Sirajul Islam Chowdhury (SIC) Sir was one of the few teachers who were at the level of a "Guru" when we were students at Dhaka University, the years from 1972-1977. There were other people like him in that era, but he was a citizen of a mainstream institutional education, so his influence was wide.

Sir's role is still very much the same as it was then. He is a social critic. What he said fifty years ago, he is still saying more or less the same now. Today he is above the victory or defeat of his political thought. In fact, this is the best achievement of Sir. He has transformed from an individual to a collective voice. . But at the same time he is a kind of living nostalgia. Because the world in which we met and conversed is no more around us today.

2

Is it also a generational thing? During the time of SIC Sirs, many people took a moral stance, many people stayed away from greed and lust. It seems that so many things have never been so easy to have and to hold now. Can people be blamed for what the situation is now? Is blame an issue when a high pedigree goat can be bought for less than a man can be bought from the market these days? The times they are have changed.

3

From that side of the observation we have been as lucky as hell because in that distant past, there were many like him. And we have met such people so closely and now happily offer them the honor of legends. He is our Sir, maybe a little more because he was active in the social protest process. So the inter-action with him was a bit more with him and still is. But in the end he is Sir. He was close to us as we were cadres of Bangladesh Lekhok Shibir under the leadership of teachers, scholars and writers like him and others. Prof. Ahmed Sharif seems to have been our main helmsman. And if there is another name it will be Siraj Sir.

4

The ups and downs of the seventies happened right before our eyes. But Sir today is still a Marxist as he was then and that is a big thing. It's not about being right or wrong, it's about intellectual morality and consistency. While many obey time and convenience he is serving his beliefs and ideals. It is a signature of his era, in which he is not alone. But their number is less and gets lesser everyday, that is the reality.

5

1972-75 was a difficult period for many reasons. It is not only the crisis or situation of a post-war country, but also various kinds of political crises. Baksal was one of them. It is not an easy matter, some could handle this pressure and some could not. But there was uncertainty involved... Then what? And what happened next was even more intense. August 15 is not only an incident of political murder, not just a political change or establishing a direct relationship between the army and the political power, but it also changes the socio-political equation construction method, the enemy-ally construction process. For this reason, 1975 was a transitional period for many reasons. We have forgotten everything, letting only political partisanship survive. it is also a junction of the address where the construction of our psyche is made.

6

Many became active at that time, especially those who were against the former government. SIC Sir was already there. Many joined hands with new parties and groups and became part of the new ruling class. Let's take an example of a meeting to understand the time.

We used to run a human rights organization - 'Committee for Civil Liberties and Legal Aid'. We wanted to be very clean, so we refused foreign donor money offers, preferring to run on public funding. But after August a crisis arose. Half of our Central Committee members joined the military regime. What else was there to do? Everyone was excluded from the organization but the organization did not last.

Sharif Sir, Siraj Sir, Ahmed Kamal Sir are among those who were constant in their position. The former environment and the latter remained hostile. Just like that, they also stayed in the same space, did not move their feet anywhere. This is their greatest achievement.

Gradually everything fades to gray. People have to see what fits in this history and act. But some people have not changed, keeping pace with history. While talking to Sir on one occasion, I felt like we were talking to Sir from fifty years ago. Salam Sir