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Sheikh Mujib My Father

Sheikh Hasina
There is a beautiful picturesque village on the bank of the river Baigar. The name of that village is Tungipara. The river Baigar reaches the Madhumati river by following a meandering course. The river Baigar is one of the numerous branches of this Madhumati. There lay a green foliage of palm-tomal-hijal trees on the both sides of the river. The songs of 'B hatiali' float from the mouths of boatmen on this river with oars in hand; the chirping of birds and the ripples of river-water create a fascinating environment.
The river Madhumati had flown beside this village nearly two centuries ago. Habitats were then built up on its bank. Due to the inviolable law of nature, the river has now moved further away. Many other villages also sprang up after the surfacing of shoals. Our forefathers had arrived in this small riverine village of natural splendour and beauty and settled down here with the goal of preaching Islam. Their trading and commercial activities were centred around the port of Kolkata. They started cultivating crops in fallow lands here together with the local peasants. Gradually, they built up Tungipara as a self-reliant and affluent habitat. At the outset, boat was the only mode of transport. Later, a steamer landing port developed at the Gopalganj thana.
Our ancestors, purchased landed properties at Tungipara village for dwelling. They built houses there by hiring masons and technicians from Kolkata. Those were completed in 1854. The remnants of those buildings still remain as a witness of time. The Pakistani invading forces burnt down the two buildings which were used as residences till 1971. After starting to reside in those buildings, our family began to expand and the number of settlements around the place also rose. My great grandfather Sheikh Abdul Hamid built a tin-roofed house on the north-eastern corner of that building. My grandfather Sheikh Lutfor Rahman started his family life in this dwelling. And my father was born here on 17 March 1920. My father's maternal grandfather Sheikh Abdul Majid named him as Sheikh Mujibur Rahman during his Akika (naming ceremony). My father was the first son of my grandmother who issued two daughters earlier. My grandmother's father therefore donated all his properties to her and said during Akika, "Maa (daughter) Saira, I have given your son such a name that it will be famous all over the world."
My father's childhood was spent diving in the river-water at Tungipara and getting dusty on the rural-path passing through the field. He used to get soaked in the muddy
waters of monsoon. How the weaver-birds built their nest, how the kingfisher went inside water to catch fish, where lay the nest of the magpie robin - the searching of all these were the usual activities of this romping boy. My father was greatly attracted by the sweet melody of the latter's sound. And that is why he liked to mingle with nature by moving around the fields and ghats with small children of the village. He used to teach the little 'shalik' and 'mynah' birds how to speak or whistle after catching them. He used to rear monkey and dog, and they used to do whatever he instructed. Again, he used to give the responsibility of looking after them to his younger sister Helen. He could not tolerate the slightest negligence towards these animals. Sometimes the younger sister was scolded for that reason. There is a narrow canal on the north-western side of our house, which connects with the confluence of the rivers Madhumati and Baigar. A large 'Kachari Ghar' stood on its bank. And the teachers, pundits and moulavi sahibs used to reside in rooms adjacent to this house. They were appointed as house tutors and my father used to learn Arabic, Bangla, English and Mathematics from them.
The Gimadanga Tungipara High School was built by our ancestors. It was then a primary school, located almost one and a quarter kilometre from our house. Abba (my father) initially studied in this school. One day, his boat capsized while he was returning from school. My father fell down in the canal water. After that, my grandmother did not allow him to go to that school. He was a little boy, the apple of their eyes, object of love and affection of all family-members; his slightest discomfort brought pains to others. She admitted him to Gopalganj Missionary School taking a transfer certificate from that school. Gopalganj was the place of work of my grandfather. From then on, my father started to receive education at Gopalganj. At one stage, my grandfather was transferred to Madaripur. My father studied at Madaripur during that episode. Later, his teenage days were spent in Gopalganj.
The health condition of my father was quite delicate. The only thinking of my grandmother was therefore focused on how to keep his 'Khoka' well. My grandparents also called him 'Khoka'
(trousers) or Panjabi. What had happened? He had donated his dress to a poor boy who wore torn and disheveled clothing.
