In 1996, a Bengali daily, Bhorer Kagoj, published a big story on a Canadian young man who was visiting Bangladesh that time. That young man arranged a press conference at National Press Club and shared his life story. He informed the journalists that he was born in this country. He is a war child of this country’s independence war. He was born in 1972 and later was adopted by a Canadian couple. He has been raised as their own baby all these years and on his 24th birthday, his story was unfolded to him by his parents. His mother told him, “We have raised you as our own child and you truly are our own child but we thought we should let you know the fact as well.” And she added in tearful eyes, “if you now leave us, we will die.” The son said, “I’m not going to leave you, mom. Just give me the permission to see my motherland with my own eyes and I will try to find out my biological mother’s grave, if possible.” Mother agreed and the son flew to Bangladesh. That was the story in a nutshell as far as I can remember since it was published 18 years back.
The name of that young man is Ryan Good. Having gone through Ryan’s story, I was so touched that I couldn’t help shedding tears. There were thousands of Ryan Goods in this country who later were adopted by different nationalities and we couldn’t keep their track record. But we should have. I was so touched by this story that it kept me upset for a few days. As time heals everything, with the passage of time, I forgot Ryan’s story and got busy with my professional life. Two years later in 1998, a few months before our first son’s birth, we came to know from ultrasound that it is a boy. And then all family members started looking for a name. That very year, a movie named “Saving Private Ryan” by Steven Spielberg got nominated for 11 awards in Oscar.
The trailer of Saving Private Ryan was continuous on Star Movies and that helped me recall Ryan Good. I thought to myself this Ryan Good is our national pride; why not naming our first son after him to show honour to Ryan Good? And this will never let us forget that Ryan Good, once our son, is named after him. So, the decision was final and couple of months later on 12th October, 1998 our first son, Ryan Zia was born. When Ryan was six or seven years old, one day I told him the story how and why I named him Ryan. Having heard the story, Ryan gravely told me, “I would like to meet Ryan Good.” I said, “One day for sure you will meet him.” But in reality, I had no clue how to find out that Ryan Good. Ryan is now sixteen plus.
All these times, I have been silently looking for that Ryan Good to get our Ryan introduced. Suddenly, at the beginning of this month (March, 2015), I came across one guy named Ryan Good on Linkedin. I knocked him to check out whether he is the guy but he didn’t come up with any reply. Then I wrote a common letter to a number of Ryan Goods I found on Linkedin and to my utter surprise, two days later, a guy emailed me, “Hi Zia: Yes, you have found the correct Ryan. Kind regards, Ryan”. At last, 16 years later! I asked him, “Can I get my son, Ryan Zia, who has been named after you, introduced to you?” He said, “Yes, of course. Give him my email ID.” Ryan Zia meets Ryan Good at long last! And that takes place in the month of our independence! Long live Ryan Good, Ryan Zia and our beloved country, Bangladesh!
The writer is Communication Trainer & Journalist. Email: ziahasan69@gmail.com
