“I heard eid is around. So I bought six pink and purple dresses you used to set your heart on. Did not you tell me to buy four dresses for you? Dear daughter, I promise you this eid will be the same as before. I will just miss your delicate movement. I love you way too much, dear. And it is impossible for me to let any of your wishes go unfulfilled.”
A grieving father posted the heart-wrenching status on his Facebook that touched many hearts. The five-year-old daughter of GTV Chief Reporter Roqibur Islam Mukul had succumbed to her illness.
“Everything that had been yours is still here – toys, schoolbag, beautiful dresses in the closet, your paintings on the wall, the letters glued on the refrigerator, packets of milk, water bottles and your iPhone, chocolates in the fridge, clippings and combs strewn on the dressing table – everything.
Yet I do not feel an emptiness in my heart. You took away everything with you, my dear Chandramukhi. Stay fine, even if it costs everything I have,” the heart-writhing status continues.
Mukul is passing his days sitting by the hospital bed of his wife. His wife Nazneen Akhtar, a senior journalist of Daily Janakantha, had jumped off the balcony of their fourth-floor flat after she heard the news of her daughter’s death.
This correspondent went to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital ICU to visit the couple yesterday.
“Since Nazneen’s physical condition was stable, she was shifted to a hospital cabin. She is now getting treatment in cabin no 50,” the on-duty doctor said.
It might be that Nazneen was out of danger, but the worsening of her health was obvious. She lost a lot of weight, looking pale and hollow-eyed.
Two weeks ago, doctors strapped a device with her right arm that was fractured when she jumped off the balcony.
“Things have improved a bit. You know doctors did not even hope she could ever move her hand,” Mukul said.
DMCH ICU Head Prof Abdur Rahman said Nazeen needed to see a psychologist.
“She tried not to take medications while she had been in the ICU. She used to say that she did not want to live and that she wanted to be with Chandramukhi. We even arranged for a psychologist for her in the ICU once,” he said.
On September 16, Chandramukhi died while under treatment at the ICU of Shishu Hospital. Unable to bear the news, Nazneen tried to kill herself.
That night, after attending his daughter’s funeral, Mukul went to the hospital to stand by his wife. Four weeks have passed since, but he hardly left the sight of her.
Mukul who attended his office for the first time yesterday evening since the fateful day, posted a message on his Facebook account right after reaching his workstation.
The message, which accompanies two pictures of Chandramukhi sitting on her father’s office desk, said: “You are everywhere my dear daughter. I came to my office for a while after a month’s break only to find you here sitting in my chair!”
In a Facebook post, Mukul earlier wrote: “A scar is burning inside my heart like a piece of fireball from hell. Is there any doctor who can heal this?”
“You liked Miki Mouse most and you wanted your daddy to take you to Disney. See, daddy has taken you to the largest Disney of the world. Whenever you wanted to have something, daddy used to be mad to bring you that. Well, no one wants anything from me now. Why do not you talk in your sweet voice from other side of phone now - “come dad, bring Kinder Joy for me. Why do you have to be so touchy, dear?”
“There is a saying in journalism which is called “Narcotizing Dysfunction”. I know all these things are just solace for the moment. Dysfunctional feelings. Everything will vanish after a few days. Everyone have to guard his/her own mountain of pain, this is reality. Some may come with helicopter or even mountain-high ladder to support you for some time, but in the end, you will find you are on your own,” the post said.
