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Interview with a Birangona: 1. What were you doing when they came for you?

25 Interview with a Birangona In 1972, the Bangladeshi state adopted a policy to accord a new visibility to the two hundred thousand women raped during the War of Independence by lionizing them as birangonas (war heroines), though they were frequently ostracized by their families and social circles. 1. What were you doing when they came for you? Gleaming water sweeps over Mother’s feet. Bayonets. Teeth. My green and yellow Eid sari flaps damply between two palm trees. Grandfather calls to me: mishti maya. Girl of sweetness. Aashi, I call back. I finish braiding my hair, tie it tight. I twine a red string around my thigh. That evening, a blade sliced through string, through skin, red on red on red. Kutta, the man in khaki says. It is only later I realize it is me he is calling dog. Dog. Dog. ...