Prof Nurunnahar Fyzennessa

Nurunnahar Fyzennessa -- Jana, to me -- passed away on the morning of March 31.

Thousand of miles away from her, all that comes to mind are scattered memories and images, instances that defined the spirit she embodied. As an educationist, a woman's right activist, on the stage or in front of a rally, she never struck me as anything but a person of indomitable personality, a woman far ahead of her time.

Back in the 1950's when women were still closeted within the four walls she was winning gold medals in the 100m hurdles, at the Dhaka University. At a time when America seemed a world away she was at Denver as a visiting professor, as a Fulbright Scholar, and later at Colorado, in 1966 working on her Doctorate in Education. I grew up hearing stories and seeing the innumerable pictures my grandparents took near the Grand Canyon, The Disney Land, or in the deserts of Arizona smartly posing in Mexican hats.

After she came back from the US, she joined Dhaka University. In 1985-86, she became the first woman in Dhaka University's history to become Syndicate Member, the university's apex body. She was then the Provost of Rokeya Hall, and what started as tenure of four years actually spanned to over eight. I remember getting quite frustrated at the number of hours she would spend with the hostel authorities, the students, day in day out. To her, she was the surrogate mother to the hundred or so girls, and shying away from that responsibility was tantamount to sin. Little wonder during her tenure, there were no untoward instances and the throng of students who flocked to Jana's bedside is a testament to her legacy.

She was the front runner in women's rights. When she was the Provost, her peace rally was baton charged by the police. At the age of 55 she had to resort to running from the police and helping her colleagues over the walls. Observing her closely, I noticed she never compromised with indiscipline, injustice, and violence. After running the Rokeya Hall administration for more than a decade she unhesitatingly relinquished the job of Provost in protest against injustice and terror. She even took shelter of law just to vindicate her stand against evil doers.

Her zest for living was contagious. Otherwise my mother, Sadya Mallick, would never have ventured at the tender age of 15 to perform concerts in Calcutta or take the stage amongst the few child artists when BTV was launched.

This positive attitude to life was so typical of her. To Jana, life never stood still, and she urged all around her to soak in all life had to offer. If you remember her radio show Khela Ghor, you will probably remember how she would host the children's show, egging them on to sing, recite, play out drama or simply talk! So many of the modern-day stars like Sabina Yasmin, Shahnaz Rahmatulla, Sabiha Mahboob started off sitting on her lap in front of that microphone.

Among her glorious achievements, the most noted ones are the founding of Chhayaneer, a day care centre, and starting of Rokeya Foundation at Dhaka University. Rokeya Foundation gives scholarship to meritorious students every year.

In fact, she had her first attack when delivering a speech at a 'Mahila Parishad' meeting. After she collapsed on stage, and was rushed to the hospital, her first words were about how the meeting ended. A month after she recovered, she was off again against her doctor's orders to attend the meetings and push the agenda for women's right forward. It simply drove me nuts, why she would continually put her needs behind everyone else's.

In family circles, despite her busyness, she was the first to rush to someone's side, whether it be standing vigil at the hospital or cooking that special dish for the 'special' dinner, and be the last to leave once she made sure everything was under control. Even in her advanced stage of dialysis, when she had to move in a wheelchair, she never used that as a reason not to go up two flights of stairs to her daughter's house or to throw a party herself when her son or even a relative had come back from overseas after ages.

Outside her family circle, she was no less caring or far sighted. A few years back, she started a project for developing a senior citizens' home. Her idea was to have a place, a dream house she would say, where senior citizens could in each other's company, be cared for, looked after and spend lazy afternoons. There was hardly a sponsor she didn't meet to convince them of the tremendous social benefit this would have. Sadly sponsors aren't made in the same mould as her. Even from her hospital bed, she would have us call her colleagues and set up meeting to follow up on what was being done. Nothing brought on a bigger smile than anticipation that maybe the following meeting would be more fruitful.

Today I cannot be at her side, or sprinkle rose petals on her resting place. From London, Dhaka seems an eternity away. All I have are these memories, a sudden uncontrollable deluge. Even with all the optimism Jana had inspired in me, I cannot think of a world without her. But somewhere deep down I know that even though she is forever beyond my reach, she will never be more than a heartbeat away. For now, all I can do is stitch together these few words in her loving memory.