The Last, Not-so-Good Goodbye
“Hey! Lala”
“What?”
“They say we are going to get separated.”
Lala’s breath stopped after hearing these words from Aminah’s mouth. His little brain could not picture what these words meant and how they would be in the future. They both did not utter a word after that and kept watching the dead body of an insect being taken away by ants.
The tensions between Sohrab and Shabeena grew intense and they ended up in court. The “sheen” was not meant to stay with “seen” for eternity. Sohrab divorced him, and Shabeena went to Sylhet. It was the Monsoon of 1971, when they both confronted, fought, and cursed each other in the halls of court. The walls of the court witnessed what the subcontinent was going to witness in the upcoming months. A separation between a Bengali Shabeena and a Punjabi Sohrab supervised by a Hindu from Uttar Pradesh. Back home, in Gujranwala, the experts and analysts in the neighbourhood presented their views on why this marriage was not going to work from the start. Some gave their racial views, some presented the bold, open-minded ideas of Shabeena, and some discussed the idealistic nature of Sohrab. Whatever the reason was, it was evident that the “sheen” and “seen” were not going to stay together. In all this mass, another war started. About the custody of Lala and Aminah. The Hindu judge gave the jurisdiction. Lala was going to go back to Gujranwala. While Aminah had to stick to her Bengali mother and land.
The last, not-so-good goodbye occurred in front of the court. There were cries, yelling, and thrashing. The wretched tears came into the eyes and made the last moment of seeing each other blurry. The thing Lala despised till his last breath. But was it a blessing in disguise? The tears came into the eyes so they could not see each other in a miserable and pitiful condition. And so, the last flight from Dhaka ended in Lahore. Months later, Lala’s teacher mentioned 5 provinces of Pakistan. He mentioned Pakistan as Pakistan, not West Pakistan as he used to do in the past. Above all, he forgot to mention East Pakistan. His maternal homeland was the place where he had left his mother and sister. Later, he came to know about all the tragedies that happened when he was sick with high fever and was mourning the separation. The separation of his mother and sister from him.
He asked his grandmother and father if he could visit Sylhet. But, the circumstances, their loathe for his mother, and many other blameable factors refrained them. Time passed, and the leaders of both countries met their destiny, but Lala couldn't meet his mother and Aminah. The long desire to go to Sylhet grew along with him. His father married, married many times and every year he had to welcome a step brother or sister. He did this for years until he ended up with 13 step-siblings. But these 13 were not sufficient. The love and affection he had with Aminah was incomparable, unshareable. When he was in 6th grade, a student asked him about his plans, and he said that he wanted to go to Bangladesh. He said the same to his class in charge. Shahab entered college along with his desire to go to Bangladesh. He graduated with the same desire. Shahan started his business of spare parts. His business expanded and reached Gulf countries. While his secretary was briefing him on other business-friendly countries where he could open his franchise, he named Bangladesh. The company tried to reach there, but fate didn't want them together. Years passed, and a new century started, but the same desire remained with him. He told his kids about their maternal aunt. He told his grandkids about their great-maternal aunt and great-grandmother. Life moved on and took Shahan and his longing to visit his mother and sister with it too. One day, Hayat went to the Carrefour supermarket where he met a foreign couple.
Ahmed Rasel bid farewell to his staff and students at the school. The summer vacation had started, so, the school would remain closed for the entire summer. He returned home. Entered the drawing room where his wife was sitting with their 3-year-old son. He went straight towards the window, and he looked at the flower bed in their backyard. At night, his wife asked about his plans for summer. He didn't answer her and slept straight. The next morning he announced his plan for summer vacation. They were going to Pakistan. His wife was baffled, but she agreed at last. The next Thursday, they landed at Islamabad Airport. They travelled in the air for more than 10 hours. The next stop was a hotel. They reached there and decided how to begin their tour of Pakistan. At night, Ahmed again woke up from his sleep. It was a nightmare. Another one. Her wife woke up from her sleep and saw him. His face was rigid. It felt like he was taken away by the air of rumination. He threw the blanket away. Got off the bed and went to the window. After standing there for an hour and disturbing the sleep of his wife and son, he again went back to the bed. Anyhow, they began their tour, and enjoyed a lot in Pakistan. One day, while waiting for their cab, a teenager invited them to his home. On the way, he bragged about the hospitality of Gujranwalas, their love for food, and other Pakistani things. When they reached his home, he shouted every family member's name while standing in the corridor, and invited all of them to see his guests. They took them to their drawing room and gathered around the Rasel family. One side was confused and the other side was intrigued. Curiosity won over all the emotions and compelled them to introduce themselves. Ahmed Rasel talked about his school. Shahan Sohrab's Learning Academy. His wife, Armeena, and their son, Hasan. He mentioned his Bangladeshi ancestry and his purpose of visit. He was in Pakistan to see some old, distant family members and to fulfill his mother's wish. While describing the tragic separation between his mother and her brother, a rigid, lifeless body saw him from a distance. Every word of the story uttered by Ahmed was processed by the family members and then for an expression, Shahan was consulted. His body stayed there, it seemed like he would explode from the excitement, rage, and misery. Shabeena Rasel took her daughter to Australia. There she went to her cousin's house, and stayed there. After months of planning, they opened a small learning centre in the heart of Adelaide. Aminah Rasel married someone from a Punjabi family but left him. She gave his son his maternal family's name. The Rasel family lived in Adelaide. It was in the last year, when one of their family members left them permanently. On her deathbed, Aminah Rasel, told his son to give a small sandal back to its rightful owner. The owner was in Pakistan and for that, he had to go there. The sandal, Shahan lost during the not-so-good goodbye.
The same tears rolled down from his eyes that blurred the vision of the last, not-so-good goodbye. Perhaps this time it was not a goodbye.
