Book Excerpt: I See The Face

But perhaps it wasn바카라�t so, perhaps Khoimon was only a tiny, bundle-like, innocent and cuddly girl; and her dad, Abdul Jalil, and brother, Rashidul, went around carrying her in the crook of their arms and danced with her on their heads and after that, when she grew up, they said, 바카라�Tuiborohoyageliga, haay khoda, awkhon tawre loya amra ki kori! You바카라�ve gone and grown up, oh God, what are we to do with you now!바카라�

Khoimon was plaiting her hair then, she heard Abdul Jalil, she heard Rashidul, and perhaps she then said, 바카라�Jamoneloykoro! Do whatever you want!바카라�

Abdul Jalil then pulled her into his arms, 바카라�Tui amar ma hawchna? Aren바카라�t you my precious?바카라�

Khoimon thought that she was indeed Abdul Jalil바카라�s precious, and she replied, 바카라�Hoi toh, Of course I am!바카라�

After that she grew up some more, her hips swelled, and she developed breasts, and then Abdul Jalil again said, 바카라�You바카라�ve grown up, girl, oh what am I to do with you바카라�, but this time, Khoimon didn바카라�t speak; perhaps Abdul Jalil drew her close once again, placed his arms around her shoulders and said, 바카라�Aren바카라�t you my precious?바카라� Khoimon was silent once again, and Abdul Jalil then realised, so at night he said to his wife, Jorimon, 바카라�Maiya dekhi chup maira gechhe, kotha jigai, kunu ra korena. I observed our girl turn silent, I asked her something but she didn바카라�t say anything at all.바카라�

Then, on the advice of Jorimon, Abdul Jalil and Rashidul set out to find a boy for Khoimon, they searched here, there and everywhere, they searched in the north and in the south, and then after all that searching, they found MoynaMiya in Thattaribajar. Someone said, perhaps it was Babul Miya, 바카라�There바카라�s a boy, he바카라�s handsome and tall, just like a prince, he must be from somewhere like Bikrampur, he has a shop in Thattaribajar, go and meet him.바카라�

Hearing Babul바카라�s recommendation, Abdul Jahir was eager, although he was only a shopkeeper; and perhaps after that Jorimon too was pleased to hear about it from Abdul Jalil, and then one night, when Jorimon told Khoimon about Moyna Miya, Khoimon trembled, she felt feverish, she saw a merchant바카라�s son, like from the film, Arun Barun O Kiranmala, standing before her, and then she felt drowsy. But it occurred to Khoimon that she wouldn바카라�t marry any shopkeeper, even if he was a prince or the son of a merchant, she would rather marry a peon or a watchman in some office, or a school clerk. Nevertheless, they went one day to meet MoynaMiya, perhaps Babul Miya accompanied them, and they found MoynaMiya when they advanced a bit towards Kaptanbajar after going past Thattaribajar, he sat waiting for customers on the pavement with a basket of potatoes, pointed gourds, and two or four or ten large-sized ash gourds smeared with lime. Abdul Jalil realised that he had been deceived, MoynaMiya was like flotsam, and there was no question of getting his daughter married to him; Jorimon too was of the same view, she said, 바카라�Babul bhaiy eemun thok baji korlo! Babul bhai cheated us like this!바카라�
 

But Khoimon felt dejected then, she couldn바카라�t figure out why this man had to be a vegetable seller and sit with a basket of bollocks ash gourds in the market, waiting for useless customers, why was Moyna Miya not a watchman or a peon or a school clerk rather than a vegetable seller, and thinking about that made her lose her appetite, she slept poorly, and she had dark circles around her large eyes! Then one day her Ma observed that her daughter바카라�s plight was dire, so she said, 바카라�Hey Khoi, what바카라�s happened to you?바카라�

