আমি জানি এলেখা হয়তো কেউ পড়বেন না। কারন বাংলা ব্লগে ইংরেজী লেখা কেউ পরেন না। এই লেখা বাংলায় লেখার মতন ভাষা আমার জানা নেই। এ জন্য আশাকরি কেউ ভুল বুঝবেন না।

আমার অন্য ইংলিশ লেখা
English Blog

A chilly wind hit my face, as I shut the door and walked towards the car park exit. I saw an old man sanding by the sliding glass door trying to read the information about the Gallery and Library opening hours written on the door.

“Good morning sir” I said and slowly walked to the door. “Isn’t it a lovely morning?” he replied, “Certainly is” I agreed then rushed upstairs to the Art Gallery where A new face is sitting behind the information/office desk.

I looked at my new partner…. Well actually she is not new, rather I am the new one! I haven’t had a shift to work with her yet. I started, “Hello, Morning! I am Disha, I will be working with you this morning”. She smiled and looked at me. I realized Nina had already told her about me, “ Yeah you are Nisha right?” I spelled my name “D I S H A” and smiled back. She told me her name as well but I couldn’t figure out what exactly was that. I asked again and didn’t understand second time either L. I decided not to ask again so as not to offend her, hoping I would catch it later, maybe written down somewhere in roster.

I started working at the Art Gallery recently, I think almost one month now. We work two people in a shift, twice in a week and two shifts in a day. So I haven’t met all the people that work here yet.

I settled down at my desk doing the usual start up procedure I do every time.
“So which part of the world are you coming from?” my new colleague asked.
I smiled, “Bangladesh”.
“Did you move from Bangladesh to Brisbane?”

No, we were living Singapore before coming to Brisbane I replied,
She is not alone in thinking that I do not look like I come from Bangladesh, but she seems more convinced than before now. She told me she is Originally from Germany.

I had to do some work in the storeroom for the new Exhibition coming up in two weeks. When I came back to my desk I had to fill up one of those roster papers where I needed her name to write down. So I asked the spelling of her name. She told me, ”You know Bangalore? My name is very similar to Bangalore its ‘Ingelore’ “ She wrote it down on a piece of paper. So now I knew her name so that I can at least call her

She told me that she moved from Germany to Australia 46 years ago, she is more Australian than a German. I was amazed when she started telling me the history of my country. She recalled the history of India and Pakistan then the liberation war of Bangladesh and how my country came to be. I was so surprised, very few people I have met in my life have any knowledge of my country let alone know it's history! I was becoming more interested in my new friend.

In her 40th year her husband divorced her because she was unable to give birth. After that He remarried and had two children. Ingelore adopted a baby girl to fulfill her wish to be a mother when she was 36 and never married again.

The real mother of that baby girl was 17 at the time when she adopted her. The baby was not healthy, She fed her, took care of her, and nurtured her, Educated and Loved her more than her own mother. So She was and still is her mother! Or better to say more than a mother.

When the child grew up and became 17 she got to know her own mother from her birth certificate. Her mind changed. She started falling in love with her unknown own mother who left her after she was born. She realized her adoptive mother Ingelore is 19 years older than her real mother and she looked at it negatively. She started judging everything, criticizing and becoming bitter towards Ingelore, she looked towards her real mother more and more.

The girl wanted to leave school when she was 12 but Ingelore she forbid it. The point Ingelore showed her that was – “You earned distinctions and credits in all your subjects so there is only way out of this situation, and that is to continuing study and no looking back ”.

After her discovery about her own mother not only did she change but finally she left home. She married and separated within a few years, never divorced. They meet each other in two fixed places some times when they can tolerate each other. When they can’t take each other’s presence any more they go back to their own place.

She doesn’t talk to her mother Ingelore any more and has not seen her for some time either. Ingelore said, “ I am happy with that, it’s her life so I will let her do what makes her happy”. Ingelore didn’t say that she misses her, she told me she checks her facebook and watches regularly what she is up to. She is now a lecturer in a university here and doing some art and museum related researches. She likes Art and museum related things same as Ingelore, which she picked up from her.

