Polash Nogor

 

'I knew you are a queen' Labonno was exuberant. 'I'm not a queen, dadima (granny) is the queen, and we don't have that sort of queen in any case'. Suborna tried to explain but she was already sounding like she knows the futility of the argument. 'Pfft, a queen is a queen is a queen; and you are the next in line' Labonno confidently stressed. In the face of such strong assertion, Suborna could only give those gleeful cheeks a good tug. Satisfied with taking care of the issue, Labonno now delved into the next agenda, 'Tell me about Polash Nogor rani-ma'. Suborna thought for a while, 'Polash Nogor (city) isn't a city, you know, it's just a big, big, village. Baba was barely in his youth when Granny asked him to find suitable places for new bosoti (settlement).' 'Why did you need need land, what happened to the old village?' Labonno asked. 'I have been to the eastern lands only a few times and it's as fertile and prosperous as your kingdom. But people were becoming numerous and dadima predicted that the fertile valley will soon become crowded.' Suborna mused for some time. 'For days, baba wandered around the forest. If he found an open land, it wasn't good for farming, if he found a fertile patch, it didn't have enough water, if he found good land and water, the forest was too thick for clearing'.

'I bet you could have found a good place in just two days', Labonno nonchalantly stated. Suborna couldn't help laughing out, and then she gave her little admirer an all-mighty squeeze. It was around midday and the expeditionary team was looking to fill their empty canteens rather than a suitable spot for settlement when they came out of the forest into a clearing. All their exhaustion and frustration were gone in a moment. They stood on the edge of a wide swath of land flanked on the other side by a small river. It was as big as any of the valleys they had in the east and the green shoots even during this season spoke about how fertile it was. 'Baba spent two days in that place, but they didn't just rest, they thoroughly surveyed the land and its surroundings'. Soon it became clear to the expeditionary team that it will be far from easy to build a settlement here. The river will probably have water even during summer, but there aren't many good water sources in miles around. The river banks and the clearing was pockmarked with the footprints of all sorts of adversaries; tigers, leopards, bears, elephants, and boars.

'Within a week baba returned with granny and supplies. Dadima immediately loved the place and wanted to stay. But baba wouldn't listen. So after much arguing it was settled that granny would return the next dry season with people who would settle there. Then dadima and the elders laid out plans for the new bosoti. Some wanted to live on both sides of the river, but Granny was furious, why would we take all the water when it's meant for both us and the animals, she said.' The first task of the settlers was to build a sturdy shelter for the men and their herd. Then they started to dig a pond as it was obvious that the little river wouldn't sustain them for long. Though the earth hadn't got as hard as it would have gotten in the summer, it was painfully exhausting. Even though it was winter, the men would sweat like it was summer; but they kept digging, from dawn to dusk. 'When granny returned, she found a huge pond filled with clear sweet water. Some of the men immediately jumped into it, but Baba shouted crocodile, crocodile; and they hurriedly swam back only to find Baba rolling on the ground laughing, why would a crocodile come to a pond!' Suborna chuckled, and so did Labonno.

'But didn't the animals bother them' Labonno asked? ' Didn't they' Suborna threw her hands in exasperation. 'The monkeys would sniff around from dawn and whenever a sapling was big enough, they would devour it. The deers too loved the vegetable saplings and rice shoots, but they wouldn't dare come when men are around. After dark, tigers and leopards would come for the livestock and they would have taken any man if they had the opportunity.' They were too few to be spread over too many tasks and to be distracted by too many distractors. After finishing the pond, they raised part of the riverbank to prevent flooding. Then they built a corral for the livestock to graze during the day and fenced off a chunk of land for farming. Farming proved to be the most futile effort. Though the fence deterred the deers, the boars, and the monkeys, the elephants were too keen to taste those novelties and the fence wasn't too much of a deterrence for them. All the while, they had to hunt, fish, and forage as they knew their supplies were meager and wouldn't last for long.

'By the time I was born, there were nearly a hundred dwellings'. 'You were born there?' Labonno asked. 'Duh, where did you think I was born' Suborna replied. 'Huh, then you are really a jongli (wild one)' Labonno quipped and both of them laughed out. 'When was the palace built?' the voice startled both of them and they jumped up. They were so absorbed in the story that they hadn't noticed when the king appeared. He sat down and motioned them to sit as well. 'It's nothing like a palace' Suborna was sulky. 'It looked like a palace to me' the king said casually. Suborna was exasperated, she gestured around her and said, 'This is what a palace looks like'. The king smiled softly and stayed quiet, it appeared that the argument has been settled. 'You are a princess and so is Bonno, you two may be different in appearance but you two are the same in essence' he said softly. 'I'm not a princess' Suborna almost yelled, but she immediately knew that there was going to be only one winner in this argument and she calmed down. 'It's been around ten years' she said sulkily after a while. 'It's magnificent, you should see it' he said to his daughter. 'Would you take me there rani-ma, please, please' Labonno pleaded. Suborna softly caressed her and said 'Of course I will', her sulkiness had disappeared suddenly.

A lot of things needed to be built before the building of the palace would start. An embankment was built along the entire stretch of the land. Not only it reduced the risk of flooding, it provided some deterrence for the elephants, deers, and boars. A fence built along the forest line, again, it was good enough only to deter the deers and boars. After the monsoon ends, the water would still be too high even for the strongest of the bulls, but the forest would be full of nice pastures. So they built a bridge over the river. More ponds, canals, and wells were dug across the land, and now even during the driest months, there would be water enough for the whole village. There would be no stoppage to tending the things they built. The river would wash away parts of the embankment, elephants would tear down parts of the fence, stables and homes needed to be repaired or rebuilt after every storm, and ponds and canals needed to be dredged before monsoon.