But Khoi didn바카라�t say anything. Perhaps Abdul Jalil and Jorimon realised what the matter was, they said, 바카라�Just you see, we바카라�ll search and get such a fine boy for you!바카라� They set out in all directions in search of a groom, but it was difficult to find a good match for the daughter of the paan and biri seller, Abdul Jalil, until finally Babul Miya arrived once again; match-making wasn바카라�t his profession, he did it out of love, he looked at Abdul Jalil and spoke to him about Khoimon바카라�s marriage, he said, 바카라�Moyna Miya is a good boy, he바카라�s an independent vendor, what바카라�s wrong with that, what바카라�s the problem with selling ash gourds, at least he isn바카라�t a thief, maybe he sits with a basket beside the street, but he바카라�ll certainly not be sitting in such a place for long, his circumstances will surely improve, if he sells a basketful of thirty ash gourds at seven or eight takas each, perhaps he makes a profit of two takas a day, if he spends eight annas for his meals, he바카라�ll make a taka-and-a-half each day, that바카라�s forty-five takas a month and five-hundred-and-forty takas a year 바카라� a lot of money 바카라� and then by bribing the market committee, perhaps he바카라�ll find a bit of place in a niche inside the vegetable market very soon, after that perhaps he바카라�ll even have a permanent shop inside the vegetable market, and perhaps after that he바카라�ll have a provisions store or a ration shop 바카라� that could well happen, who can say, tell me, can바카라�t that happen, after all, how many people are rich from the time they바카라�re born!바카라� Abdul Jalil listened to all this talk, but he didn바카라�t seem to be interested as far as MoynaMiya was concerned, a vegetable seller was merely a vegetable seller, and after all, what could his savings amount to? Perhaps he was a pauper; Babul Miya then spoke about HumayunKabir, he lived in South Moishundi and ran a ration shop in Shahsaheb Lane, he wore gold buttons on his punjabi, 바카라�He바카라�s a fine boy, he바카라�ll be a good match for Khoimon.바카라� Abdul Jalil then considered the matter at length with Jorimon, they discussed and analysed in detail what might transpire and what might not, and then they spoke to Khoimon about the matter, but Khoimon was in a quandary when she heard that, she thought that HumayunKabir was a far better name than MoynaMiya, or maybe it was MoynaMiya that was a better name 바카라� the name of a bird, the mynah; but she felt dejected at the fact that HumayunKabir was the owner of a ration shop, she couldn바카라�t understand why vegetable sellers and ration shop owners were the only matches that were found for her! Nevertheless, Khoimon accompanied her parents one afternoon to the ration shop in Shahsaheb Lane to meet HumayanKabir; perhaps HumayunKabir didn바카라�t realise the reason for the arrival of the group, and he asked, 바카라�Apnera koi thon aichhen? What brings you here?바카라�

Abdul Jalil then made up a lot of things, and perhaps he was successful in making HumayunKabir ill-at-ease with his irrelevant talk, or perhaps he wasn바카라�t able to fool him and HumayunKabir figured out the matter; be that as it may, whether HumayunKabir understood or not, they had seen what they had come for, and they didn바카라�t like Humayun Kabir. Although he was the owner of a ration shop, the man was too old, his hair was scanty, and on making enquiries, Abdul Jalil found out that HumayunKabir was looking for a girl for his third marriage, both his earlier wives had died, but he had no children borne of these wives, and so even if he was single, he was free of any encumbrances. Babul Miya explained to him, 바카라�What바카라�s wrong with him?바카라� And so although Abdul Jalil was in two minds about the matter, it was a real wrench for Jorimon바카라�s Ma: after all it was her beloved daughter, so she again remarked, 바카라�Babul bhai did this to us? He바카라�s brought a chap who바카라�s a doddering widower!바카라�

But even after that, the matter of HumayunKabir being the proprietor of a ration shop was of great relevance, they could not forget the fact that the girl would live in comfort if she married him, and perhaps Jorimon then spoke to Khoimon about this, but Khoimon remained silent; a day went by, two days went by, and on the fifth day, Jorimon became restless, she called her daughter and asked her, 바카라�Tui kawta kochna kyala? Why don바카라�t you say anything?바카라�

