page 10

...he patted his shoulder and asked him his name 

Aslam

What do you do 

Looking for a job

 , used to work in a factory,  for some reason the factory was shut down and the doors to misfortune opened for him,  January ustad was his childhood friend,  he lived in Lahore,  he was a professional mechanic,  he had even asked aslam to  take training from him, now that he was jobless he thought of January used, he had moved out from Lahore to this new place.

A small boy brought a tea kettle and placed it on the  table with two small glasses

Jhinga bhai slapped the boy in a close warm manner and began pouring the tea into the glasses 

Aslam asked if there was an inn around because he didn't have enough money to stay in a hotel 

, both laughed and  held their tea glasses,  Aslam thoughtfully muttered where could he stay the night,  he had spotted a motel near the station 

Jhinga bhai said he had liked Aslam,  it would take at least a couple of days to find  janu used or perhaps in just one day,  Aslam could  stay with jhinga  for that long 

phanda

....when aslam git down from the train  at Karachi station he was dressed in salwar qamiz, he seemed in his forties, , he didn't carry much luggage,  just a large handbag  containing a couple of pairs of his clothes  , some  dailies and other necessary  things  besides  a paper wrapped   around a few thousand rupees,  he didn't believe in keeping  huge amounts in his pockets,  in his wallet  there was hardly four hundred only 

A rickshaw driver  pounced on him  and asked where to ge intended going 

To baghdadi

The rickshaw driver  pointed towards one side where his rickshaw was waiting,  aslam followed him 

In baghdadi  where exactly 

Anywhere 

Oh yes aslam added as an afterthought he was visiting a friend and lost contact,  he will  take time  looking for him,  stepping on board aslam asked how much,  the driver  scratching his  neck  if there wasn't any specific address and anywhere  ..then he told him how much  he expected,  aslam  agreed and  pushed his handbag  before him and sat down for the drive 

Baghdadi is a  very vast area how will you find your friend,  doesn't your friend have a phone,  the engine started and the rickshaw  moved forward 

phir na hum hain na ye tamasha

...Sundays  crossing the  glass window  inside Hadid s bedroom completely failed to open his sleeping eyes,   Amaro and at  that very moment entered the room  calling out his name  before pulling aside his blankets  moaning  and groaning he tossed and turned on his side and  was back  to continue with his slumber 

Come on Hadid, look at the  time,  won't you go to work,  she quickly folded  away the  blanket neatly before  drawing the curtains aside  , she heard his sleepy heavy voice asking what the time was 

It was quarter to nine 

A romantic turned the room light on, 

He complained she ought to have  woken him up and  was up on his feet  rubbing his eyes 

page 77

...the tents were  over crowded  as if the entire village had  squeezed itself inside to feast,  children  the old and the women folk  attacked the food  as if they had never before eaten good food,  

In one corner  unaffected by the scene  sadaf s mother in law  and tai in law  were  engaged in a heated  argument 

She  stood aside watching around and getting bored   and thanked her stars to spot her  mother  in this  rush , minutes later ammi was with her enquiring if she had eaten,  she shook her head irritated  food was making her sick,  what made tai to marry off sadaf in such  wild  family,  couldn't she find a better suitable man more educated and more,  how cheap of them   who didn't have manners to eat food in style,  who had no sense  of how to walk  talk and behave 

page 71

...it is said  hazrat Abu Harira  raza alay was asked by someone  whose father died without  leaving his will if he gave donations in charity on his  behalf  would that  cleanse his sins 

The babies salallahwaleeyaslam said definitely it would 

Hazrat  aisha Raza alay anaha  narrated a man approached the Nabi salallahoallaywasalum and asked if he could  donate  in charity  on his  mother's behalf who suddenly passed away without getting enough time to do it herself  , would that help him and his mother's soul in anyway,  , the rasool salallaoalaywasalam replied definitely it would help 

It is quoted from  the hazrat jabren 

The rasool salallahwaleeyaslam  instructed  each camel meat was added to the  huge pot and cooked and that was distributed and partakes 

from previous

An inspector stopped fast speeding car and asked the driver to show his documents,  suddenly the woman  sitting in the back seat began screaming she had all her life  been telling him what a useless  irresponsible careless  fool of a man he was,  his each and every  action proves it

