I Walk Down the Memory Lane with Love: Suchanda
Kohinoor Akhter Suchanda, a name that echoes the golden days of Bangladeshi silver screen, has recently been honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by two of her schools, one in Bagerhat and another in Jessore. In both the programmes she was accompanied by her son Arafat Raihan. Starting from 22nd to 29th of December, she had been showered with appreciation, love and respect by her fans. These fans were none other than her friends and classmates from her childhood who reunited to celebrate the 100th year of their beloved Bagerhat Government Girls High School. Suchanda also attended the reunion of Jessore Government Girls' School on their successful celebration of 82 years. Her school life began at Bagerhat and after two years of studying there she moved to Jessore with her family. After more than 50 years, she was there again, amid all her teachers, friends and classmates. Thousands of people gathered together to see Suchanda at least once, with thousands of selfies and autographs making Suchanda overwhelmed with emotions.
At the reunion in Bagerhat, Suchanda felt as if she had gone back to her childhood. A childhood that started at the holy land of Khan Jahan Ali, wrapped with love of her parents and teachers. At the programme, she planted trees in the school premises with all other distinguished guests. “Whatever I am today, it is all because of the invaluable teachings of my parents and teachers. Revisiting Bagerhat made me walk down the memory lane with love and happiness. These memories are of another day, another time and another world. Those were the sweetest days of life,” shared Suchanda.
In the presence of Dr Mozammel Hossain, MP, Bagerhat 4; Mr. Tapan Kumar Biswas, District Commissioner; Special Guest Advocate Parveen Ahmed, Dr Lubna Sharmeen and the Head Master Mr. Deepak Ranjan Biswas, Suchanda (along with some other prominent names) was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Bagerhat Government Girls' High School. The rally, speech and cultural programme of the ceremony were magnificent. “Everything was neat and disciplined, and this captivated me the most,” she added.
On 28th and 29th December, Suchanda attended the reunion in Jessore, where, in the presence of the District Commissioner Md. Ashraf Uddin, Ms. Hosne Ara Dilshaad, organizer; Fouzia Akhter, acting Head Mistress, Md. Ahsan Habib Parvez, Asst. Head Master; Ferdous Ara Eeti, Editor of the programme, she was awarded with another Lifetime Achievement Award by Jessore Government Girl's School. “This school was one of the most memorable places of my life. I spent around 10 years there. This school produced a large number of doctors, engineers, artists and academics. Not only this, this school was one of the pioneers of women's education in Jessore. To receive any award from this school was like a dream come true,” said Suchanda with teary eyes. The cultural programme of this school was neat, vibrant and majestic. She loved every bit of her two day stay in Jessore.
Revisiting her schools after such a long time had been the best experiences of 2017 for Suchanda. The overwhelming love, care and respect made Suchanda proud of her contribution to the Bangladeshi film industry. For her, it was not the reunion of friends; it was the reunion of souls, merriment and memory.