'We have only one Shamsur Rahman'

The setting was a banquet in honour of the Queen at the Bangabhavan. Glittering light outside and the luminaries inside the Darbar Hall with the portraits of the illustrious sons of the soil on the wall was the best extravaganza that Bangladesh could put up to flatter the British monarch.

On the November 1983 evening, the guests were arriving rather much ahead of the time. The sun had just set on the western horizon of the clear late autumn sky of Dhaka. Outside, cars had already jammed the two-way entrance of the Bangabhavan from main gate to porch. Protocol officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were arranging the head table and were placing name cards of the invitees according to the recently revised order of precedent handed down by CMLA's secretariat.

From the banquet hall one could tell whether the guest was a civilian or from the armed forces by the clicking sound of boot and noise of salutation of the foot soldiers at the landing of the porch. A mild click and a barely audible voice suggested a civilian car had just left the porch, and a resounding boot click announced the arrival of military vehicles. And the duty officers from inside the banquet hall heard more thunderous rather than faint noise of dignitaries getting off their vehicles!

The Queen was expected to arrive in an hour's time, and the Darbar Hall was full to the rafters. All five hundred strong guests showed up for the protocol officers and Bangabhavan staff to cope with. Though there was a curious mix of guests, the number of invitees in white formal dinner jackets with decorations of various descriptions was far greater.

Sensing the enormous task of positioning such a huge number of guests to introduce to the Queen before entering the Banquet Hall, deputy chief of protocol and protocol officers began lining up the invitees much ahead of banquet time. It was a bazaar-like situation and many resented being lined up in a disciplined manner.

A good number of eminent citizens, editors, poets, intellectuals, artists were trailing the long line as the ministers, advisers, high civil and military officers took precedence over them according to the new reality of martial law protocol.

As soon as the President and CMLA HM Ershad arrived, some of his companions in uniform entered the already fragile line. They pushed their way forward as the tail enders were pushed beyond the door of the Darbar Hall.

Poet Shamsur Raman was one of those who landed outside the door. Their embarrassment was unmistakably visible and the situation turned a bit noisy. With his flowing hair brushed back nicely, in paijama and panjabi, the handsome fair-skinned poet turned red in the face. He asked the deputy chief of protocol why he had to undergo such humiliation. He would better leave the banquet hall and complain to the president next day.

It was almost time for the monarch to arrive at the Darbar Hall. No one could persuade the great man to stay and he was about to walk out. A split-second decision was taken by the deputy chief of protocol [DCP] to salvage the most unwanted situation. He rushed to the foreign secretary, Ataul Karim, who was not very far from the door either.

The foreign secretary with a firm voice said: "We have only one Shamsur Rahman in Bangladesh. He is our national asset. Go, seek his forgiveness." The DCP did exactly what he was instructed to do by the foreign secretary. Miracle seemed to have happened.

With childlike simplicity, the poet embraced the officer and stayed to attend the banquet. After the visit was over, Ataul Karim advised the DCP to waive the laid-down protocol, if need be, to accommodate illustrious sons of the soil like Shamsur Rahman who tower over people that walk on the red carpet just by virtue of holding high office.

The odd incident brought the DCP and his wife Rebeka close to the poet, who was fond of songs and music. Just to assure them that he did not hold any grudge, one evening Shamsur Rahman graced their home. Ataul Karim happily joined the poet. Rebeka sang the favorite songs of the poet. That was an evening the couple cherishes and will hold close to their hearts for the rest of their lives.

The last time the couple met the poet at the Beauty Boarding function, which was a favorite place of the poet Shamsur Rahman. Rebeka rendered some of his compositions on March 18, 2005.

On his journey to eternity the prayers of all good souls will be with him.

Former Ambassador M.Shafiullah was Deputy Chief of Protocol, 1983-84 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.