I saw a mother! I saw the love for a child and pain in Ingelore’s eyes. Ingelore tried to hold her back but her “Own mother’s” zero memory took her far away form her mother Ingelore, who took all the pain and trouble to raise and love her.

Ingelore has a weak and small lung. She has breathing problem because of that. When she first went to see doctor's they said, “ Madam you have to stop smoking for sure!” She replied, “I am sad to say, but I can’t”. The Doctor's explained, “You have a very bad lung it’s risky for you to smoke, you must quit smoking for you own good” She replied, “Doctor I do not smoke and have never smoked so how can I quit smoking?” Ha ha ha fair enough!!

So this is Ingelore, - a funny jolly red faced German woman, blond hair and eyelashes with a little bearded chin. She has diabetics, epilepsy and some another neurological problem as well. As a side effect of her taking so much medication for her health problems she has gained too much weight. Because of her weak lung She is always out of breath as well, even if she is walking slowly. Her driving license was revoked a few years back; the reason is her epilepsy, she use public transport now to travel everywhere. Losing her license made her feel older and frustrated though I couldn’t see any sadness or frustration in her appearance. But I could feel…I could feel it in my heart, in my brain. She doesn’t have to show it or tell me. I could see it in her smile, in her eyelashes…on her cheeks. I swam inside her blood, vain and brain. My heartbreaks!

Jane Webstar and another lady came in next shift to take over the job. We said goodbye to each other and left. I wanted to go to the jetty shops, so I decided to walk there instead of drive just a short five-minute walk from the gallery. I left the car at the gallery parking lot and took a slow walk. I walked to the shops to find something for my son. His birthday is coming soon. I wanted to look around a little before I picked anything for him. I saw a few things and some idea's came to me, and I grabbed a pack of cookies for home. Just as I was about to pay I heard someone next to me saying, “Hello stranger”!!

I looked over my left shoulder and found Ingelore. She had a pack of cookie also, I waited for her to pay and come out of the shop even though she said bye to me. We started walking next to each other. She said she was going to take a bus from the jetty to Margrate post office. As we were walking back to the car park I thought Margrate post office is on my way back home so I offered her a lift to which she happily agreed. We continued to walk back to the gallery car park at my usual slow pace when I suddenly realized Ingelore was out of breath, I could hear her lung wheezing and she sounded like she was suffocating and not having enough oxygen. I was so ashamed of my ignorance about her health and hated myself for not remembering what she said about her lung earlier. I slowed down. It’s just literally a five-minute walk from the jetty to the gallery car park but we took more than 15 min to get there. We walked very slowly. I tried to walk slower than her to make her feel comfortable and relaxed so that she didn't worry too much about keeping up with me. “Take it easy Ingelore, we are not rushing to go anywhere” she wasn’t listening to me, she was trying hard to walk fast so as not to make me feel like I had to slow down for her. I felt really bad about myself.
Finally she made it to the car park but in these few moments I was really worried about her, thinking if she suffers an epilepsy attack now or she faints just because I didn’t notice early enough to walk slower. But I thought if she does then at least I am there with her to take care of her. I wonder what she does when she is alone at home or somewhere out there where nobody is with her.

She had to struggle a bit more to get in to the car as well. She is a big lady. Our wrangler looked too small for her where I am like a Lilliput in the driving seat. Finally she made it. I dropped her at the post office and reminded her to take care of herself. Other than saying that, what else can I do? Even if I want to do anything she won’t let me. She said goodbye to me with thanks.

One day we will all be in the same situation and will face the same sort of life. How helpless we feel when we grow old. How dependent we are forced to be at that period of our life. But there is no solution of this natural life cycle. We all will get there slowly… but as sure as the sunshine’s we will get there.