The weekly Bichitra used to be one of Bangladesh's most influential magazines. I started working there back in 1988 and wrote innumerable cover stories. I was quite proud of myself at the time, writing for Bichitra at such a young age, still a student. One day my co-worker at Bichitra, Chandan Sarkar said, "Anu (Anu Muhammad) would write for Bichitra at an even younger age than you." He joked, "When he still wore shorts as a young boy!"
I was taken aback. Anu Muhammad would write on such insightful and complex issues in Bichitra! He would write on energy, arms, international food conspiracies, the profit-mongering of multinationals and such complicated issues. And he'd write on these matters at a much younger age than me!
I got to see yet another side of Anu bhai in 1991. A devastating cyclone struck the coastal islands of Chattogram. Thousands of people died. I courageously was traveling to Chattogram by train to report from the spot. That's when I saw Anu bhai travelling with bags full of relief for the disaster-struck areas. I realised, he didn't just write. He actually went out of his way to help people, hands-on, to stand by their side.
Since then, the more I got to know Anu bhai, the more I got to love him. He would lead the movement on the streets for oil, gas, mineral resources. He was harassed during the rule of various governments, a few years ago his leg was even broken in a police assault. Nothing stopped him. He tirelessly ploughed on, working for labour rights, rights to education, he fought for the environment, for voting rights and more.
A major quality of Amu Muhammad is his simple undemanding lifestyle. He does not hanker after wealth, belongings, awards, power. His only preoccupation is people's emancipation, people's rights. He practices what he preaches, something not many prominent persons in our society can do. That is Anu bhai.
A few days ago Anu Muhammad met with an accident when alighting from a train. It pleased me to no end to see the outpouring of love and respect towards him on social media. Then again, there were questions about why he got off the train at the unspecified stop at Khilgaon. To them, the irregularities and corruption of the railway in stopping at this unspecified stop, or even other many grievous wrongdoings in the country, were not as important as Anu Muhammad's mistake at getting down there! Many renowned persons have angrily written in response. They say, had he lived a slightly self-centred life, he wouldn't have had to be tirelessly travelling by train in this manner and wouldn't have met this accident.
From my own life I can realise just how true this is. Many of our university teachers take up consultancies or work at other universities (with permission) for some financial comforts. But despite being so much more qualified, Anu bhai never did so. It is most fortunate that Anu Muhammad's toes can be mended. This was so important. Because his feet are not just his feet. These are our conscience, the feet of patriotism.
2.
Anu bhai is a man of eminence to us. Another such man left us one year ago. Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury. I heard so many stories of this outstanding man on the way to his memorial at the university he established, Gono Biswabidyalay, and also over there.
Some are the top officials of the forces, amassing huge wealth. Some with a thousand taka salary, amass millions of taka in wealth, some loot one bank after the other, some cleverly grab hold of state resources and rank among the world's richest, some lead in the killing of people and win state awards, some win the elections in their areas with no votes, some become the landlords of the state
I was talking to Zafrullah Chowdhury's wife Shirin Huq on the way to Savar. I said, three decades ago Zafrullah Chowdhury would come to Bichitra in the Gonoshasthya Kendra jeep driven by Saleha. She was the first professional driver appointed by an institution in the country. Shirin Apa said, later when Saleha got a job at the UN, Zafrullah was so thrilled! He came home and said, do you know? Saleha's salary is now higher than mine!
Arriving at Gono Biswabidyalay, we found Akhi, a member of the third gender, speaking. She said, "I would earn money before by halting people and scaring them, by begging. I wouldn't even consider myself a person. Now I work at boro bhai's (elder brother's) university. The students respect me, the teachers are kind. I can stand up and speak before you all. I feel human now. It is boro bhai who gave me this life."
There are so many such stories about such great people. There is the person who came filming in a village, spotted an ailing disfigured infant and do not hesitate to take the child along and ensure its medical treatment. There is the one who employed the child of a shopkeeper in Rangamati in his own organisation, groomed him and established him in a good job of a foreign firm. There are those who work for sewerage and sanitation in the village. There is the one who pays no heed to threats and coercion, and goes ahead to work for the environment, who rejects the offer to join as advisor to the caretaker government and continues to fight against corruption. These people are all around us.
3.
The stories of these people are now eclipsed by the bravado of the small-minded. We see and hear of their achievements every day in the newspapers, on television or online. Some are the top officials of the forces, amassing huge wealth. Some with a thousand taka salary, amass millions of taka in wealth, some loot one bank after the other, some cleverly grab hold of state resources and rank among the world's richest, some lead in the killing of people and win state awards, some win the elections in their areas with no votes, some become the landlords of the state. No one dares to criticise them directly, no court holds them to account, no state agency carries out investigation against them.
The media is flooded with news of such people. They don the guise of big guys and day after day, they leave us despairing and doomed. But they are not everything or everyone. There are true people like Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury and Anu Muhammad in this society too. There are the innumerable youth who love these luminaries, respect them.
That is why, perhaps, we still survive. That is why, perhaps, Bangladesh will find its way again one day.
* Asif Nazrul is professor of the law department law at Dhaka University.
* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir