You and I, Author - Salek Uddin

Microfiction
You and I
By Salek Uddin


At the summit of a mountain stood a small cottage. Basanti lived there alone.
Outside, a storm raged. Wind and rain battered the hillside as darkness settled over the world.
Then came a knock at the door.
Basanti startled. For no reason she could explain, she thought of Swapan. For a long time, they had known each other. Between them had grown a quiet understanding—something never spoken, yet deeply felt.
The knock came again.
“Who are you?” Basanti asked.
A voice answered from outside:
“It’s me. The rain is heavy. Will you open the door?”
She recognized Swapan’s voice at once. Yet she remained silent for a while. Then she said softly,
“My house is very small. There is not enough room for two. You should leave.”
No reply came.
Only the rain continued to fall.
Time passed—days, months, perhaps years. Basanti no longer kept count.
Then, on another stormy night, there was a knock at the door once more.
“Who is there?” she asked, just as before.
From the other side came the answer:
“I am standing at the door—you. It is raining outside. Will you open it?”
Something unfamiliar stirred within her.
Slowly, she rose and walked to the door.
Opening it wide, she stretched out both arms and said,
“You’ll be drenched. Come in. The house may be small, but there is more than enough room.”
(This microfiction was inspired by a poetic passage attributed to the renowned 13th-century Persian Sufi mystic, philosopher, and poet Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi.)


Author biography
Salek Uddin (b. 1960) is a fiction writer, playwright, poet, columnist, and public intellectual. He is a Life Member of the Bangla Academy, Bangladesh’s national institution for Bengali language and literature. His work explores the tensions between individual lives and collective realities. Through fiction, poetry, drama, and essays, he examines questions of memory, justice, and human dignity.