Dhaka, Oct. 5 -- Veteran Language Movement activist and researcher Ahmed Rafiq had been unable to live a normal life for nearly three of his final years.

With fading eyesight and declining mobility, the 96-year-old had to lean on others for support in his final chapter -- among them was Abul Kalam, who had stood by him for more than three decades.

Like a shadow, Kalam stayed with Rafiq through days and nights, attending to his every need. At times, he even assisted with his writing.

From him, a picture emerges of the twilight years of a man once fiercely active in intellectual and cultural movements, but who spent his last days in solitude.

"I'd been with him for 36 years," said Kalam. "He wasn't doing well in the end. For the last th...