Sheikh Kamal, blue pole-star in the sports arena!
Sheikh Kamal, Photo: Collected
Many stars shine in the lonely night sky. However, in many of these, their own brightness is just a little different – Pole -Star! A little more enlightened.
Sheikh Kamal is one such pole star in building our sports arena and cultural environment and country in a big sense of a newly independent country. Sheikh Kamal's life philosophy is the proof of how a man at the age of only 26 can become an institutional steward of the sports arena of a war-torn country!
Usually at this age everyone wants to be a field player. Sheikh Kamal was also a field player. He played basketball. He played football. He was also regular in cricket. He used to play badminton on the lawn of his house. He was just a complete athlete. At this time of glittering youth, any youngster wants to climb the ladder of success by winning on the playground.
But Sheikh Kamal was an exception. Although he excelled in field play, his horizons were far beyond that. He dreamt not only of himself, but of the whole country. And so at the age when he was supposed to roam the field, he turned himself into a dreamer of building sports infrastructure. The harvest of his dream is the modern sports club Abahani Sports Club.
Harunur Rashid, the founding general secretary of Abahani, said, Kamal was junior to us but I have no hesitation in admitting that even though we were older, his thinking was different than the other ten.
He is known in many ways valiant freedom fighter on the battlefield student leader and political organizer. He was proud member of the patriotic army. He was the organizer of modern sports arena. He was the creator of modern band music. He could play Setar. He had skills in tabla. He was a master of the harmonium melody. He was equally talented in guitar. There was love for theater. He was charismatic all-rounder!
As the son of the Prime Minister of the country, life could have been spent effortlessly. But at that young age Sheikh Kamal's dream came true that the image of a happy-prosperous Bangladesh. Sheikh Kamal felt the need to enrich the social, cultural and sports arena of a country in order to create a context for its socio-economic development.
And so he chose the best time of his life as the organizer. He knew that if the youth could be put to good use, the rest of the work of building the country would become easier. Not only dreaming, but also physical work to make it successful - that was the teachings of Sheikh Kamal. And so he did not limit his work to mere instructions or advice. He built the dream monument with his own hands.
This multi-faceted efficiency is the great identity of Sheikh Kamal. The Abahani Sports Club created by him is one of the glorious partners in the history of sports in Bangladesh today.
As soon as the name of Spain is mentioned, the names of two clubs of the country float in front of the eyes - Barcelona and Real Madrid. Sheikh Kamal had the same dream about the Abahani Sports Club in Bangladesh five decades ago.
Today, therefore, on the joyous night of Abahani, a star in the distant sky spreads extra brightness. It shows the way. Sailors in the middle of the sea to find the right border!
That's the pole stars! Blue polar stars!
