My teacher Ms Milly

Now, after such a long time I also remember Ms Milly, the way we used to call her in Holy Cross School. Ms Milly Rahman, the widow of Matiur Rahman, was our class teacher in class 7. She always used to tell us about 1971. And I still vividly remember how she told us one rainy afternoon, when we pressed her to tell us a story instead of doing boring class work, about her own life in Pakistan. I remember how she told us about the stories of Birangana women and the trauma they endured. I remember how she told us about her own personal struggle after the war. We were children then. But I clearly remember the tears in her eyes, her sadness, her memories of fear for her children, that moved all of us.

I don't know if children in schools in Bangladesh are now lucky enough to listen to such personal and moving accounts by their teachers of Bangladesh's glorious history. But we were deeply touched by her narratives. We were proud of our national heroes.

I believe, many of my friends from Holy Cross School, who are spread all over the world thought of Ms Milly on this special occasion. When we surfed the net and read the newspapers in Bangladesh we were reminded of our times in school and her contribution in providing us with a glimpse of our history. We are deeply grateful for that.I was inspired by that afternoon's reminiscence and who knows, may be that also encouraged me to write my PhD thesis on the Liberation War.

Finally, one of our heroes received the honour he deserved long ago. May be with this positive spin, the sacrifice of many others will come into light. May be our country will recover from the national amnesia.