Daily Prompt: When Childhood Ends

Write about a defining moment in your life when you were forced to grow up in an instant(or Instants).

After spending two years in the local college in Comilla my hometown in Bangladesh. I suddenly realized I was too unhappy to continue my education in the same college.I must look for a different  one, a girl’s college, but the only one I could go to was in the big city.

I packed my things and traveled by train at 3 AM in the morning to Dhaka, in Bangladesh. When I reached the college and met some of my classmates in the college dormitory, I realized instantly it was my time to grow up.

Mom and my siblings won’t be there to complain or talk about my new classmates, good or bad, I’d have to, ‘grin and bear it’ I had some help from a friend of my parents who lived in the same city, who did more than I could ask from a real uncle.

He invited me to go to his house every week-end. I was slowly getting used to living far away from my home. This is where my process of growing up was happening. Occasionally I felt a twinge of pain, I  tried to overcome it by starting a conversation with my uncle or  the classmates in college whoever happened to be there at that time, but  it was persistent, I tried to fight it off by concentrating on stories my classmates used to tell me, but it was not easy.

The only antidote for my pain were the songs I learned in school when I was in third standard, in presentation convent school, I used to sit by myself and hum the tune. Those childhood memories took me to a world where I had the most fun.

I grew up but it was not easy.

………………………………… 🙂

365 Writing Prompt: The road less traveled

Pinpoint a moment in your past where you had to make a big decision.Write about that other alternate life that could have unfolded.

When I was in Dhaka, Bangladesh, I saw an ad for a teaching job in Islamabad, Pakistan. I applied for the job,the headmistress of the school came to Dhaka to interview the applicants. There were six of us competing for that one job. I was called in first, the headmistress was a nice lady, she asked me about my experience,where I taught and how I learned to speak Urdu.

I told her I lived in Rawalpindi Pakistan, where my father worked. We left the city  after my father passed away.

I was immediately offered the job, though there were other applicants yet to be interviewed. I thought about the distance I’d have to travel from Comilla ,Bangladesh, to Islamabad Pakistan. I asked her if there was a hostel nearby where I could stay.

When the headmistress  told me the nearest place to stay was forty miles from the school, I was concerned, I wasn’t sure the distance from the hostel to the school would be convenient for me to travel everyday. I asked my sister, she told me it was a bad idea to take this job.

I declined the job and carried on with  my job in the school where I was already employed.

Had I taken that job the alternate life  that  could have unfolded for me would be frustration for accepting a job so far away from my original home, I’d probably dislike myself for taking a stupid decision. Eventually I know I’d quit the job and come home.

…………………………… 🙂

 

Daily Prompt: The Early Years

Write page three of your autobiography.

Six months after my father passed away, we packed our bags and left Rawalpindi and arrived in Dhaka city, capital of Bangladesh. We stayed with my Dad’s youngest brother for a few days.

My eldest brother made arrangements to go by train to my maternal grandpa’s village home. We stayed in grandpa’s home for almost a year.

My brother took several trips to the little town named Comilla in Bangladesh. After months of looking around he found a home which in his estimation, was perfect for us. He bought the house and came back to the village to take us, my mom and the siblings to live in our new home.

It was nothing extraordinary it was a relatively smaller house than the one we lived in Rawalpindi. My mom was happy, we the siblings felt all right, it was a home we had to get used to , that we did in a very short time.

Next thing was to find a school for us to get registered in, my brother located a school which was near our home.It was run by nuns, they offered both English and Bengali medium of instruction.

The school was divided into two sections, one was for students who registered for English medium, the other one was  for Bengali medium students.

My brother told me to take my siblings to school to get registered , the three older ones for English medium and the two younger ones in Bengali medium. Upon questioning my brother’s intentions for  registering the siblings in two different mediums, I was told it was cost effective. I was fourteen then and didn’t quite comprehend what he meant, but did as I was told.

I was yet to know what will happen to me, the school only had up to six grades, I could not register in a lower grade because I was in third standard when we left Rawalpindi, it was equivalent to grade eight. My brother hired a tutor to coach me at home to prepare me for high school exams privately.

