Unsteady Mind
Maria Akter Reshmi
Part – 1
(Please do not copy without permission)
Outside, a soft drizzle is falling, and the sky looks gloomy today. It feels like the sky is crying along with me. When I was little, my father left me and my mother. I am my mother's only treasure. My mother lost her parents when she was very young, so she grew up with her grandmother.
At the age of 20, when my mother got admitted to university, she met my father there. He was her senior and in his final year. My father's name was Shahzid Khan, and my mother's name was Shaheda Islam. They first saw each other on the university field. My mother was breathtakingly beautiful. My father liked her at first sight.
Days passed, and they started talking. Slowly, they fell in love. Meanwhile, my father finished his final exams. One day, he confessed his feelings to my mother, and she accepted. But although everyone in my father's family accepted their relationship, his father, Jahed Khan, did not. So, my parents eloped and got married.
Unsteady Mind
Maria Akter Reshmi
Part – 2
(Please do not copy without permission)
So, my parents got married by eloping. Around that time, my mother's grandmother also passed away. My parents built a small family together, and after one year, I was born. Somehow, their family life was going on.
But as people say, "When poverty knocks at the door, love flies out through the window." This proved true for my parents too.
When I was 7 years old, I saw my parents together for the last time near the High Court. When they got divorced, there was a discussion about who would keep me. But neither of them wanted to take me. Eventually, my mother, Shaheda Islam, left me behind and went away with another man.
I had nothing to do except stare helplessly. My father, unwillingly, took me back to our old house. After reaching home, he called someone—I didn't understand at first, but later I realized it was my grandfather, Jahed Khan. My father wanted to return to his father's house.
At that moment, my heart twisted in fear. I kept thinking—what if my father leaves me too? What will happen to me then?
And what I feared came true.
It was 10 PM at night. A big car stopped in front of our building, and my father left with it. He didn't even look back once. I stood on the balcony, watching. Tears filled my eyes, and I wanted to scream—
"What was my fault? Why did you leave me? Not even once did you look back at me."
I had heard that fathers are rich… maybe that's why he left in such a big car.
Will I never get the love of my parents?
Unsteady Mind
Maria Akter Reshmi
Part – 3
(Please do not copy without permission)
Will I ever get the love of my parents?
"Shaheda!!! Hey Shaheda!!!"
Oh, I didn't even introduce myself. My name is Shaheda. Do you know what it means? It means "witness." Maybe I was the witness of my parents' love—that's why they named me Shaheda Khan Shawda.
The one calling me now is my "Good Mother." After my father left, she came into my life. Understanding everything, she took me to her home. Since she had no children, she loved me like her own daughter.
My Good Mother, Sultana Begum, and her husband, Md. Iftekhar Uddin, were the owners of our entire building. She raised me like her own child, and now I live with her.
Whenever I remember the past, I feel like crying. So I hid my pain in the rain. If Good Mother finds out I was crying, she will surely scold me. She loves me deeply. The love I was supposed to receive from my own parents—I received it from her. And I must mention Good Father too—Md. Iftekhar Uddin.
The rain has stopped now. I should go—Good Mother is calling me. Otherwise, she will scold me, asking what I was doing upstairs for so long.
I walked out of my room and went toward the dining room. As soon as I reached—
Good Mother said in an angry tone:
Sultana: "Shaheda! Didn't I call you? What were you doing upstairs for so long?"
When she is angry, neither I nor Good Father dare to speak. I replied in a timid voice:
Shaheda: "It was raining… so I was sitting by the window."
She replied, still a bit angry but softer:
Sultana: "Hmm… if you catch a fever from that rain, you'll be in trouble. Anyway, your aunt is calling you. Go see why. Oh, and your cousin Ahim has come today. Go to your aunt's house.