ESL Blogs

'Hi, American dollar, any news?'
I swirled around and saw the boatman's teasing smile. His teeth were smeared red from chewing betel

I had to stop. I smiled at him as he was coming out of the tea stall.
'What have you bought?'
'Fish. Ruhit fish.'
'Let me have a look.'
The boat man peeped into my bag ,and was surprised
'How much?'
'Four hundred fifty.'
The boat man looked at me in such a way that I had to explain the reason . After so many days I earned six hundred taka ,and was going to celebrate.
'You got students?' he was surprised again. I smiled proudly.

The boatman who was only a few years senior to me was friendly. I often played with his thick bushy beard and teased for this muslim signboard though he was not genuinely honest. He never minded. He enjoyed my teasing saying that I, the athiest didnt know much of his honesty.

Yes, the boatman was religious. And he was the only man in my lonely world I had talked freely with. Though he was my blatant critic, I knew deep inside his heart he was a well wisher. I knew his heart was saying,' It doesnt matter if you go against my religion, just bring glory to the village, make us proud'

When we reached the rickshaw stand, the boatman began his trademark talk that he liked to talk with me. He would become a powerful representative of Islam to pull me back to the right track again because I had lost the true track long ago, and was going through wrong ways , because I was diffusing the nasty athiest smell in the air, because I was destroying Islam.
'Come to track. You will get everything. Tell me what you want.' The boatman began to persuade.
'You know uncle what I want' I teased his beard.'Money'
'How much do you want?' The boatman became serious. He fished out a bundle of taka from his pocket ,and held in front of my eyes tantalizingly.
'you will get lots of it. Just give up your rubbish writing and come back to track... all your problems will be solved'
'Uncle, you are great!' I spoke in such a way that he understood the message I would never give up.
'Any news from America?'
'No'
'You are dreaming.You will never get dollars. Your books will never be published'.

He began to speak so certainly as if he was watching my future.
'You are educated...' he became a soft adviser, ' you will be the happiest man in the village' ... this time his voice was moistened with love, ' you have a sister to wed away, old mother to look after, ..your father had died suffering all his life, you need to get married... just come back to track, you will get everything... job, beautiful wife, money, honor...'

I patted his back and smiled candidly for his lecture. He understood that once again his effort was a failure.
'Your life is finished' he threatened. ' American dollar has made you mad, you will remain mad. people will throw spittle at you.You will starve to die, you will rot, stink, nobody will touch you!'