The tutor’s whole appearance gave me a very negative attitude, his demeanor, the way he spoke, his English pronunciation, everything was distasteful to me.

After about three days I announced I did not want a tutor, I’ll study by myself. My brother was not convinced he arranged with one of the nuns in the school where my younger siblings were studying to give me private lessons once or twice a week.

The Principal agreed, my attitude towards homework annoyed them, they declared they didn’t have enough time to give me private lessons.

I was glad with my freedom from two tutors I knew were not capable of helping me, and the fees they charged was more than my mom could afford.

Thus began my journey of helping myself to get through the ordeal of preparation for high school exams or face the possibility of ending up married to someone who’d be close to my Dad’s age. It wasn’t a rosy picture for me.

I wrote page three of my autobiography. For now I’ll end here. If anyone is interested I’d be more than glad to continue!

…………………………………… 🙂

DP Daily Prompt: In loving Memory

I will not write an obituary of me, instead I will write about the little town where we lived and grew up.

The town is Comilla, it’s in Bangladesh. It was a very quiet peaceful town when we went there to live. Thakurpara was the name of the neighborhood , I guess it was a neighborhood where most of the people were mostly Hindus, so the name Thakurpara was appropriate.

Our neighborhood was full of small ponds where the people spend time swimming and hanging out to get relief from the hot summer.

Transportation used mostly were rickshaws, we enjoyed visiting our aunts and uncles in rickshaws. There was one rickshaw driver who had a bad temper, he got into arguments with his passengers. Everyone knew him and they tried not to hire him. Most of them were very nice.

There were vendors who sold, vegetables, fish and chicken. It was convenient because we all could buy food from them without having to go to shops.

My mom had to go in a rickshaw to buy rice, sugar, tea and other things from the shops in the bazaar.

With the increase in population, there are hardly any open spaces, there are shops everywhere.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/03/03/dp-daily-promp…-loving-memory

Wikipedia images of Comilla, Bangladesh.

DP Daily Prompts: My Hero

Who’s your Hero? Tell us a story about why that person plays such an important role in your life.

After my father passed away, my mother took care of us, she cooked for us, she kept our house in order. She looked after our needs and made sure we had everything, i.e, clothes,books,  and a safe environment.

My Dad left sufficient funds in my mother’s name. My mother used some of the money to buy  a house in Comilla, it’s a small town in Bangladesh, we grew up there.

My mom was a very religious lady, she told me stories of the Prophet, and taught all of us that we must never tell a lie. A lie is never forgiven by God unless our life is in danger.

She reminded us that if we  do not like someone we  must never talk behind his/her back.

She was a very kind lady, the beggars who came to our house called her Ma, my mother fed them when they asked for food.

One evening someone came to our house and said, “Ma please give me some food.”

My mom immediately sent the food for this person, she was curious she knew no one comes this late in the evening and asks for food, out of curiosity she opened the door to see who it was, she was surprised to see the rickshaw driver eating, when she asked him why he begged for food at that hour, he said he finished his job , he was hungry, he knew if he came to our house my mom will give him something to eat.

My mom had a very important role in our lives, she was always there when we needed her. She filled the role of a Mom and a Dad.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/dp-daily-prompts-my-hero

 

365 Writing Prompts : Mad as a hatter

Tell us about the time you flew into a rage. What is it that made you so incredibly angry?

My mom loved collecting, attractive glasses and china. When I was in the university in Dhaka I found a crockery store, they had the most beautiful china and glasses.

I bought a few glasses and china for my mom from that store, my mom was so happy to see them ,I thought it was the best thing I did to put a smile on my mother’s face.

Mom had a china cabinet, she proudly put the china ware I gave her. I went back to school and planned to buy some more, mom would have a nice collection I felt.

When I went home to Comilla the first thing I noticed was my mom’s china cabinet was empty, I was disappointed I asked my mother about the china, she told me my good for nothing brother flew into a rage one day and broke every single piece I bought. He was angry because my mom could not give him the money to watch a movie.

