Having obtained his Bachelor's degree from Calcutta Islamia College, a young Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made his way to Dhaka following the partition of India in 1947.
At the age of 27, the six-foot tall and slim Bangabandhu had no shelter at that time in the ancient city of Dhaka. Like other youths of that time, riding a horse carriage, he appeared directly at 150 Mughaltuli of old Dhaka, which was the camp office of the Abul Hashim and Suhrawardy-backed Muslim League, widely known as the Muslim League workers' camp.
At the time, Muslim League party activists and workers when they came to Dhaka used to find shelter in that small camp office.
Initially, young Mujib started to reside in that office, where office staff Shaukat Ali catered to his meals and accommodation facilities.
After spending a few days at the party office, he shifted to a mess in Rajani Bose Lane of Armanitola with his cousin Mominul Hoque Khoka, where they shared one wooden bed. Later, Bangabandhu arranged a well-maintained position in that mess from where he started his political chapter in his Dhaka life.
In 1954, when Bangabandhu was just 34, he won election as a candidate of the United Front while residing in this mess.
Bangabandhu was inducted as agriculture minister in Sher-Bangla's cabinet and got a residence at bungalow number 3 on Minto Road in Dhaka. This bungalow is just opposite Hotel Intercontinental, beside the old pond which is still there.
However, Bangabandhu had to vacate the residence when the United Front (Jukto Front) cabinet was dismissed by the Pakistan central government under Section 92-a and he lost his cabinet position. Bangabandhu went back to Old Dhaka with his family and stayed at 79 Nazirabazar and 10 AC Roy Road of Armanitola for around two years.
Subsequently Bangabandhu was appointed a minister in the Ataur Rahman provincial cabinet in 1956 when he was 36. He shifted to the bungalow at 15 Abdul Gani Road, just beside where the food directorate is now.
Bangabandhu stayed in this bungalow until he left the cabinet to take over as the general secretary of the Awami League in 1957.
However, after his resignation from the cabinet, Bangabandhu was appointed as the first Bangalee chairman of the Pakistan Tea Board at the age of 37. This time, he got a residence at 115 Segunbagicha.
When martial law was clamped on Pakistan in October 1958, Bangabandhu and his family left this house. His family shifted to a rented house near Siddheswari Girls School on Baily Road.
At the time, most house owners refused to rent houses to Fazilatunnesa Mujib, the wife of Bangabandhu, as the leader was in prison and police often were in surveillance of the family. Later, Bangabandhu's family rented a duplex house at 76 Segunbagicha.
In the meantime, Fazilatunnesa Mujib planned to build a house on Dhanmondi plot number 32 to escape the harassment and distress of finding homes. When Bangabandhu was released from jail in 1960, she persuaded her husband to build a house at Dhanmondi.
Begum Mujib gave money from her savings and got loans from relatives while Bangabandhu contributed from his salary from his Alpha Insurance Company job. The construction of the house at Dhanmondi 32 then got underway
At one stage in 1960-61, some money was taken from the House Building Finance Corporation as a loan.
In October 1961, Bangabandhu and his family shifted to the house at Dhanmondi 32, after only three rooms of it had been built. The future founder of Bangladesh was then 41 years' old.
Gradually, this house -- now known as Bangabandhu Bhaban -- became the center of the struggle for the independence of Bangladesh.
On March 25, 1971, Bangabandhu was arrested from this house. On his return from Pakistani incarceration in January 1972, he continued to live in this house rather than shift to the more secure Ganobhaban, his official residence. He and most of his family were assassinated in this house on the dark night of August 15, 1975.
Bangabandhu's nephew and politician Sheikh Shahidul Islam contributed to this story.
