Call it poetic justice or an inspiring example of how a legacy can be guarded down the years. Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam would have been a really proud man had he been around, given the fearlessness and defiance with which the otherwise neglected Nazrul Academy in Burdwan district is being looked after despite odds.

Set up in 1958 in a small village called Churulia in Burdwan, the Nazrul Academy’s journey for the next 50 years is actually the saga of how a handful of people fought off constant neglect and decades of ignorance from the state to keep the Rebel Poet’s dream academy alive at his birthplace.

And at the centre of the half-century-long struggle is the revolutionary poet’s nephew Kazi Mozaher Hussian, more popularly known in Churulia as Mangu Kazi.

Old age may have caught up with the poet-philosopher’s descendant — he is 75 now — but the 50 long years of yeoman service to the country’s only recognised establishment in Kazi Nazrul’s name hasn’t in any way left him exhausted in his noble mission.

“I don’t care what hurdles may come my way. I’ve anyway never had much support from very many people for all these years. It’s been just a handful of us for all these years, and the struggle to keep my uncle’s legacy alive has only grown stronger,” points out Mangu Kazi.

By hurdles he means not just problems on the financial front, but the constant neglect and step-motherly attitude of the powers-that-be in Bengal.

“Too many promises have come the academy’s way over the years... but too little has actually been done. On the money front, despite repeated requests and follow-ups, the state government doesn’t contribute with anything phenomenal. And then there is the inherent tendency to give the poet’s academy the cold shoulder,” rued the nephew of the famous poet-musician who died on August 29, 1976 at the age of 77.

In stark contrast to the bustling world-renowned Nazrul Academy in Dhaka — which gets its due princely treatment from the Bangladesh government — the institution in Churulia hardly gets a fraction of the share of attention it deserves from both the Union ministry and the state government. A grant of Rs 50,000 annually is all that the West Bengal government gives to the academy, which is far below what it deserves.

After being set up in 1958, largely due to the efforts of Kazi Nazrul’s family and particularly his nephews — Mangu Kazi was in the thick of things — the academy quickly grew in popularity over time. Soon it became a hotbed of cultural and educational activities round the year. In 1966 it became officially recognised as the country’s sole academy and establishment dedicated to the ‘Bidrohi Kabi’. And from time to time, heavyweight politicians, as well as cultural bigwigs, flocked to Kazi Nazrul’s birthplace for some programme or the other.

Yet, when Mangu Kazi recounts those days of extreme toil and uncertainty behind all the celebrations and happy moments, it will only make you shudder.

“Some paltry cash, just a sackful of some stuff and paperwork, and a small room — that’s all I had when we began setting up the academy. So you can imagine how difficult it has been since 1958 to not just keep the place running, but to actually transform it into a hub of perennial cultural and various other enlightening activities,” he says, crediting his late wife Dolly Kazi for being a pillar of strength in the journey.

Thanks largely to the untiring efforts of the few descendants of Kazi Nazrul, and a few philanthropic backers, and led all these years by his nephew Mangu Kazi, the Churulia Nazrul Academy has managed to withstand the test of time.

From sports competitions to Rabindra Jayanti, from customary annual anniversary celebrations to month-long summer melas, the academy has grown into an impressive institution today.

Ask Mangu Kazi what keeps him going despite age catching up with him, and he will rattle off things that will make you sit up and realise that this maverick straight-talking man is no wonder the great poet’s blood relation.