He Followed The Same Path

Photo by:Abneet Chauhan

Tahiba Khan

Mangu’s house was located on the periphery of the village. Only mud paved roads were the way he used to follow everyday to reach his place of work and to come back to his small two yard spaced home. Mangu was always positive about his work. He always worked hard. But he was very skeptical about rain; he sometimes hated the trouble it caused him. His house was almost wet and cracked whenever rains showed their way to his village. He along with his family had seen many sleepless nights while collecting the rain drops in the small tumbler used for bathing to save his beloved house from further wetting. This was not end to his trouble, whenever rain got finished, he and his wife with their children, spent days and nights rebuilding cracked floor and walls made of mud and cow dung. He doesn't own anything except his labour, he always asked for cow dung hesitatingly to his master in exchange of work done by his wife in their kitchen.

His family resided in one room, cooked on chullah. In that room he, along with his family shared the anger, love, jealousy with the different generation and sexes. It was looked as if there were no concept of the young and old. Sometimes Mangu behaved like a boy and sometimes his children behaved like an old man.

Mangu had three children, among whom first two were the girls and last one was boy. Mangu always wanted to have boy instead of girl similar to the other fellows of his locality. 

When Sabina, his wife was pregnant first time he was sure that he will be blessed with a boy but his desire of a boy was washed away when her wife gave birth to a girl. He walked away from the house, and didn’t even think of seeing the new life sprouted in his house. When he came in the evening he looked at the bud with a side look trying to ignore her partially and at the same time felt thirsty for her glimpse. Days passed he didn't show his affection towards the baby.

One day he, finally broke when he saw the baby smiling on her own, when a squirrel entered from the open window in search of the few grains scattered on the mud floor, inside the room. His wife was out in neighbor’s house. Feel attracted by her smile he automatically drove towards the only cot on which the baby was lying on her small-flat tommy. He went near and sat on the cot for a while and touched her with his index finger, and a tear rolled from his eyes. His dry hands took seconds for the tear to extinct. As if it was never existed.

Mangu's life had never changed after that; he used the same mud paved roads to his work and hated rain for the trouble it caused him. He worked from morning to evening, for the money to keep him and his family alive for the next day labour. 

Mangu’s wife was again blessed with the God’s gift. That time Mangu was hopeful towards his destiny. But it was again a girl. A girl, whose featured were so beautiful that her mother immediately planted a kiss on her tiny-soft forehead, and forgot her post delivery pain.

Mangu was in distress.  But he again involved in his work as always, using the same mud paved roads.

His wife was in labour pain surrounded by the locality women. He was not concerned when his wife was pregnant third time, and was not expecting anything. But it was a boy. Everybody was happy, there was celebration. Mangu was overwhelmed by this desire of which he was expecting since the first birth to his wife. He took loan from his Malik to celebrate his son’s birth. He distributed boondi ki ladoo. He went again and again to his wife and pressed his kiss on the head of an infant, and in return his body felt the dreams he was expecting in future. 

He again involved in his work as always, he children grew more, with time. His son was pampered one, his daughters were also loved partially. In their limited resources, his son was given the first option to have anything. His daughters started working in the fields along with their mother, and helped in accumulating some income. That accumulated income never actually accumulated. Their extra labour adjusted with the rising prices. His son was involved in the habit on drinking. He all the day roamed with his friends, and whenver came back fought with his sisters on petty issues like why they were standing out, or staring at some boys in locality, or not wearing dupatta etc...He also shouted on her mother, when she not fulfilled his wish to cook of his choices. He never understood his family conditions. 

His father was on doubt about his drinking and intoxication, but one night he was confirmed when his son didn't come to home. He searched for him around the fields and village. Occupied with weird thoughts, Mangu didn't sleep that night. Next morning some men took him on their shoulders, from the distant place to his home. He was drenched in mud. He was unable to stand on his feet. It was last night hangover which was not passed away. When his father was called off from fields, he saw him lying on cot, his wife was crying, and her daughters were standing silent. He was heartbroken and remembered the day he wished for a boy. He went to her daughters, hugged both of them, and said "I'm lucky that you were blessed on me.... "

Mangu followed the same path, mud paved roads...he was always cynical about the rain, despite it flourished harvest he worked on master's fields.

One Day When Someone Came

Tahiba Khan

Pablo Picasso

Muniya, see who has come?” shouted Muniya’s mother Saroj from the front room. While flipping the familiar pages of her favorite book by Ismat Chugtaayi, Muniya tried to hear the voice of that ‘someone’. She heard a voice of ‘someone’ she knew. She closed her book and went to the other room….

 Muniya, in her early teenage years, was full of energy. She had energy like a storm. She would always fight over small issues at home, issues she considered unjust or unfair.. She would often protest when her brother was allowed to go out and she wasn’t. She was the only one in the family who resisted anything that seemed illogical. But who cares for logic. Still in her small world she always looked for reasons.

