Born of Russel

The moments before Russel’s birth were full of anxiety I, Kamal, Jamal and Khoka uncle were at home. My mom was with my great uncle and aunty. A doctor and nurse also came. Time doesn’t seem to pass. Jamal and Rehana slept for a while and woke up again. We were awake with sleepy eyes waiting to hear the news of the arrival of new guest. My parental aunt came out of the room and told us that we had a brother. We were overjoyed. When can we see him? My aunt said she will call. After a while the call came. My great aunt put Russel in my lap. He’d thick black hair on his head. Fluffy cheek. Russel was quiet healthy.

Russel had become accustomed to live in a political family since the war of liberation

Russel was very careful but brave in movement, not afraid of anything suddenly He would like to catch big black ants. One day he caught an Olla (big black ant), and immediately the ant bit him in the hand. The little finger of his right hand was cut and blood came out. Medicine was given immediately. The finger was swollen. From then on he could not catch Olla. However he gave a name to the ant himself. Ever since then bite whenever he see a big black ant he would say “Bhuttro”.

Russel’s innocent mind

Mother used to wake up early in the morning He would take Russel in her arms and go downstairs and feed the pigeons with her own hands. From the moment he learned to walk, Russel would run after pigeons, feeding them with his own hands. There were pigeons in our village house too. Everyone pigeons meat, especially in rainy season when most places were submerged, there was a severe shortage of vegetables and fish. At that time it was often customary to eat pigeons. Moreover, if someone was sick, they would be fed pigeon meat soup. If Russel was given pigeon meat, he would not eat i.e. have tried many ways to feed him that meat. I took it to his mouth, he turned his face away, and how could he understood at that age that he had been given the meat of a pigeon.

Russel love to welcome people graciously

After independence a lady was hired as Russel’s teacher. Teaching Russel was not an easy task. The teacher had to listen to him. Every day the teacher has to eat to sweets. Russel would not sit and read until the teacher ate those sweets. So the teacher had to eat. Moreover, his aim was always the teacher should not have any difficulty. Russel loved to welcome people.

Russel used to call him mother “ABBA”

We used to go to meet our father in every 15 days. Russel didn’t want to come back after going there. He used to cry a lot. He was told that Abba’s house was a prison and that we had to come visit Abba’s house. We had to return home. He was brought back home with great difficulty. And we could understand Abba’s state of mind. When Russel used to cry for his father at home, his mother would explain to him and teach him to call her father. He used to call my mother “ABBA”.

Naming Sheikh Russel

After many years, a small child had come to our house bringing light, there was full of joy. Father was a big fan of Batrand Russel, used to read Russel’s book to my mother explaining those in Bengali. Mother became so obsessed with Russel’s philosophy that she named her youngest child Russel.