গল্পেসল্পে কিছুক্ষণ: (Tea Time Stories)

A fictional prose tale of no specified length, but too short to be published as a volume on its own" - Definition by Chris Baldick in The Oxford dictionary of Literary Terms.

The most emotionally touching yet successful short story writer is Rabindranath Tagore. He's referred as the father of the Bengali short stories.

Golpesolpe kicchukhon or Tea time stories is a collection of twelve short stories. These stories mostly described and portrayed my memories and some of the ever lasting experiences that I carried from the very beginning of my childhood. The values, culture that I made of & etiquettes taught by my preceptors will be seen here as an underlying message.

From the beginning of the book where a son met his mother tells us how caring our mums are! Even she's lying sick on her bed but never forgot to ask whether her son had his food or what actually he ate. The famous anatomist B.D.Chaurasia mentioned in his human anatomy book - "Since God can't be everywhere in person. He created mums. We thrive in the planet Earth because of these angle mums"

Third one is a recalling of a huge Bengali cultural and religious celebration - Durga Puja! How sweet was the childhood days of the past were when there's not much rush or people weren't used to stay busy in their smartphones. An old traditional celebration held in his aunt's house and a part & parcel of Bengali culture described here in a story.

Next we moved towards the social issues of the society. The most ruthless and common form is child labour! An author's view of seeing it very closely and on daily basis. Also this is the only story of the book which is dedicated to late Resma Nahar Ratna who's an inspiration for creating this story. She passed away too early leaving behind her amazing legacy of leadership and fighting against irregularities of the society.

The most glorious part of the author's country is the victory in 1971 against Pakistan. It's a memory of his fathers family's escape from Bangladesh to the refugee camps in India. Any journey talks that about the borderline of life and death will surely give goosebumps to the fellow readers.

Moving towards the eight story. It's completely different from other stories of this book as it's a combination of three mini stories which get compiled into a single story. A thief, a trained & pet dog and finally a pair of winter gloves. Sounds interesting! Isn't it

Ninth one is a memory recalling of the writer's little niece - Megh arohi whom he met only once! Her presence was unique because of her innocent thoughts and sweetness.

Eleventh one is a special one in the sense of a single mother spends her time without her children in a country where she all alone. The dream a mother always nurtures and carries all her life to see her sons and grandsons playing and rising around her sometimes get shattered by reality!

Last but not the least, it's a revamp of the very first story written in 2005. A trip to the hill areas of Chittagong - Bandarban forest & it's amazing scenic beauty.

Enjoy reading!

(c)Atanu