Still carrying a bullet

'This is one of the bullets that came out of my body," Lalit Das offered the rusty object for this correspondent to inspect. "I was hit with 11 bullets -- six on my left leg, two on the right, two on the right arm, while my abdomen took the other."

"It took three surgeries to get 10 of them out, but the other one still remains inside my knee."

Seventy-five-year-old Lalit Das of Falpatti in Barishal city was recounting his memories from August 15. As part of their band "Credence", the singer happened to be at the Serniabat family house at Dhaka's Minto Road on the night the family was massacred.

At least four other members of the Barishal-based band were seriously injured on the night. Along with Abdur Rab Serniabat, Bangabandhu's brother-in-law and a minister, and his family members, a member of the singers' collective also perished.

They were invited to Dhaka by Barishal's own Serniabat to perform at the then industry minister's home. "As we rehearsed at the Serniabat residence on the prior day, we saw Begum Mujib visit her brother's house with Sheikh Russell," Lalit recalled.

On the fateful day, they performed at the cultural event from 9pm to 11pm and returned to Minto Road.

"We were very happy with our performance. But it all changed around 3am in the morning," Lalit's voice grew dark. This is when the first noise of gunfire broke, and it woke all of them up.

"We were in a room on the ground floor, beside the staircase. Suddenly, there was fierce knocking on the door. As (band member) Zillur opened the door, the black-wearing assailants descended upon us with ferocity. They started striking us down with rifle butts."

"We cried, 'we are from Barishal, we are artists'. They still dragged us to a room on the ground floor with members of the Serniabat family," Lalit continued.

"All of a sudden, they started firing on us. I think Sukanta Babu was the first to fall; I saw the minister [Serniabat] go down on the tea table next to Sukanta, with blood flowing from his back."

"I remember, a person firing the gun wore a wicked smile. After his magazine ran out, he was handed another gun, and he started to shoot again. As all of this was going on, Serniabat's barely alive body fell on top of me."

"I could clearly hear him reciting prayers with his last breaths. His body suddenly froze. Bullets started piercing my body too."

"Once the firing subsided, I thought of my son and daughter and tried to summon all my strength to get out of there. But movement felt impossible -- just three feet felt like an eternity away."

"Eventually, I managed to slither to the outside. I went down on the nearby drain and tried to drink its sewer water, but it was filled up with blood. I saw police rescuing the injured and screamed for help."

"Police took me to Dhaka Medical College where I was treated at the surgery ward. With me were Credence members Zillur Rahman, Rafiqul Islam Rafiq, Dilip Mandal, and Syed Golam Mahmud, all bullet-hit yet somehow alive."

"A day later, we came to know of the massacre that took place. That Bangabandhu and his family had been killed, and that Credence founder Abdur Naeem Khan Rintu also died at Serniabat residence. After about two months of treatment, I went back to Barishal."

"It took another year for me to recover a bit. Two more surgeries later, 10 of the 11 bullets that pierced my body were taken out. The other one still remains, and will go to the crematorium with me, like the horrid memories of August 15 that have stayed with me," Lalit said as tears rolled down his cheeks.