The Legacy

                        Her great grandfather was a matchmaker.He used to live in a village; her paternal grandfather's house is still there but none to live.Maloti searches for memories as she thinks on.Her father was a matchmaker too.This legacy continued from father to son.This 'ghatak' family does not educate their children much.Maloti remembers her cousin Renu,she was married off by her parents at the age of 15.Renu was her Boro Chacha's daughter, she had 5 more sibilings.Unlike Renu's father Maloti's father had only one child.That is why she was married off later than the other girls of the family.

               Maloti sits in the varanda every afternoon,after lunch when there is nothing to do.She goes on with her thinking."What will people say if we don't marry off our own daughter at the right age? People will say Jabbar 'ghatak' could not find groom for his own daughter?!", Her chachi was saying.So, Maloti had to get married,it was when she was 17.Her husband,Shafiq was eighteen years older then her.He was like the typical typical illiterate husbands,Dominant in behaviour.But, Maloti became widow at the year end.'Apoya'-bad omen was her title at her in laws.She had to be back at her father's.

              Maloti watches the mayna uttering her name, "Maloti,Maloti,Maloti".Maloti engulfes herself in memories again as she plays with the bird.It has been 7 years, since she came back.The one big family was divided,all went apart with their portion of the family fortune and of course 'the house' was divided too.Maloti's father was gone.Her mother being dead at the moment of her birth,Maloti has no shoulder to cry upon now. Only a portion of the house and cultivable land was hers from her father.But she has to find a safe way to survive.The neighbours are talking about the legacy of Jabbar 'ghatak'. Maloti thinks on, she thinks of her father,of her childhood; she thinks on as she plays with the bird.

            Maloti found the way, the way of her survival, which she was searching for since her father's death.She will carry out the legacy;The legacy of her father. "So what if I 'm a woman ? I can gain the skills if I work hard".The muscles of her face tightens as she takes her decision.This used to happen to her father also whenever he had to be firm to anything.She got this from her father.

Reviews

[Shoeb Karim]

bhalo golpo
a bepar gulo jantam na j ghotokra purushanukrome ghotok hoy. kintu ghotok na hoea onno kichu hole mone hoy amar r o beshi bhalo laagto, ha ha ha...
jaay hok sheta to apnar golper shomossha na, ghotokder proti amar drishtibhongite shomossha.
golpota shotti e bhalo laaglo.