PLAINSBORO: LOOSE ENDS: Nuran Nabi: A tale of war and liberation
Tuesday, December 14, 2010 1:58 PM EST
By Pam Hersh Special Writer
You certainly can't tell a book by its cover.
I had this all-too-familiar epiphany while sitting in the dentist's chair and waiting for the novocaine to kick in. In spite of the nerve-numbing drug, my mind was still functioning well enough to conclude that the above book/ cover cliché described exactly how it is with me and my longtime acquaintance, Dr. Nuran Nabi.
I first heard about Dr. Nabi from one of my dentists several years ago. I cannot remember whether it was the oral surgeon, endodontist, periodontist, or prosthedontist who told me that the scientist who invented Colgate's Total Toothpaste lived in Plainsboro. It went without either my dentist or I saying, that the toothpaste guru came up with his invention several decades too late to save me and my severely perio/endo/ prosto-challenged dentition.
I finally met the famous toothpaste research scientist at a Plainsboro Township Reorganization meeting four years ago, when Dr. Nabi was being sworn in as a Plainsboro Township Committee member. The mayor told me what my dentist already had revealed — that molecular biologist Dr. Nabi was the co- inventor of the breakthrough technology of Colgate Total toothpaste — the substance that makes the cavity-preventing toothpaste more effectively adhere to the teeth.
With spectacles, an easy- going smile, soft speech, and small stature, Dr. Nabi looked exactly like what he was — an intellectual and a scientist with more than 50 patents and 50 publications to his credit. I congratulated him on his contribution to the world of building healthy teeth, as well as his contribution to the political world of building good responsive government. 
I had this all-too-familiar epiphany while sitting in the dentist's chair and waiting for the novocaine to kick in. In spite of the nerve-numbing drug, my mind was still functioning well enough to conclude that the above book/ cover cliché described exactly how it is with me and my longtime acquaintance, Dr. Nuran Nabi.
I first heard about Dr. Nabi from one of my dentists several years ago. I cannot remember whether it was the oral surgeon, endodontist, periodontist, or prosthedontist who told me that the scientist who invented Colgate's Total Toothpaste lived in Plainsboro. It went without either my dentist or I saying, that the toothpaste guru came up with his invention several decades too late to save me and my severely perio/endo/ prosto-challenged dentition.
I finally met the famous toothpaste research scientist at a Plainsboro Township Reorganization meeting four years ago, when Dr. Nabi was being sworn in as a Plainsboro Township Committee member. The mayor told me what my dentist already had revealed — that molecular biologist Dr. Nabi was the co- inventor of the breakthrough technology of Colgate Total toothpaste — the substance that makes the cavity-preventing toothpaste more effectively adhere to the teeth.
With spectacles, an easy- going smile, soft speech, and small stature, Dr. Nabi looked exactly like what he was — an intellectual and a scientist with more than 50 patents and 50 publications to his credit. I congratulated him on his contribution to the world of building healthy teeth, as well as his contribution to the political world of building good responsive government.
I was so pleased to meet him that I blathered on about how my mouth filled with crowns, implants and root canals might have had a different fate if Total Toothpaste had come into existence a bit earlier in my life. In a self-effacing, quiet manner, he thanked me for the nice comment and said he, too, was sorry he could not have helped me sooner.
"It is been quite a war I have waged with my teeth," I said to him who then cryptically responded by saying: "Yes, I know all about devastating wars." I remember asking myself how such a seemingly mild-mannered scientist, devoted husband and father, could ever know anything about devastating wars.
Three years later, I learned the answer to my question and was left speechless and my mouth agape — for reasons that had nothing to do with dental work.
Dr. Nabi, with the editing help of his son Mush Nabi, has published a book, "Bullets of '71, a Freedom Fighter's Story," a compelling account about Dr. Nabi's participation in the Bangladesh Liberation War.
According to the blurb on the book's cover, "Bullets of '71" details Dr.Nabi's experience of growing up in rural Bangladesh and living through the tumultuous episodes of the Bangladesh liberation movement and the liberation war. He developed into a politically conscious student activist and then transformed himself into an heroic freedom fighter.
Even though it is an amazing personal saga, equally fascinating about the book are the political and historical data about a place and an era that were barely on my radar screen. All I really knew about Bangladesh was that it was poor, war-torn country, and it had inspired "Bangla Desh," a song by Beatle George Harrison, which was released as a charity single after the1971 disasters in Bangladesh. With Ravi Shankar, George Harrison organized a major charity concert, the first of the charity concert genre in support of humanitarian causes. And true to the George Harrison sensibility, Dr. Nabi in his book seemed less eager to talk about his personal trials and tribulations and more intent on relating the effects of the war on his people and the political ramifications.
