I spit on Yakub Jahangir

The maid returned after seeing it and said, “Begum Sahiba, red footprints have come all the way to the threshold.”

Khadija Begum got up and came forward. She quickly opened the door, and her shawl slipped from her head. Jahangir Alam was standing in front of her.

Khadija Begum looked at his feet, red feet stained with blood. Footprints marked the soil as he had walked in.

Jahangir Alam said, “Khadija, cover your head. Your daughter’s funeral bier is coming home.”

“You mean you cut that man into six pieces?”

“Yakub cut him with his own hands.”

Khadija Begum moved aside, and Jahangir Alam entered slowly.

Khadija Begum saw the men entering the courtyard and placing the funeral bier down. She rushed toward her daughter and, dropping to her knees, touched that pale, lifeless face.

She stared at her silently for a few moments, then her scream rose, “Hina, look, Amma is here. Look at me. You won’t come and cling to me anymore, my darling.”

Holding her face between both hands, Khadija Begum pressed her lips to it. “It’s your brother’s wedding, isn’t it? Come on, get up, child. I know you sleep till late. Get up, my dear.”

Her tears fell onto Hina’s face as she said, “You had gone to get a paranda, darling. The turmeric ceremony is tomorrow. Amma has prepared your bangles and your wedding dress, everything is ready. Get up, child.”

Her heart was breaking. Her sobs were turning into screams.

Rukhsar stood in a corner, watching everything. She wanted to avoid those eyes. When she raised her gaze, she saw Yakub sitting with his head resting at Hina’s feet. There was mourning there, and there was mourning inside Rukhsar too.

Jahangir Alam was simply staring ahead. There was no trace of grief on his face, but his eyes were screaming.

He felt someone’s hands on his feet. He lowered his gaze and saw hatred in those eyes, a hatred that was justified. The man of her house had killed his daughter. She had died protecting her honour.

With tears in her eyes, Rukhsar said, “Baba Sahai, please don’t give me this punishment. Forgive me. I swear by God.”

“You never let daughters bow at your feet. I am holding your feet, Baba Sahai. If I am guilty, behead me then, but right now…”

“It is unfortunate that you are the daughter of our enemy. Otherwise, daughters are held close to our chests.”

“Baba Sahai, please don’t write this disgrace into my fate.”

He looked at her and walked away.

Hina’s funeral bier was being lifted. And here, Maryam could see the funeral bier of her honour being lifted. The screams grew louder, and the sobs intensified.

Late that night, Sher Mohammad saw Rukhsar huddled in a corner.

“Baba, what are we to do with this girl?”

Khadija Begum looked at her with hatred. “What will happen? The same thing that her brother did to my Lado will happen to her.”

A girl who was standing there said, “Amma Sahai, let her go. What fault is this poor girl’s?”

She screamed, “Keep your mouth shut. You haven’t even married my son yet, and you’re going to speak in the matters of my household?”

“Yakub, take her to your room. Let her taste for herself what the Gazi family did.”

A man came running in. “Baba Sahai, Abdul Abbas Gazi has arrived. He is firing bullets and saying he will not leave without taking his sister.”

The fire of hatred rose, and Rukhsar felt its heat.

She felt a tight grip around her wrist. She was dragged into a room and thrown onto the floor.

Her head struck the floor.

Khadija Begum’s voice echoed, “Put a bullet through his chest, Sher. Only corpses of the Gazis will leave this house.”

The next day, she came out of the room.

“Girl, come. You have to go to the panchayat. Your decision will be made. You will go to your home.”

Rukhsar looked at Sher Mohammad, whose eyes were lowered. With a bitter smile, she said, “What is the use of lowering your eyes now, Sahib? Has no one ever left Jahangir Alam’s house dishonoured before?”

Sher Mohammad closed his eyes.

Salim Gazi was sitting in the panchayat. He did not raise his eyes to look at Rukhsar. If he had looked at her, perhaps he would not have been able to breathe.