Khoimon then said, 바카라�I바카라�ll marry Moyna Miya, make the arrangements.바카라�

But in this country, a girl바카라�s marriage couldn바카라�t be accomplished merely by her consent; before this, Khoimon had gone with her parents and brother to see MoynaMiya, now it was MoynaMiya who came to see her at their residence in Ghost Lane. MoynaMiya arrived one evening at their two-roomed residence at No. 36 Ghost Lane, he came alone, or perhaps the match-maker, Babul Miya, had accompanied him; so that evening, Khoimon Begum came wearing a sari and with a ghomta drawn over her head to the outer room, and sat down on a vacant wooden stool, and through the gap in her ghomta, she studied MoynaMiya closely in the light of the hurricane-lantern; there was no end to her disappointment. MoynaMiya was dark-skinned, but he had a sharp nose, his eyes were like two pebbles submerged in a limpid pool, and his arms were muscular; once again it occurred to Khoimon that this man sold vegetables, that he sat like a simpleton on the edge of the road with ash gourds 바카라� how amazing! At night, Khoimon vividly recalled MoynaMiya바카라�s youthful body, and her sleeplessness worsened; Jorimon and Abdul Jalil then hoped that they would come to know very soon about MoynaMiya바카라�s decision, but MoynaMiya didn바카라�t say anything; didn바카라�t he like Khoimon? Had he got lost? Abdul Jalil then rushed to Babul Miya, 바카라�Babul bhai, he hasn바카라�t said anything yet!바카라�

Perhaps Babul Miya too was waiting for Moyna to tell him something, but Moyna Miya hadn바카라�t spoken to him either, and so Babul Miya himself went one day to meet MoynaMiya at Thattaribajar and asked him, 바카라�What바카라�s up? You saw the girl, why aren바카라�t you saying anything!바카라�

Moyna Miya then told him that he hadn바카라�t been able to see anything of Khoimon바카라�sghomta-drawn face in the dim light of the hurricane lantern, so how would he know what the girl looked like, and whether he liked her or not! Abdul Jalil and Jorimon heard about this, as did Rashidul; Khoimon was their beloved daughter and much-adored sister, they got angry when there was mention of showing the girl again to the vegetable seller, the wretched lowly chap, they said, 바카라�Amago maiya rastay kuraya paichhi nihi, baare baare dekhamu! Did we pick up our girl from the street that we바카라�ll show her again and again!바카라�

They turned down the proposal of showing the girl again and thought that they had thereby saved her from a calamitous and grave humiliation; perhaps Jorimon then told Khoimon about all this one evening or night, perhaps Jorimon was applying coconut oil on her hair and plaiting it, she made a single thick plait that hung over her back, with a red satin ribbon flower at the top, and said, 바카라�He says he couldn바카라�t see her properly, the donkey, is our child some orphan who came floating on the river that we바카라�ll show her again!바카라�

***

Perhaps Khoimon had eventually to resort to guile in order to marry Moyna Miya, the vegetable seller in Thattaribajar, she was perhaps 16-17 then, because girls were married early then, or perhaps she was older, 20-22, but in Zobeida Rahman바카라�s words, 바카라�She was too old, no one liked her once they saw her.바카라� And regardless of whether she was 16-17 or 20-22, after MoynaMiya came to view her, he said that he hadn바카라�t been able to see her at all; MoynaMiya may have been upto some mischief, after all, does anyone say something like that after viewing a girl? How amazing! Consequently, Khoimon바카라�s parents바카라� ire was justified, but however angry they appeared to be and blustered, Khoimon바카라�s days just didn바카라�t seem to pass, nights seemed unending, there were dark circles under her large eyes like at the bottom of a cooking pot, and she thought that perhaps MoynaMiya was actually being naughty, that perhaps he had seen her alright, and perhaps he simply wanted to see her once more. Her Ma, Jorimon, remonstrated, 바카라�It바카라�s not so cheap, we don바카라�t show our daughter again and again바카라�, but just after that she turned speechless when she looked at Khoimon바카라�s face, and she asked, 바카라�What바카라�s happened to you, Khoi?바카라�

