Tales From The North: A Reunion Of Two Poles [II] Photograph

Enough dilly-dallying at work, paying off those dastardly utility bills, cleaning out the old pantry cupboard and all those other grey as school socks responsibilities that you might have taken care of today because, my scrumptiously anonymous reader, we are once again returning to the recuperating solace of eventide and that means enrobing yourself in the luxuriance of your homely settee and escaping into the colourful casserole of my words and pictures! Ahem, ahem, apologies if you happen to be still fumbling through unfinished office papers or snoring away in bed, I swear I have no jurisdiction over international time zones! As when an alchemist opens their arcane world to the uninitiated so I once more draw back the red curtains and present to you another rotating kaleidoscopic feast of memories crystallised in images from my stay with my lovable family up in the north. I take it by now you have become well accustomed to my clockwise-style of steering the cogs of my commentary. Oh huffish humbug, you haven’t?! Why, you lazy rickety old..…!!! Let us start at the top left-hand corner and it is here that I strongly recommend the audience ought to send out a roaring round of an applause to my fabulous cousins, Alina and Mahin, for sporting on such unperturbed and stoic faces whilst being battered by the steely knives of the North Sea winds! If the camera were to turn on me, you would have seen this sun-kissed southern peasant with frightfully chattering teeth and fingers that were turning a shade too close to purple! Ah, well, the passion for photography is so overwhelmingly intense that the frumpy voice of my body’s homeostasis dial is always each time ignored! You might now be wondering who the short fella in the middle is? As a matter of fact I was just getting onto that! My ditzy imaginary husband was getting a little too cheeky with the girls so before he could complete his pleading to me not to be harmed I cast a white spell on him to shut him up for a while. Ergo, what more appropriate object for him to be than a mute beaked bird of the South Pole which doubly serves the function of a rubbish bin – yes, ladies and gentlemen, the rubbish is squeezed through his mouth and with loyal fervour he collects it in his belly! Dashing, isn't he...?! Beautiful, effortlessly elegant, sassy and yet classic, Aniqa is the older sister of Alina and Mahin and surely, without a doubt, here is a young lady who can hold her own! I was afraid that I would not have the chance to see her as she studies away from home, however, I was touched and gladdened in the heart when I learnt that she would be joining us for the evening meal at the glinting new restaurant! She raced straight after her mock exams, hopped onto a train and met us all to my immense delight. She made time for me and that, I know, shall always be preserved as a priceless and unforgettable gift in my heart. The stunning lady who comes next in line will never be satisfactorily awarded the compliments she deserves within the mere limits of my words. My Aunty never made me feel once that I had journeyed away from home. She was emblematic of Home. First-class conjurer of the best king prawn curry I have had in ages, Aunty and I, with the girls in tow, shared many rollicking laughs over old photo albums late into the night whilst sat on her bed. The private world of Smartphones can never ever recreate the magic, the warmth, the genuine love and heart that is created in the air when people come together to pour over paper photographs! Old is gold is an overused phrase but it is inviolably true, n’est ce pas? Mahin had one particular comical tendency that seemed to be irrepressible whenever we ventured out in the town and that would be her strange fondness for pointing out the law courts! Yes, you heard me, the girl loves court spotting and it did not even show signs of subsiding even into the night when we flashed through the busy hub of the nearby city! I naturally took advantage of the situation and teased her about it but that only fanned the flames of her lawless ways! The image of her you see behind the wooden beams in the public gardens happens to face the law court, hence the great big grin! What worries me is that it does look awfully like she’s a lawyer who has come to pay me a visit behind the slammer! Good heavens, I do remember stuffing my gob with Haribos once but how on earth did they dig up my school files…!?! Giggle, giggle!! Alina showcases ‘Little Miss Brainy’ as the character whom she believed was the best reflection of her! I unreservedly agree with the little madam and why shouldn’t I, for, and I say this with a smirk and chuckle, Alina beat me to a squishy banana pulp in a game of Scrabble! She is a strategic player who treats the board more akin to a chess piece where playing for the bonus squares holds the key to victory. On the other hand, I was too busy exercising my creative license, fashioning exotic words but not scoring a penny! Hats and gloves and scarves off to Alina!! If your curiosity perchance happens to have piqued at the thought of who I am in this series of books then return to Alina’s book and imagine the ‘B’ to buzz off from the surface of the cover – you shall be left with the title that best describes this wild drum-beating Monsoon Queen….! The tiny decorative plate in the centre of the montage sits proudly on the mantelpiece in the living room and depicts an idyllic riverine scene from my Motherland, Bangladesh. A boatman drifts in his naoka as if he were a peaceful musical note softly pillowed on the river’s quiet waves… There is an enigmatic shine in the stones of the necklace strung by my Aunty, almost identical to the fabled lapis lazuli jewels that had once adorned the necks of ancient Egyptians. When my eyes met this exceptional piece of artistry I immediately fell in love with its simplicity and, as I have been shown time and time again, the beauty in the simple things is unmatched by any other. Meet the spunky punky Mr Budgie, red-cheeked and gloriously championing a silver quiff to put even the keratin swagger of Elvis to shame, this midget of a chap left his mates and flew right up close to Mahin for a closer inspection of us toddling human specimens! I have never met a male whose vocal chords were so high-pitched and yet not have it prevent his macho charisma from overpowering our female sensibilities! Male readers, stocking up well on helium-inflated balloons might be a start but quite frankly I leave it to divine providence as to the matter of your hair…!!! Before you start making that hysterical call to the authorities, let me reassure you that the last image is not that of a mothership landing on an ice-rink! It is in fact, for your kind information, our massive-gargantuan-colossal- ginormous waffle drizzled in thick warm Belgian chocolate sauce and topped with a scoop of sweet milky vanilla with a hearty wafer wedged in for a naughty finish! Not a one man or woman feat, we all decided to have a stab at it at the same time and boy was it deliriously scrumptious to the core! A mountain of a pudding that served to reinforce one of my eccentric mottos in life: sometimes the summit is not the destination, it is the base. No one sought the wafer peak as their prize although, to scrape the spoon clean off the plate with a dollop of wafer and ice-cream, now that did feel as if victory had finally knocked on the door… Photography & Words: © Masufa Khatun | Mazzy Khatun Photo Stories | Winter Reunion Series | Northumberland | UK 2015

Photography:Color on Other

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:39.4 W x 31.5 H x 0.4 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.