A day in Panu's life
Photo: luckypause.com
No one knows his real name; it's always 'Panu this' and 'Panu that.' It's a pretty terrible name, but you will never hear anyone call him anything except that, well at least to his face. You shouldn't be surprised, though: Panu is a very ordinary and insignificant man.
He is tall, thin and balding, always wears a grim, mutinous expression and he hardly ever smiles. However, on the rare occasions when he smiles, it's a horrendous picture. His mouth is shriveled up and resembles that of a donkey's. Panu likes wearing long, black trench coats and black caps. He thinks they make him look like a bideshi, a foreigner. Panu, you see, tries very hard to be like them.
It's a foggy Monday morning and Panu wakes up early in his little flat. He groans, remembering the conversation he had with his aunt earlier. His aunt and her husband are coming and they are bringing three other people to his house today. Panu isn't pleased at all. They are from Bangladesh, and there's nothing in the world that displeases him more. His wife, dwarfish in size, is more excited and restless than him. But both are deeply worried about the calamity of the situation. After all, Bangladeshis do not know manners, they do not know how to be clean, Panu and his wife talk amongst themselves, so what would happen to their clean little home now? Panu could hardly dare to imagine.
Panu can't eat much of his bread, butter and jam today. He likes his uncle and his aunt well enough. They are the only relatives who ever kept contact with him and, bonus point, they have been living abroad for nearly fifty years. It's the thought of the three other dratted people coming that is making Panu nauseous. One thing that saves Panu from anxiety is the fact that he can show-off all these dairy products that he bought from a nearby department store to the Bangladeshi guests. He's sure they have never seen them. Panu becomes a little happy at this thought.
Panu goes to his job today. He can't concentrate much on his boring job of punching some files and copies. He is going to pick them up later that evening. Panu goes shopping then and decides to buy cheap Bangladeshi ingredients. Oh, how long it had been since he had eaten something Bangladeshi, Panu thinks to himself, as he reminisces about the country where he almost never goes now.
Panu picks up the five guests. He isn't pleased at all by what he sees. So much luggage. He doesn't like the look of the children either. They are overweight, which according to Panu equals ugliness. Panu doesn't have children of his own, he knows nothing how on to treat them, and now standing in front of him are two who are not only Bangladeshis but are also overweight. Panu hates fat people; his hatred for them, according to his timid wife, escalates to what Hitler felt for Jews. Panu immediately decides to teach them a lesson.
Panu enters into a conversation with his aunt. And of course in no time, starts jabbering about his hatred for fat people. A year back, Panu rants, this relative of his came and, gosh, she was so fat that Panu couldn't stand the sight of her. Now he can't believe his bad luck again. Oh what would happen to all their food? Don't fat people have a tendency to steal, Panu wonders to himself. His anxious thoughts however get interrupted when he hears about the compliment of his own thin figure. Panu's ego inflates and he brags relentlessly I am a sportsman, if I don't run for a day, I feel like dying.
Panu's temper takes a turn for the worst once the guests enter his house. The guests need to be fed and he needs to preach to the fat kids. Panu tackles the daughter first. But Panu can't be a gracious host, he is always nasty and ill-mannered. Why is she just standing there instead of helping his wife out in the kitchen? I bet you do nothing at home but only sit around, Panu says, almost as if he didn't just meet her meet her for the first time now. But Panu doesn't care that they had an eight-hour train journey, it's a new place, he could've just asked nicely and everyone is tired. He doesn't seem to know that people aren't blind to their faults and there is something called a lack of space in Dhaka city. But Panu only sees what he chooses to. It's his house and the dictatorship belongs to him.
Panu doesn't stop there. He has to open his mouth at dinner as well. What? The son wants to study at America. Panu is incensed. He at once enters into a huge rampant about how America is possibly the world's most dangerous and inhumane place. He himself would never go to that place even though he apparently can. Why would anyone ever want to go there, Panu says continuously. He doesn't let anyone else talk either, after all his opinions are the only things that matter, don't they? After some time the son replies that some of the world's finest research institutions belong to America. But Panu doesn't get that and defies it boldly.
Panu busies himself showing at how nicely he can eat with a knife and fork. He tries to steer the conversation to his advantage, and he doesn't like it when his poor knowledge gets tested. Well, not to worry, Panu has a game up his sleeve. He decides to jabber about his hatred of Bangladesh, about how all the people there are corrupted, uneducated, thieves, burglars and glad he is that he has he's left it. He vows proudly that he'll never come back again. Panu is a little taken aback when the guests shot back at him for being such a hater towards one's country and uttering such negative and vile things. The guests claim he's being hypocritical; after all he hasn't done anything good by abandoning the country that provided with education and made him into who he is today. If Panu had a conscience he might have listened. But he doesn't, so he merely shrugs and tries to laugh it away.
When dinner is over, everyone is tired and wanting to go to bed. But not Panu, he wants to rant more. Finally he gets outvoted by majority who are dying to get away from him.
Panu shows the kids where they are going to sleep and He talks about how all Bangladeshi kids are spoon-fed and they grow up becoming nothing. Except himself, of course. He then leaves and sinks to his bed. He can't sleep for some time. After the guests are gone, he decides, he'll clean the whole house from scratch. That would get rid of any unwanted dust.
It's nearly after midnight that Panu manages to fall asleep.
Tomorrow, he knows, would be a hard day.
Samiha Matin writes fiction.
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