I feel shame while I see my Rohima working so very hard to run our family and I can’t do anything for her. I can’t even walk properly. Instead of helping her I have to sit all the time which makes me feel so ashamed. I saw many wives who left their disabled husbands but my wife never left me for a one single day. During the last four years we have never missed a single lunch together. She always comes back from her work to have lunch with me. Every day she brings betel leaves for me which I love to eat after lunch; she remembers every single thing I cherish. She always tells me “whatever the circumstances are, I will never leave you alone till my last breath”.
For the last four years I havn’t been able to even walk properly. I had a stroke and one side of my body became paralyzed. For the last few days I have been able to at least manage to go to the toilet myself. But before that my wife Rohima used to do every single thing for me. She is like an angel in my life who shields us from everything; little difficulties in our lives. Even this crutch was bought with her money.
She works as a maid in people’s houses and with that money she runs our family with 4 members. We have one son and one daughter. Our daughter Sonia studies in class one and keeps talking all the time. The first time I saw Rohima, she was selling vegetables in Kaoran bazar and I was a day laborer. She was wearing a red saree and she was looking beautiful; still I can remember those days. We used to drink tea from the same tea stall. Most of the times she never let me pay for my tea. We started liking each other and kept sharing every little thing that was happening in our lives. After one year I asked her to visit the National Children Park with me that same afternoon. I still remember it was a beautiful windy afternoon and she had bought a nice green coloured shirt for me that day; and then and there I proposed marriage to her. The next day we went to the local Kazi office and got married. For the last 12 years we have been together moving from one slum to another. - Nur islam 60