On October 9, 1965 a day before the World Children s Day celebrations the Engineering Institute of Dhaka rang with the melody of young voices, their footfalls and bright costumes. Children from across the two Pakistans had been invited to take part in a competition of musical performances. Among them, 20-year-old Farida Hossain had always been drawn to the tale of Hans Christian Andersen s Snow White . Born on January 19, 1945 in Kolkata, Farida had grown up a quiet child amidst five other siblings, moving first to Narayanganj, West Pakistan and finally to Dhaka to attend her schooling. It was a quiet child still who grew up in this new city, always away from the ruckus of her household, away from the siblings and cousins and other children playing in their neighbourhood. Her silence guarded a fiercely imaginative world that lived inside her mind, where the pain of flowers could be heard when their petals were torn, where magic prevailed and emotions reigned. This ability to be self