Remembering Fahim Munaim our Tipu bhai

Reading the online version of the Daily Star is how I often begin my day.  There was a picture of Fahim Munaim, Tipu bhai, from one of his Editor's Guest, a Maasranga TV episode in today's morning version under the heading of his passing away. It took me not a few seconds, but a few minutes to comprehend the meaning of passing away, that struck to me as an unknown phrase, never heard before. Ironically, I saw him last at a funeral in Gulshan Azad Mosque. I was meaning to see him for a while and the date for our meeting was fixed for next week. That will not happen now.

Unlike many of his counterparts in similar media outfits, Fahim Munaim stood out with his impeccable English, great personality, attention to perfection in selecting his attire, and his wholesome 'gentlemanship' attitude. His personality differed with others in patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving with his mates he interacted with.  As Subarna Mostafa wrote in her tribute to Tipu bhai, there was not a single occasion when he would not walk us down and see us off, right up to our cars.

There are so many beautiful memories to recall in a span of slightly over a decade I had known him. I remember he requested me to bring some medicines from Kolkata not too long ago which was delivered to his office with a receipt amounting Rupees two thousand six hundred. The receipt was the precondition, or else there would be no medicine to be brought. A few days later, his Secretary handed me the equivalent Bangladesh Taka, with a small thank you note from Tipu bhai.

The Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre last year screened my documentary on Tagore's Gitanjali (Timeless Gitanjali) and hosted my performance of songs also. It was a Friday evening. Tipu bhai was there at the front row. He said to me at the end, “...if it was not your programme, perhaps I would have not come, because I do not generally like to go out of home on Fridays. I just relax upstairs on Fridays. I try not to come down. It is usually my day, my family day “.  What else could make me happier that evening?

Last time when we had a bit of a chat over a coffee, I with all my greed and rapaciousness said to him “Tipu bhai, when you are away or unable to do your talk show with foreign guests, I am here to fill in the chair”. He had a big laugh! “Who will sing Rabindra Sangeet for us then? I know your diplomatic and international background..... but you can't have both ! In any case, it's called Editor's Guests. You are not the Editor”. We both had a good laugh. I in turn said, “If you had continued your Rabindra Sangeet pursuit with Sadi bhai (Sadi Mohammad) who was your guru at one point, you would have done both by now. We are all multi-skilled, aren't we?”

We have lost Fahim Munaim, our Tipu bhai from this lifetime, but have not lost him forever. Our hearts are full of wonderful memories that would keep him alive amid us.

The writer is a development practitioner and a Tagore singer.