Story of Baby Sidr
By Murad Ahmed
It will be the 10th anniversary of Cyclone Sidr on November 15. On the same day, Sakibul Hasan will celebrate his 10th birthday. Baby Sidr, who was born as the severe cyclonic storm ravaged Bangladeshs southern coast in 2007, now prays to the Almighty to keep every child safe from natural disasters.
To find out how the boy was doing now, I recently visited village after village to look for him in the cyclone-hit areas of Charkhali, Ranipur, Mendiabad, Gholkhali and Hazikhali under Mirzaganj upazila in Patuakhali district. A decade after the cyclone, I found a lot of changes everywhere, but I could see little change in the circumstances of the Sidr-affected villagers.
Finally, in Ranipur village, one Ali Mia informed me there was a Sidr baby there, and with the help of locals, we found him at Jamalul Kindergarten, set up in a room of Nurani Madrasah complex at Uttar Ranipur.
Wearing blue panjabi and pyjama and a prayer cap, Sakibul Hasan, whose nickname is Sidr, was busy studying with his classmates. He is in second jammat, or class 2, of the madrasah-based school.
When Cyclone Sidr hit the southern region of the country on the night of November 15, 2007, at least 99 people perished in Ranipur village, and just then, Sakibul was born. The world media covered the story of the miracle Sidr baby. If you visit Raniganj and want to find Sidrs home, everyone will help you as he is a kind of a local celebrity.
Sakibul Hasan Sidr is the second of three children of his parents. His father, Mijanur Rahman, is a general contractor, and his mother, Mosammed Mahmuda, is a homemaker.
While telling me the story of Sidrs birth at their wood-and-tin house, his aunt, Laiju Begum, became emotional.
That night, around 9:45pm, as the approaching cyclone was battering our village with high winds, Mahmudas labour pains began. Her labour progressed along with the cyclone. At one stage, around 10:50pm, the cyclone crossed over us, with heavy rain and strong winds. Just then, our Sidr came into the world. At that moment, the partition walls of the house collapsed and a tidal surge, 5-6 feet high, enter our home.
Now crying, Laiju Begum continued: Both the mother and newborn baby were drenched in rainwater and by water from the Payra River. And we faced super-high speed winds. We had little hope of saving the lives of the mother and baby. Only Almighty Allah saved them. In the morning, when we could hear people wailing from every corner of the village, Baby Sidr announced his arrival by crying, nearly six hours after his birth.
Allah gave us the baby as a memory of cyclone Sidr, Tara Banu, Sidrs grandmother, added.
Over 2,000 babies lost their parents when the cyclone hit. We want to raise our Sidr as a representative of all disaster-affected children, said his mother, who is now better known as Sidar-er Maa in the village.
As I was leaving the house after talking to his family, Sidr returned home from school.
I pray to Allah everyday to save all babies of the world during natural disasters, just as He saved me. I pray for peace of the souls of all those who lost their lives when Cyclone Sidr hit our village, the boy told me. I want a disaster-free world.
Cyclone Sidr, which hit our coastal areas with wind speeds up to 260 kilometres per hour and five-metre (16ft) high storm surges, claimed nearly 3,450 lives, more than half of them children.
Photos: writer
