Kulsum sat quietly on the veranda of her relative鈥檚 house in Savar, waiting for her son, Abdul Kayum, to return for lunch on August 5. Kayum told her he would be back after attending the Zuhr prayer to have lunch together.
The mother received a phone call at about 2:00pm. The unknown voice at the other end of the line told her that Kayum had been shot in New Market area of Savar.
Kayum, who was not involved in the protest for quota reform in government jobs that began on July 1 and escalated into a mass uprising later that month, went out with his cousin after the Zuhr prayer to celebrate聽 the overthrow of the Awami League government, ending its 15-year regime that day.
The 25-year-old was rushed to three local hospitals one after another before finally being admitted to Enam Medical College and Hospital about 3:30pm.
As he was being taken to the operating theatre in the evening, Kayum, deeply attached to his mother, looked at her and said softly, 鈥楳a, please do not cry,鈥� said Kulsum, at their rented house in Savar鈥� Dogor Mor on November 20.聽
He died at 8:30am the next morning at the hospital鈥檚 Intensive-Care Unit.聽
Kayum, the second of three children of Kulsum and Kofil Uddin, faced financial struggles to support his education from as early as Class VIII, as his family鈥檚 financial situation deteriorated after his father, a truck driver, was forced to sell all three of his small trucks he used to rent out.
Despite the challenges, Kayum completed undergraduation in Accounting and Information Systems from Comilla University in 2023, all while bearing the full financial burden of his family after his father, falling ill, stopped his driving job. His elder brother, who has a wife and a child, is unemployed too.聽
His younger sister is married off.
鈥楬e had to split his week, spending three days in Dhaka and three days in Comilla, as he had tutoring jobs in the capital,鈥� the mother said.聽
He also ran his own small businesses, including selling the famous yogurt of Comilla and Rosmalai from Bikrampur, and co-founded a university admission coaching centre with four partners.
鈥楬e wanted to become a businessman or a government employee,鈥� Kulsum said, adding that Kayum was overjoyed when the Supreme Court ordered that 93 per cent of civil service jobs would be merit-based amid the protest.
Kayum, who shared everything with his mother but had a more formal relationship with his father, once spent 40 days on a Tablighi Jamaat trip鈥攁n international Islamic religious movement鈥攚ith his father, marking the most time they ever spent together in their lifetime.
When this correspondent asked the father whether he regretted spending less time with Kayum, he simply stared aimlessly with teary eyes.
After their son鈥檚 death, the severely hard-up family now lives off Tk 7.5 lakh they received from various groups, including Tk 5 lakh from July Shaheed Smriti Foundation, founded with Tk 100 core donation to support the injured and families of those who were affected by the mass uprising.
鈥楬e resides so deeply in my heart that I could talk about him for the rest of my life, and still it wouldn鈥檛 be enough. He was the only ray of hope in our lives,鈥� said the mother, as tears rolled down her face.聽
The Directorate General of Health Services, on September 24, said that after a preliminary investigation it had listed 708 people having died in the uprising. Its listing is still going on.