Traffic police man asked the driver who was that woman 

The driver explained she was his wife 

The police man laughed and let him go, that was enough punishment for him 

page 75

....she was amazed at the sight inside the train  , it looked more of a  small compact room with comfortable seats up and down  facing each other,  just below the  closed windows was a cabinet  cum table on which were kept  eatables fresh fruit and snacks,  there was another smaller door that was  shut,  every thing one needed was available except a hiding place,  she right then spotted two suitcases  in a corner by the door,  not certain what exactly she must do she crouched  behind them , it wasn't possible to stay hiding there for long,  but she had no other option,  

The evening unfolded itself to  a deeper darker night,  the compartment was properly  closed yet it was quite cold she thought,  the  train began moving,  some minutes later the inside door to the compartment opened and a stout short man  emerged,  she realized it was the washroom,  he almost  fell on a seat, he was dressed in comfortable loose salwar kurta , , he held a long fat generic homemade cigarette in his hand, she had never before seen such a cigarette of that dimension in life,  later she came to know it was called a cigar, he was  puffing it like a hukka 

She sat watching him from behind the suitcases where she had hid herself,  as long as he  kept sitting or lying against the back of tbe comfortable seat She was safe but if he got up she will be in his  direct view and caught,  the way he was sprawled on the seat she hoped he would quickly fall asleep 

page 43

...during the eud festivities noisy hustle and bustle also miss etiquette  couldn't get off their minds 

Friendly talk was on how  on last two  eids  meat arrived by one  but on this occasion  it was already past three and  still meat was absent,  sara who was arranging   plates wiping them clean  looked at the watch before saying she must be checking and recheching each meat piece  tens of times   carefully handpicking the reason  it's taking so much extra time,  it was lightly  interpreted 

Nobody should be so stingy  , look at the memorable  personality of the hazrat who Ibrahim  Alta Islam whose son hazrat Ismail alya Islam both father and son on the divine instruction  gave up their lives and look at  us who shrink at sacrificing  a beast,  sara s voice was quite serious 

But  those spiritual beings remain eternally  incomparable to us mortals though  we were taught  and  grew up learning  to obey religious orders  , her tone was a shade deeper emotionally  and at that very moment  stepped in aunty  calling out Maha to take  the meat she was carrying for them,  she had more places to go

page 68

...she kept on walking on the rail track,  her eyes  flooding with tears,  rail tracks help thousands of passengers every day to reach their destination  but  she had no destination before her  nowhere to go  no direction,  her tears  incessantly   dimmed her vision,  her mind  was exploding,  was this really possible,  could this really be happening 

Can someone fall down to such low level 

Are relationships so brittle and meaningless

 is life  so important to save it one  can cross all the limits 

And if it is common  then why is all this happening with her after all

What went wrong from her side that she was being punished so severely 

Now what should she do,  where could she go how could she  survive,  innumerable questions  danced around  her mind  teasing her, challenging her, if possible  she must solve them all find solutions to the surrounding  her problems 

page 67

...Alexander  s real name was  sikander khan,  his attitude was funny, he was quite daring and a strong  boxer, , weight lifting champion,  , he  could easily fight twelve   attackers alone,  he was an expert excellent  shooter,  he loved weapons,  he could  shoot his target blindfolded,   the   matter for concern rose when  six foot  four inch tall giant  of a man  the pathan trembled in fright  on the mention of ghosts, galib another body guard  took advantage of this  matter,  actually he was  his cook and driver but before sikander he tried to prove himself  a better  than him  bodyguard,  galib was pretty slim , six foot two inches  tall and was quite a dangerous package,  he was  a karate master,  he  was  highly intuitive  with his sixth sense  quite active,  , he was really a good cook, , his real name was salman,   but he was called galib for his poetic  interest between  sadaf s talent of poetry and skills of cooking  her poetry was more explosive,  sadaf was p a cup dress designer  teacher and friend,  she was a trained  computer  professional and expert in English,  baba had   discovered such rare gems  , worked on them, polished them and  trimmed them groomed tgem before handing them over 

page 40

....just last  muharram  that  rude  and  crude aunty arrived,  anmi  commanded Maha to get cool   sherbet for refreshment,  first aunty refused then started off with her incessant chatter that she always made  sherbet without sugar   in pure flavored syrup   but  Maha clearly remembered  the sherbet they were offered in aunty  s house last time they had visited her was  way   down grade  , true there was no sugar in it but there wasn't any syrup either,  faded  water with evaporated  flavor  and  outer husk of peels of  dry nuts sprinkled  floated, a sip of it neither  went in nor could be thrown out,  it simply  got stuck somewhere in the throat,  but aunty shamelessly  demanded  for fresh juice visiting others,  

