Amin, the eldest among the siblings who remained least bothered on his little sister’s egregious deeds on coming back from work ( Abu jaan and his two elder sons Amin and Rashid worked in their own garage), responded to the knock to find an incensed Mushtaq at the door steps. A disquieted look protruded from Abujaan, who immediately nodded to khadija (as was his disposition on the presence of a visitor). Rest of the house hold (Rashid & hayroon, the elder sister of aamina who was never felt in the house in spite of her presence) sashayed nonchalantly into the bedroom, with Amina making a quick egress, in order to fend off her father’s profound looks while Amin stayed back. It was normal of precocious nature of Amin for he preferred being with his father since childhood. Being the eldest among his siblings, he maintained the prestigious (according to him) elderly attitude with his brother and sisters, weaning away from their jejune games. Abu jaan preferred Amin at his side while making any decisions concerning their work in the garage and has now condigned him even in family related issues.
Khadija felt something erroneous in Abu jaan’s looks , the way he moved closer towards the visitor. From Mushtaq’s paraplegic expression, it seemed to her that with his corpulence figure, he was drowned in a boling pot covered at the top and had narrowly managed to come out alive. On his oddment, Khadija decided to catch their conversation but in spite of his yanked up mood, Mushtaq spoke furtively and the only words that she could understand was mob, burned…and kafirs ( an Arabic word for traitors) …..but the words were enough to ingest the situation. Oh..God..Kahdija muttered under her breath as she saw Abu jaan moving the curtain of the window in a wayward manner, resembling a warrior preparing himself to battle an advanced army by hiding behind the trees, his eyes insinuating his uneasiness.
Khadija had never heard him utter a scurrilous word in all their 18 years of married life together. His broad forehead, the broadness widening with age, and Heavy-lidded eyes always propelled her amorousness, since the day her eyes met his after the nikah (marriage ceremony- as of the yester generation when the bride actually sees her husband only after all the religious rituals are performed).As drips of tension started mounting him, Kahdija too felt uneasy and felt the need of being next to him, in order to soothe his now callous gaze.
Kahdija stood inside sharpening her ears to absorb their conversation, when a distant disheveled sound of hues and cries shifted her focus of attention. It was from outside. She was sure that Abu jaan, Mushtaq and Amin had picked it up too for a frayed look reflected in all their eyes. Khadija too felt scared.
This time Mushtaq did not keep his voice low and blurted out “They will not spare anyone, not even small children”.
Sentient of the onerous situaion , Abu jaan came near to Khadija, looked at her apologetically, and taking a deep breath inside as if of regaining strength, inquired “Where are the children”? Kahdija knew her soothing words would at this stage be ephemeral and aware of the sitaution, she felt it best to acknowledge her husband dexterously. She slowly panned her head in direction of their room and managed to evade her eyes from Abu Jaan’s callous look. Abu jaan moved towards the room.....
to be continued
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
HIDE & SEEK
It was 5 in the afternoon. Ammina was not back. Her father and brothers would be home soon and they would disdain at the prospect of missing women folk in their house. Being her mother, Khadija would defer to her wailing requests in letting her play outside (in fact she did this time also) but she was ‘nt sure how Abujan, Amina’s father would react. As of her normal sangfroid character but not on that particular day, Khadija felt a lunge of discomfiture creeping inside her.
Amina was a very cheerful girl, 10 years of age and the youngest in her family. She had a plump face, pointed nose and curls moving down into her forehead. She had an attractive smile she intentionally pulls in whenever she finds herself at the receiving end particularly when she messes around with her siblings. Although she was the darling of her house, playing outside with the other children of the colony was not a hanging loose deal for her father. Khadija was ruminating on evading Abu Jaan’s inquiries, when on his return he finds his daughter not in the house, the door opened wide and much to her relief, Aamina rushed inside elated.
“Ammu (she affectinalety addresses Kahadija ammu), I won today”
For khadija,it seemed she had just topped her class and she had rushed in with the gold medal.
“They could not find me today also ammu. I only know that place”…
There she goes again. Khadija wondered. Aamina was talking about her game Hide and seek. Khadija had also played around with her friends during her childhood, but she never remembered narrating the whole lot of the incident to her mother after the game. Maybe there was lot of other house hold chores to be preoccupied in with, once she was back home in her childhood unlike Aamina who had to be in front of the books when her father and siblings were back. The only sort of relief Aamina enjoyed was sharing this pivotal information (at least for Aamina) with her. Khadija was smeared in her thoughts when Abu jaan had pushed open the door and from his sharp eyes, she understood that Abu jaan had overheard Amina’s victory claims.
“Aamina” he did not make it in a thunderous tone but there was the complacency that he did not like what was happening in the house.
Undraped, Khadija noticed the quick change of her expressions when she heard Abu Jaan’s sound. The expression seemed similar to her niece Binsiya’s during the kite festival a few months back , when she was about to gulp a cone ice cream, and to her dismay it slipped of her hand into the ground, resulting in an elated group laughter.
Aamina tried to lurk behind Khadija, albeit pouting her lips, lowering her eyes, raising her brows to invoke sympathy in spite of her iniquity when an intrusive knock on the door outside swiveled the thoughts of Abu jaan.
To be continued……
Amina was a very cheerful girl, 10 years of age and the youngest in her family. She had a plump face, pointed nose and curls moving down into her forehead. She had an attractive smile she intentionally pulls in whenever she finds herself at the receiving end particularly when she messes around with her siblings. Although she was the darling of her house, playing outside with the other children of the colony was not a hanging loose deal for her father. Khadija was ruminating on evading Abu Jaan’s inquiries, when on his return he finds his daughter not in the house, the door opened wide and much to her relief, Aamina rushed inside elated.
“Ammu (she affectinalety addresses Kahadija ammu), I won today”
For khadija,it seemed she had just topped her class and she had rushed in with the gold medal.
“They could not find me today also ammu. I only know that place”…
There she goes again. Khadija wondered. Aamina was talking about her game Hide and seek. Khadija had also played around with her friends during her childhood, but she never remembered narrating the whole lot of the incident to her mother after the game. Maybe there was lot of other house hold chores to be preoccupied in with, once she was back home in her childhood unlike Aamina who had to be in front of the books when her father and siblings were back. The only sort of relief Aamina enjoyed was sharing this pivotal information (at least for Aamina) with her. Khadija was smeared in her thoughts when Abu jaan had pushed open the door and from his sharp eyes, she understood that Abu jaan had overheard Amina’s victory claims.
“Aamina” he did not make it in a thunderous tone but there was the complacency that he did not like what was happening in the house.
Undraped, Khadija noticed the quick change of her expressions when she heard Abu Jaan’s sound. The expression seemed similar to her niece Binsiya’s during the kite festival a few months back , when she was about to gulp a cone ice cream, and to her dismay it slipped of her hand into the ground, resulting in an elated group laughter.
Aamina tried to lurk behind Khadija, albeit pouting her lips, lowering her eyes, raising her brows to invoke sympathy in spite of her iniquity when an intrusive knock on the door outside swiveled the thoughts of Abu jaan.
To be continued……
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