RE: An Unreachable Letter to QIS

[Sayeed Rahman]

I wanted to remind everyone in BANGLA IT that as Saif bhai said Khalu (QIS) reminded him and others  "that our true roots is tied up with our nation, and we must fall back to uplift our fellow citizens of the country even with our limited capacity. He is no more with us; however his legacy will inspire many more among us."

 

Kahlu (QIS) liked my quotes, which I generally send with my mail

 

"What's good for Bangladesh is good for BANGLA IT. Serving your need to know."

"Innovation distinguishes a leader from a follower" - Steve Jobs

 

Khalu (QIS) was my mentor and my true leader. I always received his encouragement in promoting ICT for underserved people in Bangladesh. He believed in deeds not in words and true example is a Foundation called "Siddique Foundation". The complex is consists of a mosque, madrassa, vocational center, village clinic, Wind Mill and IT kiosk in the village Boria, Kushtia.
 

During my last trip to Bangladesh Dec-07 Khalu (QIS) asked me to visit this complex, which i did and I took lots of pictures and will be publishing soon.

 

 http://www.siddique-foundation.org/bhscs/

 

We lost a great leader. He is no more with us; however his legacy will inspire many more among us.

 

Regards

Sayeed Rahman

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Saiful Siddique <sai...@icctelecom.us>
Date: Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 2:58 PM

Dear Mir M. Ali,

 

In response to your mail to commemorate his legacy, I would like to shed some lights.

 

A Foundation called "Siddique Foundation" has been established long back by my father to build, operate and manage a collegiate school in the name of his living mother (my grand mother). The complex is consists of a mosque, madrassa, vocational center, village clinic, Wind Mill and IT kiosk in the village Boria, Kushtia.

 

http://www.siddique-foundation.org/bhscs/

 

Every year this complex hosts eye-camp and tree fair in festive ways as part of social obligation for the poor people in the village.  

 

Your suggestion, support or any financial assistance will further help alleviate poverty in this village by carrying out projects, and scholarships can be awarded in his name to outstanding students from now on.

 

LGED is trying to build an archive by collecting emails, photos, digital media etc. from various sources.

 

Some individual agency/person already expressed their interests in writing books for his contribution to Rural Development of Bangladesh.  

 

My father always reminded me and others that our true roots is tied up with our nation, and we must fall back to uplift our fellow citizens of the country even with our limited capacity. He is no more with us; however his legacy will inspire many more among us.

 

With heavy heart,

Saiful Islam Siddique (Son)

From Dhaka

Office: +8802-9111514

Cell: +880-1740833980

 

 

US Contact:

Saiful Islam Siddique
President & CEO

ICC Telecom LLC
East Brunswick, New Jersey
Tel: +1 (732) 613.1947
Fax: +1 (732) 676.7700
Cell: +1 (732) 979.9393

----- Original Message -----

From: Mir M. Ali

Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2008 11:54 PM

Subject: Re: An Unreachable Letter to QIS sir

Dear Mr. Rahman,

I was touched by your letter. Perhaps many others have similar stories.

Can something be done to commemorate QIS's memory so he is not forgotten, such as: a scholarship, a foundation, a book of tributes, etc.? Perhaps LGED can do something about this since he contributed so much for the organization. Others may have similar or other ideas.

Best,

Mir M. Ali
Urbana-Champaign, IL



At 04:51 AM 9/7/2008, Saidur Rahman wrote:

Dear QIS sir<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
 
We are going with a terribly sad time for your untimely departure. We all had a very great admiration for you for your in-depth thinking, modesty, vision
and kindness. We all will miss you. We know the esteem and affection you earned from the nation and world community over many years. I can not realize
the heavy impact on us who knew you. I can not write anything that will lessen the pain to loss you, but am sure that you were such an example of a positive
and fully active life that anyone will emerge from the burden of grief into the fountain of bright light.
 
