Mrs Nazma and Mr Joynul Ali live
in a small village with their daughters, Mitu
aged 7 and Nitu aged 5. Joynul is
a carpenter. He is hired by the villagers to make
chairs, tables, pira (low
stool) and other furniture. He is also asked to do small
repair work. But Joynul does not
find work every day. He lives from hand to
mouth.
Nazma does all the work at home
from morning to night, rain or shine. Sometimes
she sits with Mitu and Nitu, and
teaches them Bangla and English alphabets and some numbers. They do not go to
school. Nazma could study only up to class 5.
Joynul is illiterate.
did not favour him. He was
angry—angry with everybody. When he was back
home, Nazma failed to serve his
meal. That made him shout at Nazma.
“I had a severe headache and a
fever,” said Nazma.
Joynul was trembling in anger.
“The cooking is almost done. Wash your hands and feet. I’ll bring the food
soon,”
she said.
“Soon! It will take ages!” Joynul
shouted wildly.
“What do you do the whole day at
home? I work and earn money to run the
family. You can’t even cook my
meals in time!”
“I don’t earn money, but I also
run the family. I do all the work at home cooking,
cleaning, washing, husking,
taking care of the children- everything, said
Nazma.“Remember, you work for
money and my work in the home can make the
family stick together and make it
happy. So both types of work are equally
important.”
Never before has Joynul thought
about these things. He feels guilty. Never before
has he looked at Nazma with so much admiration and
gratitude.
Two sick men were given the same
room in a hospital. One man could sit up in his
bed for about an hour. His bed
was next to the room’s only window. The other
man spent all his time lying on
his bed opposite the window. The men talked for
hours almost every day. They
talked about their wives and children, their homes,
their jobs and almost about everything.