I was upset,not only he broke my mother’s heart by breaking the china, he could not control his stupid temper, he broke everything he could, I’m telling you he is so useless, he did not study, he never worked and has this evil habit of watching movies and smoking, two awful habits, mom had to pay for or else his temper would rise to a maximum, I wish he left home and never came back!

k: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/12/18/365-writing-pr…ad-as-a-hatter

 

DP Daily Prompt: Head Turners

We often hear strange snippets of conversation as we walk through public spaces.When was the last time  you overheard so interesting, ridiculous, or disturbing, you really wanted to know what it was all about?

My brother Misbah, was traveling to Comilla from Chittagong, he overheard a passenger telling his friend there was a job opening in one of the Tea Estates.

He told my brother Rafique  about the job opening,  Rafique was looking for a job, he sent an application to the Tea Board. After a few days he received a letter from the boss of the company to come for an interview.

Rafique was delighted, he left Comilla to go to Chittagong for the interview. He met the boss of the company, who received him cordially, after asking him some questions, he was told they will send him a letter if he was selected.

After waiting for a couple of weeks my brother received a letter from the company boss that he was hired for the job!

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/08/28/dp-daily-prompt-6/

DP Daily Prompt: Tunnel Vision

You’ve been given the ability to build a magical tunnel that will quickly and secretly connect your home with the location of your choice— anywhere on earth.Where’s the end of your tunnel?

This is a very exciting prompt, I’m thinking of so many places. Let’s see which one will be most useful to me.

I’ve made my decision, I’d like to build the tunnel to connect to my parent’s home in Comilla, Bangladesh. It would be helpful, I’d like to magically make my evil brother,his wife, and her evil sister and her husband, disappear from our parent’s home forever.

I also need the magical powers to turn them into ants so the rest of us siblings can trample them to oblivion.

Why you want to know? My evil useless brother has taken our parent’s property, he and his wife and her relatives have taken possession of the house where we grew up in our childhood.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/dp-daily-prompt-tunnel-vision

DP Daily Prompt: Shake it Up

It’s kind of ironic that I am supposed to write about my twelfth birthday. For starters I did not have a birthday party. I remember a few days after my birthday, well, I can still visualize the day as if it happened only yesterday.

On the twenty second day after my birthday, my father’s condition suddenly worsened . We were playing outside completely unaware what was happening inside the house,until I heard a loud scream. We rushed inside, my Dad was on the bed trying to say something to my brother, who was holding my Dad’s hand and telling him not to go. After a few minutes all was quiet,my eldest brother was on his way to get a doctor,by the time he came with the doctor, my Dad stopped breathing.

The doctor examined my Dad and said , “I am sorry, it’s too late!” My brother asked him how much was his fees.

He looked at him and said, “I do not take money from a dead man.”

Our home was a scene of sadness ,my Mom was crying and reading the Qur’an , my sister kept crying and said, “I am so sorry I wasn’t home when he died, I couldn’t say goodbye to him.”

We were numb we did not understand what death meant, I and my younger siblings did not realize it was final, Our Dad will never come back.

Then my brother wanted to know from our mom, what should we do next. My mom wanted us to leave the place and go to Bangladesh our original home.

The preparation took six months. We left Rawalpindi by air. We stayed in Dhaka for a few days and went to my maternal grandpa’s village. We lived in his house for almost a year, my eldest brother went to Comilla a small town to buy a house for us to live.

We moved to Comilla which became our permanent home.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/daily-prompt-shake-it-up/

Writing Prompt: Childhood Revisited

Yes,I turned out pretty good, but the thing I would have liked different was to have my Dad longer than twelve years. To make him proud that despite my flimsy excuses of skipping school. I was able to continue and complete my education.

I would also have liked to be able to live in Rawalpindi rather than Bangladesh. My reason is I was comfortable there and I had friends whom I would have liked to be with,even after the completion of my education.

I have nothing against Bangladesh,my parents are from there. We adapted very quickly,we knew the language,thanks to my Dad who taught us how important it is to know one’s mother tongue. I missed my childhood friends, it’s the only reason and also my Dad’s presence in our lives would have been awesome.

“I know the saying man proposes,God disposes.”

I have kids they were fortunate to complete their education in Canada . This is what I wished and luckily my wish was granted.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/ 365-days-feb 8th-childhood revisited/