PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

                Jabed has been living with his wife Suhela and two sons Jayed and Jummon at Ukhia in Cox’s Bazar. Jabed is a day labourer and hardly earns anything. As a result, poverty is constantly there in the family like the presence of a stubborn spirit!

            Due to the lack o money, Jayed and Jummon are not sent to the school even though Suhela’s dream is to make them educated. Jabed does not know how to overcome financial constraints. Besides, the thought of returning a certain amount of money to the respective persons is paining him as if he were poked by a pin!

            One day, Jabed goes near the Rezu canal only to stay there for a while. This canal has been flowing from the mountain of Bandarban and it falls into the Bay of Bengal. The canal acts as a divider between Ukhia and Ramu. Rezu canal was much famous earlier for the presence of the appetising fish. 

All of a sudden, Jabed notices that there are a few trawlers on the bank. Indeed, those trawlers are empty. But, within a few minutes, people from various directions begin to appear and get on the trawlers soon.

            Jabed is taken aback! He does not understand where all those people are going! Among the passengers, there are people of all ages including females and children. Jabed does not move whatsoever. He decides to follow the direction of those trawlers.

            When all the trawlers leave the bank, Jabed sees that three persons are walking towards the village market. He has seen them managing everything on the trawlers. Now, Jabed thinks that perhaps those three persons are helping the passengers in getting lucrative jobs. 

            Jabed follows them like an F.B.I. officer! From the distance, he observes that those three men have sat on the bench of a tea stall and ordered something. Gaining courage, Jabed approaches, and stands in front of them. One of them asks,

- Hey! What do you want?

- My name is Jabed. I need to talk to you.

- Does anyone of us know you?

- No, but I need to know something from you, please.

- Go off now or else…

- Please, sir, please!

- Khaled, go, and see what he wants! 

            Now, Jabed knows at least the name of one of them. Khaled accompanies him to the nearby banyan tree. The tea stall can clearly be seen from there. Khaled asks immediately,

- What do you want to know?

- Sir, I’m a very poor man.

- Okay, now I understand that you need some money huh!

- No, no, sir, not at all. You misunderstand me. Actually, I am badly in need of work somewhere.

- Who told you that I can manage work for you?

- No one did sir. But, I have seen a few minutes ago that you were sending a lot of people on the trawlers somewhere.

- Hmm! Do you think that they’re going with the intention of jobs?

- Yes sir!

- Are you married?

- Yes, I’m. I have two sons also.

- Ok, I can manage an excellent job for you but you have to pay me one lakh taka.

- One lakh!

- Yes, you’ve heard it right.

- Sir, please have mercy on me. I’m just a poor guy. I hardly own anything. My sons have been starving for days.

- Hmm! I understand your condition. Ok then, for you I can consider a bit. You must bring fifty thousand taka as soon as possible. Once I receive the money, it means that you’ve got your job. It’s guaranteed!

- Fifty thousand taka is still a huge amount for me to pay sir. However, may I please know about the job sir?

- You’ll be informed about everything. At first, the amount must be paid soon.

- Where can I meet you next, sir?

- This is my card. When the amount is ready, you can call me. Bye.

- Thank you so much, sir! You’re an angel sir! May Allah bless you. Goodbye sir!

            Jabed is so happy now. He rushes to his house. Suhela is in the kitchen. She is sweating due to the heat generated from the furnace. The family cannot afford gas to cook food because of poverty.

            Jabed calls Suhela aloud. She comes to the yard soon. He takes Suhela aside to inform her about the job opportunity privately. Suhela has heard everything like an obedient child. But, after Jabed has finished talking, she has decided to break her silence. She tells him that she is rather suspicious about that. Perhaps, he is going to be a victim; perhaps, those people are none but frauds.

            However, Jabed is not going to pay heed to Suhela’s words. He is sort of hypnotic now. As an addicted person does not recognise anything else except drugs, similarly, Khaled’s words are affecting him as drugs!

            When Suhela tells Jabed that there is hardly any food left in the house let alone the mentioned amount- fifty thousand taka! Jabed convinces her by saying that he will borrow certain amount from respective persons. At least, he will try his best to collect the amount as soon as possible. Besides, if the job is secured, then the amount can easily be paid back within a month.

            After trying hard in the next seven days, Jabed has managed to collect a certain amount. His joy knows no bounds; as a boy catches the string of a flying kite after running hard and shouts in joy being victorious, similarly, Jabed wishes to shout loudly to let the world know that his dream is going to come true soon!

