Shahmika Agoon:
It is 1939. Today my grandma’s aunt is killed in an innovative way. It’s done by her husband in front of the whole village. She must have done a serious crime for him to do such thing! It is A very hot sunny day, 42 •C! She has been busy cooking, not for her or the family, but for 40 labourers who are busy working for them. She is rushing because they all are coming to have their meal at 1.30 pm just after the Namaz ( prayers). She is cooking like 100 kg rice, Mash kolay daal ( Lentil) , vegetables. So many people to feed. Everything is cooked and her proud husband is happy to serve. Alas!!! What can he see!!! A tail!!! A tail of a lizard is floating on the 10 litter of Daal. What!!! He is known to be a renowned angry man! He can’t take this nonsense! So He called his wife and demanded her to explain. But she doesn’t know how this has happened! In Bangladesh we have special lizard which walk around on the wall and throw its tail in anywhere at anytime from its body. This lizard deleted its tail in the lentil pan. When! Nobody knows!
My relative lady is so panic that her yellow bright skin tone turned to pale! She is shaking! Husband is roaring like a tiger! Husband feels embarrassed in front of his labourers. So he needs to punish his wife to show his macho. He ordered her to drink all of the lentil. All of the village ladies got scared and shocked! Husband took a stick. My relative lady has no choice but to drink the lentil or get beaten by her husband. In fact she was getting both. That day before the sun set she passed away in front of the whole villagers by drinking litters after litters of lentil soup and beaten by harsh stick by her beloved husband! May be she was feeling sad may be she was feeling insulted! May be she was trying to say something !
Who cares how she felt or thought! She has got her punishment! She is a weak woman and died it’s also her fault. Husband wasn’t got punished and he then very soon got married and started a new life. Her parents heard the story and felt ashamed of the useless daughter who was so careless that let the lizard dropped its tail inside the lentil! Nobody even blamed the husband. On that day she was abused in front of everybody and her soul departed from her with lot of insults! Nobody even thought that what her husband did to her is a criminal offence. Domestic violence!
Many years have been passed away. We are in the 2020’s now. We are enjoying our rights as women. Because many many many women or even men worked really really hard to establish women’s right. Women only allowed to be voted from 1920. Before they were not even counted as citizens. So now when on the women’s day a lot of women say we don’t need any women’s day, we are just human, I feel pity for them. Women’s day is not for you to dress up in your most sexiest cloths and present yourself in a sexy pretty lady lady lady look in front of men, this day is to look back and acknowledge that how far you come along now! This day is to look back and see all the rape cases and how many of these ladies got verdict! This day is for you to look back between the past and now moment and to realise that you are still treated like a Donkey. I am a woman, I need women’s day.
Taken from the writer’s Facebook Timeline.