A Long Way To Go: A Travelling Story (2015)

Chapter 4

Another day, we packed our bags and rushed through a microbus where Sameen, Iliyas and Saiful sat at the front as Maisha, Adreeta and I sat at the back.  When we were at the Airport road, there was full of traffic.  During the traffic, I thought of my psychiatrist, Dr. Amir Habib told me to get out of the depression that I had in the past such as my father died. He told me to travel Bangladesh to find out my identity because I am a half Bengali.

While travelling, Maisha, Adreeta and I were singing, listening to the radio and playing cards. The three men were watching films, gossiping with each other, laughing at Sameen’s stories plus the college days.

 According to the whisperer during their college days, Saiful used to write such poetries that people used to laugh at him but he used to laugh as he find his poetries to be funny. Sameen used to edit films in such a manner that no one used to understand his style.  Iliyas used to make his own laws as he makes legal things illegal and illegal things legal. What a badass they were! Haroon was more of an innocent character who used to study a lot but also a comedian.  He was the boss while it comes to friendship.

After a long journey, we reached Gazipur- the name of the place was Jol Jongoler Kabbo (The Poems of The Forests and Rivers). When we entered, we took the welcome drink. It was the lemon juice and more like a cold drink. It was really surrounded by trees and little rivers. There were huts made of bamboo, wood and jute. In one of the huts, there were group of people singing by using tabla (kind of a drum but smaller in size played without drumsticks), dhol (drum) and sitar.  They were singing the old Bengali folk songs:- very rich and colorful with original words that we modern Bengalis never used to hear. 

Adreeta came near me. She said “These folk songs. Aah what music! Old but fresh. They are called baul. The group of people used to sing and dance to spread some social messages-they are humanists. It was originated from Sufism but the prominent one was Lalon Shah. He spread the baul music more as some of the songs were also written by Rabindranath Tagore”.

I was enjoying and dancing those songs. Then, I sailed the boat made of coconut wood. It was such that, I enjoyed. We showered in the lake. Some of the villagers stared at us especially me due to my golden hair and my fair complexion-it’s not arrogance just a little description of me.

The whisperer told me about that some of the villagers there are conservative. Some are literate and some are illiterate. I may go to the village later after the trip. Adreeta, Saiful, Maisha and Sameen were the best guides to help me out. The whisperer was not there physically but surely he may come. The wives talked about their men’s attributes towards the society.  The friends were sitting together in a tree and Maisha photographed them. They also had done all the fun.

As the evening was about to come, we all had barbecue chicken. Wow! It’s really tasty! The vegetable nuggets were delicious but oily. Most of them slept except me who was watching the land a little distant from where we were staying. Then the whisperer knocked me on my phone. He asked me about the trip and how those three were during the trip. I told him that they were missing the long lost friend but still enjoyed.

He said that, all the answers should be given to Haroon’s one of the trusted friends, Sameen. He was the only person to know the actual story. I gazed at the nature and slept with the ladies.

 In the morning, we woke up and went to Dhaka again. In the microbus, Iliyas revealed that they had tickets for Coxes Bazaar by train day after tomorrow. We were so excited that we could see beaches and other historical aspects. After we reached home, we were a little tired. That led my depression away. I thought of the whisperer and also my psychiatrist. They were both telling me the same advice to be transforming into something. In the meantime, I shared my background to Maisha such that I was once a depressing girl who was abused by some people in high school and I used to be tired of sitting at home. I used to get angry and distracted. It’s all because of me being an introvert plus my father’s death. Now I am in the stage to overcome.

                                                                                                                                           

Maisha understood my feelings. She inspired me to move on and show the society. Along with her, Iliyas, Saiful and Sameen revealed that my characteristics and background had slight resemblance to Haroon’s.  Therefore, the boys offered us to join the gang. All were happy for that.