There is a different dimension of friendship in Bangali culture. Besides the names decided in Akika (আকিকা), everyone here has a name conferred by friends. Whether you like that name or not, you have to carry it in your whole life. In continuation of this, we named one of our friends as Boltu. So today's whole anacdote will be revolved around Boltu.
Boltu whose real name is Shah Imtiaz Ahsan Faisal, is a 5 feet tall bonny boy! He is also a very intimate friend of mine. Arpita Patricia Rosario is another very close friend of mine and her height is 5 feet 8 inches. Even today I do not know how Arpita fell in love with Boltu with this unsymmetrical height. And that was not just an deflect of minds, a deep love that is about to transcend Laili-Majnu or Shiri-Farhad. However, their love story was trickled between the two families like the leaked question papers of different exams in Bangladesh. Shah and Rosario disappeared from a practical chemistry class just when their family members were planning to apprehend them. That day, I helped Arpita cross the university gate wearing a Burkha, avoiding the eyes of the elders of these two families. Although they didn't tell me where they were going when they left, I was searching them from day one.
However, after one month long searching, I came to know that their location is in a well-known area of Mymensingh which is recognized all over the country as robber area that is Gafargaon. So eventually, I and three of my friends concluded to depart and go to that bandit neighborhood.
A common problem in student life is not having too much money in the pocket. However, to reach there with less money, we boarded a Mymensingh bound bus called Shokal-Shondha. After reaching the destination, we realized the attainment of naming the bus. Although not in the evening, the bus took us to our destination in the late afternoon. Since the bus fare was very low, they stopped where there was a stoppage and also stayed where there was no stoppage to take passengers. In addition, we had to take a break twice on the journey. This halt was not to eat in any food court rather the tires were punctured. Even after running few hours, the bus was stopped again and we had to push from behind.
In the scorching heat of the month of Vhadra and the jiggling of the bus Sohel alias Bideshi Babu vomited twice. My friend Sohel's height is 6 feet 2 inches and his complexion is as fair as the heroines of the West so anyone who sees him will be confused as a foreigner. So in our circle of friends he is better known as a Bideshi Babu.
The most educated boy in our class, Rubel, whom we call as a Pondit, was trying to comprehend the whole situation from behind the heavy spectacles, and maybe he thought to himself, ’if I hadn't come with them today, two chapters of my physics would be complete by now.’ The only person, Aaposh alias Lewis was enjoying our journey. It is worth mentioning here that he was then in a relationship with a widow who is four years older than him and that was his fourth success of the year.
It was late afternoon when we got off the bus and in the afternoon sun our Bideshi Babu was glowing and his face became sanguine. After getting off the bus, I asked the people and found out my friend's location was in a remote village which was about an hour's walk away. After hearing this, three friends of mine looked at the travel entrepreneur in such a way that I was forced to announce, let's eat a little sweet of Mymensingh which is famous and well known as Balish Misti(বালিশ মিষ্টি). After eating sweets and buying 2 kg for our two newly married friends, we set off for the destination with a long puff of Goldleaf cigarettes.
It was five o'clock when we reached our destination. The houses here were far away from one hut to another in the middle of the paddy field. As soon as I entered the house, I got the biggest dismay of my life. I could hear screams from all around.
এই ধর ধর ..........
বিদেশি খ্রিস্টান আইছে
Before realizing anything, they grabbed me and the Bideshi Babu from behind. Sensing danger, Lewis had already fled from behind. Pondit jumped up with his heavy glasses on a dirty pond next to the house. Our Pondit did not know how to swim and was lucky to have knee-deep water in the pond. After a while I saw Pondit was standing next to us with mud all over his body. Someone was holding his hand. Even in the heat of this Vhadra month, he was trembling with fear. We already realizeed that we had mistakenly entered the robber's area and that the bandits had attacked us. When 30 minutes had passed and no one was beating us or taking our money, a little hope came to our mind again. In random thoughts when the brain was not working in any way, I saw from a distance Lewis Aaposh was looking at us with a sluggish smile and behind him came a gentleman and a lady. I was also smiling as both of them together looking like 10. Later, however, I realized the secret of keeping us captive. Since Arpita is a Christian, it was foretold at home that any Christian could come at any time. We were imprisoned considering my Bideshi Babu friend as a foreign journalist.
আজ সারাদিন স্মৃতিতে ডুব দিয়ে ছিলাম, তাই যত তাড়াতাড়ি সম্ভব বেরিয়ে আসা দরকার। বেশিক্ষণ স্মৃতিতে ডুবে যেতে নেই, স্মৃতিভ্রম হতে পারে.....
This is my entry of the contest arranged by @bdcommunity which is BDCommunity Presents:গ্যাংটকে গন্ডগোল [Contest][Week-2]
I would like to invite @gungunkrishu to participate in this contest.