A Letter From Hozai to My Younger Brother
A Letter From Hozai to My Younger Brother
A Letter From Hozai to My Younger Brother
Hozai, Nagaon
February 3, 1996
Dear Ibrahim
Some days have passed since I had been thinking of writing to you. Sorry that I could not get time and opportunity for writing a letter to you. As I have got some leisure time today, I am writing to inform you how I have been doing here at Hozai.
Forget not to take my love. Convey my respect to our parents. Hope that you are all well there at home. But how am I here? I am telling you, listen to:
On the last January 20, 1996, I along with Bellal, my friend started our journey to Jorhat. I had no special purpose for going there. But my friend Bellal told me, ‘There is a Junior College where the post of an English teacher has been laying vacant.’ I had a faint hope of getting it. But man proposes; God disposes. When we were mid-way, we come to know that there is no hope of getting the post of an English subject teacher; we were compelled to turn our course of travelling.
Already from a reliable source, we came to know that in a Higher Secondary school at Hozai, Nagaon the post of a teacher is laying vacant. Hence we turned our course of travelling and took the way to Hozai from Guwahati. It was 2.15 p.m. we got in an omnibus. I was on a fast for a religious cause. The bus kept on running at full speed. I felt tired and bored. The sad hour seems long. As time was passing, so much bored and tired I felt. When we passed halfway then suddenly one of the wheels of the bus got punctured. With this, our journey was delayed there for one and a half hours. The puncture happened in such a place where there were neither habitats nor any restaurants. The sun got its setting on the western horizon. I could not have any food to break my fast. When we got at Nagaon town it was 7.30 pm.
We searched for the bus to Hozai. But found none. The last bus to Hozai had left the bus stand fifteen minutes before we reached the town. Â Then we began to search for a hotel to stay the night. We were very hungry. My stomach was revolting like a soldier against his stubborn superior officer who is reluctant to grant him a leave. At last, after a search of half an hour, we got a hotel named Partha. There the hotel manager told us that there is no seats; all were booked already. Then we requested him to do us some favour so that we can spend the night. Eventually, he provided us with a private room with two-bed seats and we took that at seventy-five rupees each. A guard boy ushered us to the room on the third floor. After entering the room, we became glad to see the facility in the room. The thing which pleased me was that the room was very neat and clean. We asked whether there was a provision for food. But the boy told us that only tea might be served after an order. No other heavy food was available there. Then he provided us with a cup of hot tea. We drank eagerly and lay on the bed to sleep.
When I woke up it was 3.30 am, and the dawn was approaching quickly. There was a pack of biscuits with me and I ate it and decided to keep fast for the next day. After eating the biscuits, I went to bed and sleep again. In sleep, I dreamt a wonderful dream. At 7 o’clock, we left the hotel and got on a bus to Hozai. The bus took three hours to carry us to Hozai town. We were strangers in the town. We knew none and no one knew us. We only followed the direction of Mr. Mehbub, a friend of my friend Bellal. After reaching the town we went to a P.C. O. and made a phone call to Mehbub. On phone, he gave us a phone number and asked us to call the number. We did accordingly. After only 10 minutes a Maruti car came and stopped near the P.C.O. From the car a man about 50 got off and called us by our names. He told us that he was the man whom we phoned about ten minutes ago.
The gentleman carried us to his home. It seemed that he belonged to an aristocratic family. After our arrival, all the members- the wife of the gentleman with their three children came out of rooms and received us. It seemed that they were glad to have us in their house.
Going there, I became astonished that they had already known many things about me. Perhaps the Friend Mehbub had told about me to them beforehand. We talked for a while with the gentleman and after half an hour my friend Bellal left for Jorhat because he was a student at Jorhat Agriculture University.
Then I came to know that the name of the host of the house was Mr. Sahab. He was a big businessman dealing in sandalwood and fragrance.
They have provided me with a room in a nearby hotel. Now I am tutoring his three children: the elder one is in class V, second, a girl child is in class III and the third one a boy child is in class I.
Here I am spending my days well but I have found none to be a friend of mine. All seemed to be busy with their own business. Most inhabitants of the town are Muslims. There are some Bengali Hindus. The Muslims living in the town seem to be well-to-do.
The problem I have been facing here is that most inhabitants of the town speak in Sylheti Bangla which I hardly understand. Some educated people know good Assamese and I speak with them in Assamese instead of Bengali. Bengali is my favorite language. It does mean that Sylheti Bengali is a completely different language from standard Bengali but that they utter words so quickly that I cannot grasp them. I usually do not like people who speak so swiftly. So it seems harder for me to understand their language. I think after some days I would be able to understand their tongue.
There is a big Masjid in the centre of the town. The home of my host is near the masjid. Here to note that the residence of Mr. Ajmal, a reputed businessman and liberal humanitarian of Assam is only a kilometer away from the home where I have been staying.
There are many things to tell you about this place and its people. But let me leave them to tell you later on.
I wish you a happy day. Tell our parents that here I am searching for a job. If the opportunity offers, I may go home the next month to celebrate the Id-ul-fitre with you. Â No more today.
Yours Brother.
Menonim Menonimus
A Letter From Hozai to My Younger Brother
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N. B. The article ‘A Letter From Hozai to My Younger Brother’ originally belongs to the book ‘Articles on Contemporary Affairs‘ by Menonim Menonimus. A Letter From Hozai to My Younger Brother,
A Letter From Hozai to My Younger Brother,
A Letter From Hozai to My Younger Brother
A Letter From Hozai to My Younger Brother
Books of Composition by M. Menonimus:
- Advertisement Writing
- Amplification Writing
- Note Making
- Paragraph Writing
- Notice Writing
- Passage Comprehension
- The Art of Poster Writing
- The Art of Letter Writing
- Report Writing
- Story Writing
- Substance Writing
- School Essays Part-I
- School Essays Part-II
- School English Grammar Part-I
- School English Grammar Part-II..
Books on Literary Criticism by M. Menonimus:
- World Short Story Criticism
- World Poetry Criticism
- World Drama Criticism
- World Novel Criticism
- World Essay Criticism
- Indian English Poetry Criticism
- Indian English Poets and Poetry Chief Features
- Emily Dickinson’s Poetry-A Thematic Study
- Walt Whitman’s Poetry-A Thematic Study
- Critical Essays on English Poetry
- Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel: Return of the Spirit-An Analytical Study
- Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel: ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Arayaf’-An Analytical Study
- Analytical Studies of Some Arabic Short Stories
- A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Pre-Islamic Period (500 AD-622 AD)
- A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Early Islamic Period (622 AD-661 AD) …
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