The Weight of Time

Life....

Sumit, who was in a deep sleep, woke up from a severe pain when the bus hit the bus window and hit his head...

Sumit, who received a twenty-year sentence with serious work and was released from prison after seventeen years due to good behavior, is no stranger to pain...

His father left this world when Sumit was young, and Sumit's mother endured unbearable suffering and made Sumit tough... Sumit, who did not like to learn to read, joined the army as soon as he was old enough to take the burden of life off his mother's shoulders...

While his comrades were dying on the front line and were injured, Sumit did not feel fear... But remembering how his mother faced the battle of life alone without a father, he fought fearlessly with the thought "If I die, my mother will have some compensation." He was shot twice and injured As soon as Sumit recovered from his injuries, he willingly went to the front line…

Sumit, whose memory was broken by the crying of a small child in the back seat, looked out the window again.. This side had completely changed in seventeen years…Sumit was trying in vain to find the old appearance of the image he saw in his memory..

A word written in large letters on a three-wheeler parked by the roadside brought pain to Sumit's heart from somewhere.. ''Sandamali'' was written on it…

Sandamal Sumit met Sumit seven or eight years after joining the army.. Sumit remembered that the moment their eyes met on the bus coming to the village for vacation, Sumit fell in love with Sandamali… She was an innocent girl three years younger than Sumit.. Sandamali's family, a farmer family, was impressed by Sumit and both sides They were blessed…

The only dream of Sumith and his mother, who lived in a shack built in Risivasa, was to build their own house. After Sandamali also became a partner in that dream, a part of Sandamali's land was set aside for that purpose.

The house was built little by little using the money saved from military service and the money obtained by pawning her and her mother's gold ornaments, thanks to the courage of her mother and Sandamali. Sumith always went there whenever he got leave and looked for shortcomings…

Sumit joined the army and spent his tenth year beating the earth with his life. A fortnight before his wedding, on a certain rainy day, Sumith, who had attended a drinking party at the invitation of two of his friends, had an argument with a friend there. The argument turned into a fight due to alcohol in an instant… Sumith was hit by the bottle he was drinking The death of his friend turned Sumith's whole life upside down...

Sandamal came to visit Sumith only once after he was convicted by the court and imprisoned for twenty years.

"I will take care of my mother, Sumith brother"

She said with tears in her eyes... My mother came to visit Sumith only twice because of her back pain... Sumith heard that her mother had died six months after he was imprisoned, but due to some legal issues, he missed the opportunity to attend the funeral... Since Sumith had nothing to do, he shouted loudly enough to be heard throughout the prison.

Seven months after he was imprisoned, he heard from Niwuta that Sandamali had married Somadasa and was living in the new house they had built... Niwuta was from Sumith's village and had been convicted of theft and had been imprisoned.

"A month after my mother died, this is what she did... I "No..."

Sumith started to grumble...

"But brother, Anula aunty took her to a new house and kept her there until she died, and she treated her sister Sandamali as her own. She did all the funeral arrangements and gave her alms. She tied the knot and left the village in a few days...

He came the day before yesterday. Soma is Sandamali's cousin, brother... He is innocent. He is also sick and struggling..."

Niwuta said, soothing Sumith....

*******

"Isn't Uncle Bahin?"

When the conductor boy heard this, Sumith regained consciousness, stood still for a moment, gathered his thoughts, and got off the bus.

Sumit saw the evening sky looking orange and melancholy… Sumit slowly walked forward along the road toward his old house… The road had been widened with carpets, and it was not difficult for Sumit to understand that his house in Risivesama had been removed to widen the road.

As he slowly walked forward, Sumit saw his old and dilapidated ''new house''… Sumit's eyes became moist as he remembered how he had been watching from this very spot during the days when the house was being built with his mother and Sandamali…

Sumit's blurred eyes saw a shadow of a woman's figure.

''Brother Sumith..''

Sandamali shouted in a voice mixed with happiness, surprise, and sadness…

Sumit saw Sandamali after seventeen years Suddenly, his heart beat faster and he felt a great sadness and happiness enter his heart at the same time…

"Oh, Sumit Aiya"

Sandamali cried loudly…

Tears started to flow from Sumit's eyes…

"As Sumit Aiya wanted, I brought my mother to this house.. It's our fault, brother.. My mother got kidney trouble.. Without my brother and the situation I was in, my mother couldn't eat or drink… That's why my mother passed away so quickly, brother………"

Suddenly, Sumit looked at Sandamali with concern,

"Is that why you married Soma a month after my mother died?"

Both of them looked at each other for a moment..

"It happened right before your mother's eyes, brother… "

"What?"

"It's because of your reckless actions, brother... I hid for as long as I could.. But my mother found out.. My mother didn't want me to talk to the world.. I can't even hold my son in my stomach for twenty years until you come, brother..."

"Some Aiya came like a god and accepted me... My mother talked to Some Aiya and made arrangements,

"Raising a child without a father is a war... I know the pain of it very well.. I will put you in that fire