Tungipara: A land where the poet of politics born

I had a long desire to visit Gopalganj and see on my own the mazar of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation of Bangladesh. But due to some unavoidable predicaments, which I have overcome by now, it was not possible.

Every Bangladeshi realizes with their heart that Bangladesh would never come into reality and not even become independent without Bangabandhu's long, long struggle, unhesitating sacrifices and immeasurable efforts. His roles in Liberation War can never be expressed merely in words rather to be realized through the heart.

Actually his life was only for the welfare of the people of Bangladesh. He was actively involved in the partition movement in 1947, language movement in 1952, and united front election 1954, and led education movement in 1962, 6-point-demand in 1966, mass upsurge in 1969, general elections in 1970, and liberation war and independence in 1971.

I was not that lucky to see Bangabandhu in person for he was cruelly assassinated in 1975 quite a long time before I came to the earth. I got my mind appeased to some extent by seeing the cenotaph of the greatest Bengali of all time.

Finally, the time came for my lonely trip to Tungipara of Gopalganj, where the towering figure of Bangladesh's liberation struggle lies, on 20 October 2017. I went there alone to perceive the amount of angst Bengalis are carrying with them over the years. Loneliness is the best means to realize the pains, you know!

Reaching there at early morning that day, I contacted the district correspondent Mijanur Rahman Manik bhai who took me to his house in Gopalganj Sadar. It was a heavily raining day and I had no chance to go out. I started to feel worried if I could go to the mazar.

"If I have to go back to Dhaka having the trip incomplete!," I murmured inside. How would that be? Both Manik bhai and I were waiting for the rain to stop. If rain could hear me, read my restless mind! But that was not to be. Rain was not ceasing any time soon. The distance between Gopalganj Sadar to Tungipara is only 22 kilometers. That distance seemed to me a thousand miles. I passed the morning and noon with sheer impatience.

By the afternoon, rain heard me and stopped. We, with a precipitously pleasant mind, started for the mazar and reached there after 5pm. However, we entered from behind the mazar as we had a rickshaw but I understood I was not that lucky to reach close to the mazar. I had to satisfy my long-thirsty mind by looking through the little peepholes.

I saw three mazars there: Bangabandhu's, his father's and mother's. There is a house right beside the mazar where, I learnt, the historical Sheikh family used to reside. There is a traditional pond called 'Boro Talab'. The surrounding areas are decorated very neatly and able to attract any visitor.

There is a library, too, where books on Bangabandhu are available for the readers to know every detail about him. I also saw pens, mugs, exercise papers, etc which the portrait of Bangabandhu was printed on. A long-stretching grass field, with zigzag pathways easily catch the eye, was there to sit on and pass time with comfort. My mind was half satisfied having not been able to see the full beauty of the complex. I could, nevertheless, fulfil my dream I was cherishing deep inside my mind to see the monument of Bangabandhu.

How to go from Dhaka: One, who cherishes to see the mazar of Bangabandhu, can easily go to Tungipara from Dhaka. The 125-kilometer-distance of Gopalganj from Dhaka has a nice and comfortable road communication. From Gulistan, one can buy bus tickets for Gopalganj at a price of Tk 400.

On the way, one has to cross the mighty Padma River by ferry from Mawa in Munshiganj. It also brings an additional opportunity to see the beauty of the Padma. The ferry trip takes around two hours. Getting down the ferry, the bus will take one straight to Gopalganj.Everybody, at least every Bengali, should pay a visit to Tungipara where, along with the birth of one Sheikh Mujib, the birth song of Bangladesh was also composed.


The writer is Sub-Editor,Countrywide Desk, The Asian Age