Sir, I talked to you just two/three days before your last breath. I felt your joy and happiness from the other side. I always admired by your sense of humour.
You said "tumi to ekebare Bonkim Chandra hoe gesso". Then after other greetings and recent activities of LGED (new CE etc.) I talked about your visit to
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Toronto. I was asking you to come and visit us before you left Bangladesh for Stockholm Conference. For the first time it seems to me you were little bit
hesitant. Sir, you said, 'is that ok with you and others during Ramadan and working days". I said, I don't know anyone busier than you Sir. Please let me know
your time, we will arrange. You said, "if I go from Albany, which is the closest route?" I said, if you come from Albany, then Montreal will be closer and from
Montreal you can stop over in Kingston to meet your friend Dr. Hafiz. You said, "ok, I will check and call you back". I listened, another phone was ringing on
your side. I then shortened my conversation and said, sir, someone is calling you, I will call you later, but sir, please cut you schedule! You laughed again and
gave me a salam response. Sir, you told me a tentative date to come to Toronto on September 12/13^th but, unfortunately, we will never get around to it.
 
The night of 31^st August (the saddest occurrence happened in early hours of September 1^st), I called Moniruzzaman to discuss and planning for your visit. I
planned to call you in the very next morning and then let everybody in Toronto know about your visit. I wake up twice in that night. When I wake up in the late
morning, first thing came to my mind that I have to call you, sir. Just before going to call you in the morning, I got a phone call from Moniruzzaman with the
unbelievable saddest news. Later Sazzad called me. I called your brother in New York to confirm the news and opened the computer. You already reached
where from no one can come back. Your voice is still ringing in my ear. How it possible? Sir?
 
Now every thing is gone within a week? Nobody realized that you will be so short lived in this world. Although my interactions with you were in fact very few,
I am very much affected by you, and will miss you. I deeply regret in retrospect all the years I lost contact with you, but during the last few years I have had
the kind of rewarding exchange of mails and ideas through personal and LGED Canada group mail. You brought different groups, opinions and people together.
I have noticed, you actively contributed more than 15 yahoo groups, amazed to see your extraordinary networking capability and how perfectly balanced your
distribution list.
 
To me now all the related messages are a manifestation of our sorrow, a kind of contribution to the perpetuation of our nation's one of the most notable
engineer, great freedom fighter, a visionary leader, an unsung hero and a way to make you continue to live in our memory.
 
We can not console. We can not blame. We can blame only overwork or your workoholic nature that you did for all the 'Gano Manush' of Bangladesh. Couple
of years ago before your retirement, I told my friends, how you will live when you retire. Almighty might laughed. You put your foot print from various
altitude and put on different hats where and when appropriate. Columnists wrote about you on how you expedited the developments of rural Bangladesh. I
feel we lost our 'Nodi'(river) before and now we lost 'Khea'(boat) and 'Maji' (leader) both.
 
Sir, you wanted to see 'aurora borealis' in the northern hemisphere. Please see your mail to me. [[lgedcanada] Re: Hello from Saidur Rahman From: lgedc...@yahoogroups.com on behalf of Quamrul Islam Siddique ( q...@bol-online.com)  Sent: November 4, 2006 1:35:39 AM "….I think
you are doing well in your present work place. It's good that you have chosen a place far north in Canada which is similar to Hokkaido without
seeing 'aurora borealis' which however can only be seen near the north pole.  Hope I could join you someday to see this extraterrestrial
phenomenon in the northern skies.   QIS "]  Sir, can I ask you when?
 
Sir, looking at your laying face I felt thousand times 'Shudhu pran e ki ek apurbo sampad' (only heart is a magnificent asset).
 
Sir, though Reba is responding using your mail address, we don't know, may be time can not heal this deep wound but please be sure that our heart will be
with you forever.
 
Regards,
 
Saidur Rahman
Toronto, Canada


=================
What's good for Bangladesh is good for BANGLA IT. Serving your need to know.

"Innovation distinguishes a leader from a follower" - Steve Jobs

Sayeed Rahman
Founder BANGLA IT
http://www.banglait.org
http://banglait.blogspot.com/
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