Tawhidur Rashid meets Laila Rahman Kabir, a business luminary and nature enthusiast, who reminisces chapters of her charming yet eventful life.

Laila Rahman Kabir’s house is nothing short of an urban oasis. Situated amidst the high-rise apartments of Indira Road, the two-storeyed building surrounded by gardens has been developed with tender loving care over a long period of time. Laila inherited the land, almost an acre, from her mother. They moved into this place sometime in the 60s, and the house has elegantly stood the test of time. Her husband, Ahmedul Kabir, was a pioneering media personality and Chief Editor of the Daily Sangbad newspaper. For this reason, the house has been frequented by the who’s who of Dhaka’s political elite and has witnessed many historical events including the Liberation War.

Numerous pieces of furniture and antiques collected by the couple and their children tastefully decorate the house, which exudes a kind of openness that usually requires one to leave Dhaka. The garden which has countless species of trees and plants is a sanctuary for hundreds of birds. Just pay a little attention and you will hear the chirping at all times of the day. “You wouldn’t believe, due to the pond next door and these trees, so many varieties of birds are seen on these premises. My daughter, who loves to take pictures of birds sees a new bird almost every day. She’s even asked the staff to wake her up from sleep if they spot a new bird,” Laila expresses with excitement in her voice.

Laila was in a jovial mood. The octogenarian, wearing a beautiful dusty pink colored Kota saree exuded an infectious charm which was impossible to ignore. When asked to share a fond memory associated with her house, she smiled and said, “I am blessed to have a mechanism in my brain which automatically writes off bad memories. Life to me is too precious to dwell on things which are not positive.”

Laila received her bachelor’s degree in agricultural botany from the University of Durham. She reminisces about the family she used to live with during her studies. “Whenever I used to feel down, my landlady used to remind me of a saying that they, the Northerners [of England], believed in: You should learn to take the thick with the thin.” As I insisted on talking about a happy memory, Laila says, “Look, I am not a morose person. I can be happy all by myself. Those who are into gardening, I believe, they don’t look for company all the time. Having said that though, I have had so many friends from my university and work. Also, my husband’s friends too became my friends over time. I have had a wonderful life! No regrets at all.”

Sitting inside the living room, I could see a black drongo flying around the small lily pool right outside the patio of the house. I wanted to know more about her garden and her hobby, gardening. “Gardens are like human beings, they evolve over time. When you are young, you are more into annuals. You kind of decide on a particular color for a year and choose your plants accordingly. As you grow older, subconsciously, you know you won’t be able to change so often, which is reflected on the way you nurture your garden. In my one, we have so many trees and only a few annuals at the moment. The reason behind such planning is that the presence of trees in an area helps ensure cooling of the surroundings as well as provide shelter to birds and other animals. In addition, since there are so many tall buildings around, this place is surrounded by trees becomes a hideout from the chaos of the city.”

Laila’s family was originally from Jalpaiguri, West Bengal. She spent a considerable amount of her childhood in Ajmer, one of Rajasthan’s oldest cities in India. The scenic beauty of that colorful place and the serenity around the Aravalli hills made her instantly fall in love with nature. “I love space and I have always been nature’s child. I was fascinated by the garden we had at our place in Jalpaiguri. However, after my father died, we had to move to Ajmer. My brother got into Mayo College and myself into a convent from where I completed my secondary school exams. After that, I went to study in England and the subject I chose was because of a professor who specialized in the science of soil. His research areas covered how to turn bad soil into good ones. This helped me immensely when I started cultivating tea in Sylhet, Bangladesh. At that time, all the big tea estates were owned by the English. It was very unorthodox for a young woman to get into a venture like this but they were interested to see how it turns out as I studied agricultural botany.”

The one-thousand-acre land on which Laila started her tea estate was not so arable. Trying to develop an effective method to grow healthy tea there, she told her staff to forget about the tea plants for the time being and focus on planting shade trees. Apart from providing great cover for the tea, these trees lose all their leaves once a year, mitigating the need for external organic materials and enhancing the fertility of the land. “If you go there, you will see the tea estate is still in super condition and is very high-yielding.” The 2017 export trophy for being one of the best producers of tea in the country bore testimony to this fact.

What intrigued her to embark upon a path which was not trod upon by women during that time? When asked, Laila mentioned her mother’s ancestors who were the zamindars of Korotia, popularly known as the Pannis. “They were very unorthodox and stubborn. I think I got that zeal from my mother’s side. Also, my grandmother was a woman of strong will. So, it runs in the family, you know. I also received support from my husband. My elder son was very little so I used to work all day with his cot on the table. I was lucky to have so many loyal workers from the surrounding areas. They knew I had studied the subject and had full faith in my plans.”, she explains.

Because of her visionary role in the tea industry, Laila has received accolades at home and abroad. She was elected the first female president of the then Pakistan Tea Association, which she considers to be a feather in the cap of her career. Laila was also one of the three female presidents of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) for her leadership role in the tea industry. Laila’s company was awarded for having a stellar record of ensuring labor welfare.

Laila considers that being married to Ahmedul Kabir was one of the best things that happened to her. “The amount of warmth I have received from the people of this country is amazing and I am grateful to the Almighty for that. I was still pursuing my studies while I got married. I remember the way my in-laws used to pamper me as if I was their own daughter.”

In this connection, she recollects an interesting memory. Ahmedul Kabir’s family were the zamindars of Ghorashal, a town in Narshingdi district in central Bangladesh. He was very fond of visiting his village home where he grew up with his siblings and cousins. Once it so happened that Laila arrived at the village and instead of being escorted to her in-laws’ house in a palanquin, Kabir asked her to walk alongside him. Laila later came to hear that the villagers were both amused and amazed to see her walk side by side with her husband, which was not a common sight at the time. They said, “Look how Monu Miah’s wife is walking. That’s only possible because she is educated.”

The point to be noticed here, according to Laila, is how people then were just about opening up to the idea of women being educated and delving into new frontiers. She is also very happy to have witnessed the revolutionary road the women of our countries have paved for themselves. She mentioned the loans provided by Grameen Bank. “There might be different opinions about the loan and repayment system, but to me, it was revolutionary in the sense that they made it so only women were eligible to take the loans, be it for buying cattle or making houses. This ownership immediately upgraded the woman’s position in society. A woman in a position of leadership is not surprising anymore. That’s a remarkable achievement of this nation. ”

She showers praise on the people of this country who embody the indomitable spirit of accomplishing what they set out to do. She has been a keen observer of the development of the common people of the country. “If you ask me what comes to mind when I think about the development of the rural areas, for example, say Ghorashal, I would say, owning a torchlight, a briefcase or even a transistor was a big thing. Adding these amenities in their lives have enabled them to dream bigger and accomplish more over time. You know this a delta; you do things, it washes away. This has enabled the people of this country to become very resilient,” she adds.

From Jalpaiguri to Indira Road, Laila Kabir’s life has been nothing less than extraordinary. Not only has she grown as a person, but she is also a witness to the massive socio-economic change our country has gone through. Her optimistic view of life is her superpower, and the beauty of her soul is reflected in the spaces and things she surrounds herself with.