Khoi replied, 바카라�If he wants to see me, call him again!바카라�

Jorimon then told that to Abdul Jalil, who told it to Babul Miya, and the worth of MoynaMiya, who sat on the road in Thattaribajar with vegetables adorning his basket, could be gauged in this Bengali land, but he didn바카라�t fuss any more, if he did that Khoimon Begum would have wept, or perhaps she would have gone to Thattaribajar and asked him, 바카라�Why are you doing this?바카라� But he did no more, he only wanted to see Khoimon once more, and so he arrived once again at Khoimon바카라�s house in Ghost Lane. That is when the incident took place, and perhaps it was because of this that Mrs Zobeida Rahman said so many things about her, because perhaps the incident had been pre-arranged, and Khoimon had arranged it together with the moholla kids; or perhaps it hadn바카라�t been pre-arranged, perhaps it was merely a matter of coincidence. That evening, Moyna Miya, who was clad in shirt-and-trousers and wore plastic shoes, walked down the lane adjoining the temple, while Khoimon once again lit a kerosene lamp in the outer room of the house on No. 36, and waited like a female spider 바카라� a black-widow spider that had spread out a web of threads to catch prey, and was sitting still in the centre. Moyna Miya advanced. He passed the house on No. 25, and perhaps it was the rainy season then, so he got the heavy fragrance of kamini flowers emanating from inside that house, and after that he walked by the tiger-gated house on No. 32, and he saw that on each side of the paved terrace in front of the house was a platform on which a tiger made of cement sat with its head raised; after that, when he arrived in front of the house on No. 36, a bunch of kids suddenly came running from who knows where, making an uproar, and just then a dog too landed up from somewhere, and the end of the stocky, well-rounded dog바카라�s tail was cut; as MoynaMiya was about to go through the gate of Khoimon바카라�s house and enter, the kids set the dog upon him, they stretched their arms and pointing towards Moyna Miya, they screamed, 바카라�Shoo Tommy, shoo, shoo!바카라�

Springing up threateningly, the dog then sought to jump upon Moyna Miya, so he began to run in fear, and entering the house he went into the room 바카라� where Khoimon Begum was waiting, having just lit a hurricane-lantern. But MoynaMiya바카라�s misfortunes didn바카라�t end even after entering the room, he stumbled over the door-sill in the semi-darkness and fell with a crash on the cot, and after that when he had gathered himself and his eyes had adjusted to the room바카라�s darkness, he saw in the dim light of the hurricane-lantern that his body was pressed over Khoimon바카라�s body 바카라� perhaps Khoimon reprimanded him then, 바카라�Ki koren, shoren! What are you doing, get off me!바카라�

Or perhaps she gazed at Moyna Miya바카라�s aquiline nose and small chin as he pressed down on her and said, 바카라�Amare niki apne dekhen naika, awkhon e deikha lawn, abar koyen na je harikol battir aloy chokkhe dekhen naika kichhu! I believe you couldn바카라�t see me last time, see me now, and don바카라�t say again that you couldn바카라�t see anything in the dim light of the hurricane-lantern!바카라�

 

