A Teacher Who Inspires Dreams with Light in Hand

Abdullah Abu Sayeed.

Just hearing the name brings a sense of peace. It feels like, after a scorching day, a fresh breeze suddenly sweeps in from the riverbank in the evening and touches your skin! Abdullah Abu Sayeed. He’s known in many ways. He is a popular presenter on BTV, a successful educator, organizer, and social reformer. The successful founder of a nationwide reading program. The leader of Bishwo Shahitto Kendro. Father of some remarkable books and a famous writer. He is also renowned for his recitation and dance direction in the cultural arena. This is how the whole nation knows him. But to us, he is known for just one thing. He is our Sayeed Sir. Our teacher.

He was the one who kindled a strange and wonderful thirst within us. But this fire is not like Ravana’s funeral pyre; this fire is like the one that burns fiercely in Danko’s severed heart deep inside the forest, a fire that shows the way to those who have lost their path. For Sayeed Sir, every day is a birthday, each day he is reborn, even at this age! But mathematically, yesterday, July 25, was his 74th birthday. With that in mind, as an admiring student, I offer these words—perhaps a humble attempt at a heartfelt tribute to my guru. I first came to Bishwo Shahitto Kendro in 1992 to take part in the College Program’s reading initiative. The nationwide reading program conducted by Bishwo Shahitto Kendro across schools and colleges in Dhaka and throughout the country was called the “National Mental Excellence Program.”

I remember walking down that narrow path into Bishwo Shahitto Kendro. Hidden under the shade of green trees, the center was a wonderful building. Back then, I didn’t realize—but now I do—that it was a marvel of architecture. A young man skipping college, I looked around like Alice in Wonderland, amazed to find this oasis tucked away inside the hustle and bustle of Dhaka’s Banglamotor.

The building was uniquely beautiful, and its people equally remarkable, as was their intention. They wanted us to read books, to talk about them. I felt as if they’d floated in from the very emerald islands we uncovered in stories.

Most striking was the big man of Bishwo Shahitto Kendro. Much older in age, definitely wiser, and impressively tall. He was also extraordinarily handsome. From the first day, hearing his deep, resonant voice—full of poetry and as lively as a mountain stream—we became his devoted admirers!

I didn’t yet know that this was only the beginning of my wonder. Our first book discussion began with Poet by Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay. Newly out of adolescence, a group of boys and girls sat around Sayeed Sir. We read aloud favorite passages from the book, while Sayeed Sir, in his magical way, told us one story after another about the characters within those pages. Even after nearly twenty years, I still vividly remember those conversations. How many textbooks had I read over and over, never understanding their heart, no matter how hard I tried? Yet from that single session, every character and scene from Poet became etched in my memory like a living story from my own life.

I still remember the old woman walking along the distant railway line with a brass pot on her head, looking like a bright dot from afar. At the music gathering, the poet Nitai steps on stage and, waving his hands, sings that tearful song: “Through love I learned the essence of happiness lies in those tears; you smile, I cry, let the flute play under the kadam tree…”

Book after book, each with its wonders, each hiding amazing stories. My friends and I began to feel as if we were being born anew every day. Those friends felt closer than brothers. For days and nights, we read the program’s books at Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, lost our voices in passionate debates, and returned home in the evenings still feeling so much was left unsaid. Through all this, Sayeed Sir stood steady—like a seasoned old boatman with wrinkles on his brow, guiding us.

As always, on Sayeed Sir’s 74th birthday, all the college program students gathered before him once again at Bishwo Shahitto Kendro.

Since 1985, the college reading program has been running; now it’s 2012. Thanks to books, we are all brothers and sisters of different ages. Many have become famous, busy, accomplished people. Yet, in the new building of Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, with Sayeed Sir, on the last Friday of every month, we come together again—just as in the old days, losing ourselves in reading and movies. Even though time has taken much from us, it could never take away our love of reading.

On Sayeed Sir’s 74th birthday, many will write about his achievements. As a student, I’ve written about my teacher, Abdullah Abu Sayeed—the one who built a permanent home in our hearts and found a way to keep the lights burning there all day and night. This is a light born not of oil, but of the passion in the blood of dreamers.

Mridul Ahmed

Source: Prothom Alo: http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2011-07-26/news/173045