rose from General Corporal to Quartermaster Habildar of the 49th Bengal Regiment.
He learned Persian from the Punjabi cleric of the regiment. He also continued to practice music with his comrades-in-arms with various musical instruments, both local and foreign, and at the same time continued to practice prose and verse.
Nazrul's works in the Karachi cantonment include Baundul's autobiography (first prose), Mukti (first published poem); Stories: Henna, pain donation, Meher Negar, sleep deprivation, Kabita Samadhi etc. Despite being in this Karachi cantonment, he was a subscriber to various literary magazines in Calcutta. These include Prabasi, Bharatvarsha, Bharati, Mansi, Marmmabani, Sabujpatra, Saugat and Bengal Muslim Sahitya Patrika.
At this time he had some books by Rabindranath Tagore, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and the Persian poet Hafiz. According to this source, the handiwork of Nazrul's literary practice is in this Karachi cantonment. He took part in the First World War as a soldier. At that time Nazrul's forces were supposed to go to Iraq. But the war stopped and he did not go. When the war ended in 1920, the 49th Bengal Regiment was disbanded. He then left military life and returned to Calcutta.
Thanks for reading ❤