Ekushey 1972

As Coordinator of the refugee relief programme assisting 600,000 Bangladeshis, I was sitting in my OXFAM Refugee Relief Office near Park Circus, Kolkata on 21^st February 1972 when I was informed by a very alarmed office messenger that a few hundred men, women and children were outside waiting for me and were shouting my name. Had they come from one of the camps to make a complaint, I wondered.

I went outside and the spokesman of the group of nearly 500 people told me that they had decided to start for home on an auspicious day and proceeded to explain to me the historical importance of 'Ekushey' and that year was the 20^th anniversary of the day when, because of the Bangla mother tongue, people had lost their lives due to Pakistani police firing. "Ekushey is one of the main reasons we have our own country now," I was told. The refugees had come from a camp quite near Kolkata called Digberia.

The organisers of this large group of refugees reminded me that they were all so grateful that, during the monsoon months of 1971, I had arranged to provide harmoniums and tablas in all refugee camps which were connected to OXFAM. They said that this music had not only helped to improve the health of all inhabitants of the camps but also helped them keep the Bengali music, culture and language very much alive all the time. With this they felt, I was told, that they were always going to have a better future when they were able to return home.

They explained that they had come to say goodbye and to thank OXFAM for everything that had been done to assist them. One of them had carved a vase made of bamboo and some woolen flowers on wire stems had been placed in it. It is a gift that I have treasured for many years.

My visitors that day had heard that I had, a couple of weeks earlier, gone by road to Dhaka and so asked me to tell them in detail about my journey and what I had seen. I was therefore able to prepare them for the worst while hoping, against all odds, for the best. In my own mind, the spirit of Bangladeshis like the ones who came to see me today 42 years ago is how Bangladesh has progressed and developed so much since then. The sky is the limit and so much more is possible.

This is how I remember 'Ekushey 1972'