Written for ArtoonsInn  for a 250-word Flash Fiction prompt (August, 2024) – Write a story that happens in your MC’s life on 14 and 15 August, 1947.

 

Munshiganj (modern Bangladesh), 14 August, 1947

An acrid smell hit her nostrils as she tiptoed out of her hut. The hutments and paddy fields torched two days ago, still reeked of smoke. Under the moonless sky, Jomuna bid goodbye to what had been ‘home’ until Bimal, her husband of eight months, fell prey to religious hate. The perpetrator was Rashid, his childhood friend, more like family.

The country was being partitioned. Munshiganj, famous for its Hindu-Muslim camaraderie, now epitomised communal violence. People fled homes. Or got slain. Tonight, a steamer was secretly leaving for Calcutta, ‘the land of opportunities’, carrying a few Hindu families. Tomorrow onwards, they would face border restrictions. Jomuna seized this rare chance to recalibrate her life.

As she hurried along the narrow path leading to River Meghna, she sensed some movement among the flanking vegetation.

Peering closely, she spotted an adolescent boy trembling among the long, susurrating kaash.

“Karim?!” Jomuna, flabbergasted, addressed Rashid’s brother.

“Jomuna Apu, you…here?” Karim cried. “They killed Amma-Abba. Bhai is on a murderous spree. Please get me out of here!” Now, he sobbed inconsolably.

Jomuna’s mind was in a flurry. Why would she save the kin of her husband’s assassin?

But then, what was Karim’s fault here?

Eventually, she took a call. Clutching Karim’s hand, she reached the boat. To her co-passengers, he was Ramen, her cousin.

The steamer sailed. As dawn broke, it touched the banks of the Hooghly in Calcutta. Jomuna inhaled the crisp morning air…it smelt of freedom, and fresh beginnings.

Glossary

Apu – elder sister in East Bengal dialect

Kaash – a long-stemmed, thick reed usually found near water bodies in the Bengal plains

(Story only – 250 words)

Image courtesy: my personal album