My mother is getting married to a drunken and mischievous boy today. Even though he is drunk, the boy is very rich. He owns almost all the shops in our market. He has a club house in the market where he hosts alcohol parties every day. He roams around with a few boys all day long. Since both his parents are dead, he is acting uncontrollably.
The biggest acquaintance is that the boy belongs to my father’s political party. He spends money on his father’s elections. Father has arranged this marriage in a hurry. There is no big arrangement for the wedding, the wedding has been arranged in a hurry. Because father has come to know that you love a boy.
I know the boy you love, Sohel Bhai, the son of the boss master of our school. He is a very good student. He has completed his Masters from Dhaka University. He works for the people of the village. Everyone knows him as a good boy. He is also quite good looking! He is about five feet ten inches tall, has a slightly light brown complexion, and his curly hair on his head looks great. Everyone wants such a son-in-law, but my father is not among the common people!
Before your SSC exams, I had studied with Sohel Bhai for a few days. From there, it seems that there was an understanding between them, I cannot say for sure.
My father Rezaul Chowdhury is the chairman of Rajarchar Union. The fate of the people on the banks of the Padma has been in my father’s hands for the last twenty years! Their fate has not changed a bit in twenty years, only my father’s purse has become heavy! Every time he passes unopposed. No one stands against him. It does not seem right to say that he does not stand. Last time, Sohel Bhai’s father suddenly filed his nomination in the election against his father. Many people in the village are for him. He is known as a very good person. The people of the area like him very much. Even though he is a schoolmaster, they have a different respect for him.
We are rich by inheritance. We have five hundred bighas of land in this police station. My grandfather built the house like a two-story royal palace. My grandfather did not do politics. He was a good man. He used to help the poor and the needy. He used to oppose all these things of his father. Right after my birth, my grandfather drowned in water! My grandfather’s death is a mysterious incident. The man who knew how to swim so well drowned in water!
Although my father, the chairman, respected my father even as a minister. A rumor spread that my father would lose his chair this time. Everyone thought that my father would threaten him and not let him run for election, but nothing happened. My father welcomed him and went home. Seeing all this, the people of the area became brave. Those who had been secretly supporting him all this time. They also started campaigning for him openly. It was understood that my father would be defeated this time. Although I did not see my father thinking about it. Seeing him, I felt that victory would be his! Where did Jabbar Master disappear to three days before the election? My father regretted it so much, “Ah, what a good man he was! How much he thought about people. Where did such a man go?”
No one saw him! I saw him that night in the room where Sohel Bhai is kept today. I know Sohel Bhai will never be found again after today!
You know your father, so you didn’t dare to disagree with the marriage. You just requested Sohel Bhai not to do anything. Your father also agreed to it. I don’t know of any such thing that happened when my father made a promise and kept it.
I thought you would cry a lot or do something wrong! I went to your room and saw you sitting calmly. It seemed like nothing had happened. You were wearing a blue saree, and you had dressed up well. You looked very beautiful in your wedding attire! I said, “How are you, Apa?”
Apa looked at me with big eyes and said, “I’m fine. Don’t you think I look beautiful?”
“Yes, you look like an angel!”
Apa gave a dry smile. Your smile pierced my chest like an arrow. I feel like the most helpless brother in the world!
“Rayhan, do you know where Sohel is?”
I lied without looking at your eyes. “No, I don’t know. I think he has gone to Dhaka.” I thought Apa understood everything. How dirty her face had lost its light smile!
Apa lowered her voice and said, “Rayhan, will you do something for me, brother?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Will you get me a pistol, brother?”
“Apa, you’ve gone mad!”
I didn’t dare look at Apa. I know how much hatred is in his eyes now! I don’t feel like staying in Apa’s room anymore. Without saying anything, I bowed my head and left Apa’s room.
When I came to the outside room, I saw Kazi Saheb. He was holding a long book like an attendance register. There were several types of sweets on a small table in front of him. It doesn’t seem like he had eaten any sweets. He was sitting cross-legged on the sofa. There was a look of fear in his eyes. It seemed like he was going to be hanged a little later. He stood up and saluted me when he saw me.
I didn’t reply to the salute. I went in front of him and said, “Why don’t you eat sweets?”
He quickly stuffed a sweet into his mouth. Seeing his expression, I could smile. I kept a serious expression.
He looked at me and said softly, “How much longer will it take to get married?”
“Why! Do you have any urgent work?”
“No, no, no work. I have to go back to Charshamail after the wedding.”
Charshamail is about twenty kilometers from our house. It is a little difficult to go at night. “You don’t need to worry. Arrangements will be made to take you there.”
Evening has passed and it has become night. Today the sky is covered with clouds, it seems like the night of the new moon. Such a night is very necessary for some work! Such a night is very dear to my father! As soon as I came outside, I fell in front of my father, I usually don’t go in front of him. I am very afraid of him, not even hate him!
I was in my H, S, C exams at that time. Two exams were over. I was known as a very good student. My results in S, S, C were very good. I don’t know if my father knew all this news or not. He never kept us informed. I was going to take the exam later, when my father suddenly said, “Go with Zadrul.” I looked at my father in shock. My father is not very good at studying. He doesn’t like studying very much! When he was a child, the teacher came to beat him for not being able to study, so he ran away with a pen. After that, I didn’t send him to school anymore. What would happen if such a big man’s son didn’t study? That’s why even my grandfather didn’t force him!
