Tuesday | 14 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
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Tuesday | 14 January 2025 | Epaper

Short Story

Apology for an aged man

Published : Saturday, 17 February, 2018 at 12:00 AM  Count : 1234
Towhid Islam Khan
Tonni is the type of girl who is marked by the aged people as ultra-modern and the young boys as stylish. She is an expert to do her makeup, hair and appreciated among her friends for her unique dress code. The secret behind her outward beauty, to look attractive, is primarily brought to her by some fashion magazines; she has got some inborn power to imitate others which she applies mostly to imitate few recent models. She seems to have another passion in life which is eating at various restaurants, each time with a different boy. Her younger brother Tonmoy, who is only two years younger than her, has all the opposite characteristics.
Tonmoy doesn't like to go outside and talk to people. He feels extreme joy to be locked inside his four hundred squire feet room, with one attached bath and only one window which remains mostly closed. He feels really weird and uncomfortable when his cousins or other relatives come to visit his family, especially when they try to start a conversation with him. Although he doesn't like to communicate with real individuals, that doesn't make him an anti-social in today's context because he has shown his best performances through social media. He is very active on Facebook-most of his times are passed by posting status, giving comments, providing reactions, playing games, and running various groups; he is the admin of few important groups where he gives various tips on socializing, social behavior, family values, necessity of interaction, and so on.
Their mother Sabina Begum is an absent-minded woman. She seems to have a sense of self-admiration, cleanliness, and health consciousness. She wakes early in the morning and goes to one remarkable park, famous for its tranquil nature, for jogging. Morning seems to be the best part of a day for this woman that provides her an immense opportunity to visit other women of her sort-gossip lover. They start their conversation mostly by discussing the faults of their husbands. Ironically, the faults Sabina Begum finds in her husband, Kabir Mahmud, do not match and are replaced by few others, which she is unaware of.
Mr. Kabir Shaheb works at an international farm that pays a respectable amount for his position. Since his workplace has got a remark-international, it has brought him some international channels and an atmosphere to work with various people with different race, color, and accent. A cunning man like him won't neglect such facility; either he uses or does a clean abuse. In a modern and pragmatic sense, we can say, he has made an appropriate adjustment of each thing; just he saw an Indonesian colleague (a female), he started to learn her language to make an impression and made some legal or illegal excuses and issues to leave the former one from China. These facts and few others remain unknown to Sabina Begum, partly because he doesn't discuss, and mostly because of her supreme consciousness over her own health.
One morning, while Kabir Mahmud was leaving the house for the office, he got a call from Mymensingh, his native village. He was informed that his aged father is very unwell, had a mild stroke. It wasn't necessary to tell him about the significance of the matter, though he missed few occasions little less severe than this one.  We can't blame a man like him so much in a capitalistic society; a man must earn and buy everything that he hasn't.
Kabir Mahmud along with his family went to his village to visit his ill-father and to take care of each and everything which he should have done a few years earlier, while obviously his father was well and had fewer troubles. Since it's never too late to do anything, Kabir Shaheb did few organized things to comfort his inner guilt such as buying fruits for the poor old man, arranging a prayer session by the help of local preachers, calling his personal lawyer to keep the old man's last wishes as a document and so on.
While Mr. Kabir Mahmud was busy with such dignified matters, don't think that his family members were sitting in silence and doing nothing at all. His wife, Sabina Begum began to clean her father-in-law's room over and over again and constantly asked the patient if he needed anything. Her magnificent caring was felt by her words: "How are you feeling now, Baba? Do you want me to wash your clothes? I will do that. Oh damn! You do not have a washing machine here, do you? (Long silence) Can I make you some coffee with sugar? Oh, you cannot drink that; there's too much sugar in your blood. Okay, I am going for a walk now. If you need anything, just give me a call. You know how to call, don't you? (Another long pause)"
Their children, Tonni and Tonmoy, weren't inactive either. Tonmoy did the most thoughtful thing. He posted on Facebook: "Friends, my dearest, beloved grandfather is very ill. Pray for him" His thoughtful friends prayed or not, hadn't forgotten to comment.
Comment one: "Is he (grandfather) from your father's side or mother's side?"
Comment Two: "How old is he? Can he still speak? My grandfather lost his teeth at an early age."
Comment three: "Everything is in God's hand. Be not worried. You have fulfilled your responsibilities by letting us know."
Tonni thought it is better not to stick with the patient. He might feel disturbed and suffocated by too many people around. So, she decided to visit pastoral beauty with a distant cousin, Anis, knowing the fact that he felt weak towards her and wanted to express in so many ways.
Whether in the caring of the mentioned people or by God's wish, the old man on his fifty-seventh birthday started to feel well. As he was getting well, he thanked every one of his blood, including Tonni, for coming all the way to visit him and apologized for being ill; that is why he seemed very ashamed.

Towhid Islam Khan is a student of Department of English,
East West University






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