My grandparents were very generous. When my father donated anything, they never scolded him; rather they used to encourage him. There were many other instances of this liberal attitude of my grandparents.
While studying in school, Abba was infected with beriberi disease and his eyesight was gravely affected. As a result, his education had to be suspended for four years. At that juncture, he had a house-tutor named Hamid Master, who was active in the anti-British movement and remained imprisoned for many years. Later, when Abba had to go to jail at different times and the police came to arrest him, my grandmother recalled the name of that Master Sahib and cried. My grandparents never obstructed any activities of their son, rather they encouraged him. My father's mental horizon flourished in a very open atmosphere. Whenever any task appeared to be just, my grandfather encouraged him instead of opposing.
One of Abba's school-masters set up a small organization; he used to help the poor, meritorious boys by moving door to door and collecting paddy, Taka and rice. Abba used to work with him as one of the prominent and active workers, and encouraged others to do so. Wherever he saw any injustice, he used to protest. Once when he protested an injustice, he became the victim of a conspiracy by government-supporters and had to stay in jail for a few days after getting arrested.
He was very conscious about people's rights during his adolescence. Once the Chief Minister of the united Bengal Sher-e-Bangla came to Gopalganj on a visit and inspected his school. During that episode, the courageous teenager Mujib attracted everybody's attention when he articulated the complaint about leakage of monsoon water in the school-building and succeeded in eliciting the pledge of repairing it.
After passing matriculation from the Gopalganj School, he went on to study at Islamia College of Kolkata. He used to stay there at Bekar Hostel. At this time, he came in touch with Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. He got actively involved in the Hallway Monument movement His active participation in politics commenced
out of affection. And he was known as 'Mia Bhai' to his peers and villagers. He could associate very easily with the simple village-folks. My grandmother constantly remained busy for improving Khoka's health condition. Milk, posset butter etc. were therefore produced in the household. Fruits from the garden and fresh fish from the river were always kept ready for Khoka, but my father was very lean and thin since his very childhood; therefore my grandmother regretted why her child did not become plump with nutrition. During food intakes, he preferred ordinary rice, fish broth and vegetables. After taking food, he liked to eat milk-rice-banana and molasses. I had four aunts and one uncle. Of these four sisters, two were older. These elder sisters were always alert so that their younger brother did not face any discomfort. The rest were also younger, but the affection Khoka received from my grandparents was limitless. People who took sanctuary in our house were also numerous. The children of my grandparents' sisters, especially those who had been orphaned, were brought to our homestead by my grandparents in order to groom them properly. Therefore, around 17-18 children were growing up in our house at the same time.
My father was married off when he was ten years old. My mother's age was then only three years. After my mother lost her father, her grandfather gave all his property in her and my aunt's names in writing following their marriages. My aunt was three years senior to my mother. Their grandfather married off the two sisters with relatives and made my paternal grandfather their guardians. When my mother was 6-7 years old, her mother also died. My paternal grandmother then took my mother on her lap. And from then on, she was groomed together with the rest of the children.
Side by side with receiving education, Abba was very fond of sports. Especially, he liked to play football. He used to go to Chitalmari and Mollarhat crossing the Madhumati for playing. There was a school team at Gopalganj. My grandfather also liked to play. He used to visit the playing-field when Abba played. Grandfather used to tell us the story later: 'Your father was so frail that he fell on the ground after forcefully kicking the ball.' If Abba was standing nearby, he used to protest. We then really enjoyed these episodes. An interesting happening was that matches were played between Abba's and grandfather's teams also. Even now, when I visit those places, I come across many elderly people who speak about Abba's childhood days. There were many photos and papers about these games. The Pakistani invading forces set our house on fire in 1971. As a result, everything was burnt down.
