Jasimuddin’s poem leaves Mozena in tears

‘Polli Kobi’ Jasimuddin’s poem Kabar (The Grave) brought tears to the US ambassador’s eyes when he read it at the poet’s graveyard.

“I’ll never forget being at the home of the poet Jasimuddin,” Dan Mozena said as he recalled the memories of his cross-country tours on Wednesday.

He said he read the poem beside his tomb. “I was in tears…I was in tears when I read that”.

The celebrated poem 'Kabar', which found a place in the Bengali textbook when the poet was still a student of Calcutta University, tells the story of a family bondage and tragedy in a simple tone.

Ambassador Mozena wrapped up his 64-district sojourn on Sept 23 with the tour in Comilla.

A reception was hosted at the Edward M Kennedy (EMK) Centre in Dhaka on the completion of his visits, displaying some photos of his memorable stops along the way with his wife ‘Grace’.

The ambassador said he had learnt a great deal about richness and history of ‘beautiful’ Bangladesh during his tour that began after he had presented his credentials to President M Zillur Rahman.

He said he had told the late president when he presented credentials on Nov 24, 2011 about his tour plan.

Mozena quoted the president as telling him: “Oh that’s a good idea…”

“Then he said ‘why you are going to do that?’”

Mozena said he had given him three reasons: “First, I want to take a little bit of America, second, I want to check our works in partnership with Bangladesh and third, (I want) to learn about Bangladesh.”

He thanked all for making his dream possible.

During his visit, he stopped at all historical places including Mujibnagar where the first government of independent Bangladesh was formed in March 1971, Bangabandhu’s graveyard at Tungiparha, Rabindranath Tagore and Jasimuddin’s homes.

Jasimuddin’s grave is situated on the bank of river Kumar on the outskirts of Faridpur district.

Mozena said during his tours, he found people were very much appreciative of them.

“Bangladeshi people are the warmest and most hospitable people in any place I have ever been to in my life,” he said.

He said he learnt about the potentials of Bangladesh and at the same time challenges that he said could be addressed.

Corruption, lack of rule of law, red tape and threats of political instability were some of the challenges he highlighted.

He, however, identified river erosion as a big challenge in some northern districts which he had never seen.

The White House has announced Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat as his successor in Dhaka.

He will leave once her nomination is confirmed.

Mozena, however, recently said he might get some additional months in Dhaka as his successor’s confirmation was held up with some other ambassadors as the Senate went on recess and would come back into session in the middle of next month.

He previously served in Bangladesh as political and economic counsellor from 1998-2001.