The Village

After school break, Mamun and I used to walk home along Kali Ganga. Near the banyan tree, where the road turns towards the east, there is a tea stall of Balai Kaku. Balai Kaku seems to make the best tea in the world - he has a twisted kettle, the color of the tea comes out when the water is heated in it and when he pours it into a glass and stirs it with condensed milk and sugar, which is a taste, it goes without saying. None of us have cash for tea – but if there are no customers at the tea stall, Balai Kaku makes us half a cup of free tea in small glasses. He adds more milk and sugar to the tea for us. So on our way home we visit the tea stall of Balai Kaku at least once every day. Before we peeked in today, we heard someone inside talking loudly. The tone of the voice was unfamiliar, so I put my head inside the stall and tried to look at the man. A young man in shirt and pants, glasses in his eyes, and a cigarette in his hand was waving his hands and talking, we couldn't hear what he was saying. Even after that we understood that he must be talking about politics. Everyone is always talking about politics these days since the election. In front of the bespectacled young man are sitting two old men of our village. They are nodding their heads pretending to understand everything, but by looking at their faces I understand that they really don't understand anything. They do not understand anything except farming, cows and goats. We could not recognize the young man with glasses. Not the people of our Kakandubi village – we know everyone in Kakandubi village. We know not only the people but also all the cows and goats of this village. This man is from another place, he seems to be from the city. People of the city can be recognized by looking at them, they cut their hair in a different way. Apart from that, the village people never wear glasses. I lowered my throat and asked Mamun - who is the man? Since I don't know, Mamun is not supposed to know either, but Mamun knows more than me. Even if he don't know the person, he can know where he(Strange man) came from and why he came. But he didn't know either, shook his head and said, I don't know. I haven't seen him before. What do you think, which house is he coming to? He didn't seem to be coming any house. Then? Mamun smiled coming out his teeth and said, I think he is coming to have Married. Kakandubi's new son-in-law. Son-in-law! Mamun's intelligence is very high, he can guess all these things very well. I asked, who will marry? Mamun smiled and said, I think, our Latifa Apu. Latifa Apu was our leader, when we were kids we all used to walk behind Latifa Apu. She was also very good in studies, two classes above us but when she got a little older she stopped going to school. Village girls go to school at an early age. When they grow up, they stop their studies and get married. Latifa Apu's marriage is going on in her house, it seems that Mamun's words are correct. This bespectacled man seems to have come to marry Latifa Apu. She looked very good when she was little, walking with us in the woods and fields, now she looks even better. She doesn't leave the house so we doesn't see her too much but when she come out form the house, we don't recognize her. Women become different when wearing a saree. Leaving Balai Kaku's tea stall, we again walked along the road and entered our village. The road passes right through the middle of the village, small houses on both sides, trees in front of the houses, big bamboo trees. Cows are tied outside the house, they are chewing straw very calmly. What kind of peace on their faces, sometimes I think that these cows have more peace than people!! How fun it is to walk with the feet in the soft dust of the road! Who knows, why the shoe thing was invented? Is there any fun in walking in this soft dust with shoes on? Then when the rainy season comes, the mud that will be on this road, whose father has the ability to walk with shoes on? It seems that's why there are no such people in Kakandubi village who wear shoes and sandals. Mamun and I went to the middle of the village while talking, then Mamun entered his house. After slowly walking the rest of the way alone, I reached my house and just stepped into the yard, when my grandma started screaming. I think no one else has a strong voice like my grandma in the whole Kakandubi. Seeing me, my grandma shouted and waved her hands and feet and said, Hello! Where were you all this time sir? When did your school leave and now it's time to come your home! It's true. I never come home immediately after school holidays. What will come? Come back home after a little walk. It wasn't that late today, but that didn't matter. Grandma assumed that it was late and kept waving her hands and feet and said, if it wasn't for the hunger in my stomach, then I wouldn't have come home. Like a monkey, I used to roam from tree to tree. To annoy my grandmother, I said, monkey is better. Monkeys have no school, no education. She scolded, "Shut up monkey." I laughed and said, if I am a monkey, then you are the monkey's grandma. Grandma then frantically tried to catch me, but could not. If I don't catch myself to her, will she catch me anyday? Sometimes I get caught on purpose, Grandma then rubs my ears, pulls my hair - pretending to be very angry and punishing me, but really nothing. Actually makes me a little fonder. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, half asleep, I see her sitting next to me and muttering something while patting my head, eyes and face. I have no one but my grandma, where would I be if she didn't look after me. Sometimes I think, if I hadnty, she would have died too. Grandmother shook her head pretending to give up completely, then said, Go. Wash your hands and face and be a little man. Then come to eat.