Rukhsar looked at him. “Abba, you won’t look at me? Look, you used to say, ‘Rukhsar, I cannot find peace without seeing you. Until I see you in the house, I cannot breathe.’”

Salim Gazi broke down crying.

Rukhsar turned toward her elder brother. “Bhai Jaan, you used to say, ‘Rukhsar, just call out once. Your brother will protect you from everyone.’ How many times did I call out to you? You did not come. Instead, you turned back from their threshold.”

He folded his hands.

“Salim Sahib, you can take your daughter now.”

Jahangir Alam, who had been silent, said, “Salim Gazi, our family is not like yours. Marry your daughter to my son.”

After a short while, Salim Gazi’s voice was heard.

“I accept.”

“I do not accept.”

It was Rukhsar’s voice.

Salim Gazi shook his head. “Accept it, Rukhsar.”

“No, I do not accept it.”

Yakub raised his eyes and looked at her. It felt as though someone had torn open his chest. That much pain surged through him. Her rose-like complexion had turned pale. Her large, doe-like eyes that used to sparkle whenever she looked at him now echoed with screams. She was not the smiling Rukhsar anymore. She was someone else, as if she were a corpse.

“I do not accept it. The man who dishonoured me, I should marry him? Never.”

Jahangir Alam said, “We know our son enough to know that he…”

“You know, Jahangir Alam.”

“Girl, don’t speak too much,” Sher Mohammad did not like it.

Rukhsar laughed. “It hurt, didn’t it, when your Baba Sahai’s name was not spoken with respect? Your brother insulted me in front of the entire panchayat.”

One of the elders said, “What happened was because of what your brother did. He took someone’s honour…”

Rukhsar screamed with all her strength, “What was my fault in this? What sin had I committed?”

“Salim Gazi and Jahangir Alam, you make decisions based on justice, don’t you? Tell me, what was my crime? Why is the punishment mine? Your son committed the crime, Salim Gazi. Why was your daughter punished?”

Until today, Rukhsar had never raised her eyes before her father. But now she stood there after having been robbed of everything. How could she not speak?

“Who suffered the loss? Hina. She died. Maybe it was good that she died. I wish Rukhsar had died too.”

“And what about Rukhsar, who was left with disgrace?”

“What crime did the women commit in the war of men? One took a life by showing his strength, the other showed his manhood under the guise of revenge. But neither was a man, nor is this one a man.”

“You are speaking too much. What was decided has happened. This is how it has always been, blood for blood, honour for honour.”

“Should I still not speak? Yes? What do I have left? Everything I had has been looted.”

“Then marry Yakub Sahai.”

“To this man? If I marry him, will that remove the stain he has put on my pure honour? Who will believe me? I came out of his room as pure as I was yesterday.”

“Who will believe it? Will you? Will any man in this panchayat believe that a woman could come out of a man’s room with her honour intact?”

“No… The loss was suffered by neither Salim Gazi, nor Jahangir Alam, nor Yakub Jahangir, nor Abdul Qadir Gazi. The loss was Hina’s. The loss was Rukhsar’s. One lost her life, the other her honour. She was fortunate, and I was unfortunate.”

Abdul Abbas stepped toward her.

“Don’t come any further, Bhai Jaan.”

“Shame on you, on your panchayat, on your justice, on your homes, and on your sons.”

Yakub said, “I want to marry Rukhsar.”

Rukhsar did not even raise her eyes.

“I spit on Yakub Jahangir.”

She took off her shawl right there and threw it away.

“Lado…” Abdul Abbas rushed toward her. “Lado, your shawl…”

Rukhsar stepped back.

“My honour has already been stripped away, and you are talking about a shawl.”

“Never look for me again, Abba. Bhai Jaan, tell Amma that Rukhsar died with Abdul Qadir. His love killed her with his own hands.”

She turned and walked away.

Everyone stood there as if they had been struck dumb.

Yakub picked up the shawl and closed his eyes. A cry of pain rose from his heart.

“Rukhsar…”

Rukhsar was gone.

She had changed the fate of the girls of the generations to come. From now on, no sister would be held accountable for the deeds of her brother.