Shahriyer Hossain Shetu
Mrs. Roy was a carefree woman before she got married. A woman full of life who loved to do exciting things. Her bucket list of wishes all remain unchecked in her withered drawer which she had hardly opened after her marriage. Almost everyone calls her by Mrs. Roy now, as if her first name was never there. A slave of time, Mrs Roy has to complete everything within a limited hour for her children as well as her husband.
Mr. Roy is a middle class businessman who works till evening. He likes to do things according to his way and he is a perfectionist who wants everything completed within time. According to his point of view, work outside the house is more superior compared to the inside. Every evening after work, he usually takes out his outer world frustration by recalling all the silly errors she made during the first three years of her marriage. It is a patriarchal society after all. ‘He’ was innocent. The only reason to tolerate her was because of the two boys she helped to bring to this world.
Despite everything, out of the intensity of impressing her husband, Mrs. Roy planned a surprise for Mr. Roy by being the perfect wife. She cleaned the house, changed the bed-sheets, made sure her children were studying and wore a typical black saree as her husband’s favourite colour is black and he is a man of traditional belief. She even sacrificed her cravings for chicken and cooked fish for dinner as it is her husband’s most favourite dish. Maybe today would be different, she hoped.
The doorbell rang and the sound came to Mrs. Roy’s ear as a beginning of something new. Her expectations were touching the clouds and she could not stop smiling. Having all these emerging happy thoughts, she finally went to open the door. She even planned to hug her husband for the first time in four years and she made sure everything was perfect. As she opened the door she spread her arms in hope. Her hopes of turning to a homemaker from a housewife dismantled, as she heard him say, “What took you so long to open this damn door?”