Stories that stirred us in 2016
We came across a varied array of stories in 2016, which will perhaps be remembered as a year of difference. In Bangladesh, there were shocking incidents and the occasional cause for jubilation.
The miraculous survival of Khadija after the deadly attack on her, Bangladeshi Zahid Hasan’s contribution to demystifying massless particles, the death of the stray elephant Banga Bahadur, Narayanganj teacher being insulted, generosity of Nesar - these are just a few of the stories that may have left an impact on the readers’ minds.
Internationally, the rise of Donald Trump, the death of legendary boxer Mohammad Ali, the death of the singer George Michael, or Bob Dylan’s wining the Nobel Literature Prize may also be remembered as remarkable happenings of the year.
Clash over watching ‘Kiranmala’
A brawl broke out between villagers in Habiganj arguing over the plot of an Indian fantasy television serial, leaving 100 people injured. The villagers had gathered at a local restaurant on 19 August night to watch ‘Kiranmala’, a famous Bangla-language serial about a warrior princess who saves mankind from evil, when the dispute erupted. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd as the argument escalated throughout the night, with angry viewers vandalising the restaurant in Dhol village and attacking each other with sticks and knives.
A selfie taken on 6 October by three women Awami League leaders next to Khadija, who was lying on a hospital bed in a critical condition, went viral as Bangladeshi netizens castigated their height of insensitivity.
Member of parliament Sabina Akter Tuhin posted the selfie with Juba Awami Mohila League general secretary Apu Ukil and joint general secretary Koheli Kuddus on her Facebook profile.
Khadija, a college student who was hacked by a Bangladesh Chhatra League leader in Sylhet following the refusal of his proposal of having an affair with him, was then on life support in the capital’s Square Hospital.
Six hours after a physician declared her dead, a newborn baby was found alive while being buried at Alipur graveyard of Faridpur. Lawyer Nazneen Akhter Popy gave birth to a baby girl at Zahid Memorial Child Hospital. Physician Rezia Alam declared the baby dead two hours after its birth. When the family members and locals came to the graveyard the next morning to bury the girl kept in a carton, the baby cried out.
Bangladeshi ends 85-year wait for massless particle
Eighty-five years after physicist and mathematician Hermann Weyl suggested the existence of Weyl fermions, a massless particle that also carried an electric charge, a team of scientists at the Princeton University led by a Bangladeshi has found its existence. The team led by Zahid Hasan made the groundbreaking discovery while the journal Science published the results of their research in detail on 16 July. Zahid said this discovery will usher in a new era of electronics where the main features will be speedy and accurate.
Humiliated, headmaster now suspended
Authorities of a Narayanganj school have suspended its head teacher days after he was publicly humiliated for allegedly making statements criticising religion. The managing committee of Piyar Sattar Latif High School took the decision against Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, a teacher who was compelled by a local member of parliament, AKM Salim Osman, to publicly sit up and down holding his ears, in a humiliating display of ‘penance’.
‘I am fine’
On 3 October, Khadija, a second-year undergraduate student at Sylhet Government Women’s College, was stabbed by a leader of the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), Badrul Alam. She went into coma when she was taken to Square Hospital. As a video of the attack went viral on social networking sites, the incident sparked public outrage at home and abroad. “I am fine, thank you everyone,” Khadija said when she regained consciousness 22 days after the attack.
Stray elephant Banga Bahadur dies
On 27 June a wild female elephant was swept by floodwater along the Brahmaputra river from Assam into Kurigram district through Roumari border.
The stray elephant that earned much media attraction and named as ‘Banga Bahadur’ died in Sarishabari of Jamalpur on 16 August after she was tranquilised and was being shifted to the Gazipur Safari Park. Before that, a three-member Indian team visited Bangladesh to rescue and repatriate the animal but failed.
He votes ‘on-camera’
Shamim Osman, a ruling Awami League MP, on 22 December cast his vote for once his arch enemy yet his party nominee this time Selina Hayat Ivy in the Narayanganj mayoral polls. Conspicuously, he did it in public, showing the newsmen the ballot paper marked with the AL election symbol boat allocated to Ivy.
Bangladeshi in top 50 global teacher list
A Bangladeshi female teacher has been named in the top 50 global teachers short-list for her contribution to girls’ education in the country. Shahnaz Parvin, a teacher of Sherpur Upazila Sadar Model Government Primary School in Bogra district, was included among the 50 finalists for the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize 2017, the biggest award for teachers in the world.
Nesar heals with his heart
Saiful Islam Nesar works for a private firm, but spends his spare time at Chittagong Medical College Hospital. There this young man tends to patients who have no one to care for them. He visits them, comforts them, helps them in any way possible, and is only satisfied once he can send them home cured and healthy. Over the last 10 years he has looked after about 200 such destitute patients.
‘Tree Man’ undergoes surgery
A man dubbed ‘Tree Man’ for massive bark-like warts on his hands and feet had undergone a series of surgeries to remove the growths.
Abul Bajandar, from Khulna, had the growths weighing at least five kilogrammes that had covered his hands and feet. Bajandar is the third such patient in the world to be suffering from a rare Dermo Epidermal Dysplasia disease for the last 15 years. A six-member medical board at Dhaka Medical College Hospital was formed earlier for the treatment of the man.
Trump’s stunning win
Republican Donald Trump stunned the world by defeating heavily favoured rival Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election, ending eight years of Democratic control of the White House and sending America on a new, uncertain path.
Bob Dylan wins Nobel in literature
American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature earlier this month, has now told the Swedish Academy that he will accept the prize. The notoriously media-shy Dylan had not made any comment on the 8 million crown ($900,000) prize, despite repeated attempts by award-givers the Swedish Academy to contact him since it named him as the winner on 13 October.
Heavy weight boxing legend Muhammad Ali, an icon of the 20th Century whose fame transcended the sport during a remarkable career that spanned three decades, died on 4 June. The beloved 74-year-old sports hero, had been battling Parkinson’s disease for decades. Despite Ali’s failing health, his youthful proclamation that he was “the greatest” rang true until the end for millions of people around the world who respected him for his courage both inside and outside the ring.
British pop singer George Michael, who rose to fame with the band Wham! and sold more than 100 million albums in his career, died aged 53 on 26 December.
*The article has been compiled by Imam Hossain.