Lungi-clad youth leader visits Buckingham Palace
A Bangladeshi young man received an award from British Queen Elizabeth II wearing panjabi and lungi at the Buckingham Palace in London on Thursday.
Osama Bin Nur received the Queen’s Young Leaders Awards as the only Bangladeshi along with 59 other youths from 45 Commonwealth countries on the eve of Queen’s 90th birthday.
Osama is the co-founder of a portal named ‘Young Opportunities’ to let the Bangladeshi young people know about different grants, trainings, and awards.
Osama is a third-year honors’ student of Update Dental College in Dhaka. He is also the coordinator (treasury) of Volunteer for Bangladesh, and hosts a radio programme named ‘Tin Tekka’ for the youth.
Osama hails from Sirajnagar Nayachar village of Raipura upazila of Narsinghdi. He is the second son among the four children of Nurul Islam and Ankhi Nur Begum.
Talking with Prothom Alo, Osama said, the organisers asked to wear traditional dress for the award programme in the palace. And so, he decided to wear lungi, panjabi, sandal along with a 'gamchha' (locally made thin towel). He explained reason to wear lungi on the occasion.
“A man wearing lungi is being underestimated usually. Several restaurants do not allow people wearing lungi. There was an attempt to ban lungi in an area of Dhaka city,” said Osama. This snobbish attitude towards lungi made Osama wear lungi in the event.
During the award giving ceremony, the queen told Osama to keep up with his work.
She said, “You people will lead the future.”
British prince Harry, former footballer David Beckham, Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara and Commonwealth officials were present at the event.
Prince Harry jokingly told the winners that they certainly got nervous to see the queen, yet they did well.
He said, “Keep up the good work. We will provide the help you need.”
A documentary featuring the stories of the winners was screened in the event.
Osama also participated in several workshops at BBC Academy, Commonwealth office, Twitter head office, Cambridge University, Australian High Commission, Standard Chartered Bank head office and other organisations.
This Young Turk will fly for Bangladesh on 26 June.