Letter from Minhazul from Bangladesh to Nahian in UK

Sender: Minhazul Islam

Senders Location: Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Receiver: Nahian Iftekhar

Receiver Location: Glasgow, UK

Translation: 

Dear Nahiyan,

I feel like writing to you today so here I’m with a pen and paper. When I’m writing this letter, a river which was my childhood love, is dying in front of me without any care. This is the river that painted my childhood with colors.  It's hard to match that river now with the one in front of my eyes today.

When I was in the second grade, I went to an aunt’s place with my grandpa. After a while when we passed a kilometer or two, I found the sky is just white in front of us; not blue anymore. Looking into the skyline, my curious mind was wondering; isn’t there a tree or anything in front of us? The three-wheeler rickshaw was moving forward, and I felt that I am coming closer to that barren skyline. All of a sudden a banyan tree surrounded by a group of people appeared in front of us. The rickshaw bell rang, and I noticed something green, grey, and blue. Along with the waves and the murmuring sound of the river, there were red and blue sailing boats. The river that I used to dream of after reading books, is now in front of me. Imagine how delighted I was at that moment!

Have you ever seen this kind of sailing boat I am describing?  Let me know if you have seen one. I first came to know about rivers from a poem by Al Mahmud. Probably the name of the poem was Ichhe (Wishes). I still remember the illustration with the poem in my book. I used to dream of a river from that point and used to whisper the verses in my mind.

I just feel like sitting next to the river,

hiding in a branch of Bokul; singing like a bird.

To fulfill that wish of seeing a river closely, we went to my aunt’s place that year. We were moving slowly, and I found that the river is moving away from us.  At one point the river disappeared, and we reached my aunt’s place.

After that incident, my interest in exploring a river was increasing gradually. I remember I used to bunk classes back then and go to see a river with my friends during my school days. Here, the interesting part is, each time I went to see a river, I have seen something new. In the rainy season, I have seen the river full of water, and later when the water level falls, there are riverbeds full of snow-white kashful (Catkin flowers). To accompany them, there are cotton clouds in the blue sky and to grasp the feeling of this serenity, sometimes I used to forget that I have to return home. 

Thus, I was growing up and my love for rivers was rising too. During the dry season, there are massive sand hills in those rivers, and I could see shalik (Indian Myna) used to make their nest there. During summer there are heat waves with sand there and it’s such a unique experience to walk barefoot in those riverbeds.

Sometimes I used to go to these riverbeds and just look into the sky full of cotton clouds. Occasionally there were folks of birds flying in the sky. I felt like flying with those birds on the river and touching the clouds while flying.

After my school final called S.S.C., I took admitted to a college and as my college was quite far away from home, it took a lot of time for me to go there and come back. I was also occupied with many other family affairs and was not able to manage time to go to see the river.

After two years, when I went to see the river, I was disappointed. I found that the sky has moved farther; I need to walk more to reach there. I could not find the river that I used to see in my childhood. The current in the river was also weaker. So are the red and blue sailing boats; they were disappearing along with the riverbeds and the flying shaliks. With surprise, I also noticed that the banyan tree has disappeared. I felt like the river was weeping while waiting for me and that is how it's too dry now. I could hear that sobbing sound standing there. At the same time, I could see the face of the farmer's smile who used to grow crops in the alluvial soil of the riverbed.

Though I lost sight of the river in the face of the farmer, what I gained in this journey was my hobby to search rivers everywhere. I started to explore new rivers, and the way they start to disappear and that is how I got a new life. I will tell that story some other time.

By the way, the river from my childhood is called Padma. Some people call it the Ganges. There are a lot of historical events associated with this river; will share all of those some other day. Let me know your thoughts after reading this letter. You might feel that I am very talkative as a person but don’t take it so seriously.

Also, let me know about your details. How long are you staying there? Where did you grow up in your childhood? Do you feel like coming back to Bangladesh? Send my regards to all your family members.  

Minhaz

Your unknown friend