I also sat down. Any story told by Dadu is priceless to me. Then Dadu tells the love story Yavan will surely have a different taste or flavor to the story.
"Hurry up!" I looked like a child.
"Say, Dad!" Dadu smiled. Then he started, "I understood about that British period when I was a teenagerDad runs after money day and night, I run after football. Father had a passion to see his country independent! So when my father retired, he would go to the Swadeshi Committee. Because of this, father and mother used to fight a lot. I just played without paying attention. I used to run from one field to another field only with the ball. One such day Elena talked to me."
"Elena?" I make a little break in the middle of the story.
"Yes, Elena D'Souza. She was the daughter of a senior police officer. There was a big pen house in what is now Sadan Abhinyu. Next to it was a sports shop. The club I played for bought all their sports equipment from there. I saw Elena there for the first time. He got down from a horse carriage. There were some other girls with her. I thought, there is no need to worry now freedom is coming. Such opulence can never exist in a subjugated country." Grandfather paused and said, 'I noticed that Elena does not come to that pen house every day. She comes once a weekI left all the work and stood there that day. Elena never looked up at me. He didn't look at me. I used to get angry. Why don't you look at me? I am doing so much for him? Why don't you look at me? Why so much neglect of me? I still stood there to bear that neglect.
"Then one day suddenly Elena spoke to me. In that Southern Abhinay, nine in the average field. We had a match that day. we won I alone scored two goals that day. Habuda, the secretary of the club, happily gave me one. When I was thinking about what to do with that one, Elena came and stood in front of me. I was shocked and speechless for a while. Whose little look or no-look depends on my life and death, he comes and talks to me!
Elina said in her half English and half Bengali, 'I really like your game. I am Elena. May I know your name?"
"My throat was dry! This is water with lightning without looking for clouds! I learned this handshake by then. I shook Elena's extended hand and said, 'I am Sanjay.' Elina smiled a million taka smile and said, 'It's a cute name.' I didn't know what to say. Seeing Elena's smile makes me feel bad. What else can be said after that. Elina said, 'Nice to meet you.' Then he left again as he had come. I saw Elena going back. The Princess of Smile.
"That was the beginning of our friendship. After that, when he saw me in front of Pen House, he would not lower his face. He would smileAnd I kept that smile in my mind. I used to remember that on the days when I didn't see her. And I thought I was still holding his hand.
"But the time was not suitable for love. The trouble was increasing gradually. The news was about the movement of the natives. Father returned after being shot one day. You knowFather bled a lot. But there was no major damage as the bullet hit the leg. Parents often forbade themselves to involve themselves in these things. Father did not listen to mother. He said that blood should be shed for freedom. Our financial situation was not good then. When my father was shot and became bedridden, the responsibility of running the family fell on my shoulders. I was not yet twenty. Who will work for that one boy? I ended up finding a strange job after a lot of searching. My job was to drop off the revolutionaries' letters. Work is not evil. He was also giving money. But I didn't tell my mother about that work either. If mother knew, she would never have allowed him to do that. I was going to Tenetun with my earnings but father started trouble again. Dad's leg injury had healed a lot by then. Walking a little bit.
(continued)