Muniya had many friends to play with. Apart from school friends there were friends from her housing society. She never cared for anything other than her friends.

One day Muniya was playing badminton outside her house with Ashfaq. Ashfaq was her neighborhood friend. He told her that some boys were planning to go to some place. As she saw this group of boys she went near them with Ashfaq. One of the boys in the group was her friend Omar.

Muniya said “Hey, what are you up to? Let’s play a game, I bet you can’t win with me?”

Omar’s friends started laughing at Omar. Omar watched them, looked at Muniya and said “I will play some other day; right now I’m going to explore something else far away near the river”.

“River!!”Muniya shouted.

She had never been to the river. She knew that there was a river, had heard others talking about it. She had always wanted to see the river. She could not contain her curiosity…. “What will you do there… tell me …please tell me” she pleaded with Omar.

“Aah! That’s a nice question, do you want to go?”

“First tell me, what will you  do there?” asked Muniya.

“There is something that I want to see” he replied with a smile.

“What do you want to see there, now tell me quick or I’ll smash your face with this racket” Muniya burst out in anger.

“Ha ha ha ha!! Well we all are going to watch a boat there. You must be thinking what is so unusual about this. But let me you tell you that this boat is something special. We have heard that this particular boat comes at noon from somewhere and takes a circle in the water and then vanishes into thin air.” 

“Wow!” exclaimed Muniya, and without a pause said “Can you take me along with you please?”

One of the boys in the group looked at Omar as if he found the idea of taking Muniya with them ridiculous. But Muniya was not going to let this opportunity go for anything in the world. She quickly  said “Give me two minutes, I’ll be back in a minute, I have to keep my racket at home”.

Everybody laughed when they heard her. She always cracked jokes and gave statements at which everyone laughed. She ran home, found nobody at home and came out. Omar was in favour of taking her along with him. He always enjoyed her company.

As she came out, Omar asked “Have you informed anybody that you are coming with us?”

“They’ll never let me go if I tell them, anyways,”Nobody was at home, Amma had gone to the market and Abba was at office”, it was the perfect opportunity for her, so she hurriedly came out and joined the group in their adventure. If somebody was at home, even then she would never have thought of asking for their permission.

Feeling uneasy, she retaliated, “Have you told about this to your parents?”

They looked at each other and smiled.

She also smiled and said “Rascals!!”

They all left for the river. After a long walk through fields and huge mangrove forests they reached the place where they saw a variety of trees they had never seen before. There were long nests in the shape of bottles hanging from the branches. Wide-eyed, she asked,

 “Omar, which bird’s nest is this? I have never seen this…it’s beautiful”. Omar was also feeling the same sense of wonder. He said “I don’t know, I have also never seen this before”.

While crossing those mangroves, they saw many nests of different shapes and sizes, beautiful unknown birds chirping and playing…they were all surprised and awed by the sight of these birds. ‘What a beautiful worl!d’ thought Muniya.

But they didn’t see the extraordinary boat for which they had come. Later they found out that, it was a rumor created by one of the boys from school.  But none of the children felt angry about this.

However, the whole trip was more than fantasy to Muniya. While coming back she was tense, thinking about her mother Saroj. She was thinking that her mother would really beat her that day. Then her mind started drifting to escape this tension, and suddenly she remembered something she heard in school but never believed. To set her mind free of any tension, she tied two thin bunches of her hair in a knot. She had heard one can escape trouble by tying one’s hair in this way. This was the first time she had tied her hair like this. She also considered it an opportunity to experiment and see whether it worked or not.  She prayed to God and knotted her hair.

Muniya entered her house and ran into her room, noting from the corner of her eye that her mother was working in the kitchen. She opened her book and turned towards the wall. She started creating her fantasy, didn’t care what happens at home. That whole evening she was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even realise that it was time for her to stop studying. She was lost in thoughts about her expedition. She had lots of question but who would have answered them? She didn’t dare to ask her brother or mother since it might create a problem. She ignored those questions in her mind too, and just lived the feeling of the visit.

While Muniya was in her room, she heard the doorbell ring. Saroj shouted, “Muniya, open the door”. She ran and peeped from behind the netted door.

“Sanjeev Uncle!!” she exclaimed happily and opened the door. Sanjeev uncle was like her friend. He always brought her something. One day he brought her sketch colors. Another day a drawing book… Muniya liked to paint and sketch in her leisure time and was happy with the presents.

Sanjeev Uncle was in his 30s.  He had big beady eyes, thin moustache, and unshaven but clean face. He was dressed in trousers and shirt and was half bald. He came infrequently but whenever he came there was a recurring topic regarding his marriage. Saroj always teased him by saying “When will you get married?”

He would always reply “When you find a girl like you for me”.

Although Muniya never understood these discussions about marriage, she tried to find a girl for him on the t

elevision. She and her sister Sabina always pointed to a new girl in advertisements while watching television and would say “Sanjeev Uncle, she will suit you”. Sanjeev Uncle used to laugh at this.