Aunty held the glass of sherbet and  mixed  loads of sweetness in her tone and asked if Maha was  engaged to get married,  ammi  smartly explained  Maha s maternal uncle  was looking for someone   suitable,  

Look at my son  aunty said 

Ammi asked what did he do 

He is on TV,  twenty four,  educated well-mannered  he is a smart man she lied proudly 

Maha   fumed on such a vibrantly colorful  skill of  inventing  a lie

page 64

..it was a spectacular  scene,  huge  hills covered in green,  tall trees all around and  the fast flowing river below,  , it was definitely  a fantastic   landscape,  a unique example of nature's   creativity,  , but she had no time to look at the surroundings and enjoy  the scenery,  , the scenes were  passing by at high speed like a slide show,  when life is  at stake  dangers don't let you enjoy life,  every attraction loses its charm,  , it wasn't easy to run up the  slope,  but helplessness is the mother of efforts in all ages, , but she kept on running with all her  strength  courage body mind and  life , her shoes filled  up with  pebbles and  stones  hurting her, , she was quite out of breath,  , her heart drummed  loudly,  her ears were tuned to the  shouting screaming  noisy voices  running after her, her mind  was giving her just one command  again and again  to run  run and run 

page 39

....Maha was doing the dishes in the kitchen,  she was a most stunning young woman  and her sister and sister's husband were waiting for her  when  their new neighbor    walked in painfully  sighing and moaning  , all her joints were  giving her trouble,  shabana baji was  calling  all of them for a Quran recital  , chattering nonstop  was her habit,  she almost dumped herself in a coir cot placed in the veranda,  Maha emerged from the kitchen with  soapy hands  to greet her new neighbor aun5y to stop her from  gossip  if once started  Maha  s sister and her husband would  embarrass her,  aunty asked if she was kept busy in the kitchen,  household chores were full time  occupation  , where was Maha  s ammi  , the visitor looked around and pointed towards others who were they, Maha introduced her sister and her husband  come from Hyderabad,  aunty unwittingly told Maha her elder sister looked younger,  and aunty began comparing herself  with Maha that sometimes the younger look older and the older look younger,  her  chattering was cut short by  a painful moan  , her joints were  troubling her,  Maha s brother in law  expressed his view it was her old age related joint pains,  aunty didn't like it for she was still young at heart  , there was no problem with her till a year ago when her eldder son got married,  the bride  brought with her viral fever and all were down with it , aunty  recovered but lost her good looks  she was better looking than Maha, Maha glared at her,  Walid tongue in cheek  prompted he would  send her body massage oil from Hyderabad  which after rub or two  can make you look younger 

Gazal page 59 tabbasum rehmani

....for heavens  don't let me be judged so

They live together yet remain  invisible to each other 

All life long your love wasn't  felt

Heavens let  your sorrows  touch my heart

If you are proud  of yourself then 

Let yourself openly  challenge my love 

Come let's fly over our roads 

To reach my destination wherever I stay 

World is unnecessarily   annoyed by me 

If only  they understood me

Haven was found under someone s tresses 

Unhappiness and  sorrows  kept looking for me

From my lips  smile won't get off

No matter how much  dawns and dusk hurt me 

page 23

...pir Ibrahim  had consulted  tajur when  she was getting engaged  and  the chaudhary Shajah  was  permitted to see her from a distance   and she was quite thrilled to accept  this matrimonial proposal,  he was single since  Karamazov chaudhary  s wife  s death and she quickly filled the vacancy  and emotional void,  she was a fantastic combination of beauty and brains,  shrewd and experienced  tajur was proud and   seen  prosperity,  she was bestowed with abundance of beauty brains  grains  respect and affection,  her seven brothers  treated her  like a dream,  she was never rejected nor refused and always got what she wanted  and  self-centered  as she  was  she never  supported others 