My father was a big-hearted person since his childhood. At that time, the boys did not have that much opportunity for pursuing education. Many individuals used to pursue education by taking jaigirs' (a system of getting food and accommodation in exchange for providing tuition to children of the host family). Students had to reach schools after walking a distance of 4-5 miles. They used to come to school eating rice. They had to return home walking a long distance after starving for the whole day. As our house was located in the 'bank-para' area, Abba used to bring them home. He had the habit of taking rice with milk and used to share food with others. I heard from my grandmother that a number of umbrellas had to be bought for my father every month. The reason was that he used to give away his umbrellas to those who could not buy because of poverty; it pained him to see them suffer due to sun and rain. Sometimes, he even used to give away his text-books.
I heard from my grandmother that she used to stand under the mango tree when the school-hours were over. She used to keep an eye on the road as Khoka would be coming. One day she saw Khoka coming with a wrapper on his body, without any Pajama
from that juncture. He passed BA in 1946. He played an active role in halting the riot that started during the partition of India-Pakistan. He used to work by risking his life. My second Fupu (paternal aunt) used to live in Kolkata then. I heard from Fupu, he sometimes worked for two to three days at a stretch without taking any food. When he occasionally went to Fupu's house for enquiring about their wellbeing, she forcibly made him eat something. He never supported injustice. He never compromised on the question of establishing truth and justice even by risking his own life.
He got admitted to the law department of Dhaka University after the establishment of Pakistan. At that time, he lent support and actively participated in the movement of class three and class four employees. He was arrested while observing a sit-in demonstration before the Secretariat. He was released a few days later. At this juncture, Mohammad Ali Jinnah gave a declaration about the drafting of Pakistan constitution; when Jinnah announced that Urdu should be the state language of Pakistan, all the Bangalis in the then East Pakistan became protesting. The student community actively participated in this movement. My father was arrested during the movement in 1949.1 was then of a very tender age, and my younger brother Kamal was just born. Abba did not even get the opportunity to see him.
He was continuously in captivity until 1952. At that time, my mother used to reside at my grandparents' house along with us-me and my brother. Once Abba was brought to Gopalganj in connection with a case. Kamal had then learned to speak a bit. But he had never seen Abba, nor did he know him. When I was repeatedly rushing to Abba and calling him 'Abba, Abba', he only looked on in amazement. There was a big pond in Gopalganj thana, beside which was a large open field. We brother and sister used to play there, ran around to catch grasshoppers and occasionally came back towards Abba. After gathering many flowers and leaves, I sat down with Kamal for playing on the veranda of the police station. He suddenly asked me, 'Hasu Apa, please allow me to call your Abba as Abba.' When I recall those words of Kamal, I cannot hold back my tears. Today he is no more alive, we have none to call 'Abba'. The bullets of the assassins not only snatched away Abba, they did not spare even my mother, Kamal, Jamal and little Russel. Sultana and Rosy, newly-married wives of Kamal-Jamal, were also not spared; the colour of henna in their hands had mingled with the blood of their hearts. The murderers did not stop there. They killed my lone uncle Sheikh Naser, youth leader and my cousin Sheikh Moni, his pregnantwife and my playmate of childhood days Arzu. These killers simultaneously attacked Abdur Rab Serniabat (husband of my aunt), his thirteen-year old daughter Baby, ten-year old son Arif. Even the four-year old son Babu of Mr. Serniabat's eldest son Abul Hasnat Abdullah was not spared by the murderers. Colonel Jamil, who had rushed towards our house after waking up to save my father's life was also killed. What kind of barbarous cruelty was this? My second Fupu is still crippled due to bullet-wound.
On that day, Kamal sought permission to call my father as 'Abba'; I instantly took him to Abba. I told Abba about him. He fondled Kamal very affectionately taking him on his lap. None of them are alive today. Hi! Today my mind craves to call 'Abba'. I yearn intensely for the affection of my mother, company of my brother; but I cannot get them back even if I cry ceaselessly. None of them would respond. Their lives have been cruelly silenced forever by the bullets of the assassins, won't they face trial?
[Collection: Sheikh Hasina Rachona Samagra, published in 1991] □
Translation: Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed