“How far have you come?” Mashrafee Bin Mortaza’s anxious, excited voice at the other end of the cell phone inquired for the sixth time in as many hours. It was close to midnight and the eventful microbus journey from Dhaka to the home town of Bangladesh’s most animated cricketer for his post-wedding reception, which normally would take around six hours to complete, was already counting 120 minutes of time added on and no one was quite sure when it would finally end. It was that kind of a day.

Our trip to Narail had started on the wrong foot. The supposed air-conditioned microbus had an AC only in name and when it was turned on it had the effect of a sauna on the passengers. A replacement was summoned just after crossing Gabtali and in an hour’s time the new vehicle arrived much to the chagrin of the driver of the ‘sauna express’ who must have cursed our lack of patience for putting to rest his highway-adventure plans.

The replacement had its AC working and looked fresh but it came to an abrupt halt for no fault of its after traveling for barely 15 minutes. Two groups of agitated factory workers had assembled on the highway to protest something and the splinters of scattered broken glasses and brickbats on the road suggested some rough treatment on passing vehicles not too long ago. Violence was written on the face of the mob and almost everyone had a stick, a piece of wood or an iron rod in hand and waiting for the slightest form of provocation. They decided to have mercy on us as the microbus was let through. Before we could start enjoying our slice of luck one of the rear wheels burst. The ominous signs didn’t end there. The front left tyre became flat in Faridpur resulting in another unforeseen delay.

“We are on a boat on Chitra River. Hurry up and don’t eat anything on the way. Come hungry ‘cause your dinner has been on the table for hours,” Mortaza, the man who had bid his bachelor life bye earlier in the day is on the phone again. The first group of guests from Dhaka that included Mortaza’s cricketing mates Abdur Razzak, Tushar Imran, Syed Rasel, Manzural Islam Rana, Talha Jubaer, Sakib Al Hasan and Enamul Haque (Jr.) had already reached Narail and wasted no time in hitting the river which occupies a fair portion of the soul of the big fast bowler.

We passed Jessore and then took the road to Narail. The clock was showing 1am and a dog or a fox scurrying across the eerily barren road would result in a spontaneous applause. Then right out of the blue the first glimpse of Narail and almost simultaneously the sight of some young men signaling us to stop next to a rather unremarkable house which would not sleep on that night. We were in Mortaza territory and it wasn’t long before he emerged without a trace of tiredness or emotional draining from all the rituals, and tension of a wedding on his face to lead us to the dining table.

“Remember we had planned this in Kenya?” he whispered to a confidante with a satisfied smile recalling the discussions he had with some of his closest associates in the tour party during the days of taking the most important decision of his life some four weeks ago in Nairobi.

Given a chance he would have started a guided tour of the town at that instant but was affectionately warned by Mohammad Sharif, his former new ball partner, not to even contemplate anything of the sort until the next morning. It was his wedding night and it will come only once.

The majority of the guests spent the night at a house you would happily give away a limb to own and a great deal of that craving has to do with its location. The two storeyed structure belonged to Mortaza’s grandparents from his mother’s side and a cute concrete jetty at the front, which was lit up with the festival lights from the decorators, indicated where the river was. The first floor balcony overlooked the Chitra Resort, the venue of the reception, straight across on the other bank and its illuminations cast a dreamy reflection on the water. However it wasn’t until the break of dawn on Friday that we realised why Mortaza heads for Narail at the slightest opportunity.

There are rivers at every nook and cranny in Bangladesh but you would struggle to find one as lovely as the Chitra. It runs right through Narail and its shape is picture-perfect proportionate at every bend and stretch. The banks are green with trees offering shade and there is no endless coming and going of boats and river vessels to disturb the solitude of the waters. Mortaza calls it the most beautiful river in the world and before him a great artist, the Late SM Sultan had pronounced the same sentiment. It his here in this secluded part of Bangladesh that Sultan found eternal peace while he was alive and the Chitra was the inspiration of so many of his works of wonder.  

As we were admiring the beauty in our non-poetic way the honking of a car announced Mortaza’s arrival and he brought with him coach Dav Whatmore, his captain Habibul Bashar, Tigers’ fitness coach Paul Chapman and BCCB’s member secretary Cricket Operations Ali Asif Khan. The four had come on the morning’s flight from Dhaka to attend the reception and Mortaza had driven to Jessore Airport at 7am to receive them. When did he sleep last night?

“He’s crazy. He was driving at 140km and I saw Dav, who was sitting at the front, become stiff and touching his seat belt constantly,” said Bashar. “Pagla (Mortaza) is a slow driver!” quipped Whatmore meaning exactly the opposite.

After a prompt breakfast the party from Dhaka was taken to the Chitra Resort which would make its debut by hosting Narail’s most favourite son’s grand reception. It looked the part. The main dining area had enough space to accommodate the lion’s share of the 1500 invited and uninvited guests. The nicely trimmed grassy river’s edge had colourful chairs and tables with umbrellas and in case some one needed to relax after a hearty meal there were a couple of hammocks tied to trees. The bride and groom’s stage was located in a sweet little still unfinished cottage at one corner of the facility.    

Time was short and Mortaza probably wanted to show us the real him. His motorcycling antics are well known to mates and he rarely uses his car while in Narail. A microbuses and a car followed as he took us to the ‘Shishu Mela’ which was once the home of SM Sultan. It has been repaired and turned into a museum.

“This place has lost much of its beauty. When I was young we used come here and there were separate cages for snakes and all sorts of other animals which the artist treated as pets. Now there is too much concrete,” sighed Mortaza as he led us to the rear side of the complex where Sultan’s famous boat now rests. “At night he would travel the Chitra on this boat,” said Mortaza.

Next stop was Mortaza’s school and then the Victoria College campus where his just-wed wife Sumona Haque Shumi had spoken to him for the first time some four years ago. “I used to watch her every day as she had to pass by my house to go to school. But she never spoke to me and I was too shy to approach her. It was only when we both got admitted in the same college and in the same class that she started talking to me,” recalled Mortaza.

Riding the Honda CDI in his usual carefree fashion with Razzak in the back, Mortaza suddenly let go the steering and spread his hands on reaching the Chitra Bridge but still managed to balance the bike with ease. “He has fantastic control of a motorbike so I wasn’t worried,” Razzak tried to put up a brave face. One of Mortaza’s childhood pals inform that they used to jump from the bridge on to goods carrying barges as they passed. 

It was 12pm and the last part of the Mortaza experience unfolded. Showing a narrow path that leads to the river from his house Mortaza said confidently, “I can do what ever I feel like here. This area belongs to me and my friends. We have been taking this path to the river since I was a kid. We used to race each other to see who hits the water first and sometimes we ran stark naked through this passage screaming and shouting before plunging into the river. Even now at times we turn back the clock to those days and a friend’s mother, who to her misfortune saw us one day, asked in exasperation if we would ever grow up,” grins Mortaza. 

Someone uttered coconut and Mortaza immediately dispatched a little boy up the tall tree. He then held a jute sack with a friend and started catching the falling coconuts. Now it was swimming time.

Mortaza used to tie up a cousin on his back and reportedly crossed the river six times without stopping.” There is a lot of current in the river,” said Mortaza after coming off. He apparently knows every inch of this river.

“Koushik (Mortaza’s nick name) do you know my uncle,” asked a little boy and Mortaza inquired what his uncle’s name was. He moves freely in Narail like a free spirit and the locals allow him his freedom. He is their ‘Prince of Hearts’ alright and is accessible to all.

After Juma prayers the guests started arriving at the jetty. A police speedboat had been assigned along with local engine and non-engine boats to avoid the rush while crossing over. BCCB President Ali Asghar Lobi MP had come to the wedding the day before and today the list of eminent persons just got bigger. Former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud drove to Narail with his two sons and wife and a contingent of journalists and photo journalists from the print and electronic media just reached on time. Narail’s District Commissioner was among the VIP guests and there was police security throughout the town. This was the most talked-about wedding of a cricket star in the country’s post-Test status era and no one wanted to miss it if there was a chance to join in.
 
Lunch had been served and it was an awesome menu of kachchi biriyani, shrimps of the size of a palm, egg chops and chicken fry. The bride, a student of fashion designing who once upon a time used to learn drawing under Sultan, was already at the venue and comfortably seated but where was the groom? He came in on the Chitra Cruise without any one noticing and despite the pleas from boat attendants to wait till the wooden ramp had been laid for the guests to get down, Mortaza preferred to jump. He wasn’t going to change just yet!

We couldn’t hang around to see the rest of the programme as we had to get back to Dhaka. Mark Knopfler’s voice was echoing softly on the PA system and ‘Ticket to Heaven’ was such an appropriate number to grace the occasion. Then it was Bon Jovi’s turn with ‘It’s my life’ and before the music changed we were already halfway across that stretch of the Chitra where no one dares to swim because of a notorious whirlpool. But today there was festivity in the air and the water we just felt so lucky to have attended our best paceman’s wedding.