Act 5

Mr. Kabir was eating his dinner silently and watching the news on Dhaka Stock Exchange. Though it seemed that he was totally unmindful of the events taking place few feet away from him on the dining table, it was quite the opposite. He knew what the matter exactly was. He heaved a heavy sigh. “What shall I do with that worthless boy of mine? He doesn’t know his place. It is already too much for me to take care of a family at this age of mine! I am old now, retired. How far does he want me to go to support him? Why does he not grow up?” thought he. The stock market was in a big pinch. He invested heavily during the last term of XNP government when the market was in a rise. But as soon as the YL government came the whole stock market crashed. He borrowed a huge amount of money against his retirement money to invest in the share market but now he couldn’t just figure out what to do. The bank would be deducting its share of money with interest from his account; there is also this sky rocketing price of groceries; on top of that the land lord gave a notice that the house rent was going to be twelve thousand taka from the next January. Whenever he thought of this situation his whole body would go numb from the fear of uncertainty. “Only if Shahin were employed with a good salary!!”

It wasn’t that he didn’t care about his eldest son; it’s just too much for him to bear the sight of a thirty year old unemployed boy, a burden to him, his family and the society. He could not say anything to his friends when they asked what his eldest son was doing. All of his friends were basking in the joy of their off springs’ success- doctors, engineers and what not, while he was carrying a thirty year old burden on his back. “Why doesn’t he die? No one in my family understands my problem. What will happen to this hopeless family of mine?”

Today the police and the FAB charged on the investors who were on a “starvation till death” program and peacefully sitting in front of Dhaka Stock Exchange. They were heavily beaten, dispersed and some were taken to custody. “Heh! What a country and what a government! We elect them, and now we are getting bankrupt, yet it is us who are getting the beating!!! Is there any justice in this country? And they say people of this country are supporting them!! I say who on earth are these people!!!” he didn’t have anywhere to vent his anger.

He was a well achiever all his life. He fought against the odds from a very early age of his life. He left his house when he was in class five. He stayed in relative’s house and in exchange of three meals per day he used to teach the family’s children. Then attended a college in Rangpur and placed in the top ten from the whole of Rajshahi Board. He then went to Dhaka University and it was before the liberation war. He finished Honors and Masters from there. Then he took a job in BJMC. He was an honest man his whole life….and in the end he retired as the General Manager of the office. But none of his sons could achieve anything despite getting a good foundation and support from him.

His worthless elder son was always at the bottom of the class. He always failed the first two terms of his class and barely passed the finals. But luckily somehow he never had to drop out until after H.S.C.

All these were his everyday worries. Now he only stayed at home and quietly watched the share market news over and over again…..tranced, glued and lost in his own thoughts.

 

Author's Note

Please write something encouraging please, Thanks.