PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

         Ismail is an eight-year-old street urchin. He hardly has any clothes to wear. Everyday he goes outside wearing age-old and torn short pants. His father was a notorious bandit who lost his life while escaping from prison.

After being born, Ismail knows of two worlds- one is his mother Jorina Bibi, and the outer, material world.

          Ismail feels extremely sad when he sees the children of his age rush towards the school with bags full of colourful and interesting books.

While they learn new things and know the world more and more, Ismail roams around with other street urchins near the train station in search of rubbish like thrown away plastic bottles, papers, etc.

          Instead of a school bag, Ismail always goes out with a huge sack every morning. He knows it well that his mother hardly has any income. Even though Jorina is ill for the last few days, she has to go to a nearby house to work as a maid-servant.

          The more rubbish Ismail can collect, the more money he can expect to get by selling them. In other words, his life depends on rubbish now. If there is no rubbish, there is no money!

Whenever Ismail happens to know about some boys’ leaving the village for Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, he also feels like leaving forever. But, when his ailing mother’s face appears before his eyes, he just stops thinking about that.

          Ismail has never been to Dhaka. Sometimes, some of his friends tell him stories related to the city. The stories are full of extravagance- Dhaka is like heaven, there are so many works to do, so many opportunities, people become rich soon and the like.

Hearing all these, Ismail becomes awfully excited; he also feels like going to Dhaka at least for a day.

          One day, while collecting rubbish, as usual, Ismail friend Jabed proposes him to go to Dhaka saying,

- Ismail, let’s go to Dhaka.

- You’ve got to be kidding!

- What’s wrong with that?

- I have to look after my mother. She is ill. Leaving her all alone, I can’t think of going anywhere.

- I’m not telling you to go for eternity. Actually, my maternal uncle Aslam lives there with his family. He told me to visit their house for two or three days. I think you can manage.

- Well, three days sound good to me. But, I’m not sure if mother’ll permit me or not.

- Try your best my friend!

- Ok, I’ll try my best.

- Let me know of your decision tomorrow. If you agree, then we can leave for Dhaka day after tomorrow.

- I’ll certainly let you know. See you tomorrow.

- Ok, bye.

- Bye.

          On that very day, Ismail talks to Jorina about Jabed’s proposal. Hearing this, she reacts as if the sky fell upon her head! She is of the view that there is scarcely any food to eat at home; at this stage, going to Dhaka will be nothing but a luxury.

However, Ismail ensures that he is not supposed to buy the tickets; Jabed will manage that. After he cajoles for a long time, Jorina agrees.

          Ismail and Jabed reach Dhaka safely. After Ismail gets off the train, he sees around curiously like a baby. There are numerous skyscrapers wherever the eyes reach.

Dhaka seems to be a new world for him! It goes without saying that he is extremely glad and excited!

          Jabed’s maternal uncle Aslam’s house is not that far from the station. They hire a rickshaw to reach the destination. While the puller pulls on, Ismail sees around being amazed! Jabed looks at him and smiles.

          Arriving at the destination, Ismail feels a bit tired. After having a bath, Ismail has lunch with others together and goes to Jabed’s room to take some rest. Due to fatigue, Ismail falls asleep.

He sees a nightmare. A huge giant with hundred heads is laughing before him like a mad man. Ismail cannot stand the acute noise created by the hundred heads together.

He keeps on crying “shut up, you fucking dog!” but the giant laughs louder than before!

At that very moment, Ismail starts falling down as if for eternity. He is falling down but there appears to be no end in his fall.

          Suddenly, a huge noise breaks his sleep. Ismail is sweating a lot. Jabed has just entered the room. Ismail asks him,

- What about that noise?

- Nothing.

- Please tell me, my friend.

- It was the sound of a bomb.

- BOMB!

- Yes, bomb.

- Why? Who is throwing bombs? At whom?

- It’s a long story dude!

- Tell me something.

- Not now, I’ll let you know later.

          The next morning, Jabed and Ismail go out to take a hike. Jabed takes Ismail to a field where a cricket match is going on.

Ismail loves cricket. He used to play cricket a lot back in the village. Even he never misses a match on TV.

          Jabed has gone to buy some chips. Ismail has not moved an inch from where he is. All of a sudden, a small tin bottle attracts his attention.

He thinks that there must be something vital inside since the bottle is not opened yet. He cannot resist the temptation of opening it up. Ismail endeavours to open it hard but fails.

He attempts to give another try; it is at that very moment when the bottle exploded causing the death of an innocent boy.

Hearing the noise of a bomb near the field, Jabed rushes to that place soon. He finds the blood-spattered body of Ismail lying on the chest of this huge planet called EARTH!