Shadowy God  by poet Shikdar Waliuzzaman.

Shadowy God Death valley lies in hear

Lifeless rivers claims urbanity, everywhere

Tired clouds, touch less, in the far

A sky touchy way meets another,

Peahens' beds sound shocked written slogan!

Dark words take a secret glance

Shakuny's eyes make my life a strange goal

I, omnipresent god of shadow go nowhere

Think my shadowy face dearest one.

The Two Old Women: Tetan Buri and Boka Buri

A Bangali folk tale told by David Heathfield

Tetan Buri... aha! Boka Buri... hmmm.Tetan Buri... aha! Boka Buri... hmmm.Tetan Buri... aha! Boka Buri... hmmm.There were once two sisters: Tetan Buri, clever sister... aha! And Boka Buri, foolish sister... hmmm.Tetan Buri and Boka Buri shared three things. They shared one blanket. They shared one cow. And they shared one mango tree.‘Aha, sister. I will have the blanket during the night, and you will have the blanket during the day... aha!’‘Hmmm, very well, sister.’

Boka Buri only had the blanket during the day when the sun blazed down. But at night when it was cold she had to give the blanket to her clever sister.‘Aha! I will have the back end of the cow, and you will have the front end of the cow... aha!’‘Hmmm, very well, sister.’

Boka Buri, foolish sister, had to feed the cow and water the cow; while clever sister came along and milked the cow and made yogurt and butter.Boka Buri was hungry.

‘The mango tree! I will have the top half of the mango tree, and you will have the bottom half of the mango tree... aha!’‘Hmmm, very well, sister.’Boka Buri had to water the mango tree and weed around its base. Tetan Buri came and picked the delicious, ripe fruit and kept them all for herself.

Boka Buri was cold at night and so hungry.She went into the village, and there she went to the hairdresser.While the hairdresser cut her hair she listened to Boka Buri’s troubles: ‘Foolish woman. What you must do is this... When you go back to your sister give her the blanket at night, but only after you have dipped it in the river. As for the cow... don’t feed the cow, just shout at the cow. And as for the tree... chop it in half.’

‘Very well.’Boka Buri went back to the sister. She gave her the blanket, but only after she had dipped it in the river.Tetan Buri took the blanket... ‘aha... aaaggghhhh.’

It was so cold. She shivered all through the night with the wet blanket around her.The next day, she went to get milk from the cow. But Boka Buri had not fed the cow. Boka Buri had only shouted at the cow. And when she tried to milk the cow, the cow just kicked Tetan Buri... ‘aaaggghhhh!!’

Now, Tetan Buri went to pick mangoes from the tree. But when she got there, there stood Boka Buri with an axe in her hands about to chop the tree in half.

‘What are you doing, sister?’‘Oh,’ said Boka Buri, ‘I am going to cut the tree in half. I am going to chop my half from your half.’

‘No,’ said the sister. ‘What can I do to stop you?’‘Hmmm, go and talk to the hairdresser.’Tetan Buri went to the hairdresser. The hairdresser had no sympathy: ‘I will not help you. But why don’t you ask the rest of the community.’

The doors of the shop were opened and all of the people of the community squeezed inside.They listened to Tetan Buri’s woes: how she was cold at night with a wet blanket; how she only had the cow kick her and no milk to make yogurt or butter; how her sister was going to chop the tree in half.‘What you must do,’ they said, ‘is share the work. Share the blanket. Sleep next to your sister. You will keep each other warm... snug and warm.’

‘Share the blanket?’‘And share the feeding and the watering of the cow, and milk the cow together, and together churn the butter and make the yogurt.’‘Work together?’

‘And,’ said the people of the community, ‘what you must do, Tetan Buri, is to look after the tree. Tend the tree with your sister. Weed the tree and water the tree and together you will share an abundance of fruit.’‘Aha.’

And so it was that Tetan Buri and Boka Buri shared the blanket and kept each other warm at night; shared the milk to make butter and yogurt; and shared those delicious mangoes. And so much did they have that they had plenty to share with the rest of the community. Tetan Buri... aha! And Boka Buri, the not so foolish sister... hmmm.

