page 40

...she was a modern  young woman  , her personal opinion was  that she wasn't born to merely have children and spend  domestic life,, her dreams  were too many,  to fulfill them she  had worked very hard  day and night  and overtime,  she  excelled in studies  and obtained  the   top position,  she  applied  for the job of a professor in a government organization,  her  main problem was ber marriage  her family wanted her to get married while she was still young but she was focused on making a career 

Ammi invited her married friend mahira  to  discuss the matter  frankly,    that she ought to  get married when she is still marriageable , once  her youth was gone she won't be able to find suitable match,     then she will be   forgotten    by the society,  right now   mahira and she were  arguing on the topic 

Have you noticed what all demands  boys have,  the wife should be home bound  and  bear children and just be a housewife,  men want to work outside  to gain power and return home and renjoy domestic  bliss resting and taken full  control of the service of the housewife  and give orders  and expect  to be respected  , husband is completely  selfish and self centered  person  , therefore she  didn't want to get married  the idea of marriage  was annoying 

Are we all mad people who get married,  we are also educated  yet we  are subordinate  to our husbands,  mahira gave her own example 

But I don't want to be like you  , that lifestyle  I don't like at all  she was quite straightforward 

Is some angel going to fall down from  the skies just for you intervened ammi

page 231

....the family  consisted of four members  lived in the old fashioned house  , maxvill and jerry  s father  was dead  , he was unhappy about just one thing  the diamonds  he had obtained   he couldn't  enjoy  them , , maxvill  s father died regretting  , three years ago  unable to pass the diamonds to his sons and  grandsons  but he  transferred his dreams before dying into  maxvill  s eyes 

Jerry was completely  uncaring about  the diamonds he had only heard of  , ,  kristi  never believed in their  existence,  shamm was quite a kid but maxvill  always  intended intensely to find the diamonds 

Maxvill and his wife worked on a vegetable farm,  the owner of the  vegetable farm was the rudest man  maxvill had ever come across,  the owner was always ready to cut daily allowance  of workers on some  pretext  or the other ,,Jerry worked in a restaurant,  in fact  he he worked in several restaurants  to make more money,  he was  an aggressive young man  or perhaps he overreacted to the proprietors,  he didn't  stay long enough  anywhere,   jumping from first to second to third  ,  leaving  the  jobs  quickly    getting nowhere,  he was a drop out  by choice  because he wanted the best of education in the best of the institution,  heart broken  on dreams unfulfilled he merely roamed around,  sometimes he   helped his parents on the farm,  but  tge owner's attitude and parents poor condition  disheartened him , he wondered what kind of life he would have 

asap daulat

....they...they look diamonds  spoke shamm whispering 

They don't look like diamonds but are real diamonds,   real genuine diamonds declared maxvil  his gaze fixed on the diamonds on his palm

Real diamonds  exclaimed  sgamm kneeling down on the floor  ,

Absolutely real and very expensive too my son  smiled maxvil  deeply 

Whose are they  asked shamm to confirm his doubts  that they belonged to them 

These are ours , our possessions  confessed  maxvil  explosively 

What are you saying daddy, shamm looked at him in utter disbelief,  there was no reason to believe,   humble lifestyle  frugal earnings    poorly people   suddenly find  in their forgotten  store full of abandoned broken  things  real diamonds  , all of them their own  , it was hard to believe  shamm thought it incredible 

Of course you heard  it right,  that's what I said  explained  maxvil seriously 

page 235

....she had smiled faintly  and spoken  it would be a complete lie if they said the breakfast wasn't good 

Bhai  explained that was to be discussed after  the breakfast  Bhai remained silent,  phuphi  served the breakfast  on the table,  they still had not started eating  and the door bell rang,  Bhai walked towards the door to open it   he returned followed by amjadalla,  she and Bhai invited him to join them at their breakfast table  ,

He replied  sur I have had my breakfast  there was no space for more,  Bhai  cheerfully  said sister had prepared it all herself,  amjadalla  then accepted to take just two bites to taste the food,  he took  his first  morsel and began praising  , Bhai asked him what brought him so early 

There was a big problem 

Bhai looked at him questioningly,  hadayatalla  explained    goats from shehnaz  s brothers   ran into zamyar s field,  so he shot the giants down  and beat the brothers of shehnaz  badly  that they were admitted into the hospital 

arzu

...arzu  became aware before growing up that her parents were murdered  , that  she   had only one  relative  alive in this cruel world her phuphi  saira,  , it was her first  birthday,  her both maternal uncles  came in and shot down her parents dead 

Saira phuphi   answered  and  explained  all her questions,  her parents were wonderful persons  , extremely brilliant in studies  , they aspired to become highly qualified  government officials,  to fulfill their dreams they worked very hard  , they had earned o level and a level  positions,  they  were  outstanding,  their interviews were  highlighted in newspapers,  they appeared for competitive  exams,  they topped the merit list,  clearing all tests  bhai was posted at abatabad,  parents  were  told by faras bhai  the candidates were not given  home postings,  rules were rules  , first they should  gain experience and then take charge of district  postings,  father was silent, bhai left for duty  and joined his office at havelia 

Two months later a  school teacher was made hostage by a politician  s son , the girl s father  filled a report,  faras bhai  called him to his office  and  started questioning him  to find out if the female teacher willingly had gone with the abductor or was it really a genuine case of abduction 

page 194

....tge extremely  injured policemen were  moved out of the crime scene  as the ambulance rushed towards the hospital,   , the  investigation began,  the senior officer who was following jasim  gave his statement,  that jasim  stole a car to escape,  he pointed towards the car  his tone was strange,  they chased him , the crazy man   left his lane and  reached    the oil tanker 

Just a minute,  who are you talking about  , who is the car robber,  there  is no burnt body inside the crushed car

Sir , it's disappeared  I have no clue about it, he looked around in sheer disbelief,  his tone now was  worried,  when we were chasing him he was  driving the car,  he was present in the  driving seat,  we were all shocked  why did he commit suicide  after all he was fleeing  away 

page 40

..look here  dear brother  God made man to do outdoors  duties  and protect woman and family  , woman was made to work indoors  take care of family needs and bear children  raise them  its  a responsibility their duties are different and they are different from each other,  look at me  I am your elder sister would you  say the same for me 

I knew it the moment I will share my thoughts  you all will humiliate me  but when I was not speaking nobody let ne remain silent  you all provoked me , appi you  just tell me what is my  fault  if I am a male , why have all the  stress and struggles of life  burdened onto me , women enjoy more  the journey of life than I do,  she desires social status and  stability as much as I do  then  why doesn't she  support me and  together  we work to achieve our goals , she is ready to enjoy status  but nit ready to share responsibility