Tragic Deaf Man's Final Trip Home

From: New York Post, NY - Oct 19, 2004

October 19, 2004 -- The Bangladesh Consulate will pay the cost of shipping home the body of a poor immigrant who died trying to retrieve his hearing aid after it fell on subway tracks.

Syed Fazle Mowla, 67, was killed by a train Saturday night while trying to find the hearing aid, which had fallen on the tracks at the Canal Street station of the No. 6 line.

Mowla had a hearing problem when he came to the United States eight years ago, but could not afford a hearing aid. Two months ago, a hospital gave him.

His son, Anjon, said in a telephone interview from the family's home in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, "I never thought that this day would come into my life. I always thought my father would be there. It hurts.

"My mom is in shock. She's crying all day long, shouting out my father's name — 'Mowla, Mowla.'

"I don't understand why he went to pick up the hearing aid," he said. "But you can't fight with fate. It was meant to happen."

He asked for donations, saying, "We are very poor. My dad was our only source of income." Donations can be sent to Anjuman Ara, Mowla's widow, at 272 Fourth Floor, Apt. 16, Khilgao Taltola, Dhaka, 1219 Bangladesh. Lorena Mongelli

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