February 17, 1971

Dear Mimi,

Hello there! This will be the starting of my diary.

Today was my 13th birthday. In the morning, I hopped out of my bed, brushed my teeth, said my prayers and then immediately went to the dinning room.

The first person I saw today was mommy. She greeted me with a happy smile and then said, "Happy birthday Ayesha" in an angelic voice. She was preparing breakfast.

Then daddy entered the room and then Tahsan. They all said 'happy birthday' to me.

Mommy baked a small cake for me and we all enjoyed it. Mommy gave me a very beautiful pink head band with small hearts on it. Tahsan made a happy birthday card. Although it only said 'happy birthday' but I still liked it very much because there were many drawings of beautiful flowers and he even drew me holding a balloon. I thought it was adorable! It is very surprising how an 8 year old like him is so creative! Then it was father's turn to give me a gift. And the gift he gave me was you!

I first asked him why he gave me a diary. He replied, "You are now a big girl and you must start writing. There has to be someone to keep record of what is happening everyday and since the grown ups are too busy and Tahsan is too small, as the eldest child, you must be the one to keep those records."

I still am kind of confused as to why he told me to start writing now. I was good at writing from the age of 11. Why didn't he gave me a diary back then? Why did he give it to me now? Anyways, just thinking about these questions won't give me the answer. And I do think that writing isn't that bad. After all, all I do everyday is lie down on the couch and sleep. So, it won't kill me to spare sometime and write will it?

Anyways, all that aside, I have decided on a name for you! And that is Mimi! Quite a childish name, correct? But even of it is childish, I think it is cute. I always wanted a cat whom I can name Mimi but never got one since mommy thinks that cats are too troublesome. So, I decided to name you Mimi!

From now on I will write everything to you! All my thoughts, my feelings, my secrets, literally everything that I can't share with anyone else.

Author's note:

Hey guys! This is my first work. This novel is about a young girl named Ayesha and how she survives the most horrific period of her life. In 1971, a war was held in a country named Bangladesh that is located in Asia. This war was between Bangladesh and another country named Pakistan. At that time, Bangladesh was known as East Pakistan and the present Pakistan was known as West Pakistan. East Pakistan demanded freedom from West Pakistan. But it wasn't that easy to achieve freedom. From, 26th March, 1971 to 16 December, 1971, this war continued for 9 long months and in the end East Pakistan achieved victory and was named as Bangladesh. Bangladesh gained her freedom. As a Bangladeshi myself, I was very proud of my country and of all the citizens that put their life on the line to gain freedom for their motherland. The first time I completely understood the whole story about the the liberation war of 1971 was when I was 11. This really touched me. I wanted to share this with people around the world. The most greatest event in the history of Bangladesh and the help all the other countries such as India gave to Bangladesh during the war. I hope you all like this novel. Thank you very much for spending your time reading this chapter.