            Jabed takes the card given to him by Khaled. He calls him and lets him know that the money is collected. Khaled tells Jabed to meet him at 5 p.m. in the afternoon at the same tea stall where they met for the first time.

            Jabed reaches the place at 4:30 p.m. He does not want to be late. At 5 p.m. sharp, Khaled approaches the stall alone on a bike. Jabed hands over the amount to him. Khaled checks the amount and finds everything ok. Khaled tells him to come to the bank of the Rezu canal at 3 p.m. sharp tomorrow.

            Before Jabed can say anything more, Khaled starts the bike and leaves the place quickly like a train leaving its station! Nevertheless, Jabed goes back to the house with a contented heart. He feels like being the happiest person alive on the surface of the earth!

            Jabed informs everything to Suhela. He further tells her to prepare his bag in time. Suhela wants to know for how many days he is going to be away from home and where exactly he is heading. But, Jabed says that Khaled has not told anything about that and it must be confidential. Anyway, he tells her that he will be able to know everything tomorrow. Jabed assures her not to worry by saying that he has the cell phone with him. He can talk to her anytime he wants to; nothing to panic about.     

            Bidding goodbye to the wife and loving sons, Jabed chants Allah’s name and leaves home. When he reaches the bank of the Rezu canal, he notices that there are so many people waiting near the trawlers. He sits under a tree and starts searching for Khaled. Fortunately, he sees him on a trawler. He rushes towards him shouting ‘Khaled bro!’

            Khaled looks at Jabed and tells him to wait for a few minutes. He will be called when all the trawlers are ready. Jabed goes back to his place. He still does not know anything about the destination. He notices that a man of almost forty-five years old is sitting nearby; he goes closer to him and asks him if he knows where the trawlers will lead them to; but like Jabed, the man himself is in the darkness that means he does not know either!

            However, the trawlers are ready. All the passengers are aboard. Jabed makes a phone call; Suhela cannot say even a word to him; she is crying on and on. Jabed gets emotional as well. Before he cuts the call, Suhela says, “take care”.

            Khaled is near the bank now with some of his companions. He asks the managers on the trawlers whether all the sacks are aboard or not. Actually, ‘sack’ is a code word. It refers to a person.

            The trawlers leave the bank; Jabed looks around; he is surprised by the beauty of nature. The sun is about to set and the moon has to perform its task properly. There is no room for snail-like laziness in nature. Some naughty boys are jumping in the river from the trees and doing it over and over again! A few village women are washing clothes; some fishermen are busy catching fish. All of a sudden, Jabed feels that we all are ever catching something on earth and letting it go later. The fishermen catch fish and sell them in the market. The ownership of the fish changes! The money that was in someone else’s ownership becomes the fisherman’s thing only for a few moments as it will be handed over to someone else later on!

            Jabed is on the move to catch his dream. He does believe that he will be able to be successful as he has firm faith in Allah and he also believes other men.

            All the trawlers have stopped near a gigantic ship. Every passenger is taken to that ship. Jabed does not understand what exactly is going on. The ship moves on. After a few days’ journey, a police patrol boat is seen appearing. Before it reaches the ship, the managers and other companions leave the ship quickly through the emergency speedboats.                 

            In the meantime, Jabed and other passengers have realised that they have become the victims at the hands of the human traffickers. Jabed is extremely terrified now. He takes his phone to call but the charge of the battery is empty.

            Obviously, all the passengers are seized with panic. The ship is neither going forward nor backward; it is anchored in the middle of the ocean. The police have announced through the mic that they are from Malaysia.

            The misery of the passengers is beyond description. There is neither food nor water for them to drink. As a result, they are losing energy and after a few days, they look like skeletons! The Malaysian government has refused to provide them shelter. If the passengers are not given proper treatment, then all of them will die soon.

            A few of the children have already passed away. This event of human trafficking has attracted media attention worldwide. Most of the influential countries are trying their best to find a solution. Even the Bangladeshi government is leaving no stone unturned to protect thousands of human lives.

            Jabed feels extremely hungry and decides to eat a piece of bread that Suhela prepared for him. As soon as he goes on to bite the bread, a man grabs it like a fierce tiger as if it belonged to him! Jabed orders him to leave it since it belongs to him. But, that man is trying to snatch it away from Jabed to ease his own hunger. Due to the violent clash, Jabed falls down in the seawater. 

            All the passengers watch for Jabed but he is gone! The generous sea has embraced him as a mother embraces her child. The cycle of catching and leaving continues. Jabed has fallen from the ship and is caught by the sea. His physical voyage has come to an end. Now, it is the beginning of his spiritual journey…