Escape

ESCAPE

Nidhu Bhusan Das

The Arrival

Sudden rain stopped us as we were trudging towards the haven, an arrow’s flight. Our guide said, the rain influenced by the nearby mountains would not last long. We waited in a house with bated breath for the rain to cease as we were in a hurry to escape across the border. We came a long way by motor launch and mostly on foot to escape the brutalities of the Pakistan Army. They were on patrol along the highway which we had left behind ducking through the jute fields which provided nice cover with the crop standing waist-high. Now we were behind the rail track patrolled by the army aboard train. During the rain the patrol- train had sped past the point we would use to cross over to India. Rain was a blessing, said our guide who had the refrain¬¬ – the more difficulty, the more escape route.

Yes, the guide was right, the rain stopped after about 15 minutes. We were led out of the house. As we were out in the open we found a sea of people heading towards the upland, and we were in a procession leaving hearth and home to keep alive. As they were crossing the border, people yelled in joy as if they were at the end of pilgrimage.

The journey was arduous and packed with fear and uncertainties. Any time we could be bombed from above. The countryside was beyond the control of the occupation army. So, there was no fear that they would find us. But the air attack was possible. Bombers and fighters were often found to be in sorties.

The place we poured into across the border was Boxanagar in Tripura.The sun was about to go down when we sat down to rest on 5 May 1971 after so many days of fear. My mother fell silent. She had left her mother, brothers and a sister, and could not think what would befall them once the army fanned out in the countryside. My grandmother was an octogenarian. Tears rolled down her crinkled cheek when my mother sought her permission to leave. It was a poignant moment. We got registered as evacuees, and were provided with rations.
We had a short shrift of having a dinner of bread with jackfruit juice before falling asleep.


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The Crackdown


I left Dhaka on 8 March 1971.The day before Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered his historic and classic speech at Suharawardi Uddyan.It was the Charter of Independence of Bangladesh. We from Dhaka College hostel walked near the venue, and found the lawn of Arts faculty of Dhaka University as the vantage point to listen to what the leader would say.It was in the late afternoon.All roads led to the Uddyan. The swaying crowd spilled over into the adjacent Ramna Park and the roads around. It was the day of reckoning.That night at the hostel we had long discussion on what the Bangabandhu had said. We tried to understand what the leader meant by the two terms ‘Mukti’(freedom) and ‘Sadhinata’(independence).

Meanwhile,on 1 March in the afternoon the flag of Bangladesh was displayed by the students after the sudden postponement of the first session of the National Assembly of Pakistan following the general elections in December 1970 which Bangladesh Awami League led by the Bangabandhu swept. The session was scheduled to be held from 3 March at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar,Dhaka.The people of East Pakistan were perturbed.