Dear,  always respect your husband and never humiliate him , pir Ibrahim   advised her sending her  off on rukhsati,  he would have added more but her father in law  stepped forward to stop him from  giving her a lecture saying  tajur was now no longer  pir Ibrahim  s daughter  but belonged to the  in laws  and now she was their  family,  both fathers were childhood friends and quite  free with each other or nobody could face the pir or speak up before him,  the father in law assured the pir  tajur was going to rule the family domain and take over full control of the  in laws 

from previous

...if Martha herself didn't tell him about  Ed Paulard  he could never have guessed  she was her male partner  with whom Martha could share her  thoughts  and cry on her shoulder 

That night they went to dinner at Johnny s restaurant,  Martha had phoned him to reach her office,  they sat across the table  with her eyes   looking at him dreamily,  her eyes shone stars,  her face  expressed  a strange mix of joy, he was experienced enough to know that expression  was commonly seen on those faces  who were  just fallen in love  and found it fascinating,  but he thought of  confirming his doubts,  he looked at her shimmering with joy etes and  decided to ask  another question in a round about way  if her eyes were  drunk intoxicated by the drink she had had,  she assured him it wasn't the drink that they both had together,  such a little  swig was harmless 

What was it then he wanted to know,  she patted his hand on the table in a warm friendly manner  before  leaning against the back of her chair,  her eyes  changed  a shade  deeper  and brighter,  she explained in a  most soft and gentle tone  that she was in love 

He quickly realized she was  charmed  by the magic of love of someone and asked in a plain simple  straight line with whom was she in love 

With the most wonderful man  in the world 

He was  quite informal  occasionally and she had in the past lived sharing her experiences with him  frankly,  but  somehow her infatuation  were never  reciprocal and every time she described her new crush as the most wonderful man in the world  to him  but  a few days later  Martha would meet him to tell him  the new wonderful man was  rascally and  there was a breakup 

dost

...thie beginning of this matter  started from a cocktail party arranged by friend Danny at his house,  he was also invited by friend Danny but he   just didn't want to attend it because he wanted to go to movies instead  but by six in the evening  Martha rang him up, she was going to the party and wanted him to drive her there, she frankly told him she was going with Tommy  but at the last moment  he was called for an urgent business meeting  and he got caught in the office,  she liked going to parties,  her tone changed sweet like honey  wasn't he a good friend of hers  always ready to help,  she asked him to pick her up on his way to Danny  s

He like always proved himself  her best and  most helpful friend,  agreed to drive her to Danny s because he was madly in love with Martha 

, his behavior before her was of a sold out  slave , her request was a command  for him,  , he was crazy for her,  it frequently happened she was supposed to attend dinners lunches parties and functions with someone else  who couldn't drive her there and canceled last moment and she requested her helpful friend  to drive her there,  he was a big fool and such fools are commonly found in all times  

from previous

....why are you watering the trees,  the pir found his activity rather weird 

Gamo replied he was a mashqi whose  job was to carry water and give it where needed,  sweet water from their private well was brought for the congregation but because nobody was around he thought it was better to water the dry soil  around the growing trees  if the pir would not remember  gamo at least these thirsty trees will 

Pir Ibrahim smiled at his explanation and  joining his palms in a form of  a tray asked gamo to pour water he could drink to remember him by, without bothering to hear the pir gamo  opened the mouth of the  mashq with bismilla and began pouring the water in the extended joined palms of the pir who swallowed some mouthfuls before acknowledging the water was sweet like  gamo s voice,  two men  leaped forward  from nowhere  before gamo could answer befittingly  asking the pir if he wanted to drink water the cup  can be presented , gamo jumped back startled  , Ibrahim pir instructed the men to leave,  gamo in sheer awe asked him if he was the pir himself 

page 20

....pir Ibrahim  s  courtyard  always   stayed  crowded  with  the faithful  who surrounded him for his extraordinary  power of healing ability  just by a touch of his hand,  it was said when he was just a kid a sage healed him with his blessings and left him with the power of curing  , the pir was neither a usual regular  healer nor traditionally trained,  he didn't give any charms nor  magic threads,  but people thronged to see him  and be with him and liked spending time around him for his positive thinking and positive energy,  but only he  knew it how overwhelmingly  overloaded he was with the burden of  the seekers, he was a landlord by birth , his was not a sayyad but married into the clan of sayyads, his wife was  as religious as him,   almighty  loves  the young who dedicate their youth in prayers,  both were to  spend much time praying,  he was aware he could only help others  if he  prayed enough,  his settlement would be destroyed the moment he jumped  the invisible fine line  if his limits 

