AMINAH- Based on A True Story (2019)

10

The next day, Aminah went to the street school with her camera. Sadek was having a lecture on alphabets as well as history. By the time, Aminah was capturing pictures on several group of pigeons who were eating puffed rice on the footpath. She was wearing a long skirt with a black jacket and a white t-shirt. On the opposite of the street school, there was a small tea shop which was ran by Kamal and Chandu. The sky was cloudy and picturesque. The tree was dark green and the bark was black where the street school was situated. On the back of the tree, there were shanty areas, which were made of bamboos, clays, tins and bricks.

As Aminah was doing her photograph, she saw a three year old child who was thrown out of the house by a drunken man. He sobbed that he was under pain and stressed. His innocence was about to get lose. Until she saw it, she ran near the child.

"Hey, little fella, what happened?" asked Aminah politely.

"I wanted a pack of chips but that uncle hit me off" sobbed the child.

"Where are your parents?" asked Aminah.

"They passed away" said the child

Aminah was shocked and terrified that it even reminded her of her childhood. She took him to Chandu's shop by holding him into her arms.

"Sister Aminah, what happened to that child?" said Chandu.

"He is beaten by some random drunken person from the slums. Could you take care of him?" asked Aminah.

"I will" said Chandu.

Kamal came by and looked at Aminah. He smiled at her and greeted.

"So, how are you doing?" asked Kamal.

"Great" said Aminah.

"Then, when are you going to the old home?" asked Kamal.

"Right now" said Aminah.

"So, shall I go with you?" asked Kamal.

"Okay, Kamal" said Aminah.

Aminah, Kamal and Chandu went to the old home after keeping the child under Sadek's care. It was surrounded with gardens and trees. The building was only two stories and it had the rectangular sides. The colorful crimson red brick-like walls reflected the green nature where the elderly people were playing cards and carom. Some were even happy, dancing with each other. The old ladies were not only having deeper conversations but also listening to rap music.

Aminah smiled and waved at one of the elderly.

"Hi, Mr. Karim" greeted Aminah.

The elderly man on the wheelchair waved back with his toothless smile. He had squared spectacles and had a golf hat. He was practicing on chess and thought of both sorrow and happiness at the same time. It was more of focusing on a new goal than thinking of past elements. As old age can make people wise by time, they even know quickly that who the real assholes are.

"That's Mr. Karim. He is in that old home for 12 years because his son and daughter-in-law illegally took his property and misused it to make a factory that distributes illegal arms. He was once an owner of a car company but was bankrupted due to his greedy, illegitimate son. The only visitors are his granddaughter who comes once a year, his friend, a coffee shop owner beside the old home and me, I visit everyday" said Aminah.

Kamal cared and was surprised of the way she introduced the old man. He went along with Aminah.

"Hey, darling, what are you doing now?" asked Mr. Karim.

"Nothing but trying to be happy. And how are you doing?" said Aminah.

"I am more than happy and in peace because I am having friends here. This is now my life: chess, socializing and some spiritual work. May be, I have bad luck but to make it good, I prefer being into nature" said Mr. Karim.

He might have sorrows in his eyes but overshadowed by his spiritual habits such as meditation. To keep himself busy, he plays chess and socializing with his mates.

Kamal looked at their communication and was realizing that there were more than a street life. Happiness comes after the darkest hour and the memories never fade if moments cannot be lived in. Old or young: they may die someday but great power comes great responsibilities.

After their conversation, she gave him a pack of fritters despite the fact that he was a diabetic patient. The other elderly people jumped in and had the fritters, especially the cute elderly 'boys' enjoyed them. They were like children. Some old ladies got childishly angry on them, not sharing the food.

Aminah waved them goodbye, they waved her back with their beautiful smile. Kamal and Chandu were mesmerized by the incident. Until, they got back to school, Aminah saw a middle-aged blind woman who was begging in a streets to cross. It was because of fast cars which caused even blind people not crossing the streets.

Thus, she went near the blind woman and grabbed her arm. She identified Aminah's touch, she smiled. She only had a cane and wearing glasses with a blue sari. She even took her to the directions that the blind woman addressed. Whenever you help people, you can feel the sense of peace.

It was afternoon. Aminah went back to the street school. She even saw Sadek and Dr. Jehangir were discussing something.

"Hey, Aminah, how's your day?" asked Sadek.

"Happier and peaceful than ever. Hello Jehangir Uncle!" said Aminah.

"Well, hello, when are you coming to the appointment?" asked Jehangir.

"I will come to your chamber, probably, tomorrow" said Aminah.

Aminah saw a fire that was burning a garbage. She became paranoid. The fire scared her so much that she ran away through her appointment.

She closed the doors. Her body language changed to a confident and sultry Antara.

"Amelia, why the fuck did you go outside?" screamed Antara.

The sultry Antara turned into a movement of a toddler Amelia.

"It...is...Aminah...who...go....outside" said the toddler Amelia.

The body movements changed position as if the two people were talking. In reality, it was the one body who was talking with two different voices and statures. To the eyes of the people it would look like some crazy woman who was talking to herself or doing a drama but in reality, she was talking to other people.

"Damn! Amelia! Why didn't you stop her?" shouted Antara.

"She...wants...to...breathe" said Amelia who was scared.

"I don't care! She needs to stay home. Otherwise, she will not be punished!" shouted Antara.

"She...is...my...sister...Please...don't....hurt....her" sobbed Amelia.

Antara aggressively  broke the glass and cut her hand that bloodstains came out from the bottom of the palm. When Aminah came back to her senses, she saw the scars.

It thundered her and she wept deeply. So deeply that she could not even resisted the pain.

In the meantime, Dr. Jehangir entered his house. He saw Shezan who was noting down a flower vase on the table.

"What are you doing, son?" asked Dr. Jehangir.

"I just found an old artefact from Moghbazar. It claimed to be the lost royal treasure of the Magh Pirates" said Shezan.

"An archeologist in the house!" commented Dr. Jehangir.

As he went to his room, he opened his webcam:

"This is Dr. Jehangir and this is my third observation on Aminah. She is witty, helpful and caring but less confident than Antara. Otherwise, most of the time, she gets paranoid when the harmful objects like fire, knife and so on gets close to her presence. My question there was what the problem while looking at it was and why she gets a little 'upset' or swings character? Is it related to her past experiences? Anyway, the real treatment will be on 15th January 2008. Thank you for watching this video podcast" .