Mountaineer Reshma: Ratna and her untouched dreams | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
February 03, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2023
Ratna and her untouched dreams

Panorama

Tareq Onu
08 August, 2020, 11:55 am
Last modified: 08 August, 2020, 12:54 pm

Related News

  • Mountaineer Reshma’s death: Police arrest another microbus driver
  • Driver Nayeem placed on 2-day remand over mountaineer Reshma killing
  • Microbus that ran over mountaineer Reshma seized, driver held
  • Demo staged demanding safe roads, exemplary punishment to mountaineer Reshma killers
  • Death of a mountaineer

Ratna and her untouched dreams

At the age of only 33, full of enthusiasm and energy, Ratna had to leave the world. She left behind many untouched dreams

Tareq Onu
08 August, 2020, 11:55 am
Last modified: 08 August, 2020, 12:54 pm
Illustration: Reshma Nahar Ratna
Illustration: Reshma Nahar Ratna

Many years ago, I met Reshma Nahar Ratna at a BMTC (Bangla Mountaineering and Trekking Club) monthly meeting.

Other friends introduced her to me as an enthusiastic new member who loved nature and loved being outdoors.

She was also a school teacher and adored her pupils.I requested her to help us organise a bird fair at her school on behalf of Bangladesh Bird Club. She instantly agreed.

With time, I found Ratna to be a very generous, helpful, and confident person. She was quiet in nature; she was more of a listener and loved to learn by observing.

She was selected in an all-women's hiking team to Keukradong.

With her hardworking and helping nature, she earned the respect of her teammates and especially that of the Everest summiteer MA Muhit during the trip.  

Later she was selected in a team of five female mountaineers to attend the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering for their Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC). 

From her fellow mountaineers we learned that although she worked really hard, she could not get a proper grade due to an accidental leg injury.

Ratna was not just a dreamer; she made sacrifices and worked hard to realise her dreams. 

She went back to the institute and successfully completed the basic course; she even completed the Advance Mountaineering Course (AMC). 

She climbed Stok Kangri, the 6000M peak in Ladakh, and later went to scale Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, the two highest peaks in Africa.

She easily climbed Mount Kenya, but for Mount Kilimanjaro, she was not allowed to enter Tanzania due to some visa problem.

But she remained hopeful and often asked me about climbing Aconcagua in Latin America or Elburz in Europe.

Ratna was a true adventurer. At one point, she started running. She completed few national and international half-marathons and was getting ready for a full marathon. 

She used to roam around Dhaka city on her pink bike. I remember her warm presence in every team gathering as she was a good guitar player and a singer. 

She loved to take photographs and was an avid reader. She was an active member of Bishwo Shahitto Kendro for long time. All these interesting hobbies made her popular among us.

Yesterday my runner friend Syed Akhterruzzaman called me in the morning to let me know about Ratna's death. 

His voice was heavy with sadness when he told me that she was killed in a road accident while she was on her pink bike.

They were waiting for Ratna to show up after completing their morning walk and drinking homemade tea. They set aside a cup for her. But she did not come to meet them.

Perhaps she was heading home after finishing her exercise.  What her friends did not know was that Ratna was hit by a fast moving vehicle.

She was lying on the road, lifeless.

The news of her death was so shocking for us that we could not believe it at first. 

I vividly remember how many times Ratna had told me about her dream to climb the Mount Everest and other mountains of the world.

She dreamt of a better world, safer roads and was always vocal about women's empowerment.

At the age of only 33, full of enthusiasm and energy, Ratna had to leave the world. She left behind many untouched dreams.

But she was able to plant those dreams in her pupils and her friends. 

We will always remember her courage and her spirit. 

Features / Top News

Reshma Nahar Ratna / Mountaineer Reshma

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Gautam Adani. Photo: Bloomberg
    Adani’s $108 billion crisis shakes investors’ faith in India
  • Shipped Bhola gas to cost higher, yet cheaper than spot LNG
    Shipped Bhola gas to cost higher, yet cheaper than spot LNG
  • Photo: TBS
    Tax GDP ratio to increase if duty exemption reduced: NBR official

MOST VIEWED

  • The trio spearheading the revival of book cover designs
    The trio spearheading the revival of book cover designs
  • Andy Mukherjee. Sketch: TBS
    What makes India's billionaires' support special for Adani
  • While the Padma bridge in operation is changing the lives of millions in the south for the better, passenger rush to Shimulia ghat died down. Photo: Masum Billah
    How are the Shimulia ghat businesses faring after Padma bridge?
  • After so many investments going embarrassingly wrong, as was the case with Sam Bankman-Fried, perhaps tech investors’ preference for less experience will wane. Photo: Bloomberg
    Are you the next Steve Jobs? Good luck raising money in 2023
  • Infographic: TBS
    How to redirect inward remittances to formal channels
  • An elderly couple's lonely battle to save Dhaka's trees
    An elderly couple's lonely battle to save Dhaka's trees

Related News

  • Mountaineer Reshma’s death: Police arrest another microbus driver
  • Driver Nayeem placed on 2-day remand over mountaineer Reshma killing
  • Microbus that ran over mountaineer Reshma seized, driver held
  • Demo staged demanding safe roads, exemplary punishment to mountaineer Reshma killers
  • Death of a mountaineer

Features

Andy Mukherjee. Sketch: TBS

What makes India's billionaires' support special for Adani

5h | Panorama
Photo: Rejaul Hafiz Rahi

A jackal farewell

6h | Earth
The trio spearheading the revival of book cover designs

The trio spearheading the revival of book cover designs

7h | Panorama
Six Jeep Wranglers and a special XJ Jeep Cherokee set out into the depths of Lalakhal, Sylhet for an experience of a lifetime. Photo: Ahbaar Mohammad

Jeep Life Bangladesh: A club for Jeep owners to harness the power of their vehicles

1d | Wheels

More Videos from TBS

A proper price formula can help investors to plan big

A proper price formula can help investors to plan big

21h | TBS Round Table
Rumors about Sarika that everyone thinks are true

Rumors about Sarika that everyone thinks are true

19h | TBS Entertainment
Mugging rife in Tejgaon, murder in Wari

Mugging rife in Tejgaon, murder in Wari

22h | TBS Current Affairs
What secrets are hidden behind Adani's wealth?

What secrets are hidden behind Adani's wealth?

20h | TBS Stories

Most Read

1
Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!
Bangladesh

Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!

2
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

3
Photo: Collected
Energy

8 Ctg power plants out of production

4
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

5
Photo: Collected
Court

Japanese mother gets guardianship of daughters, free to leave country

6
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]