Gamo and his wife after early morning breakfast would leave to reach the pir s house  in the afternoon,  they found the area vacant,  , gamo stopped a man  who was feeding the pigeons outside and told him he wanted to see  the pir,   the man said they ought to have come earlier,  the pir  has left, gamo was disappointed,  the man laughed at gamo s explanation that he had walked ten miles from his village  because others walked  more than twenty miles to see the pir

page 23

....this was a pleasant change  in nadim  s life,  , in the past he faced  many problems  but now  after  closing  the shop for the night he  counted the profit  of the day  he felt  renewed energy filling him, ,  he was happy with the business,  he  put in more hard work and  mind to his shop, , next one month  proved quite hectic and busy for him,, the previous customers became regular,  his timings were  from four afternoon to eleven midnight  to be in the shop,  he started taking interest in dealing with  customers  men and women,  , nadim was learning  new tricks  from his new life style,  , majid would  join him after five for an hour or so mainly to pass his time,   from majid learnt  new terms and names of things,  nadim  became  more    mentally close to najid,  both were now on informal  terms and shared and discussed their  personal matters with each other frankly,  it seemed  for nadim life was going smooth but it wasn't quite so, he was going through an invisible  phase of  mental  and personal  troubled phase in life,  he needed  some  romance and release,  he needed  to destress his routine,   and one day  he got a  chance to  get out of his boredom 

Don't you have sea green   perfume,  a woman  right before nadim asked him 

from previous

.... shamina s death  for nadim was unbelievably shocking,  , thirty years togetherness  seemed merely an illusion of sheer sentiments,  the shock wasn't  the only thing he was going through  , he also had a lonely life to take care of, it was testing to pass his time,  , according to  their family traditions and social customs  for forty days he had to meet the  mourners   at home,  etiquette  didn't permit him to  avoid them,  for first ten days it was nearly impossible for him to  adjust to this new situation,  he had differences with shamina but  he lost his companion  of thirty years,  , his personality  changed and he missed his smart phone,  breakfast was brought from the market  for him either by bashr or Ahmed,  lunch was given by  Anam and dinner by market but  mainly now he had to tackle his loneliness,  his  self esteem  dropped,  that kind of  low self esteem only shamina could understand 

from previous

.....it was a normal may night  , shamina   as usual  was sprawled in bed on the terrace,  she lay gazing at the night  sky  admiring the moon and the stars, she  was all alone  up on the terrace,  others were  comfortably  turned in  in  their  air-conditioned rooms  , her three children  every summer asked her to change her habits,   she simply smiled them off, , since her childhood  a strong habit of sleeping up on the open terrace  was instilled in her,  not even nadim could change her  habit, thinking of nadim she tossed and turned on her side  impatiently,  low mental level  they belonged to the ninety five percent of Pakistani  couples  who are stressed,  she was dark complexioned and  had a low self esteem,  , on his  request  sge would dress up for special occasions but taunting  were hurting  as a result she stopped paying attention to herself  instead of ignoring the  sarcasm,  children were born and  they both got   trapped in  routines of raising their children,  , shamina couldn't recall when was it last  when she had spent a , moment of peace with nadim,  both  became  distant  emotionally and bodily, his condition wasn't hidden from her , she was aware of his  renewed romantic nature,  she turned her side and began pressing her left arm, sge had been faithful to him,  yet he remained aloof and not sincere,  , a doubt knocked  secretly  in mind, the pain  aggravated in her arm,  perhaps  he failed to achieve  his goals and unfulfilled wishes  changed him completely 

page 18

.... gamo s voice was resonating   somewhere  distant,  words weren't clearly  audible  but the voice  reached before him and  allarasai heard him,  she quickly began  kneading the dough  , by the time gamo got home  the dough was ready  and  mud oven lit , logs  burning   and fuming, she poked the fire and  blew  it   hot  to  faster heat the  iron flat pan , she blew through a long  iron pipe  and within minutes she was satisfied with the  result  and it was then gamo opened the door and stepped inside,  

He announced  to praise the lord for today they also had   buttermilk,   first he exchanged greetings and then pushed the copper vessel towards her, he started  filling up his domestic  utensils with the water in his  leather mashq,  afterwards  he washed himself  , his limbs and head to remove dirt, allarasi first   untied the cloth sack  hanging  on his shoulder  to  fill up the empty container  , she  laughed  because the container had emptied just then and got  refilled  too,  followed by pouring the buttermilk from the vessel into the cups by then gamo arrived all freshened up clean 