It바카라�s difficult to say what Moyna Miya did then, perhaps he fondled Khoimon바카라�s tender, young body and Khoimon felt as if her soul had departed her, perhaps Khoimon said, 바카라�Please marry me, Moyna Miya, after you buy vegetables from Shyambajar, I바카라�ll sort and wash and clean them, you don바카라�t have to do anything, you just rest awhile, have a paan, smoke a beeri, puff on your hookah, and after that I바카라�ll wind a gamchha around for your head and lift the basket up for you to carry to the market, but if even that바카라�s difficult for you, if you find it too heavy, I바카라�ll carry the basket on my head and walk behind you while you lead the way, I바카라�ll lay out and arrange your shop and then return home, and once there, I바카라�ll cook rice for you, make a curry for you, I바카라�ll make whatever you feel like eating, and when you finish the vending you바카라�ll eat lunch, I바카라�ll sit close to you with a palm-leaf fan, so please marry me바카라�; or perhaps Khoimon바카라�s soul didn바카라�t depart her, and MoynaMiya hurriedly got off Khoimon바카라�s body and went and sat in a corner of the cot and said, 바카라�The kids are so terrible, they set a dog upon me!바카라�

바카라�Did you frighten them?바카라�

바카라�No, why would I frighten them, the kids are simply monsters!바카라�

Khoimon left the room and returned with a bowl of rice-payesh prepared by Jorimon, she brought a glass of sherbet made with RoohAfza, and MoynaMiya had the payesh, making a clinking sound as his spoon scraped against the porcelain bowl, he drank the sherbet making a glugging sound, and Khoimon watched him eat; she then moved her face forward, close to the light from the hurricane-lantern placed on the table, and gazed at him, her eyes said, 바카라�Look at me바카라�, her face said, 바카라�Look at me바카라�, her bent, hazy figure said, 바카라�Look at me again, MoynaMiya!바카라� Perhaps MoynaMiya gazed at her once, and then when he exited after eating the rice-payesh, he told Babul Miya, 바카라�Make arrangements for the wedding, and ask the girl바카라�s father what he바카라�ll give me바카라�, and when Mamun바카라�s Ma, Mrs ZobeidaRahman told FakhrulAlamLedu these things, Ledu asked her, 바카라�How do you know this?바카라�

바카라�Hey, wouldn바카라�t I know? Don바카라�t we live in the same moholla!바카라�

So Khoimon got married to MoynaMiya, and perhaps this took place before the Liberation War of 1971, because when war broke out on the night of the twenty-fifth of March, Chan Miya was probably in Khoimon바카라�s womb, maybe she had come to full-term, and so when everyone in the mohalla fled towards Cumilla or Jinjira out of fear of the Pakistani army, it wasn바카라�t possible for Khoimon to leave home. When the moholla was completely deserted, Jorimon became terribly anxious, Abdul Jalil too became perturbed; then, thinking that rather than all of them remaining in the moholla and dying, Jorimon stayed at home with her daughter, while Abdul Jalil went with his son and his son-in-law and took shelter in Jorimon바카라�s uncle바카라�s or aunt바카라�s house in the village of Chorail, in Jinjira. The people who had fled Dhaka were trapped in Jinjira by the Pakistani army, like mice caught in a crevice; and once the women, men, elderly folk and children from Dhaka gathered there, the army launched an operation.

***

When Babul Miya fixed Khoimon바카라�s marriage, Abdul Jalil and Jorimon were incensed upon hearing the boy바카라�s dowry demand, they said, 바카라�Eita kemun pola, koy jigan amare ki dibo, What kind of fellow is this, he says 바카라�Ask them what they바카라�ll give me!바카라�바카라�, and they were certain that the boy wasn바카라�t a decent sort, he was climbing on their heads, and so they once again said that their girl was not so cheap that she had to be married off to a vegetable-seller by paying a dowry, 바카라�Dimunabiyamaiyyar, We바카라�d rather not get the girl married.바카라� 

But Khoimon was not as agitated, she said, 바카라�Ask him what he wants, give him whatever he wants!바카라�

