Noapara is a small peaceful and tranquil village in the district of Chittagong in Bangladesh. River Karnafuli flows by the village by not more than half a mile from the village. Karnafuli becomes ferocious in the rainy season when the mountains are drenched with torrential rain. It is a beautiful and entertaining show of floating dead bodies of animals and tree branches uprooted from the mountain. It provides a harmless entertaining view for the village children, who rush to the river to watch the panorama of natural water flow and the flowing objects. Viewers also include people of all ages.

Karnafuli lies within a 10-minute walk from my home. At times of high tide, children, including me, run to watch the very high-speed flow of the river. Most people consider it a gift from Mother Nature.

When I became a high schooler, the horizon of my perception became much wider. The nearest high school is two train stations away from my home. So the boy-and-girl high schoolers of my village had to commute like me. However, kids’ mothers are very concerned about their children’s safety. I was the senior-most high schooler. So, some of my nearest neighbors gave me the responsibility for the safety of their kids. To facilitate my job I used to maintain a roster of kids’ names.

School hours are 9 to 4. I used to ask the boys and girls to gather at a designated place both before and after school. But high schoolers are not easily controllable, especially after school hours. They love to go to the Karnafuli shore to view the spectacles of the ferocious river.

Once at the name-call time in the afternoon, two girls were missing. When I asked the remaining kids, they looked at each other. So I open the list of names. It was revealed that Narcin and Ruma were missing. Right away, it occurred to me that the duo used to be together all the time and inseparable.

Even after dark, Narcin and Ruma did not return to their homes. I was in shock. Their parents asked me for an explanation.

Being paranoid, I called the police hoping they will be of help. Even though they immediately responded and started the search, they came back empty-handed. I urged them to focus on the bad elements they routinely encounter. The parents and I spent the night at the police station hoping they will find the girls.

Two policemen went out in search of the group of miscreants they know of. This group was nowhere to be found. Knowing the missing kids are high schoolers, the police then started searching the shores of Karnafuli. But nothing turned up during the whole night.

In the wee hours of the night, the Police again started their search. To their surprise, they noticed that the two girls were crawling uphills of Karnafuli towards the shore. Police brought them to the Police Station. After a long interrogation, the girls told the Police that a group of boys forced them down to their canoe, tied their hands, blindfolded them, and sailed far away.

While speaking they broke down and started crying; could not answer any further questions from the Police.

Police evaluated the situation and came to the conclusion that the girls are not really at fault. What happened to them is because of the miscreants whom the Police force could not keep under control and punish. The Police knew very well that these miscreants are criminals terrorizing villagers and urban citizens. The girls and the parents are the victims and carry a life-long stigma. The parents and neighbors took it for granted that their girls have been molested by the miscreants.

The parents came down to the girls denigrating them with inhumanly harsh language.

The girls could not understand why their parents became so rude and un-loving. Facing this intolerable situation, the girls ran away from their homes. Parents did not even look for them.

The girls desperately tried to find jobs. But their names have already been painted so badly with black ink in the community that they were not acceptable in any corner of the village and town. They were roaming here and there aimlessly.

At nightfall, several agents of a brothel apprehended them and forcefully took them to a brothel. The news spread like a bonfire throughout the village.

The two innocent girls were ostracized by the society for the rest of their lives.

The End