She asked him  putting the basket of freshly made rotis before him  if pir sahib will see them 

Why not,  his daughter is coming to Karamazov chaudhary  s house as bride of his son and the village  was  related to the chaudhary family so if course  the pir will see them,  he took a long sip of buttermilk  with a piece of roti and  looked rather proud to get a connection  to impress pir sahib 

page 19

...a new direction  was given  to nadim in life,  after retirement  he had unlimited  spare time  but his mental peace was shattered,  spending whole day  at home was killing him,  , he couldn't  exchange his views on political and  current affairs   with shamina,   nor could he share his feelings  , she wasn't  so intellectually  comprehensive of national issues,  her limited   mind  irritated him, her  inexperience  was annoying, 

On the other hand shamina too had similar  type of   grievances against her husband,  that nadim s thinking was  quite low and narrow minded  and rigid,  that He didn't  possess positive qualities  and was unable to find solutions to problems in life , he would  boil up  on her  pointing out his flaws 

Nadim  for sometime  tolerated  this  phase till one day his patience  gave vent to his  frustration abd one afternoon he  decided to see majid , majid had just one day before returned from a family  wedding function,  both  exchanged   greetings and sat down to discuss  bashr s wedding  moments,  majid  offered nadim  cold drinks  , after some time their talk  turned  more  personal on life matters,  nadim invited him to bring  his wife and daughter  to see him and his family  at his place  someday,  majid cheerfully agreed but they weren't back,  his eyes  had a sad vacant look,  his wife was seven years older to majid,  she was first married to sajid his elder brother   ,  the family decided  after sajid died that the best thing to do was to marry  the  widow to the second brother  according to traditional  system,  she was remarried but couldn't  forget her first husband,  majud was merely an ignorant man to her

page 17

...the night was unfolding,  after watching an enjoyable show  they had gone  to bed,  , the next morning was to be very busy and exciting,  rest was necessary to restore strength,  nadim  s  several  outstation relatives were   accommodated  in rooms with sleeping arrangements on the the carpets,  peaceful silence prevailed  around,  , the only  was restive disturbed and wide awake , he was turning and tossing  on his  very moaning  but sleep was miles away from his eyes testing his patience,   no peace on either  side, ,he  was missing  shabnam s killing  styles,  baldness of attitude and  straightforwardness  of  expressions,  recharge had so many times  flipped her tresses  on him  during  her  performance of dancing  shabnam had gone  a step further  and stayed  center of attention and nadim  too had thrown  stacks of rupees  showering money on them 

It was a very long night,  nadim had many times before  experienced such  sensational  silent nights in his life,  he had suddenly lost  his middle age years in a moment,  he was a young man  full of energy  fearlessness  and  feelings  , who needed to at all costs  to get rid of  distractions  to maintain peace and balance in his life 

page 15

...what are the signs of Baghdad town,  roads of worries   hurt bodies and minds to shreds like  a tailor does to his cuttings

From that haveli  gamo  got grains,  from them  his family lived  and the fire of hunger was satiated,   , to show his gratitude all he could do was carry water for them,  , though there was a handpump   in the  vicinity of the haveli,   and  a  private  well  in the back yard , nobody had asked him to get water to the haveli,  but gamo went to the haveli  regularly and  drew water from there  and sprinkled  the vicinity  thoroughly,  doing his work he constantly recited  haqq bahu s  versus,  , many a times  the chaudhary made him  sit down beside him  to hear him recite  specially to  him,  the day he recited for Karamazov chaudhary  gamo  was  weighed down with  grains, the chaudhary always  sent him   surrounded with gifts,  the haveli doors were open for the village  mashqi the insignificant water carrier,  his  position and status was acknowledged  for his sincere work 

Inside  the chaudhary was getting ready  to leave  for a meeting  when  he heard  gamo singing  , the meaningful lines  were soulful,  his  chaudhrain wife had recently died and since then he was a completely changed man Inside out, gamo s  spiritual singing  touched his heart,  he stood before the mirror wiping his eyes, he drued his face before wearing his official headgear  and ordered a servant to give  gamo grains and extra buttermilk 

page 12

... the  hit of the ball and  mental stress  defeated  nadim,  by next morning he was gripped by high fever,  he needed complete rest and  mental peace but he was  kept busy and couldn't take  the needed rest,  shamina was taking full care of him,  but  she was very dry and mechanical,  she avoided spending time with him, , she got quickly  irritable  seeing nadim,  her annoyance and  indifference showed clearly on her face,  both were  aware of each other's feelings and  moods , bitterness  between  enlarged the divide  

