Sheikh Rehana inspires children by sharing memories with her father

Sheikh Rehana has inspired the children by sharing her childhood memories with her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at a function attended by a group of school kids.

The non-profit Centre for Research and Information (CRI) which published a graphic novel on Bangabandhu titled ‘Mujib’ organised the event at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum on Friday, marking his 97th birth anniversary. 

The day is being celebrated as the national children day. 

The founding father of Bangladesh and most of his family members were killed by a group of disgruntled army officers on Aug 15 in 1975. Rehana and her elder sister Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina survived as they were abroad at that time. 

The CRI said Rehana shared her childhood memories with her father including his political life and asked children to learn more about the great personalities like Bangabandhu. 

“…to know how to help people, to sacrifice for people and how to stand beside those who can't help themselves,” she said. 

She also asked them to study “attentively” and take care of their health. 

"When I was young like you, my father used to be in jail most of the time, fighting for the country,” she recalled. “I was not lucky like you,” she told those whose father takes them to school. 

“Most of the time I used to go alone, or my mother used to take me to school. I used to urge my father to take me to school when he was not in jail and could manage time for home”. 

"It was like an Eid day for me,” she said, “when my father picked me up from school on his way back home from work”. 

The latest edition of the novel ‘Mujib 3’ released last month at the Ekushey book fair was on display using banner and festoons at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum when Rehana interacted with the children.

Digital animation devices have also been used to let children know about the history of Bangabandhu as well as Bangladesh.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born in Gopalganj’s Tungiparha on Mar 17, 1920. He became known as Bangabandhu for leading the struggle for the liberation of Bangladesh.

At the Dhanmondi house, where he was assassinated, his daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, placed flowers before his portrait on Friday morning to celebrate his birth.

Rehana also shared with the children her days at this house in Dhanmondi Road 32. She said she was around three or four years old when her family came to this house.

 They used to play basketball, and whenever her father was out of jail, they used to play badminton with him in the house premises.

“Because he was so rarely around, and spent most of his time in prison, whenever he was home, the children used to enjoy his company, listening to his stories of jail, being fed by him and play with him”.

She asked the children whether they know about Bangabandhu's historic speech of the March 7.

Along with the children, she chanted: "This time the struggle is for our emancipation, this time the struggle is for our independence."

She asked children about Bangabandhu, such as where he was born, the name of his parents.  The children answered all these questions correctly.

One of the children asked her whether her father used to beat her. She said he did not even scold them. But they could understand when their father was angry at them.

He used to love his children a lot. Amusingly, she added that it was her mother who used to scold them if they did anything wrong.

But she said her father used to keep track of their education strictly, though.

“Whenever he got the chance, he tested our writing skills both in English and Bangla, and also skills in multiplications. That used to make us nervous”.

“During holidays like Eid, when other children used to tell each other which shops they went to with their fathers, that used to make me quite sad,” she said. 

“One time, when he was home during such a holiday, I forced him to take me to New Market”. 

Bangabandhu took her to New Market and bought an ice cream and a new dress. That evening, Rehana recalled she was “so happy that it felt like I was flying in space”.