Mother

Rashida Sultana

translated by Khademul Islam

When, after listening to the continuous stream of abuse Sujon’s mother and grandmother directed at him over last few days, Sujon’s father hurled back, “Wait, till I tell the police, then your fat will truly be in the fire!--- their quarrel then began to reach violent new heights. The very next morning, Sujon’s father went missing.

Whether his father was around or not made no difference to Sujon. Since his infancy he has seen his father lying around smoking ganja. Till he was nine years old Sujon had been his mother Momena’s only child. A year before the birth of his sister Rahela, Sujon’s father Anu Miah had returned home after a long absence. To stay for a month. But after quarrelling with Sujon’s mother and grandmother he had disappeared once again. Since this happened many times before, neither Sujon nor his mother had felt anything missing from their lives.

Sujon’s family lived with his maternal uncle and his grandmother in Hazaribagh slum for sweepers. Perhaps the fact of his uncle being unmarried was the reason why Sujon, his mother and sister were accepted so easily within this home. Even though there were many sweepers living in this slum, nobody in Sujon’s family was still one.

Sujon’s maternal grandfather had been a sweeper. But even though compared to other families in the bustee, at present Sujon’s family was solvent yet even a few years back Sujon had spent quite a few days yet even a few years back Sujon had spent quite a days when there had been nothing to eat. His mother and grandmother worked as housemaids, his uncle hauled a rickshaw and with hunger gnawing like the devil in his belly Sujon played with leaves and bits of bricks in the narrow strip of dirt in front of the house. When sometimes sleep would come he would fall asleep in front of their locked door.

Sujon’s mother did not want her son to mix with the other slum children and grow up to be a hood, mastaan or richshawallah. Her dream was that he should grow up to be like the well-behaved and educated children she saw in the houses where she worked part-time.