A son's eulogy to a father
Our silent nation-builders: Prof. M. A. Naser
Dr. Khan H. Zahid
E-mail: kzahid@yahoo.com

They were the silent builders of the nation. They worked without publicity; they worked hard, and worked in the background. They never asked anyone for a reward, they never asked anyone to sing their praises. They were anonymous on the streets; they were alone in their old ages. They died quietly without any fanfare. They created the institutions, the infrastructure, the laws and regulations of the country one day. They maybe gone forever from earth, but their memories, their legacies and their creation will remain as testimony to their existence. They are illustrious sons and daughters of Bangladesh.

My father, Professor M. A. Naser, the second Vice Chancellor of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), was one of them. Along with his colleagues of those days ?? Dr. M. A. Rashid, Dr. Wahiduddin Ahmed, Dr. Zahurul Hoque, Dr. Mosharraf Hossain, Dr. Hasnat, Prof. A.Q. Chowdhury ?? and others whose names I do not remember, they were the pioneers of engineering and technological education in Bangladesh, and the silent builders of BUET. At home and abroad, people know BUET as the best educational institution in Bangladesh. Many BUET students, alumni and faculty have become internationally recognized accomplished engineers, architects, professors, scientists and researchers the world over. Through the ups and downs of Bangladesh's formation and development, BUET is the only institution in the country that has been able to maintain its reputation, integrity and educational standards. This would not have been possible without the pioneers.

The pioneers included not only the first batch of teachers and administrators, but also the first batches of students ?? Dr. Iqbal Mahmood, Dr. Hebab Quazi, Dr. Nooruddin, Dr. Eusufzai, Dr. Rafiquddin Ahmed ?? to name a few I remember, who started their journey with this institution in the early years. Many of them went on to head, develop or found departments at BUET, or other educational institutions and infrastructure projects. The provincial Engineering Colleges and Polytechnic Colleges, the Islamic Centre for Technology, Vocational Training and Research (ICTVTR) would be unthinkable without their silent contributions. Karnaphuli Dam, the Karnaphuli Paper Mills, Titas Gas, Roads and Highways Department, the Water and Power Development Board, Dhaka Electricity Supply Authority, the early textile, cement and construction industries of the country would have been impossible without the contributions of the early BUET teachers, students and alumni.

I do not know all the pioneers, but I saw my father through much of his life. He started from a humble beginning. Born in 1920, in the little-known village of Damla in Vikrampur, he rose to become the second VC of BUET in 1970. He had a number of most important contributions to BUET. As Head of the Department in the very beginning, he was instrumental in the creation of the Chemical Engineering Department. He steered the university through its most turbulent times during the 1971 independence struggle of Bangladesh. He is also credited with holding the first Convocation of BUET in 1973. This event is considered a milestone in the history of BUET as well as the nation. Justice Abu Syed Chowdhury, the Chancellor of the University and the then President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the then Prime Minister of Bangladesh, were the Chief Guests on the occasion.

In recognition of my father's sincere and devoted services to the country, he was awarded Bangladesh's highest civilian honours, the Ekushey Padak in 1987. The district of Vikrampur also honoured him as one of its most distinguished sons, by awarding him the Gold Medal of the Vikrampur Foundation in 1988. And, in 1988 he was made Professor Emeritus, in the Chemical Engineering Department of BUET, a position he held till the day of his death.

My father grew up in Damla for the most part until his university education. My grandparents, M. Ismail Ali Khan and Abida Begum, were simple village folks but they made my father's journey of achievement begin by making sure that their two sons ?? my father and his younger brother, Abu H. Khan ?? got educated. My father's school ?? the still reputable Kazirpagla High School ?? was five miles away in another village. My grandmother told us that my father and my uncle, his younger brother, used to walk to school during the dry season. In the rainy season, they would go by boat. It was from my grandmother that we heard about Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, the pride of Bengal and India. His village house was within walking distance from our Damla village home. It was rare also in those days that my father, the eldest son in the family, supported our aunt, Mrs. Dilara Begum, his youngest sister, to get an education and become a doctor.

My father's love for Bangladesh was very strong. Three times he went abroad for higher studies and each time he returned home. I remember the first time ever in my life when I saw him ?? man with his resoluteness and strength ?? almost cry. While visiting us in the USA in 1994, he became quite sick and had to undergo nasal surgery. Before the surgery, we did not know what was causing his breathing difficulties and thought he had a heart problem or something. One day as he stood in front of the window in my eldest brother, Dr. Khan L. Kabir's, (currently a Senior Researcher with the Xerox Corporation, USA) home in Rochester, I saw him suddenly cry, "I do not want to die here". Was he afraid of death? No, the reason why he sobbed, for the first time I saw in his life, was because he could not bear the thought of being buried far away from the soil of Bangladesh. We did not know at that time that he wanted to be buried in the grave in Azimpur graveyard where at the dawn of his family life, he had buried our first mother.

The first time my father went abroad was in the 1940s, when in one of the rarest feats of those times, in pre-independence, undivided India, when Muslims of Bengal were almost completely shut out from most educational opportunities, he was awarded a scholarship for higher studies in the USA. In America, he studied Chemical Engineering, and obtained a Masters from Johns Hopkins University in 1948. His love for life's learning and sharing was so strong that during his stay in Baltimore, he travelled all over the USA, and preserved his experience in hundreds of black and white photographs. You may be amazed to note how unusual it was for a village-grown boy from Bangladesh, because in those days a camera was a novelty even in America.

