Reaching Out Through Music

Nazia Nazmul

International Affairs Club (IAC) of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and UDiON Foundation organized a charity concert titled “Being Human” on January 27, 2012. Asif Kamal Sheikh is the President of IAC and he was elected by the faculties for the position. He was overloaded with expectations with his engagement in the social calendar. Being a president, his job was to do something for the club and take it to the next level. So he came up with the idea of “Being Human”.

IAC concert raised a huge donation of winter clothes.

“Being Human”, was a charity event where the audiences were asked to provide their old clothes as donations for the poor people in this winter in exchange of the ticket. This innovative idea impressed a lot of people. Professor M Omar Rahman, Vice Chancellor, IUB, inaugurated the event as the chief guest. Students from various universities attended the concert where the mode of entry was one warm cloth or Taka 100 to donate in the charity fund. The Vice Chancellor quoted that the cause of this event is delightful and the hosting was superb. The band line up started with Nemesis, Shunno, Arbovirus, Bohemian, Mechanix, Alternation, Rainy Taxi and Seventh Avenue. The program started from around 4.00 pm till people head banged and danced their day off till 10.00 pm. Believe it or not, it is not as easy as it looks like. Behind this tiny story Asif and the three other vice presidents Farhan Masud, Rafatul Bari Labib and I went through loads of learning sessions. We communicated and convinced the band to perform within a week. We went through several ordeals with our sponsors. We adapted to changes since we knew about them in advance and slowly acclimatized to what was required of us. The potential of speedy transformation really made our heart race. We knew that the event would turn out to be positive, only if organised in the right way.

Being on the side of the vulnerable.

Labib, the drummer for both the bands Shunno and Bohemian made the crowd dance and jump with his beats. The band Nemesis made the audience go crazy.

Later on all the donated clothes, blankets and money were taken to Thakurgaon. Our Operations Director was one of our faculty members. They reached Thakurgaon on Thursday January 2, 2012 and settled down at Manob Kalyan Parishad (MKP). The whole team of IAC managed to distribute the clothes and donations successfully. The entire concept or the story may sound like a very simple form of event but the entire experience was quite overwhelming for all of us. The group came back to Dhaka by Saturday, February 4, 2012 and claimed the event as the most successful one. IAC was inactive for a year and after that it expanded its horizons considerably by taking the right kind of steps. One must always need to recognize the opportunity when he/she sees it. Asif mentioned that it would not have been possible without the support of Dr G M Shahidul Alam, Head, Department, Media and Communication, Kazi Faruque Ahmed, Senior Manager, Division of Students Activities (DoSA) Co-coordinator and senior lecturer Miss Jessica and of course the vice presidents Farhan, Labib or Nazia, and members like Nahiyan, Raisa, Asif, Nayeem and all those who have worked so hard.

DID YOU KNOW?

Tareque Masud

Tareque Masud was born on 6 December 1956 in Nurpur village, Bhanga Upazila, Faridpur District, Bangladesh. He had started his education in an Islamic madrasah, but the outbreak of the Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan forces in 1971 put an end to his studies at the Islamic seminary. After the war, Masud pursued general education. He had completed his HSC from Dhaka College and acquired his Bachelors and Masters degree in History from Dhaka University. He was an award-winning Bangladeshi independent film director. He was known for directing the films Muktir Gaan (1995) and Matir Moina (2002), for which he won two international awards, one of them being the International Critics' Prize, FIPRESCI Prize, in the Directors' Fortnight section outside competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. His film Ontorjatra, is a tale of two generations of Bangladeshi diaspora in London. The film describes the short visit home of a divorced mother and her son.

Information source: Internet