By the time the family reached home, the telephone was ringing incessantly. On the other side of the line were her father Ahmed Reza's colleagues from the Air Force warning him of danger as the Pakistani Army moved in. They told him that he should leave old DOHS and find a safer refuge. Reza's father was targetted because his home was a hub for armed forces personnel who opposed the Pakistani regime.

Subsequently the family, comprising Shampa's father and mother Ranu Reza, along with her four siblings sought shelter at the home of her maternal grandparents. From there, the group went to a village near Demra. The month of May saw them en route to Agartala, India by foot, rickshaw and boat, and then flown to Kolkata. Later they were transported to the Kalyani refugee camp.

At Kalyani, the family immersed itself in the struggle for Liberation. Shampa's father was responsible for training the Muktijuddhas, while her mother provided shelter and medical aid to the freedom fighters. Even the young Shampa and her elder sister Rini put in their mite in the cause for freedom. Both the girls worked with the Save the Children Fund UK to look after the children in the camps by teaching them, playing together and organising their food. The two youngsters would put in a long day -- from 7am to 6pm. Their efforts did not go unrewarded -- both received crests and Rs 60 from the Save the Children Fund.

"Our generation had great dreams for our country," says Shampa. Times have changed from those days, says Shampa.

Today after sojourns in Shantiniketan, London and Sylhet, her roots are firmly in Dhaka. Her first love is Indian classical music and she follows strict discipline in her riyaz--from 5: 00 am to 7:00 pm.

Her philosophy, she says, is derived from her well loved late Ustadji Dhruva Tara Joshi "the most important person in my life." Though she acutely feels the vacuum caused by his demise, she is now training with Ustadji Purnima Sen in Kolkata, who she describes as a "very learned." Shampa also hosts a chat show titled Alor Atithi O Shampa for Rtv.

Shampa instructs about 20 children in Indian classical music. She has been busy on other fronts: she is the founder of a school in Sylhet called Anandaniketan which began with four students (her two children and two others) and now enrolls around 800 students.

As for her acting career on TV, her latest work was aired on BTV on March 26. However, as Shampa says, "All my activities are an extension of my music."