[Reminder: RAB = Notorious for crossfire. They don't hesitate to kill the criminals. They are also rumoured to have abused this power a lot. They are criticized by rights groups for its use of extrajudicial killings and are accused of forced disappearances, abductions of potential suspects. Their uniform is completely black.]
On the way back to the mess (dosshouse/cheap hostel) around eleven o'clock at night, I fell into the hands of the RAB.
A short man approached me. He does not have a black fest in his head. Eyeglass in the eyes. Perhaps, I am the first to see RAB wearing glasses. The eyes of the Rabs are good. No one wears glasses. They can see far with the naked eyes.
"Your name?"
"Sir, my name is Himu."
"What do you do?"
"Vendor. I ferry tea and coffee."
"What's in the flask?"
"An empty flask. There is a little coffee in the other flask. It's become cold. Would you like a cold coffee, sir? Half price."
"Open the flask and show what is inside the flask."
I showed. The flask had to be turned upside down. The coffee fell as soon as I turned the coffee flask upside down.
"What's in the bucket?"
"Water." I also showed water.
"What's in your armpit?"
"A book, sir."
"What book?'
"Terrorist book sir. Biography of a great terrorist. The terrorist's name is Genghis Khan. I don't know if you have heard the name."
"Let's see the book."
This man of the RAB (sounds like Officer judging by the way he is talking) carefully and thoroughly inspected the book.
"Whose book is this?"
"My cousin's daughter. The girl's name is Mitu. She reads in class eight at the Vikarunnesa school. Not a poor student. Sir, can I go now?"
"You will go with us."
"Why?"
The officer did not answer.
After a while I got into a RAB car. The car is almost flying. Going over the airport road. The traffic on the road is low. [Note: This country is the king of traffic jams, unsafe transportations and risky roads with little to no over-bridges or zebra crossings.]
Seeing the RAB car, it seems that others are making their way. No one even leaves the ambulance so fast with their "Po Po" sounds.
The RAB officer is sitting in the driver's side seat. Now he has black sunglass in his eyes. Black sunglass at nine o'clock at night means something on another level. I looked at the officer sir and said very politely, "Sir, won't you tie my eyes?"
No one answered. This seems to be the difference between the RAB and the police. The police talk too much. Rab is silent. They are workaholics. Believers of action.
Himu wears a yellow panjabi that does not have a pocket and lives a mostly nomadic life. He walks barefoot on the streets of Dhaka without a certain destination. Himu walks around with not much to do, barefoot, in a city that actively despises people like him. Never being able to hold down a job in his life, Himu does not quite fit into this city that celebrates obedience.
He does not have a job and, therefore, no source of income. He prefers the life of a beggar than that of a hard worker, often praising begging. However, Himu walks endlessly–using no form of transportation. The wanderer is decidedly eccentric and unorthodox in outlook.
He has a cult following for his spiritual power of predicting future events of anyone, including those of police officer, beggar, neighbor, relatives and tea stall proprietor. Most of the time he indifferently speaks unpleasant truth about the person with whom he talks.
Author: Humayun Ahmed (c)
Translator: Fenir Roy (Roy Nishan) (c)
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