Sabina was Muniya’s elder sister and a very talkative girl. She was always busy with her school friends. In nature, she was the opposite of Muniya. She never tried to explore anything new. She was obedient and did whatever Saroj or anyone asked her to do. Sabina never refused anyone anything. Everyone loved her sweet nature. But surprisingly, Muniya talked more to Sanjeev uncle, than Sabina .

Strangely enough, whenever Sanjeev Uncle came home, more often than not, Sabina would disappear. Sanjeev uncle would ask Muniya, “Where is Sabina….call her…go call her”. Muniya roamed around the house in search of Sabina, but couldn’t find her. She came back and told Sanjeev uncle that she could not find Sabina.  When after Sanjeev uncle left she found her sister, Muniya asked her, “Didi, where were you when Sanjeev uncle was there, he was desperately looking for you.”

To this Sabina shouted at her, “You mind your own business…” This surprised Muniya too, because Sabina was quite soft natured and had never shouted at her before.

One day Muniya was sitting with her mother in the backyard. She was sketching since her father had asked her to draw something for him while leaving for office in the morning. Her mother was busy working in her garden at the back of the house. TAA, TAA…the bell rang. Saroj asked Muniya to open the door. Muniya reached the door and saw Sanjeev uncle on the other side.  

She opened the door. But Sanjeev uncle looked strange to her. Muniya started feeling uneasy. This feeling of something unusual was slowly lost in the impression of Sanjeev uncle’s love which he always showed to her. She asked about his well being. Sanjeev uncle came close to her. She asked him to sit. He sat there  and asked Muniya to sit. Muniya hesitantly sat there.

 It was the silence, which was making Muniya uneasy, but her teenage mind was not mature enough to understand what that feeling meant. Muniya wanted to leave the room and the situation. As she got up and tried to say ‘I’m calling mum…..” Sanjeev uncle looked around in the room, pulled her back and gripped her  shoulders. Turning her around, he pressed his mouth on her mouth and dragged her tongue with his tongue.

Muniya felt shell-shocked as if she was in an accident. She felt as if she was going on a road and suddenly a truck came and threw her out in a second on the road in the blood. She was almost stoned to death for the moment . To get herself out of the situation, and unable to understand the weirdness of the act, she pushed him back using both her hands and shouted angrily “Sanjeev Uncle!!” She felt like vomiting. She was scared. She didn’t look at Sanjeev Uncle, as if it was she who had done something wrong.

Muniya got up, her legs and hands were trembliing. Her whole body was shivering. She heard her mother’s voice from behind ‘Muniya who has come?” and Saroj opened the back door to enter the house. Muniya stepped back and her mind immediately directed her into the other room. She closed the door of the room and dragged herself under the blanket. Her eyes were closed. Her mind had stopped thinking. Under the blanket she was sweating.

Sanjeev uncle, alerted by Saroj’s voice, adjusted himself on the chair. Saroj went to the guest room, saw Sanjeev uncle, and chatted with him. Saroj didn’t seem to feel that anything strange had happened in the same room some seconds ago to her daughter. While juggling her thoughts and thinking about the weirdness of the act, Muniya heard the voices of her mother and Sanjeev uncle! In the dark under the blanket her eyes was wide open. After struggling to escape all fear, making shields to protect her, she went to sleep. She didn’t eat that night. Nobody came to ask her what had happened. Her dream was blank. She dreamt of sitting in the dark entrapped in her own body on a dark road.

In the morning her mother woke her up for school. Her eyes were swollen, her forehead skin was shrunken, her lips were saddened. She went to school and didn’t talk to anybody that day. She didn’t even talk to Omar. While coming back from school she thought about telling her mother about the incident the day before but again thought ‘What she will say and how will she say ’. Her mind didn’t want to remember the act again. She was trying hard to escape the act.

In the evening when she was sitting with her mother and brother Rizwan, without thinking much Muniya just voiced “Do not allow Sanjeev Uncle to come.”

 “Why, what happened?” asked her mother.

“He kissed and hugged which I don’t like”

“He does it affectionately, he loves you a lot” Saroj said.

“Oh ho, what are you saying, he loves you, don’t think so much. He cares for you, it’s just his love” said Rizwan.

Neither understood what Muniya wanted to say, and got busy with their work. She also didn’t try to give them the clear picture; it was hard for her to tell all that happened the other day and put it in words, which she herself was unable to understand.

It was he who rang the bell again. When Muniya heard his voice she didn’t run towards the door, she ran to other room. The old fear came again to her in the form of reality. This time she dragged herself under the bed.

She saw two wide open eyes looking at her in pain gripped horror . 

“Sabina didi,?” Muniya whispered.  Sabina was silent and looked in Muniya’s eyes, Both heard Sanjeev Uncle’s voice. He was saying, “Where is Muniya?’

Saroj said, “I don’t know where she has gone.”

Muniya and Sabina were holding each other’s hand and shared the silence in their hearts.