Shafiqul Alam: I met her on a rickshaw van. We were going to our village in Magura. She was returning home after meeting her husband in Magura jail. Her husband loved Naru and some winter pitha. She went to see him with his favourite winter delicacies. She told me about their family and how the BDR Mutiny shattered their life. She heard her husband wasn't involved. He did not fire a shot. He didn't intimidate anyone. They didn't believe him. He got seven years in jail.
When he was away in the jail, she struggled hard on their farm. She took extra care of their son. Their daughter was fine, always supporting her mother. But the son was difficult. He would miss school classes. He would go out with other village boys -- all the way to Langolbandh Bazar or Sripur. Unlike other parent, she did not force the boy to work on the farm. His help would have cut cost of daily labour. She thought her husband would be furious if he learnt about the boy's farm work.
When he was released from prison, she and their children hugged him at Magura jail. He came back -- determined that he would work extra hard to compensate for the time he spent in the jail. He took responsibility of their farm work. He took extra care of the boy. But the boy was spoiled and the farm job was hardly rewarding. He quit the farm work and went to Dhaka to work as a night guard. But the wages were irregular. And the moment they learn that he was a former BDR troop who was jailed for Mutiny, it became easier for them to exploit him.
He quit the job and returned home. But he was deep in poverty. The wife was unhappy with the truancy of their only son. One day he could not take it anymore. He hit the boy. His mother tried to protect him. He hit her. The next day, she and their children woke up early. She returned to her ailing mother. The children will be with her. He was furious. For weeks he could not talk to his wife. But when he realised his fault, he sent a relative to bring her back. She refused. Their talented son, meanwhile, headed to Dhaka to work in an AC repair workshop.
Last week when I met the former BDR soldier, he told me he would be reuniting his family at any cost. He would take microcredit and buy a battery-powered auto-rickshaw, which now costs 250,000 taka. "Poverty has destroyed my life. I need to start earning again. Then I will bring my wife back. It's about a year I haven't seen her. Inshallah, I will drive the autorickshaw to her mom s home and bring her back to our home."
(This is one true story of the BDR Mutiny. There are thousands of them out there in our villages and rural towns!!) Facebook
Shafiqul Alam: Bureau Chief at AFP News Agency
