Bangabandhu comes to his home Bangladesh…

Earlier, while waiting to audition for English news readings at Bangladesh Betar’s reception in Shahbagh, I suddenly witnessed the dramatic news that Bangabandhu had flown out of Pakistan but no one knew where he was going. . Everyone around me was really excited, there was a smack of a new Pakistani conspiracy. I decided to skip the audition, literally ran home, Malibuag, and tuned in to the radio for the news. It came after dusk.

A newsreader on the BBC’s World Service said, “East Bengali political leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman arrived in London from Pakistan a short while ago.” We jumped for joy. An hour later, on the BBC’s Bengali service, we heard Bangabandhu’s voice for the first time in ten months: “I am delighted to share the immense joy of the freedom won by my people in an epic liberation war,” he said. Tears of joy streamed down our faces.

Two days later, on January 10, 1972, something magical happened as the Comet plane that brought Bangabandhu home landed at Tezgaon. I was on the street outside the terminal building with thousands of other people. Within seconds – and I don’t know how it happened – I found myself on the tarmac, right next to the overcrowded truck that was supposed to take the leader to the race course, today’s Suhrawardy Udyan.

He was looking thin, running his hand through his hair, smiling and looking sad by turns. As the truck pulled out of the airport, I tried to climb into it from behind. There was no room for even one of my feet. I let the other one graze on the road. Colonel Mag Usmani gave me strict instructions, ‘Khoka, bytha pabe. Neme poho. I didn’t heed his advice, hanging onto the truck all the way to the race course.

These days, every time I see that photo of Bangabandhu on the truck, with all those important people, I see a 16-year-old me hanging out of the vehicle in the back. That is history of which I am a part. Bangabandhu is our history.

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