Kalpana Rani Dev had to become an unruly girl when her parents told her that they would not entertain her request to join the Liberation War in 1971.
But she was adamant that she would fight against the Pakistani forces for the independence of her country. At the time, she was still in her teens and was an eighth-grader at Bhiarab Girls High School.
Soon she realised that the thought of joining the war was easy but in reality it was an insurmountable task.
At the tender age of 14, however, Kalpana refused to give up. She could not accept the fact she would stay indoors when a whole lot of people were joining the war.
Kalpana kept thinking about how she could do what she had decided to do and the idea of nursing wounded freedom fighters suddenly popped into her head.
Kalpana and her family members were in Bhairab but moved to Nabinagar, where the family’s ancestral home was located, when the war began in March. The family again moved to Agartala on security grounds.
At the time, her maternal cousin Padma Rani lived at the Melaghar area in Tripura, where freedom fighters would be treated at a hospital. She passed out on the first day after seeing the freedom fighters in the hospital who had sustained serious wounds. A doctor at the hospital was hesitant about whether she would be able to nurse the wounded freedom fighters but Padma assured him.
For young Kalpana, that was the beginning of her journey to indirectly contribute to the Liberation War but now after 44 years of independence, the intrepid woman leads an impoverished life and does not even have a place of her own to live.
She strove to secure government assistance but to no avail.
Recalling her days in the hospital, Kalpana, who is the eldest among her seven siblings, said she not only provided medical care for the wounded but also worked tirelessly to instil fresh hope and encouragement into them.
“Those of us who worked at the hospital especially focused on motivating the wounded freedom fighters to continue fighting against the Pakistani occupation forces in order to defeat them and achieve independence for our nation,” she said.
Kalpana and her family returned to their hometown after the nine-month sanguinary war. She then converted to Islam and adopted the name Asma Akhter to tie the knot with Hazi Ataur Rahman, a resident of Bhairab Bazar, but the couple failed to have any children.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for the wartime caregiver when Ataur was diagnosed with cancer. Kalpana did everything she could, including selling the only house, to pay for the treatment of her husband but still could not prevent him from leaving her for ever five years ago.
The person who healed the wounds of many freedom fighters several decades ago now suffers from a wide range of old-age complications, including asthma.
The saddest thing is that she cannot afford medical care and is passing her days as a dependant in Savar’s Bank Town area without receiving any treatment.
“It was the hope of freedom fighters that they will lead a happy life after the country’s independence but that did not happen in reality,” said Kalpana, her voice filled with deep resentment.
“At such an age, I approached officials at many ministries in the last few years but did not get any help from anyone. Now I live on other people’s earnings and do not have an abode,” she said.
Kalpana wonders if she has to live like this till her death. But the woman, who still has those pictures taken with General MAG Osmani, Captain ATM Haider and Major General Khaled Mosharraf, refuses to be pessimistic, saying she would certainly find peace one day.