Aharsi the Bengal TigerA Bengali Story by

Abbey Ledger-Lomas

Aharsi the big Bengal Tiger was having a good think. It was winter and he was still getting used to the feeling of ice on the pads of his paws. He shivered a little, missing the warm ooze of mangrove mud. Aharsi was missing lots of things.

He missed the way the sun made his coat glow a regal orange, or how the glare of midday brightness made his black stripes look so bold and striking like black lightening bolts.

He missed dozing in the evening heat and catching the last shafts of sunlight as they cut through the jungle vines.

He wondered if he would ever again hear Doyel birds chattering in the trees, or catch the scent of ripe mangoes on the breeze. It was these fleeting, poignant moments that the Bengal tiger was trying so hard to picture in his mind. Aharsi missed his home.

His whiskers bristled as he let out a big sigh, sending the starlings that had been pecking at the frozen ground scattering up into the grey sky. Three hours had passed, and despite his intense concentration, all the tiger had managed to remember was some vague half images of mangoes and mangroves. He was worried that he was forgetting about his old home all together.

When Aharsi first arrived at the zoo in England with his mother and father, everything was so exciting. He lapped it all up; his amber eyes burned with curiosity as he jumped from tree to tree or smelled each flower or pawed at each tiny insect.

‘Now just calm down, Aharsi,’ his mother would say. ‘You have come a long way. There is plenty of time to explore; now you must rest.’

But the young tiger was too busy to rest. There were new animals to meet, new trees to climb. There was so much to learn about his new home.

Before the sun went down on that first day, Aharsi had bounded around all of the animals’ cages, asking them question after question, absorbing the strange exotic colours of the paradise birds and smelling the sweet and unfamiliar smell of the hay in the rhino stalls.

But the more he explored, the more Aharsi realised how different his new home was to where he’d come from. And now the young tiger was worried that he’d lost all of the precious memories he had of his homeland. He was worried that he had forgotten all about being a Bengal Tiger.

Aharsi squeezed his eyes closed and flicked his tail purposefully from side to side: ‘Remember,’ he told himself. ‘Try to think harder!’

Hours passed, the day grew dimmer and the rest of the animals started to settle down in the twilight. After a while, Aharsi felt someone looking at him. He opened one eye, keen to stay as focused as he could on reclaiming his lost memories. It was Zody the Leopard.

What are yoooouuu doing?’ came the deep, purring voice.‘I’m remembering,’ Aharsi answered. ‘Now if you don’t mind…’ Aharsi closed his eye once more and tried to concentrate even harder.

‘Reeeemembering?’ asked Zody.‘Yes. I’ve forgotten all about being a Bengal Tiger, and where I’ve come from, so I’m trying to remember it before it’s all gone forever. Now if you don’t mind…’

Once again Aharsi squeezed his eyes shut and tried to summon images from his homeland.‘You won’t get faaaar with your eyes closed,’ said Zody.

Aharsi opened his eyes wide and looked quite annoyed. ‘I won’t get anywhere unless you leave me alone to think!’ he said. ‘You wouldn’t understand anyway, you’re not even a tiger, let alone a Bengal Tiger! You’re a leopard!’

‘You silly animal!’ said Zody, rattling with laughter. ‘Look there!’ She pointed to a shiny slick patch of ice on the hard ground.

Aharsi stared back at Zody in some confusion. ‘I think you may have gone a bit bonkers, Zody,’ he said, and just then he almost wanted to laugh himself.‘If you want to remember how to be a tiger,’ said Zody in a kind voice ‘just look.’

‘Fine, if you’ll leave me alone then I’ll look.’Aharsi bent his neck a little and peered into the glassy ice mirror on the ground. Zody purred over his shoulder.

`What beautiful stripes you have,’ she said. ‘When I look into the mirror I see my spots. Nobody else has spots quite like mine. My mother had spots, and my mother’s mother, and my mother’s mother’s mother… all the way back to when my great great great Grandma prowled the grasses of South Africa!’Aharsi noticed Zody’s eyes get brighter as she pictured the sun baked savanna and plush green jungles of her home. ‘When I see my spots,’

continued, ‘I see my whole history. And I will always have my spots.’ She winked at Aharsi. ‘After all,’ she said, ‘a leopard never changes its spots!’‘But don’t you ever get homesick or sad?’ the young tiger asked in a slight mewl. ‘Everything is so different here.’

