Soon after entering the court
room, Sania froze and then almost bolted. The sight of the person sitting next
to the judge pulled the rug from under her feet. There was no mistaking him.
Large balding head carried by an insubstantial body in a worn out grey suit and
tie, it was undoubtedly Mr. Jamal. Ashfaq was at her side presently. 'He is our
family friend,' she whispered from behind the borrowed veil. He looked at the
man in a deep conversation with the judge and then at the quivering shrouded
form beside him. He tried to calm her and told her to take courage from the
veil. When after suspending his conversation with the man (who pulled away his
chair and started scanning a newspaper), the judge cast his stern eyes over them
from the raised platform, Sania's agonizing wavering ended. She decided to go
ahead.
This story may seem incredible but is, nevertheless, true. It got initiated in
one of the double decker buses which plied between Peshawar City and the
Peshawar University. Yes, once upon a time Peshawar was blessed with social calm
and cultural expanse needed to celebrate life and sailing double deckers boosted
the scene.
The university campus being away from the populated areas, the buses used to be
packed, with university students and the university employees commuting from the
city and the cantonment. There being few cars owned by the rich, the double
deckers were a happy sight for the waiting thousands, belonging to middle and
upper middle classes.
Murad, a clerk employed in the education board, relished his trip on the bus
every day. Hemmed in by university students, he easily passed for one due to his
fresh looks and not out of fashion clothes (He spent sizable portion of his
salary in buying clothes to concur with his enviable looks), except that he
never held in his hands any book or appendages peculiar to university students.
Sly and fond looks cast by the university girls were very flattering and balmy.
He felt more soothed than fired. It was the pride of being coveted and not the
passion to belong which uplifted him. The university girls’ dainty giggles
titillated by his gallant form helped him ignore jeers at the work place.
However briefly, the reverie provided him escape from his mundane existence. He
hated his situation in the office, but it was not a big price to pay to be
independent (even if partially) of his domineering father. Moreover, sitting and
sometimes standing among literati in the making elated him.
Sania'a father was a retired senior air force officer and maintained a luxury
car but Sania preferred thronged bus meandering through city’s historic and
cultural land marks. The upper deck of the bus was more appealing as it
instantly transformed the occupants into tourists for a not very brief sojourn.
Murad found Sania once looking at him with longing eyes. Though he always
rejoiced in discreet female attention, he felt intrigued in this case.
Directness of her gaze seemed to go beyond his reigning supreme peripheral.
Feeling exposed, he reddened. He was glad to alight from the bus when his stop
came. Not before long he realized that he had mistaken Sania’s naivety for her
nerve. How could he be so thick-skinned? Soon they were talking to each other.
Murad knew that without confiding in his immediate boss, senior clerk Ashfaq, he
will not be able to meet Sania as frequently as Sania was inclined to miss her
classes. Ashfaq accommodated. Even otherwise Ashfaq had to help and supervise
Murad closely to get any significant amount of work done in time.
When Murad relived his trysts with him, Ashfaq loved the distraction and then
felt quite involved over a period of time. He realized that he had a stake in
the matter. He wanted Murad to succeed where he had failed and had been forced
to lead a dull life with domesticated and lack luster wife.
Ashfaq was squarely in the jam, after he had been introduced to Sania in the
university cafeteria over a cup of tea, but he never realized it. Instead he was
highly thrilled. He cherished the self assigned role of supporting social
iconoclasts. Having watched too many art movies in his youth was not going to go
waste. He felt young all over again. Warped expression of his unrequited love
might have consequences, he couldn’t divine. Sania sometimes waited in Ashfaq's
nearby house, chatting with his obliging wife, when Murad couldn't be spared
immediately.
Ashfaq would join the duo whenever he could. Sania did not detest it. He was no
more than a devil's advocate initially, but later on Sania vividly enthused when
he joined them. He always warmed up to Sania's witticism and abounding sense of
humor, while Murad, showcasing himself, sat stone faced. Sania's free spirit
transported him, making him laugh merrily for as long as he was with her. Though
she sometimes remonstrated when Murad's enthusiasm was found wanting, she was
too bewitched to bother. More so when she had an ardent listener in the person
of Ashfaq.
After completing paper work, the judge asked Sania to ascertain her identity.
She went near the judge's seat and standing obliquely to Mr. Jamal's chair
removed her veil. But what she couldn't disguise was her voice. Though she
rendered as brief answers as the judge allowed, her chiming utterances forced
Mr. Jamal think not very hard before being sure where he had heard the voice.
Sania came out of the court brimming with excitement of starting a new life with
the man ('exquisite creature') of her choice. But her beaming face soon turned
ashen when Murad showed his inability to take her home immediately. He needed
some time to cultivate his very difficult father.
Door bell rang. As the night had fallen Ashfaq himself went to find out. He
peeped outside and went numb when he made out Sania standing outside the door
with a small bundle in her hand. He didn’t realize when he opened the door and
confronted the spectral figure in the pale street light. The trance was broken
by the realization of grave danger of neighbours finding out. Coming of a young
girl calling in the dead of the night all by herself could cause tremors. The
proximity of the tribal belt (5km) where girls are still stoned to death for
failing to discourage amorous overtures, was not without its effects on settled
areas.
The children were gleeful and being unable to restrain them started jumping
around her. She was instantly transformed. She tossed up the youngest amid
shrieks and protestations of the other two. Ashfaq let the riot subside before
challenging the outrage. She confirmed that she had deserted her parents' house.
'It was impossible to continue living there. I was shunned by everyone after the
court. Family’s honour has been undone, they say.’ Ashfaq sat speechless and
made a conscious effort not to look aghast, while his wife tried to console her
and urged her to drink the water she held. ’Please compel him’, she was barely
audible.
Next day, after office hours, Sania and Ashfaq tried to motivate Murad to rise
up to the occasion. All three were sitting in Ashfaq's drawing room. Murad
listened quietly, holding his bowed head in both hands. When Murad raised his
head, Ashfaq peered at his face for some sign of life. 'My father would kill
me', was all he heard. He felt doomed. Sania trying to hold back tears in her
eyes left the room.
When police hauled Murad from his office, he readily volunteered all the
details. Ashfaq was also arrested. Later on he was sentenced to serve in jail
for three years for abduction, while Murad went scot-free in return for agreeing
to divorce Sania.
Same day when police raided Ashfaq's house, Sania had already left. She had
melted into a passing by wedding procession comprised of women and children in
colourful dresses. They were carrying gifts for the bride and her family, a
run-up to culmination of wedding after two days. She lost herself in festivity
in the bride's house. Two days flew singing pushto songs in chorus, and
sometimes dancing with such abandon that elderly women gazed with deep frowns on
their faces. The rest enjoyed thoroughly witnessing such a spirited performance.
None gave so much as a thought to where she came from, except after the bride’s
departure with bridegroom , when bride's younger sister found her in childlike
sleep on the bride's chaotic and deserted bed.