[Moderator's note : Professor Munier Chowdhury of Dhaka University was kidnaped on the 14th December, 1971 by the Al Badr group and was killed among other Bangali intellectuals. He was a teacher of extra ordinary caliber and renowned for his contribution to Bangla literature. His brother Shamsher Chowdhury wrote about him.] 
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Remembering Shaheed Munier Chowdhury
By Shamsher Chowdhury

Scores of lectures by a host of scholars have already portrayed the genius
of Shaheed Munier Chowdhury -- his contributions to Bangla literature, as a
progressive thinker, his role as a pioneer in the Language Movement
including exposing multifarious aspects of his talent in a host of other
areas. This short essay, however, portrays the 'man' Munier Chowdhury and
some intimate elements of his personality as I experienced them as a
brother.

Munier Chowdhury's qualities as a man to my mind far outweigh his literary
and professional qualities. He was truly a giant of a man, humble, kind
and forgiving.

I remembered when he procured a car (perhaps in the late 50s), then a
rarity in the streets of Dhaka more so in and around the university
campus, everyone was happy to see Prof. Chowdhury owning a car. Students
and teachers alike had a free ride whenever there was an opportunity with
my brother at the Steering. Often on his way to the University from a trip
downtown or elsewhere he would stop at a bus stop or on a roadside corner
to provide a lift to a waiting university student or someone known to him.
On occasions he even went out of his way to drop a female student home
Once asked by my mother as to why he takes so much trouble he replied by
saying "Amma I now have car. I am a very fortunate and privileged person.
What is the point of having a car if I cannot share my fortune and joys
with others?" 

Munier Chowdhury was not much of a practising Muslim, yet in many ways his
faith in the Ultimate was evident as I have seen in many of his actions a
few years before the cruel hand of death separated him from us. 
It was perhaps during the years 1968/69. He routinely visited our
ancestral home at Central Road in Dhanmondi driving down from his
residence from the University staff quarters at Nilkhet each Friday and
ferried my father to the nearby Paribagh masjid for his Jumma Prayers.
Once my father was inside the Mosque. He parked the vehicle at a vantage
point under the cool shade of a tree and waited for my father to finish his
prayers so that he could take him back home. During this waiting period of
45 minutes or so until the prayers were over, he would recline in the
driver`s seat of his car with a book in his hand. To many people of the
locality this was a scenario which aroused immense curiosity. He would
often conceive many a plots of his dramas or literary works during these
waiting sessions.

Munier chowdhury was a classical example of a Humanist. His love for
people was unique, spontaneous and boundless. He made no secret or
distinctions for his love for a poor beggar or an urchin on the street or
a student in distress. All the fourteen of us (eight brothers and six
sisters) were then alive. He was the brother amongst brothers. You could
always look up to him for his kind advice and support on matters ranging
from academic issues including many a secret and complicated affairs of
the heart. He was most forgiving and ready to lend a helping hand to a
brother in need! I was then a student of class nine in the year 1957 and
took to smoking heavily. I needed money to buy cigarettes. I used to visit
him at the University every now and then. Without fail every time he would
oblige me with some "pocket money" at the same time mildly rebuking me for
the filthy habit. He often helped poor students who were unable to pay
university fees or buy a book. 

It is indeed sad that the life of such a humble man was so brutally cut
short. Although no one knows under what circumstances he passed his final
hours yet there is every reason to believe that he met a gruesome and a
violent end. As far as I can recollect he escaped from the University
staff quarters and arrived at our parental home on or about the 28/29
March 1971 and was with us till the day he was kidnapped on the 14th of
December. During this entire nine- month period he would routinely take
his seat beside my mother each time she was on her prayer mat. God alone
knows what went through his mind during those hours. Sometime in May a
group of young men (perhaps Indian counterparts of Bangladeshi freedom
fighters) came to the house to escort him across the border to Calcutta to
safety. I remember my mother almost begging him to leave. He sternly
refused and said "Amma you cannot ask me to do this being a devout Muslim.
As you know I like all others will die wherever Allah has destined". 

Such was the essence of my brother Munier Chowdhury, a truly great man.