Rumana Omar: Is God a Mathematician or Poet?

Back in 1978, in Dhaka University, I came across one of my juniors in the department of statistics. Her name was Rumana Omar. During some common research sessions, Rumana confided to me,"Nashid apa, I read your interview in the newspaper and chose 'statistics' after you."

Many years later I met her again in London, UK. She had excelled in her studies from Dhaka University and was awarded a Commonwealth scholarship to pursue her PhD in Reading University, UK. Her classmate and husband Shahed Murad was also a student at Brunell University, so was I (LSHTM).When we sat together to catch up with our lives, it was a Friday night and Rumana got up to leave early, "Nashid apa, early Saturday morning I have a dance class in Bharatiya Vidyabhavan."

 "What are you learning there? I thought you were in the last stages of your PhD!"

She said she was learning Bharatnatyam from Guru Prakash Yadagudde.

Rumana finished her PhD. I followed her to one of her dance practices where she rented an entire hall to herself and paying per hour rates, she just practiced what her Guru had taught. So much dedication, where most people leave their art when they live abroad.  Later, she trained under Padmasree Chitra Visweswaran and Dr. Saraswati Sundaresan, Chennai. Soon, she and Shahed started the Indian Dance Society in London, training other members, choreographing with western contemporary dance and ballet dancers and danced all over UK, Edinburgh festival and in India, Sadlers Wells, The Place and the prestigious Nehru Centre in London.  She has given full length solo performances in London, Dhaka, Bangalore and Mysore. In one of her performances she was dancing to a song rendered and composed by Padmabhushan Dr. Balamurali Krishna at the Chennai Dance Festival. It was a special moment for her, as unknown to her, Dr Balamurali Krishna was the Chief Guest, he came on stage and garlanded her.

In the meantime, Rumana had taught at Imperial College and is currently a Professor of Medical Statistics at the Department of statistical sciences, UCL, UK. She led the statistical development of a risk model to predict sudden cardiac death which has been adopted by the European Society of Cardiology in their guidelines. What an achievement! She is invited to give lectures, and seminars in various Universities across the world, has many noted publications and five PhD students (completed).

Set me thinking, how I got into statistics, it was Dr. Qazi Motaher Hossain's subject, which I had chosen as I knew that poet Nazrul Islam marvelled in Fazilatunnessa, who was studying mathematical sciences. I was a devout fan of Nazrul Islam from my earliest childhood. I had read Nazrul's letters to the famous statistician Dr. Qazi Motaher Hossain. These letters were written by poet Nazrul Islam after he got a negative reply from Ms. Fazilatunnesa. He felt insulted by her rejection and her reference to having several cups of tea, as well as his chewing beetle leaves! At this moment of rejection, he poured his heart to his dear friend Qazi Motaher Hossain, whom he addressed as 'Motihar'. Nazrul was much touched by his friendship with Qazi Motaher Hossain, he wondered how Qazi Motaher Hossain nurtured both sides of his brain. He was both a statistician and a poet. Nazrul wrote to him "Now when I look at the sky, I wonder whether God is a mathematician or a poet? He is so economic yet so beautiful!"

Rumana Omar has once again proved that God is both a mathematician and a poet.

The writer is an academic, Nazrul exponent and writer.