In his book Dr. Nabi notes that some 10 million people were forced to cross the border into India in 1972 to escape the mass murders, rape and other destruction carried out by the enemies of Bangladesh liberation. The Indian Government tried to, but could not cope with the influx of refugees, who in some cases were forced to take shelter in abandoned drainage pipes in Calcutta. Dr. Nabi was neither mild-mannered nor reticent about blaming top-ranking American officials for failing to act and prevent the atrocities.
However, Dr. Nabi said, "one prominent American deviated from the mold of apathy. He was Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a 39-year-old senator from Massachusetts. On August 21, 1971, Senator Kennedy traveled to various refugee camps in India in order to gain firsthand knowledge of the refugees' plight."
Dr. Nabi was awarded a special citation by the Commander-in-Chief of the Bangladesh Liberation Army for his valor and outstanding contribution to the Bangladesh Liberation War. Additionally, the Far Eastern Economic Review, in its May 6, 1972 issue, refers to Dr. Nabi as "the brain" of the Tangail Freedom Fighters. These forces organized themselves within the country and fought against the Pakistani forces in the district of Tangail, situated only 60 miles away from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and the headquarters of the Pakistani forces.
I am neither an historian nor book critic, thus I will leave it to others smarter than I am to provide the more official reviews of the book. All I can say is that "Bullets of '71" is a difficult read — not for style reasons, but for its sobering content. Having read it, I never will see the Plainsboro scientist and elected official in the same light. You might say that his book has blown his cover.
Those interested in learning more about "Bullets of '71" and its author should visit www.nurannabi.com.
"It is been quite a war I have waged with my teeth," I said to him who then cryptically responded by saying: "Yes, I know all about devastating wars." I remember asking myself how such a seemingly mild-mannered scientist, devoted husband and father, could ever know anything about devastating wars.
Three years later, I learned the answer to my question and was left speechless and my mouth agape — for reasons that had nothing to do with dental work.
Dr. Nabi, with the editing help of his son Mush Nabi, has published a book, "Bullets of '71, a Freedom Fighter's Story," a compelling account about Dr. Nabi's participation in the Bangladesh Liberation War.
According to the blurb on the book's cover, "Bullets of '71" details Dr.Nabi's experience of growing up in rural Bangladesh and living through the tumultuous episodes of the Bangladesh liberation movement and the liberation war. He developed into a politically conscious student activist and then transformed himself into an heroic freedom fighter.
Even though it is an amazing personal saga, equally fascinating about the book are the political and historical data about a place and an era that were barely on my radar screen. All I really knew about Bangladesh was that it was poor, war-torn country, and it had inspired "Bangla Desh," a song by Beatle George Harrison, which was released as a charity single after the1971 disasters in Bangladesh. With Ravi Shankar, George Harrison organized a major charity concert, the first of the charity concert genre in support of humanitarian causes. And true to the George Harrison sensibility, Dr. Nabi in his book seemed less eager to talk about his personal trials and tribulations and more intent on relating the effects of the war on his people and the political ramifications.
In his book Dr. Nabi notes that some 10 million people were forced to cross the border into India in 1972 to escape the mass murders, rape and other destruction carried out by the enemies of Bangladesh liberation. The Indian Government tried to, but could not cope with the influx of refugees, who in some cases were forced to take shelter in abandoned drainage pipes in Calcutta. Dr. Nabi was neither mild-mannered nor reticent about blaming top-ranking American officials for failing to act and prevent the atrocities.
However, Dr. Nabi said, "one prominent American deviated from the mold of apathy. He was Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a 39-year-old senator from Massachusetts. On August 21, 1971, Senator Kennedy traveled to various refugee camps in India in order to gain firsthand knowledge of the refugees' plight."
Dr. Nabi was awarded a special citation by the Commander-in-Chief of the Bangladesh Liberation Army for his valor and outstanding contribution to the Bangladesh Liberation War. Additionally, the Far Eastern Economic Review, in its May 6, 1972 issue, refers to Dr. Nabi as "the brain" of the Tangail Freedom Fighters. These forces organized themselves within the country and fought against the Pakistani forces in the district of Tangail, situated only 60 miles away from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and the headquarters of the Pakistani forces.
I am neither an historian nor book critic, thus I will leave it to others smarter than I am to provide the more official reviews of the book. All I can say is that "Bullets of '71" is a difficult read — not for style reasons, but for its sobering content. Having read it, I never will see the Plainsboro scientist and elected official in the same light. You might say that his book has blown his cover.
Those interested in learning more about "Bullets of '71" and its author should visit www.nurannabi.com.
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