Moyna Miya demanded half of their house, and Khoimon was in tears when she heard that, she cried and cried, there was no end to her crying, and she thought 바카라� what kind of a man is this, he was merely a vegetable seller, not a watchman in any office, nor a peon, not even a school clerk, he바카라�s a pauper, and he wants half of a house built on a katha of land in the city of Dhaka! When Khoimon couldn바카라�t stop crying, Babul Miya arrived, he thought over the matter, and he had no doubt that the village boy was extremely imprudent, he could have asked for the money to set up a provisions store, he could have asked for the earnest money to start some other business, but instead of doing that he straightaway made a bid to grab at their vitals, and so Babul Miya spoke once again about Humayun Kabir, and hearing him say that, Khoimon stopped crying at once, and she said to her Ma, 바카라�Give him what he wants, give him whatever바카라�s my share, after all it바카라�ll remain mine!바카라�

Abdul Jalil and Jorimon finally agreed to that, Rashidul didn바카라�t object, and on the wedding day itself Abdul Jalil wiped his tears and put his zigzagging signature at the bottom of the transfer deed made out on a sheet of white, foolscap paper, and MoynaMiya uttered 바카라�kabool바카라�, or 바카라�I agree to the marriage바카라� only after that. This was how Mochhammat Khoimon got married, and on the nuptial night, the first thing she asked MoynaMiya was, 바카라�How could you do something like that!바카라�

바카라�What did I do?바카라�

바카라�Why did you ask for the house to be transferred in your name in order to marry me?바카라�

바카라�You set a dog upon me, so I took the house.바카라�

Perhaps Khoimon wondered whether the man was a soothsayer, how had he found out that she had done that! Or perhaps she was surprised, and wondered what the man was saying, what dog, why would she set a dog upon him, amazing!

바카라�She asked, 바카라�Why would I set a dog upon you!바카라�

바카라�I know you did!바카라�

But perhaps Moyna Miya was yet to learn about Khoimon, and so when Moyna Miya entered the bedroom that night, Khoimon realised that there was a sheet of paper inside his punjabi pocket, and she thought that it must be the transfer deed for half of the house, the man didn바카라�t even have a place to keep that piece of paper and such a man had done this deed! Be that as it may, perhaps Abdul Jalil said, 바카라�Maiyar mukher dike takaya korlam, I saw my girl바카라�s face and did it바카라�; perhaps Jorimon was heavy-hearted, but still thought, 바카라�We were obliged to get our daughter married!바카라� It seemed then that perhaps Moyna Miya talked a bit excessively to Khoimon on the wedding night because the demand for property transfer by the vegetable seller Moyna Miya was indeed something excessive, and so, for that reason, or because of stress owing to the wedding, it was a sad Khoimon, wearing a red Benarasi or some other red sari, who was sitting on the nuptial bed, perhaps the look on Abdul Jalil바카라�s face while signing on the house transfer deed too had upset her greatly 바카라� yet even after all that she was waiting for something joyful. But she didn바카라�t like it when Moyna Miya accused her of setting a dog upon him, and when the night advanced a bit and Moyna Miya was busy preparing for the first intercourse, Khoimon was silent at first, and then she said, 바카라�What do you have in your punjabi pocket, it바카라�s making a rustling sound?바카라�

Moyna Miya didn바카라�t say anything, so Khomon once again said, 바카라�Why don바카라�t you take the paper out and put it on the table?바카라�

Having lost his senses in his state of arousal, Moyna Miya did just that, he took out the thick sheet of paper kept folded inside his pocket and placed it on the table beside the bed, and then after he finished his business he lay on his side or on his back and Khoimon hurriedly got up and did various things, she drank water from the jug kept on the table, she gave the jug to MoynaMiya too, and as she did that she caused an accident, the jug wobbled and fell on its side, the water in the jug spilled on the table and soaked the deed of MoynaMiya바카라�s suddenly acquired house; Moyna Mia asked, 바카라�What happened?바카라�

