Bonu

I was taking my 5-year-old niece to the park today and she asked me what we'd be doing.
'Accha amra park e ghurbo ar catch catch khelbo'(1) I said.
She gives me that gleeful giggle of her and asks, 'Ar aloo kabli khabona?'(2) She loves aloo kabli above all worldly pleasures.
'Sure little one'

Later once home, Nitu sat in my lap doodling an aloo kabli wallah while I was scrolling through my newsfeed. Up came a post about Asifa, some petition asking for justice. Nitu being the curious little tich is all, ‘Oma, bonu ta ki cute! (3) Who’s she?’

She goes back to her doodling when I don’t or rather can't answer.

And suddenly it comes crashing in at that moment. I realise that somewhere, someone had seen a little pari like my Nitu and he hadn’t thought about ‘park e ghora', 'catch catch khela’ or ‘ aloo kabli khawa’, instead he’d thought about ‘rape’, ‘hatred’ and ‘violence’. Humanity was getting bleaker by the day and...

‘Mani’, she says breaking me out of my reverie ‘kalke bonu ta ke khelte dakbo?’(4)

I release a breath I didn't realise I was holding. I can barely conceal a sigh as I give her a strangled reply, ‘Nitu, bonu ta ar khelbena.’(5)

Author’s note - This transpired after a chat with a friend of mine, Abhinaba Chakraborty. In fact, a part of the dialogue was directly copied from the conversation. Shoutout to him for being able to phase such intense emotions in such simple words.

Translations -

1.We’d  just bum about a bit and catch catch maybe?*Catch catch is an informal ball game hugely popular among kids in our area.

2. And aloo kabli? *Aloo kabli is a Bengali street food short of a spicy potato and chickpea salad.

3. That girl’s so cute! *The term ‘bonu’ is an affectionate play at the word ‘bon’ meaning sister in Bengali. It's common practice here for kids to refer to others their age as bhai or Bon, i.e. brother or sister.

4 Mani, we could ask her to join in tomorrow? She can join us! Can't she?

5.No, she can’t, Nitu. Not tomorrow. Not ever.