[Sohel]

Thank you for sharing those memories Puck. When it comes to your father's personal fondness for Sheikh Shaheb, as he was known in our family and has been ever since, I can certainly empathize with what he feels. I was in ULab when Russell was there also. Though I didn't like him very much because of reasons only an 8 year old can feel that strongly about, I was crazy about his dad as most people were bound to be once they met him. Simple, charming, funny and immensely approachable, it was impossible not to fall for him. Even my grandfather, an extremely witty, hard-nosed and somewhat cynical academic who was never easy to please, was seduced by his warmth despite political differences, and gladly accepted his politically motivated, kangaroo court prison term because of his early and continued protests after the tragedy, when most of the Mushtaq faction of the BAL was busy lining up for cabinet positions.

My mother was close to Sheikh Kamal and later Sultana khala, and I remember the prolonged mourning that followed her for years, despite her total opposition to BAKSAL and the deplorable roles played her friend Kamal and Sheikh Moni in that original betrayal of our Constitution. It still breaks my heart to recall that morning of August 15th and Dalim's voice over the radio. I remember the indifference on the strange "streets" just days after the tragedy confusing me beyond description. I felt as though something precious was taken from me forever and nobody cared.

The way to deal with the crimes and transgressions of the BAKSAL dictatorship, including the extra-judicial murder of thousands of left wing activists and guerillas, many of them heroic freedom fighters like Shiraj Shikdar - especially at the height of the Cold War and falling dominoes when the very existence of Bangladesh was in question - was not by crimes and transgressions of one's own, and can never be described as anything other than the heinous crime it was.

Anyway, still waiting to read what Nafis, antora93, Dhrubo and other BC young and older guns feel or think about 1971, that glorious year in our history, and who or what has influenced those thoughts and feelings.