Dhaka, Aug 17 (BDNEWS) – Leading figure of contemporary Bangla poetry Poet Shamsur Rahman passed away in the ICU of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Thursday evening at 6:35 pm.
He was 77.
He was suffering from severe Myocardial Infarction with multi- organ failures.
Poet Shamsur Rahman was admitted to the BSMMU on August 6 with old-age complications, including respiratory problem.
"He died due to irresponsibility of the government. If the government had taken initiative to send him abroad for better treatment in due time, we might not have lost him," regretted the poet's sister-in-law, wife of Barrister Tofaelur Rahman.
Family sources said that he would be laid to rest at Banani graveyard beside his mother on Friday after a namaz-e-janaja at the Dhaka University mosque following the Jumma prayer. Prior to that, his body will be kept at the Central Shahid Minar from 10 am so that people can pay their homage to the poet.
His first namaz-e-janaja was held at the Mirpur SOS Shishu Polli Jam-e mosque at Thursday night. Then the body was kept in the mortuary of BSMMU hospital for the night. Earlier, at 8:15 pm, the poet arrived at his own residence at Shyamoli Road #1, house # 3/1 from the BSMMU lying on a stretcher in an ambulance.
Hundreds of his admirers rushed with the ambulance escorted by a police car, and many more from all spheres of life gathered at the poet's Shyamoli residence.
Celebrities of literature and cultural arena went to his residence soon after the news spread. Poet Rahman's long-time friends— Syed Shamsul Haque, Rafiq Azad, Shamsuzzaman Khan was found visibly at loss at their friend's departure.
Poet Abu Hasan Shahriar, a very close next generation poet and affectionate of everyone's 'Rahman Bhai,' could not help but cried loudly... in an emotional hug with Faiaz Rahman, poet's son.
The entire house became a mourning hall... whoever was there could not refrain from crying. The bereaved kith and kin— poet's wife Johra Rahman, daughter-in-law Tia, daughters Shumi and Sheba could not reach the poet for a long due to enormous crowd.
The poet, covered in white and in his eternal sleep on a stretcher, stayed for only two hours like a stranger at his very known living room where once he used to entertain many guests. Shelves full of books, a solitary sofa set, selected showpieces, lots of crests and medals he achieved...everything could have a last sight on him.
"Shamsur Rahman...Shamsur Rahman..." a grieved Syed Haque called loudly his friend and as there was no response from the sleeping poet, burst into tears.
"No one should cry... Poet Shamsur Rahman is alive."
"None of us come on the earth with licence for immortality. But as long as the language and literature of Bangla exists, he will be living with his poems," he said.
Poet Rafiq Azad, who was dressing the poet's hair with love, said, "Let us work for realising the dreams he used to dream."
Professor Anisuzzaman, Dr Jafar Iqbal, Prof. AAMS Arefin Siddique, playwright Atikul Haque Chowdhury, poets Rabiul Hossain, Nasir Ahmed, artist Hashem Khan, showbiz stars and cultural figures like Ramendu Majumdar, Pijush Banarjee, Kausar Chowdhury, Nasiruddin Yusuf Bacchu, Golam Kuddus, Kamal Pasha, rights activist Khushi Kabir, politician Tofail Ahmed andAmir Hossain Amu... and hundreds of others attended his last arrival at home.
The eyes that feasted on beauty for long eight decades, the voice that was used to speak in a soft, very Shamsur Rahman style, went shut and silent forever. But the spirit he spread on his time, the dreams he dreamt for people of his country and the world...will never fade.
BDNEWS/2314 hrs.
