Season 2 - FOREVERMORE ::: Chapter 34 :: Zahin Qureshi
1046 Words
Flashback
Many Years Ago
some border side village of Pakistan and Afghanistan, this area's livelihood is the most neglected....95% of population are below poverty rate.....on one hand, indifference of Elder generation towards anything good or bad or worse happening around the world....because they were used to it, they grew up inside it,....so it simply doesn’t matter.
then, there are those jahil - gawar, neglected, uncared, uneducated female species married at very young age and producing many children,......and then there are tyrannical, selfish, vulgar, cruel men,.....
everyday was a battle for basic needs,.....little food and water.....
how are you going to change the world if you do not even get to live another day ?
A boy of 8/9 years old, just entered the shabby tent like hut made of mud with a pitcher of water on his bony hip and put in down on the ground with a thunk.....he was huffing and puffing, out of breath because the weight of it and he had to carry it for long time. His little sister was beside him wandering around with a doll made of rug.....it was their mother who made that for her, she was just 4 years old.
Mostly their mother who always does all the tiresome work like carrying water or making fuel from cattle dung or collecting dry woods to lit fire but for few days their mother was a little sick,.....maybe because of the extreme weather changes, even his little sister had runny nose, constant sneezing and soar throat. Following her brother around never irritated her but It's been 2 days, she is being awfully cranky.
And all in this, you must be wondering where is their father ? Oh, don't worry, he is alive......lying somewhere with some naked women or in a gambling den wasting whatever money they left after he paid his debt by selling his wife's jeweleries.....a pair gold of ear rings, a simple gold chain and a pair of gold bangles.....that's it was which she kept hidden for their 4 years old daughter's future. But her monster of a husband snatched it away after beating her.
That boy tried to make simple flatbread from the flour in kitchen for 3 of them......thankfully there was a pot full of milk from yesterday.
Somehow he succeeded making them and they ate after that and fell asleep. It was already getting dark.....their father would be coming back soon, falling asleep faster means none of them have to face him......
It wasn’t until maybe the midnight the boy woke up from the noise coming from other room....they had only two rooms. When he turned, his sister was sleeping but his mother wasn’t there. He just got up from the floor and tiptoed toward the drapes that was the only thing separating the rooms and took a peek.....saw both his parents were there, and his mother's silent crying face was never unfamiliar to him and so was his father's anticipating one!
only! this time he had no idea what was coming for that little boy.......
Someone in uniform was sitting with his father......but he realized that he never saw his type, clearly wasn’t from neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan army. Beside..... that man was quite weird looking, definitely not from this part of the world for his skin was pale, eyes were ghostly blue....
There was a smirk on his father's lips.....he frowned as he noticed money in his hand,....loads of it! And his mother was crying and begging repeatedly.
but for what.
Suddenly the drape snatched from his little hands by another one but he wasn’t in uniform.
'Sir, here' That man said grabbing him and pulling him out, harshly and the one in uniform turned, that little boy turned pale just by the look of his cold eyes and menacing smile.
'Good, take him.....we are getting late already' He ordered in harsh, thick accent
Man without uniform looked up and down at him in nothing but disgust and started to drag him out of their hut but the boy started struggling and screaming. Suddenly his hand went flying across that little boy's cheek.....and his mother howled running to him only to be stopped by his father.
وہ اب ان کا ہے.... بند کرو یہ بکواس!
( he belongs to them now....stop this nonsense! ) He barked
ماں
( Mother ) He whimpered looking at her helplessly
mostly he couldn’t hear whatever his father said due to his ringing left ear.....but he was just shocked to see how motionlessly his parents was watching in spite of how this people dragging their son away from them.....even though his mother was crying, she wasn’t moving from her place beside his father.
مجھے افسوس ہے..... ہمارے پاس کوئی چارہ نہیں تھا!
( i'm sorry.....we had no choice! ) a whimper left his mother's mouth when she said that,......and that was the only thing he heard before they dragged him out.
'как твое имя ?'
( what's your name ) The man in uniform asked him after settling him behind his jeep
But the boy looked at him with a dumb expression and that man got annoyed......he slapped the one without uniform at the back of his head before barking
'как твое имя ?
( you rendered him deaf ? )
'н_нет.....он не понимает нашего языка....может поэтому он совсем'
( n_no.....he doesn’t understand our language.....maybe that's why he is quite ) He answered rubbing his head and glaring at the boy, the boy cowered in fear
'но вы знаете его .... спросите его'
(but you know his....ask him) He ordered
وہ آپ کا نام پوچھ رہا ہے۔
( He's asking your name ) He grumbled
The boy looked at him and answered in soft voice 'Z...zahin......Qureshi'
Man in uniform crouched down on his level.....'какие! я не слышал тебя'
( what! i didn’t hear you ) His voice rumbled against little Zahin's chest
That man interpreted in urdu 'وہ چاہتا تھا کہ آپ اس کی آنکھوں میں جھانکیں اور اپنا نام اونچی آواز میں بتائیں'
( he wanted you to look into his eyes and say your name out loud and clear )
Man in uniform c****d his head at him waiting for an answer.....
'Zahin Qureshi' He answered
looking at him, making that man smirk in satisfaction
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- Writer
