ZCZC
BSS-02
PM-ARTICLE-NEWSPAPER-REMINISCENCE-2 DHAKA
Two
Kamal and I passed our childhood days in the village home of Tungipara. At that time, it took two nights and a day to go to Tungipara from Dhaka. That means, if we boarded on a steamer in the evening of a day, we had to pass the next day on the steamer and then it reached Patgati station at late night. And from there, it took two to two and a half hours to reach Tungipara by boat.
That’s why newspapers did not reach that area regularly. That time, we could not learn what was called newspaper reading. But one newspaper used to come to our house. We observed that adults had a huge interest in reading it.
We came to Dhaka in 1954 when there were ups and downs in politics. We did not get company of my father. He was elected as a member of provincial assembly. He had become a minister too. As he was very busy, he used to return home at the dead of the night when we were already asleep. In the morning, Kamal and I went to school. Sometimes, when my father returned home to take launch, we met him. This little time was very precious for us. Even if we got father’s affection and love for a smaller time, it was a big gain for us.
He sacrificed his life for the people of Bengal. He dedicated the whole time in his life for the welfare of the deprived people of Bengal.
Then he was detained in jail. When our father was free (out of jail), we hardly got his company due to the crowd of people. And when he was detained in jail, we met him for only one hour in every 15 days. That was our life!
My mother used to relieve all of our sorrows with her affection and love. And my grandparents and uncle Sheikh Abu Naser used to meet all of our demands. He brought us everything we needed. And my father’s cousin Khoka uncle used to stay with us always. Staying with my mother, Khoka uncle extended cooperation to every work from taking us to school and going to lawyers’ residences for the regarding the cases filed by the Pakistani government against my father.
My mother liked to read. My grandfather used to keep various types of newspapers in the house. ‘The Unfinished Memoirs’ written by my father contained the information of my grandfather’s buying and reading of newspapers. From then, my father made his habit of newspaper reading. And we learnt to read newspapers from him.
My father had intense personal affiliation with newspaper. When my father was studying in Kolkata, he was involved with the publication of a newspaper at that time. Mr. Hashem supervised the newspaper and Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah served as its editor. My father was involved with the publicity of the newspaper.
Two newspapers named ‘Millat’ and ‘Ittehad’ were also published. My father was also involved with those newspapers. In 1957, my father got involved with another newspaper named ‘Natun Din’. Poet Lutfar Rahman Zulfiqar was its editor.
More/ MRI/MKD/GM/TAN/SH/GA/1125 hrs