The second time was in the mid-1950s, when he was awarded the UK's prestigious Nuffield Foundation fellowship (Lord Nuffield was the father of the UK automobile industry) to do a one-year research/study at the University of London. This time he took us two brothers and our mother with him, but left our just-born sister, Selina Zaman, with our maternal grandparents. Despite grief and sorrow, our mother, Mrs. Alimannessa, did not waste her time in London. In that one year, she not only took care of us but also obtained a Montessori degree. She later worked as a school teacher and assistant headmistress for many years, in the pioneering days of kindergarten education in the country. During our time in London, I remember some of the other illustrious sons of Bangladesh and colleagues of my father who were there ?? Dr. Abdul Matin Chowdhury, later VC of Dhaka University, and Dr. Mafizuddin Ahmed, later Chairman of BCSIR. I remember one of the founders/creators of the then WAPDA, a perfect English gentleman, we called him Power Shaheb, and his wonderful Bangali wife.

After we returned from London, we lived in the new Azimpur Colony for a few years. Many a times I have wondered that those who lived there in the mid-fifties and early-sixties would make a veritable list of the "Who's Who" of our nation's silent-builders! I remember one case, a family who lived on our 2nd floor flat (we were on the ground floor), whose father-in-law was the great Sher-e-Bangla A.K. Fazlul Huq. The Sher-e-Bangla used to come in a big American car ?? a Chevrolet Bel Aire with wings, pink in colour ?? parked in front our veranda and come out with his walking stick, so dignified and so handsome even in his old age.

The third time that my father went abroad was in 1962, when at the late age of 42, he went to America to get his Ph.D. degree. He first went to Columbia University in New York, but New York City is difficult for a student. Moreover, he missed his family very much. Our youngest brother, Naeem H. Khan, was born a few months after he left for USA, and our father did not see him for four years until he returned. And, it was hard for him to become a student again at this late age after a gap of 14 years. After one year at Columbia, he became sick and decided to switch to Texas A&M University and completed his Ph.D. in three years. In 1966, the very next day after he completed his Ph.D., he got on the plane to Dhaka.

My father started his career with brief stints at the Industries Ministry and the Directorate of Technical Education before joining the then newly established Ahsanullah Engineering College of East Pakistan. He never left his teaching career or BUET until the end, when, he was appointed the Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 1976, where he served until his retirement in 1980. In retirement, he continued his service to the nation. He served as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of Bangladesh Institute of Technology, Khulna, which became Khulna University of Engineering and Technology.

He was the epitome of a typical professor ?? stern, demanding, focused, hard working, and fair. I still remember when at the sunset of his life in his early 1970s, as Emeritus Professor at BUET, I saw him one day with his notes and books spread all over our dining table, as he prepared for a class lecture. He said to me, "I used to remember these things very well in my younger days. Now, my memory is fading away, and, sometimes, I forget what to say in the middle of my lecture. So, I have to write everything down". That dedication, that devotion, he continued until he became physically unable to write on the board because his hand shook too much. Because of his devotion and uncompromising style, he garnered a loyalty among his students that is almost unheard of today. His students from those bygone years, even forty/fifty years after they left BUET, still remember him with respect, loyalty and affection.

My father was not only a silent nation-builder. Along with our mother, their silent love and devotion also built up a solid family. The biggest difference between parents today and my parents of yesteryear was that our father and mother, silently, simply, and without question sacrificed their own worldly desires and happiness for the love and upbringing of their children. I recall few times during my childhood when I saw my father or mother in anything but a worn-out old clothes. Not that they could not afford it. But whatever they had, they gave to their children.

My father and mother made sure that we also got a good education. It is a rare family indeed in Bangladesh or anywhere that can count four Ph.D.s and five Masters degree-holders within its ranks. When he was in America, one time he wrote to me that if I could write to him in English he would give me a present. Sure enough, a few months after I wrote my first air letter in English, a brand-new, glossy, National Geographic magazine arrived at our door! The educational impact of that present was beyond measure. At that youthful age, it was my first introduction to the outside world. I wonder if in today's world, with so many distractions and desires, we can ever be parents like them to our own children.

Much more can be written about my father's devotion to Bangladesh and to his family, which went hand-in-hand in his mind. There are probably thousands of such illustrious sons and daughters of Bangladesh who were the silent builders of our nation and the nation's families. For every institution there was a creator; for every development of the rule of law and system in our country, there were movers and shakers. Do we know of all of them, or, where they are now? Today, anyone hearing the news on TV maybe forgiven for thinking that the country is full of loud-noised politicians, chandabaji, corruption, terrorism, crime and violence, and all kinds of calamities ?? man-made and natural. Let us take this opportunity to discover and salute our silent nation-builders, and help build up the collective national history.

My father died on May 12, 2004 and is survived by his wife, four children and eight grandchildren. For us ?? his family ?? he will be remembered most for his selfless and enduring love for us. Whoever knew him ?? his colleagues, his countless students, and his many well-wishers and friends ?? will remember him as a man of principle, honesty, simplicity and hard-work.

The author is the second son of Prof. M. A. Naser. He is currently the Chief Economist and Vice President of Riyad Bank, Saudi Arabia's third-largest bank.