In nadim  s house   the wedding function celebration of his son  was at it's  height,  shabra had arrived with her child  to stay,  shamina  s  shopping activities  increased aggressively,  last moment  hyper action seemed  never lasting,  women folk of the family spent eight hours shopping,  , they returned home after nine at night  fully  loaded with  heavy  shoppers,  all of them so utterly tired that   it would get difficult for them to take a step further,  finding it impossible to climb upstairs,  dumping their   load they would  get  engaged in argument 

Nadim started to get tired of them and their habits,  he stated uninvolved  indifferent and  didn't mix with others,  that day  also he got completely  tired and stressed listening to them argue about political matters and shopkeepers,  there were some  wedding invitations kept  on the  side table by his bed,  shamina  had along with Anam, shabra and Ahmed  distributed the cards to all,  only these few were left 

page 10

....life used to be good  now as if all is over,  , thread of conversation   started spinning between them around the topic of present situation and   happenings,  suddenly nadim  s phone  began ringing  displaying  his wife's number on the screen,  she was asking what was taking him so long  ,  and he wasn't  home  , her tone was customary  mixed with complaining,  , he was with a friend  , no worries  he will  come back,  he was familiar with her  nature   , he was irked,  

She repeated  why wasn't he answering,  shamina s  voice  was surprising,  he  irritated explained he was sitting  with a friend,   he will be back  , his voice rose, 

Shamina  was  asking why  was he silent,  she sounded  irritable,  nadim stared at the phone  perhaps it was dead,  the fall had  damaged its speakers most probably  majid suggested,   he added his thanks  , nadim  politely asked there was nothing to  thank him about 

Dana pani

....From alaf starts the   name of Allah,  the spiritual   teacher   instilled  love for almighty  in the  mind stream of the faithful,  , the  chameli   jasmine plant resembles  the word Allah , , the plant was lovingly nurtured   and its fragrance was breathed  in to  heal tge soul 

Gamomashki s  voice on full volume  was resonating through the entire  household  in a sweet  melodious  cuckoo  s  like every day,  he was  reciting  his   kalam like everyday after Fajar  by the village  well  tied up around the wheel was the rope with a  water container at it's end ready to go into the water he was  to  draw up,  he was  calmly and steadily  reciting his kalam while working  thinking  if the murshid  can't help  relieve one's pain  he is no use 

The wheel of the well was  running  downwards  unrolling tge rope around it , gamo   began reciting   hazrat sultan bahu verses faster with the  increasing speed of the rope going down  by the weight of the water container,  he was  on a different level altogether,  he didn't know Quran  nor hadis,  he had  grown up listening to his father reciting  bahu s verses that he too had memorized , he was  given some lessons of Quran in his early childhood but before he could complete his first chapter his father died and gamo found himself  holding the leather mashq  , he belonged to tge family of mashqis whose work was to carry water in leather  containers 

raqs iblis

...the garden was  a scene  of sheer pleasure,  light breezes  touched the  tree leaves    making them  dance,  soil and foliage  scents  rose intoxicatingly,   , he was  completely  engrossed in the    scene relishing it, , flowers and fragrance  were his  weakness,  his mind heartily feasted on such  beauties,  ,  these were  attractive moments captured   , the air and mood all were  thirstily  absorbed into his soul,  , he had never before experienced  this feeling  as now, , enraptured he walked about  in the  enchanting garden,  each step he took revealed   another  captivating  scene  suddenly   he halted,   the   shadows of clouds were  gone,  the sun appeared bright,  the heat  was acceptable  , satisfied he resumed his  walk,   he had  to stop again  some distance away 

Who's there 

Who's there,  he shouted,  no response  could he hear from  any direction,  he shook his head thinking it must be his  doubt,  he caressed  the blossoms , he became strongly aware of someone's presence,  he felt  he was being watched,  he rubbed his forehead  and repeated his question  who was there  , , his  questions  remained  unanswered  as total silence  prevailed,  , he looked around  there wasn't anyone  but  he was certain  there was  something   or someone  around