The versatile writer Syed Shamsul Haq, suffering from lung cancer, has returned home out of love and affection for his country and is being treated here. Even in hospital his creative writing has not stopped.

In a special interview he spoke of a wish he had held quietly in his heart: his plans for celebrating the birth centenary of Bangabandhu and the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence.

Syed Haq had been receiving cancer treatment for several months at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. He did not like staying away from the country for long, so he decided to be treated at home. He is now being treated at United Hospital in the capital.

His wife, the fiction writer Syed Anwara Haq, was beside him during the interview on Monday.

"I went to London for treatment four months ago. After four months they told me, go home for a while, then we will see what can be done," Shamsul Haq said.

He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had welcomed his decision to come home for treatment. "My wife Anwara and I decided that we would go back to my mother, my people, my country. The Prime Minister sent word to London saying, stay there and get treated there. When I heard, I sent a message to the Prime Minister and said I would come to Bangladesh.

"When the Prime Minister came to see me in hospital, she said, you have made a very good decision. This country is yours, this soil is yours; you have worked all your life for it. You have made an extraordinary contribution to Bengali literature. If you are not here, how will I be? She told me the Prime Minister would bear the full cost of treatment and said, don't worry about anything. I am grateful to the Prime Minister for everything."

Even while fighting a deadly disease like cancer, Syed Shamsul Haq's creative writing continues. "Even while ill, I am working on my novel. I am working on four plays. I have plans for the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence," he said.

At the time, Syed Haq spoke by telephone with Faridur Reza Sagor, managing director of Impress Telefilm Limited, Channel i, and with woman entrepreneur Kona Reza. From his hospital bed he read out two lines of a poem he had translated himself for his readers.

Source: Shykh Seraj. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.