My mother came from behind and said, “Today is his exam.”
My father looked at my mother with a fiery gaze. “Don’t say anything about what I said if I didn’t tell you.”
My mother went inside. I didn’t go as my father had said that day. I went out to take the exam. When I returned in the afternoon, I saw our maid applying ointment to my mother! There were cuts and bruises on my mother’s body! My mother hid everything when she saw me. I haven’t gone anywhere since then. If I go anywhere. My mother probably won’t be able to live anymore. I’m very afraid of losing her!
My mother was from a very poor family. Seeing my mother’s beauty, my father married my mother. After the marriage, no one from my maternal grandparents came to our house. My father severed all ties with them! I have never seen my mother smile!
Seeing me, my father said in a serious voice, “What the hell, where do you live?”
I stood with my head down, saying nothing. When I came in front of him, I could not speak. My throat became dry and stiff.
“What’s up with Jamil?” Jamil was the name of my cousin. The one with whom you were supposed to get married today.
I quickly moved away from my father with my head down.
I peeked in front of my mother’s room. My mother turned away when she saw me! My mother hasn’t spoken to me for the past year. She turns away when she sees me! Last year, my mother had a stroke. Of course, it is not certain whether she had a stroke or not, because she has not been seen by a doctor! My mother’s face has become crooked on one side, and she can’t even speak much. One day, my father brought a village doctor to show me the bus. That doctor repeatedly requested my father to show my mother to a big doctor. My father replied, “Nonsense! Nothing will happen to women!”
According to him, women are like fish, they don’t get anything easily! I think there are two reasons why my mother doesn’t talk to me. One, my father’s blood flows in my body! Two, I am a coward who can’t protect my mother and sister!
When I came to the courtyard of the house, I saw Jadrul standing there, bowed his head and greeted me. He was my father’s right hand in all his affairs. He was almost as devoted as a dog! He was not my father, but my grandfather’s right hand. Once, while returning from Dhaka, my grandfather saw a small boy crying on the road. Both the boy’s parents had died in a road accident! Hearing everything, my grandfather felt very sorry for him and brought the boy with him. Since then, he has been in the house like a pet dog. Jadrul looks very scary, just like his name. He has a dark complexion. He is about six feet tall. How would it feel to have such a person bowing his head and standing in front of me? Since childhood, whenever he saw me, Zadrul used to behave like this, and I felt very bad.
I don’t talk to him much anyway. Today I said, “Zadrul, come here.” The bug that has been stuck in my head for a long time has been gnawing at me a lot!
He must have been a little surprised to hear me say that! “Yes, little Hujur.”
“Come with me.” He followed me without saying a word.
I took Zadrul and stood in the open field in front of our house. In the pitch darkness, I couldn’t see his face properly.
I said to Zadrul, “You have to do something for me, can’t you?”
He looked at me with his neck bent and said in a very soft voice, “Just give me an order once, little Hujur.”
I put my hand on his shoulder and told him everything. He looked at me in shock after hearing my proposal. “What do you say, little brother!”
Zadrul loves a girl named Sakhina. He can’t get married for his father. I have no other choice! Make all the arrangements. I’m arranging your marriage.” Jadrul bowed his head and left.
I ran to my father with my teeth clenched. Seeing me running like this, my father was shocked and asked, “What happened? Why are you running like a horse?”
“Everything is ruined, father.”
“What are you talking about? Like a donkey! What is ruined?”
“Come and see for yourself.”
“Ah! Tell me what happened?”
“Sohel brother has run away!”
“What! Come and see.” Father called Jadrul and went out calling him.
We are now sitting in a big engine boat. The boat has arrived in the middle of the Padma. Everything in the middle of the night seems blurry. A couple of fishing boats are moving far away. My father is kept in the boat with his hands and feet tied. Jadrul is sitting a little distance away. I am sitting in front of my father. I feel very bad!
Dad is looking at me with big eyes! There is a lot of anger in his eyes! If I let him go, he will kill me. I untied his mask. He said in a harsh voice, “What are you, you son of a donkey! What do you want to do?”
“Nothing, Dad. As your son, I am going to reduce the burden of your sins a little.”
I said, “I will be fine.” I pushed him into the Padma’s chest! The vastness of the Padma will surely wash away Dad’s sins. I can hear Dad’s slapping sound! We have come a long way, far away, by rowing the boat quickly.
I am now standing in my mother’s room. Mom is wearing a white sari. I am looking at her in surprise. God gives mothers special powers, otherwise how did she understand everything! Mom came and stood in front of me. I looked at my mother. After a long time, I saw my mother’s face. Mom slapped me hard! I understood exactly why she hit me? Because I did the job, or because I was late. Mom pulled me into her chest. The warmth of my mother’s love melted the ice inside me and started falling on my mother’s back!
Zadrul is standing behind me like a dog, from today I am his master. I said with a laugh, “Jadrul, bring Sohel Bhai.”
“Yes, Hujur.” “Tears in his eyes!
Sohel Bhai and Big Apa are getting married, my mother is sitting next to me wearing a white sari. I am having a hard time looking at my mother! Sohel Bhai is looking at me again and again! It seems like he still can’t believe it!
Apa’s face has a smile like the moon! The clouds in the sky have broken and a big moon has risen, Kazi Saheb is conducting the wedding of two lovers in the moonlight. I feel like I am watching the most beautiful scene in the world!