Khoimon didn바카라�t reply, and perhaps Moyna Miya was tired, so he too kept quiet, and after that they fell asleep, or didn바카라�t sleep, and after a long time MoynaMiya again asked, 바카라�What happened?바카라� And then Khoimon said that the water in the jug had spilled on the table, and perhaps even then MoynaMiya didn바카라�t realise what had happened. MoynaMiya got out of bed after a long time and he saw Khoimon sleeping on the cot, curled up next to the wall, and then as he turned up the wick of the hurricane lantern and was about to leave the room to piss, he noticed that the land title lying on the table, made out by his father-in-law, was drenched and destroyed! His heart almost stopped beating, and when he raised the wick of the lantern some more and tried to pick up the document, it came apart because it had been drenched with water for a long time; he cried out, and after that he carefully unfolded the document and laid it out on the table and observed it, perhaps the ink in Abdul Jalil바카라�s pen wasn바카라�t permanent either, perhaps it was the Hero Royal Washable Blue ink, and so all the writing had been washed away by the water, nothing remained except for some blue smudges! MoynaMiya, the boy from Bikrampur, the tall, dark-skinned, sharp-nosed vegetable-seller sobbed uncontrollably, of course Khoimon was woken up by his crying, she hurriedly sat up on the cot and asked, 바카라�What are you doing? What are you up to?바카라�, and then everyone woke up from the next room and entered, they saw the new groom drowning in tears on the nuptial night; but MoynaMiya was unable to say anything, so Khoimon then consoled him, 바카라�Apne kainden na emun koira, ekta kagoj gechhe, aarekta leikha dibone! Don바카라�t cry like this, one piece of paper was lost, I바카라�ll get another one made!바카라� And consequently, it seemed there was a reason behind the fact that Zobeida Rahman got exasperated when it came to Khoimon, but again perhaps it could be said that Khoimon hadn바카라�t really done anything cunning, that was simply how things transpired and she had nothing to do with it 바카라� although it was very difficult to prove this. However, if Khoimon was indeed cunning, it wasn바카라�t possible to figure out how Mamun바카라�s Ma was harmed by that, of course when her son Chan Miya organised the monkey brigade in the moholla many years later, it seemed then that even before figuring it out logically Zobeida Rahman had a gut feeling about some things 바카라� what the monkeys would do to her one day 바카라� although the matters were perhaps not very clear to her. It seemed then that badmouthing Khoimon was all that she did, perhaps she said to Fakhrul Alam Ledu or to someone else, 바카라�Just see how cunning the woman is, since she doesn바카라�t have the time to take care of the boy, how cleverly she got a band of wild animals to do that, 바카라�Khaat tawra, ami aram kori! You lot work, let me relax!바카라�바카라�; and so a monkey suckled Chan Miya, put him to sleep, kept watch over him, while that wretched woman gallivanted in the moholla! This was perhaps true, or perhaps it wasn바카라�t, because it wasn바카라�t possible to get so much done by wild monkeys, but hadn바카라�t Khoimon herself said all this to NooraniBilkisUpoma? Although NooraniBilkis got annoyed from time to time, it was she who Khoimon was fond of, and whenever she got the chance she went from her residence in No. 36 to Noorani Bilkis바카라� residence in No. 37, and said, 바카라�Aafa, give me something or the other!바카라�

(Shahidul Zahir was born in 1953 in Dhaka, then in East Pakistan. He did his schooling in Dhaka, Mymensingh and Chittagong, graduated from Dhaka College and completed his post-graduation at Dhaka University and the American University, Washington D.C. He was a civil servant in the Bangladesh government. His first collection of short stories was published in 1985. Zahir died prematurely in 2008 having written three collections of short stories, two novels and two novellas, the last novella being published the year following his death. His work has been critically acclaimed in Bangladesh and in West Bengal, India.)

(V. Ramaswamy took up literary translation of voices from the margins after two decades of social activism and grassroots organising with the labouring poor in his city, Kolkata. He has translated Subimal MIsra, Manoranjan Byapari, Adhir Biswas and Shaidul Zahir.)