Anwar Hossain vai, the EXIF data of the photo have shown clearly it was November 6th, 2009; 5:21:18 pm at Dhanmondi lake, Dhaka. While living in France, you came for a few days for a workshop. I was enrolled, thankfully! If I wasn't, I couldn't have met you.

A lovely charming young powerhouse you were. Retrospectively depicting the story of Bangladesh, photography and of course you.
YOU and your engagement were visible in all your stories. I have learnt I need to be engaged, feel the composition.

You will be remembered for various reasons, from loads of international awards to breathtaking cinematography. Aesthetics is your strongest point. During that time you were the benchmark for Bangladeshi Aesthetics. Popular rhetoric among the photographer's circle "Aesthetic shikhte chao to Anwar Vai er kache jao" was not made out of the vein. You deserve the place, with your tremendous hard work over the years and your uncanny use of your training in the BUET as an architect.

In our first ever conversation, what struck me most was the statement that "I do not want to sell my photographs through a portrayal of hunger and famine driven Bangladesh". That was it, a wakeup call for me in representational politics of photograph.

You were carrying a sony alfa, a lightweight machine courtesy of one of your admirers. You told us the story of how you had borrowed the camera from the more affluent friend, how you were excited to see the finished product. Nothing stopped you, you were clicking, always improving, never ended; ranging from technology to aesthetics. You taught us how to choose from three, what shot would be good for BW, how you like the new camera called RED. Most importantly sharing the stories of your life and how a photographer from Bangladesh went global.

Anwar Vai, deep down you are a local boy inside, wearing a lungi roaming around in the allies of old Dhaka, the muddy road of the river bank, with a camera and a pair of gifted eyes to see the beauty of this land.

You are the maestro who taught us that, "a photographer is an engineer and a poet."

Rest in Power the icon of Bangladeshi photography.