An evening in the company of a bitter man isn’t an easy prospect. And make no mistake, our old colleague T. is both bitter and angry. But his eyes shine with a fierce intelligence and his stance is shot through with a defiant pride, so on such an evening at least you’re never bored.
We find ourselves in his little house on the campus of a provincial teacher training college. The walls have been painted police-light blue – a forbidding shade which somehow makes them close in. A glimpse into other rooms offers a marginally less gloomy vista: there the walls are moss green, with dark patches of damp. A light bulb hanging from the ceiling stutters weakly. The furniture is basic, a few scattered cane chairs and a simple table, and the only decorations on the wall are family pictures, just slightly askew, and a calendar. You will always find a calendar, it seems, in a Bangladeshi living room. Are we all counting the days here?
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November 24th, 2006 at 8:35 am
Hi andrew and other bloggers,
It is the right context where I can say something of my personal feelings and emotions about our liberation war and our state of affairs after independence.
During the war I was a teen ager, a freshman college student. I had 100% desire to go to India, get trained as freedom fighter and fight for the country, but for dire family situation I was compelled to stay at home. I worked as a teen age organizer of freedom fighters. Through my motivation I recruited 3 young kids, just high school students who went to Agartola of India, got trained, fought for the country and came back home, one of them wounded at direct fight.
They belonged to the poor families. After coming home, they found their hopes crushed, future so dark and got derailed as the-then government didn’t take appropriate steps to utilize the huge potentials of freedom fighters.
They utterly dissappointed, and many engaged in antisocial activities due to lack of guidance and abjec poverty. So was the case of my recruited FFs. They have been broilling with many criminal cases and so thre were no more places at their homes to sleep under any known roofs. Finally they had to cross the borders again to India and then to Pakistan which they fight against, just for survival. This is a true story and this is the harsh truth about thousands fo FFs.
To me nothing more shameful than that I can percieve to our independence and leaderships that freedom fighters had no place in their country which they freed through their blood and had to migrate to the country which they fought against.
But no government, no leaders including, the so called BangaBhandu did take care a straw for them. The country has been carrying the same legacy of inhuman leadership and skyfull of injustice through decades.
Again this is the not country and the leadership we fought for. But we saw the Justice from God to the fraud cheat looter leaderships!
Thanks.
November 24th, 2006 at 11:12 am
Nutchart2006,
Very sad to learn about your friends; freedom fighters who fought the war of Liberation.
There were many like your friends who lost hope because of a “core group” of Awami Leaguers who as is said in Bengali :Kaan Bahari: kora–filled Mujibs ears with lies because of jealousy or fear that they would become competitive. Its a pity that because of this group they couldnt be absorbed into police and ansar forces; atleast. Its again this group that made possible the establishment of Rakhi Bahini and susequently BAKSHAL.
Surprisingly this core group and the extended core group that is chamcas bringing their chamchas to the administration–at the first sign of danger to Bangabandhu fled to their SAFETY ZONE- INDIA–once again like in 1971.