kahaniyon wala pyar

.... the moment the first  drop of rain  touched the ground   within some minutes  the rain   began    its opera  but the melody held a note of sadness   in its tenor,  pitter patter fell  rain drops  in its simplest  form , people  walking on the footpaths  holding their open umbrellas  over themselves,  traffic jam on the roads,  dusky evening  light  slightly mixed in nocturnal  shade  , lined up street lights burning a soft golden glow,  taxi window  glass   presented an intricate watery pattern  intriguing  as the outside street lights   shone on to it

The   traffic signal turned green  and suddenly  the taxi door was  burst open  on the drive,  he  looked at  the  girl with  surprise,  she was soaked  completely in the outpour,  her  tresses  were sticking on to her face,  she was trying to tuck the tresses behind her ears,  her eyes   were scared , fear showed  in them,  , she  placed  lots of things on the seat  her hands  quivered,  he stared at her startled  , now the driver too turned around and spoke o bibi get down quickly,  this iis special   ride

The girl  had settled herself comfortably and arranged all her things  by her side before looking at the annoyed driver 

The driver looked at the man and  promised to get rid of the unwanted passenger  who had just gate crashed 

The driver  rudely asked her to step down 

The girl began  to converse in sign language,  opened her mobile notes and  typed something 

from previous

....sherkhan sitting with him  started   gossiping,  the  hardness in his nature some time ago  had disappeared,  he looked into the backview mirror,  gori sat  watching out of the window looking upset,  anyway it was her own fault,  she ought not to have sat down in the front seat with a stranger  in a vehicle,  he and sherkhan kept on talking  lightly,  but gori remained muted all throughout the journey 

Reaching the bazaar he desperately searched for the camera  shop that sold appliances,  soon he found one in a back lane  in a narrow corner  , the lense was poor quality but at least  workable  for next twelve to fifteen days,  both sherkhan and gori had gone their way shopping for themselves,  both came back when he also was finished with his shopping,  he  observed  sherkhan looked  stressed and gori annoyed,  he couldn't speculate what had gone wrong with them when they were shopping,  he  thought it would be  improper to ask  but if they wanted they would tell him themselves,  she held a few  shoppers and woman's  magazines  in her hands 

Free from shopping they decided to have snacks,  their gaze fell on the nearby burger shop , he ordered three burgers and cold drinks for them,  he felt  gori watching him  when sherkhan was busy eating,  they still had three hours before returning home 

page 247

...next morning early  he realized hus camera lens wasn't working,  , he git goosebumps  all his work depended  on it alone,  this was sudden and unexpected  problem,  unseen  and he wasn't prepared for it, he didn't want to travel back to Lahore  , jauhrabaad was still not  as developed as Lahore,  he had to  do everything staying there,  he  discussed his matter with Sher khan  who mocked his fears away saying  jauharabaad was more advanced than khushab which  was still twenty years behind slowly lagging  , everything was available in jauharabaad,  then he began narrating untold tales of yore,  he stopped him and asked if it was possible to get what he wanted to make his gadgets functional 

page 245

 ..  meantime a soft knock on the I inner door was heard  , sherkhan called out loudly to khala to come in 

The other  sat upright,  definitely this was family  woman   who was asking for permission to enter the room,  his  thinking proved  correct,  a woman's face  appeared  , her whole being was covered in a sheet , her presence  evoked  almighty s  radiance  full of affection and purity,  she was surely  sajadil  s mother  khala  halima  , she held a food tray  certainly only for the him the  visitor,   the   small nervous shy  shrinking   person behind khala  stood   in her early twenties  very young  , she too was tightly wrapped up entirely  in a sheet,  only her shy face was hardly visible ,  he liked her invisible smile,  he greeted khala he stood up to present his shoulder  to her who lovingly patted it  and  showered on him lots of prayers 

How did you spend the last night,  was there any problem,  she spoke informally  affectionately and sincerely,  she placed the food tray on the table before him  before turning to the shy girl  and presenting her before him , introducing her , she is my daughter,  her name is gori,  he gently greeted her and she slightly moving her jet black eye lashes  replied , what does she do  he pointed towards the shy  package and asked halima khala dear son  she goes to college  Halima  khala  spoke with pride 

Now he decided to directly speak to gori , perhaps she didn't expect it  she became nervous  what class 

  Lowering her eyes  shyly she explained  b a 

Good  casual tone  he used 

from previous

....and then he began speaking  slowly 

You know  I was  so passionate about  traveling different places  during  university days  he smiled   blandly  shumaila also gave an equally  matching smile 

Of course I know she said  I also remember very clearly  I  asked you to stop  that,  I still believe it is a useless  passttime  you were wasting your time,  her eyes brightened up speaking of their memorable experiences 

You  prevented me from  following my passion  because it was  for you a waste of time  , instead  I should  lend a helping hand  in my abbu  s business,  his  smiling gaze was   glued on her face 

And uncle needed you by his side  she emphatically  stressed her point 

You  were more considerate because you were in love with me  and not because you really  cared about abbu,  you didn't like my roaming about from place to place  pounding dust , he affectionately looked at his loving wife  who was also faithful   who wasn't even touched by the  passing time, 

She lowered her eyes  before his admiring gaze 

I swear what  awesome days they were,  I couldn't  stay without you  not even for a moment,  shirt time  absence seemed  lifelong  tragic  moments,  a strange fear had settled into my heart,  that these  small time  separations won't  become frequent and for ever

sehra ka phool

....27th January 

Aah one more twenty seventh January,  another   sorrowful night,  another   test of life, 

Sighing heavily he drew the window curtains aside,  outside the  night was  soaked  half way,  continuous  steady pouring since last evening  had turned tge dry January winter  suddenly  cold,  outside weather wasn't  different from his inner  complexion of his emotions,  in fact  the inner    emotional  canvas was   extremely    difficult,  outside the window  there was  a soft gentle  rhythm  of pouring rain  but inside his mindset  there was  an outstanding outpour  absolutely  different experience because of  the burning  sorrow   that had nestled  there for years giving him pain  and sleepless nights,  a feeling of guilt  was   cutting  his  soul to pieces 

Tears  spilled out  trailing down his cheeks leaving  their   traces  to  get absorbed into his outfit  somewhere,  these tears are like   companions  always present to share your  secluded sorrow  drowning  your fuming  hurt  to  lessen it to half  dividing all your painful experiences 

He  heard a sound  beside him,  he turned to see  shumaila  standing there with a coffee tray

from previous

....both were married off soon,  then they started living a life of the perfect couple, 

He helped in the kitchen,  , kneading the wheat flour dough with his hands in the sweltering heat , , sometimes  also made chapatis,  on alternate days cleaned up and  did the laundry,  scowling  all the time but that's what he had asked for,  he wanted   such a modern wife  who worked outside to earn and share financial responsibilities,  who won't depend on husband  and be a liability 

She too on the other hand  was  completely trapped into a vicious  circle of over work  to stay awake all night with the infant to leave for work early morning,  every task was challenging,   alternate  nights turn by turn  Farakh and she   took care of the infant,  naturally mothers spend sleepless nights Farakh  mostly  shirked  , going to bed uncaring of the child,  she was forced to take care of the child 

She had become a robot  working mechanically,  he had to iron his own  outfits,  he prepared his breakfast himself both were tired of this lifestyle  but now their ego was pushing them on, neither of them was ready to withdraw or give up , both  were determined to marry their  dream life partner,  both were  regretting  but the world believed  they were made for each other  ,,,perfect couple 

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