The visionary and the hero

July 1 for many reasons could have been a day of mourning, but as I look back at the past six years I see instead, a day of immense significance. The fact that both Faraaz and Nana Bhai left us on the exact same day, just four years apart, continues to baffle me; but I guess that's what makes July 1 even more important for us. Not a day goes by without thinking of Chotoo or Nana Bhai, and somehow over the past few years we are marvelously reminded of their presence in even the most unexpected moments.

Both Mr. Latifur Rahman and Faraaz have turned from loved ones whose loss we suffer, to beacons of values that act as our moral compass. Our symbol of ethics and our symbol of courage. Two years since Nana bhai left us, and six years since Chotoo, we expected that we'd need more time to move on yet today we move forward with them in our hearts. Even after they have left us, we witness the impact they've left behind.

Nana bhai continues to leave us awestruck. I can oversimplify how we, his family, remember him every day through a question I find myself asking ever so often: "How did you build this Nana bhai?" His legacy of Transcom and business built with uncompromising ethics, is a legacy we have the pleasure of witnessing every day. His dream, of his legacy outlasting his lifetime really did come true and it grows stronger every day. The leaders and luminaries who I hear calling Nana bhai their mentor or their dear friend sheds light on how he wasn't just building a business; he made sure he took everyone around him ahead as well. But when I find myself looking up and asking how he built "this", it is far from just his business, instead it is his life. We continue to feel how he was the one who held our family together, and kept everyone around him feeling optimistic about the future. We feel his presence in the actions taken by those in the Transcom family every day, and it continues to astound me how each and every person has internalised  the code of ethics he instilled in his life's foundation. We realise every moment how Mr. Latifur Rahman truly led his company and his family - by example.

Faraaz  too, never fails to make us proud. I find myself asking my brother: "How did you find the strength to stay back for your friends? It amazes me to see how, even after six years, not a person around us has forgotten Faraaz, and to see how they still speak about him with such admiration. Be it a personal setting or even professional, Faraaz somehow invariably comes up in discussions. Faraaz's courage is not simply an inspiration for us but rather an example to take our minds to during the darkest moments. The answer to "what would Faraaz do?" continues to be the light at the end of every tunnel. What strikes me about Faraaz's example is not just the mental strength he inculcates, but how he continues to spur us all into action. Be it through the activities of the Faraaz Hossain Foundation or simply standing by our loved ones. What we continue to understand is that what we do in Faraaz's name is only but a fraction of what he means to those around us, and that his own legacy continues as the boy who did not back down. A legacy not only in our minds, but in the lives Faraaz has touched, for those he never met but did not fail to inspire.

On July 1, 2016 and 2020, we feared that one day we'd move past our precious Latifur Rahman and Faraaz, a fear that they'd be forgotten someday. However, what these last six years have taught us is that both of their lives continue beyond their presence in this world. They prove to us every year, every July 1, and in fact every day that they live on in us.

It's almost poetic for Nana bhai and Faraaz to have both left us on July 1, I'm sure neither of them would have had it any other way. They had a special bond between them which is hard to explain in words, so I'll share a story that sums it all up.

When Faraaz was six years old, and I was eight, we were asked the typical question of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I, of course, probably said something you'd expect a typical young boy to say. Faraaz simply said "I want to be Nana bhai". When asked "okay, so what does Nana bhai do? What does that mean?" He simply said "I don't know, but I just want to be Nana bhai when I grow up."

Nana bhai was his hero, not the businessman but the human being. Little did he know that after July 1, 2016, he would become Nana bhai's hero and that one day they'd be together again after leaving this world on the same day.

The writer is the grandson of Latifur Rahman and elder brother of Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain