Poet and Journalist Ratho Rafi Dies at 51, to Be Buried in Ashuganj

Poet and journalist Ratho Rafi is no more. He died while undergoing treatment at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in the capital at around 8pm on Thursday (22 October). He was 51. His death has cast a shadow of grief over the country's journalism and literary circles.

Ratho Rafi's brother Ehtesham told the media that he had been admitted to hospital three days earlier with physical illness. While treatment continued, his condition kept deteriorating. When it became critical, he was shifted to the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

When his condition did not improve even in the ICU, he was eventually put on life support. Despite all the doctors' efforts, he breathed his last on Thursday night. According to his brother, the doctors tried to save him until the final moment, but every effort failed.

Ratho Rafi's body will be taken to his birthplace, Ashuganj upazila of Brahmanbaria. The family said he will be buried in the family graveyard there. Though he died in the capital, his final resting place will be in his own home area.

Ratho Rafi was born on 31 March 1975. His life thus ended at the age of 51. Deep grief prevails among his colleagues and people in the literary world over this untimely death.

In his professional life, Ratho Rafi was a journalist. But his main identity was as a poet — in literary circles he was known above all as poet Ratho Rafi. In his journalism career he worked at the daily Samakal and Bhorer Kagoj. Alongside the busy professional life of the news media, he continued to practise poetry consistently.

His formal education was in chemistry. But his mind was formed in the world of poetry and translation. Those who knew him often mention as a notable aspect of his creative life how a man who studied science built himself in the world of literature in this way.

Ratho Rafi emerged as a poet in the 1990s. He had been writing poetry since that time. Over a long poetic life, he built his own recognition in the literary world for a distinctive language and thought in his poetry.

His first and only book of poems, 'Okhkhor O Balir Prithibi', was published at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair in 2020. Published after long years of poetic practice, this book remained the only book-form testimony of his poetic life. With that single volume, he had created his own distinctive place among readers and critics.

To colleagues and acquaintances, Ratho Rafi was at once a news worker and a devoted poet. Even amid the professional pressures of journalism, his interest in poetry and translation never waned. Those concerned said his death has cast a shadow of mourning over the worlds of journalism and literature.

Family sources said that after the body is taken to Ashuganj, all arrangements for burial at the family graveyard will be completed. Relatives, colleagues and literature lovers are expected to join in paying their last respects to poet and journalist Ratho Rafi. This life, cut short at 51, leaves behind one book of poems, a long career in journalism, and in many people's memories, a poet with a distinctive voice.