Bangabandhu's marriage was fixed when he was only 13 years oldWhen Begum Fazilatunnesa was only three and Sheikh Mujib was 13, their marriage had been fixed by elders in the family. Interestingly, they were both cousins. When Begum's father passed away when she was 5, Sheikh Abdul Hamid (grandfather to both Fazilatunnesa and Sheikh Mujib) asked his son Sheikh Lutfar Rahman to get his son Sheikh Mujib married to Begum Fazilatunnesa. They got married in the year 1938 when Mujib was 18 years old. There was a 10 year difference between them. The couple later gave birth to two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, as well as three sons, Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russel.
Source: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, The Unfinished Memoirs/ wikipedia
At 5 feet 11 inches tall, Mujib was a towering figureAs a towering figure in the history of our country's politics, the Father of the nation, at 5 feet 11 inches in height, stood uncharacteristically tall for a Bangladeshi man. On April 5, 1971, Newsweek magazine had Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on its cover page with the article stating, "Tall for a Bengali (he stands 5 feet 11 inches), with a touch of greying hair, a bushy moustache and alter black eyes, Mujib can attract a crowd of a million people to his rallies and hold them spellbound with great rolling waves of emotional rhetoric. He is a poet of politics, so his style may be just what was needed to unite all the classes and ideologies of the region." His larger than life persona was matched with his confidence and charisma, both making him stand out among men as well as international personalities such as Fidel Castro, Marshal Tito, Henry Kissinger, Andre Marlaux, Curt Waldheim, Ne Win, Colonel Gaddafi, Motubo, and even Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Source: http://www.londoni.co/index.php/who-s-who?id=68
Mujib's historic March 7 speech recognised as “world's all time best”“Ebarer shangram amader muktir shangram, ebarer shangram shadhinatar shangram,” are words most Bengalis have eched in their hearts. This famous declaration was made during Bangabandhu's extempore March 7 speech at the Racecourse Maidan, a monumental oration that moved millions towards the struggle for liberation. Fiery, enthralling and deeply moving, his speech addressed a gathering of two million people, rousing and inspiring millions of other Bengalis to follow his lead. During an intense period of heightened tensions between East Pakistan and West Pakistan, this address asserted the nation's goal for independence, reshaping the country's history forever. The 19 minute long speech by the Father of the nation has not only been compared to the Gettysburg Address of Abraham Lincoln, but has also been hailed as one of the world's best speeches. The speech found international recognition when featured in the book We Shall Fight on the Beaches: The Speeches That Inspired History, by Jacob F Field, a collection of extracts from the most inspirational wartime speeches of the last 2,500 years. Listed on page 201 of the book, the other speeches listed in the book includes those by Churchill, Lincoln and Mao.
Source: https://www.amazon.com/We-Shall-Fight-Beaches-Speeches/dp/1782430555
Fidel Castro compared Mujib to the Himalaya'sIn 1973, at the non-aligned summit in Algiers, Bangabandhu visited Fidel Castro. Embracing Mujib, he remarked, “I have not seen the Himalayas. But I have seen Sheikh Mujib. In personality and in courage, this man is the Himalayas. I have thus had the experience of witnessing the Himalayas.” Source: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheikh_Mujibur_Rahman
He was an energetic, sports-loving manBangabandhu Sheikh Mujib may not have distinguished himself in his studies, but was certainly liked by his teachers and peers. Growing up in a rural setting, he had a love for sports and outdoor activities. “My father grew up rural - amid rivers, trees, birdsong. He flourished in the free atmosphere inspired by his grandparents. He swam in the river, played in the fields, bathed in the rains, caught fish and watched out for birds' nests. He was lanky, yet played football,” reads an excerpt from Sheikh Hasina's essay on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman titled Mujibur Rahman for a special section on Asiaweek magazine's June 12 (1998 edition). The special section contained a collection of essays on the leaders, fighters, fathers and martyrs of new Asia. The English-language news magazine focused on Asia, and was published weekly by Asiaweek Limited, a subsidiary of Time Inc.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/98/0612/sr9.html
His political career started youngAs a student of Gopalganj Missionary School, Bangabandhu's political career began at a very young age. When Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq, Prime Minister of Bengal and Husein Shaheed Suhrawardy came to visit their school, Sheikh Mujib led a group of students who demanded to have the cracked roof of their school repaired. From a very young age, Mujib strived to work for issues that mattered to him, hankering one cause after another. He showed the first sign of being a revolutionary leader when he distributed rice from his father's own stockpile, giving it to famine stricken people in his area, much to his father's dismay.
Source:www.mediabangladesh.net
