Kishwar Jehan looked frail in her tattered cotton saree. The way she spoke, her small concerns and her feminine emotions reminded one of old Bengali characters described in Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's novels. She was just a poor Bengali mother coping with an enormous tragedy.
This is her account of her son's love story:
"I was born in Kolkata. My son Rizwan and his father were also born here.
We are living in this 7-B, Tilajala Lane, chawl for many decades. I have three children, my eldest is Rukbanur, then a daughter and Rizwan was the youngest.
Rukwan works with a Godrej dealer. Rizwan was born in this house. When he was 3-4 years old, we admitted him to the Auxilium convent school and then in St Lawrence, where he completed his schooling. He got his degree from St Xavier's college. My husband Rezaur Rehman was working with Braithwaite India, which makes wagons for the railways. He died two years back. We were able to give good education to children out of his salary.
Rizwan was always a quiet boy and he loved to draw. He was also a designer and he used to paint his own T-shirts. He could make friends because he was good at heart.
What do I say about his likes and dislikes? He wanted that his mother should always live with him. He was 30 years old but was not ready to marry because he was so attached to me. He loved his family. He loved his brother's two children like mad. Even a day before he died, he went to meet them and played with them.
In his college days, Rizwan had a friend named Pampi who was living in the Salt Lake area. However, she was just a friend. I think Priyanka was his first girlfriend. I am told that Priyanka was his student at Arena Multimedia where he was working as a teacher. We heard that one year back they met at Arena.
However, I came to know to know about their relationship when he brought Priyanka home about two-three months back. When he brought her home once or twice, I asked him who this girl is. He said that she is studying with him.
I liked her very much. She was a nice girl. She always wore jeans and a casual top. She caressed my hands and told me to take medicines regularly. She would not drink tea but ate chips and had juice when she came.
As a mother, I was happy because I thought my son never wanted to marry. His brother, his uncles and I were telling him all the time to get married but he would not listen. He would say that girls in today's society do not allow husbands to stay with the mother. He told me he could not live without me.
I used to explain to him that wherever you live I will be happy if you occasionally come and see me. I wanted him to be happy. If he saw me regularly it would have been more than enough for me. I gave example of his elder brother who is living separately but looks after me very well. Priyanka and Rizwan never told us about their plan to marry.
Image: Kishwar Jehan, Rizwan's mother.
Also read: The Rizwanur Rahman Blog
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