‘We all get homesick,’ Zody replied while pawing at the ice, ‘but look here at our reflections. We are not so very different. You are from Bengal and I am from Africa, but see how we have the same whiskers. And see here…’ Zody cut an impressive jagged line in the ice with her sharp claws and then raised them up so that they shone in the fading light. ‘We both have these,’ she said with a grin.

Just then there was a great trumpeting sound from the elephant’s enclosure in the east corner of the zoo.

‘Well that’s not so amazing,’ said Aharsi. ‘We are both cats. But I’m nothing like the elephants over there, am I?’Zody giggled. ‘They might look different and sound different, but I’ll bet even elephants get homesick too. That is something you have in common.’

Aharsi looked unsure as he thought that the elephants were far too big and strong to ever be sad. ‘I bet they still remember where they are from,’ he said. ‘My mother told me that an Elephant never forgets.’

Zody hissed and giggled and rolled around on the hard ground. ‘That’s true!’ she admitted. ‘An elephant never forgets!’

‘And I bet the Zebras don’t get scared,’ Aharsi continued, still a little bit sulky but starting to smile at his friend’s antics.‘Haven’t you seen them running from the zookeeper’s tractor?’ asked Zody‘And… and the crocodiles? Do they get scared and sad too?’ Aharsi asked.

‘Haven’t you seen them hiding beneath the water?’ Zody replied as she gave her friend a playful bump with her nose. ‘We all miss home sometimes, Aharsi. But that is why we all look different. We are different so that we can remember.

Look at me. I have this beautiful tail which reminds me that we leopards are the best at balancing up high in the trees.’Aharsi felt much better and soon began to rumble with a deep purr. ‘And I will always have my stripes for hiding in the tall grass. We tigers are the best hunters in all of Bengal!’

‘Your stripes go wherever you go, Aharsi,’ Zody said with a smile.‘And when the elephants feel sad they can look at their trunks to remember that they are the best at splashing in the water,’ said Aharsi. ‘And when the crocodiles feel sad or scared they can look at their webbed feet and remember that they are the fastest in the river…’

The young tiger trailed off a little, his eyes were growing heavy and he yawned without noticing. It was evening now and the zoo was alive with the crooning calls of countless animals. Some were stripey, some were spotty. Not any one of them was the same as the other. As night fell and a million stars filled the sky, Aharsi began to understand that though all of the animals were different, they all felt the same sometimes. That is when he knew he would never be alone, and that is when he knew he would always carry his home in his heart forever.

The devotee pondered over it for a while. That evening, he was still thinking about it while returning home. "I wonder what the Guruji meant by all that," he thought. "How can God be everywhere?"

As the devotee was walking, he suddenly saw an elephant rushing down the road. There was a mahout on the elephant yelling out for everyone to move away. "The elephant has gone mad! Please get out of the way!" Initially, the devotee was scared but then he thought to himself, "Guruji has told me that God is everywhere. That means He is in that elephant.

And God is in me as well." The devotee came to the conclusion, "God cannot attack God! So, the elephant will not attack me. I have nothing to fear." Even as the elephant charged towards him, the devotee stood in his place, confident. "He won't harm me," he thought with a smile. The mahout yelled several warnings to the devotee, but he didn't budge. "Move you foolish man! He will trample you! You will be crushed to death!"

Coming at a fast pace, the elephant reached the devotee. Mad with fury, the animal wrapped its trunk around him and picked him up. The devotee shrieked with fear and disbelief. Even as he thought, "This cannot be happening!" the elephant flung him aside in anger.

Fortunately, the foolish devotee landed on a haystack and was unhurt. As he lay there in shock and relief, his Guru and friends came running towards him. "What happened? Why did you stand there? asked the Guru. "Guruji," said the trembling devotee, "You told me God was in everything and in everyone.

If God was in the elephant, why did he fling me aside like that?"

The Guru smiled. "Yes, God is in the elephant. But God is also in the mahout who kept warning you to move. Why did you not listen to him?" The devotee had no answer.