Biography 43: Shekha

 When my youngest sister Shekha get born, I was staying at my mom's friend's house. There were few houses where Bangladeshi doctors and nurses used to live side by side houses. They had kids too. I found a couple of boys near my age. But when I tried playing with them, I found they like fighting games. That wasn't on my menu. No matter how much they fight with each other, they were nice to me.

One day my dad came from the hospital and told us, we have got a beautiful sister. I wanted to see her. But no, adults always prefer their way, they said, they will take me later. I told them, if they are not taking me now, I will go by myself. Allah knows, I told them the truth, I don't threaten anyone. Adults laughed at me. But my older sister kept an I on me so that I don't try to do that. I thought I know the path to the hospital, so I can go by myself. When my dad took me, I understood, I was wrong.

In the hospital, I saw my mom laying on the bed. There was a small baby bed is with her bed. My sister was sleeping over there. Then the nurse came and asked my sister's name, they will make the birth certificate. Here I should mention that in Saudi Arabia, people make names of the baby before they get born. But Bangladeshi culture was not like that. In those days, Bangladeshi parents took years to decide what will be kids' names. They first hear all suggestions from their relatives. 

But now in the hospital, they need the name right away. My mom thought, in Saudi people call Sheikh to honour men. So, she makes my sister's name Shekha as a female version of Sheikh. So, we got her name this way.

In this story, I would like to add about a Saudi woman. My mom told us the story. In the hospital, one day, my mom was washing her cloth by hands to remove stains. She was washing it in the attached bathroom near her bed. A Saudi woman came to the bathroom door and surprised. Probably her relative was in that hospital. She asked, what are you doing in this condition? My mom replied, what else I can do? The woman told my mom to go the bed and take a rest. Then the woman washed all clothes by her hand, without any hesitation. My mom doesn't know her name, never meet again. From the bottom of my heart, I salute that Saudi woman for helping an unknown woman.