Now, moving ahead!
Haider shouted, “Have you lost your mind? I will wipe out the existence of this entire territory. I will never give my sister to the enemies.”
Yaqub said, “Then this society will destroy her. She will disappear just like Rukhsar.”
The very next moment, Yaqub’s throat was in Haider’s grip.
“What did you say?”
Shehryar snatched the gun from Haider’s man and struck it against Haider’s face. His cheek split open, and blood began to flow. The next blow landed on his shoulder, and Yaqub was freed from Haider’s grip.
“... Bhaijaan.”
“I don’t want to stay here. Take me away from here.”
“Look at how the poor girl’s honour is suffering.”
Zara quickly stepped in front of Haider.
“bhaijaan, Abba, what are all of you saying? Nothing happened to me. Why are you saying such things? I am not impure. He saved me.”
Zara was crying through her sobs. Haider looked at her with tears in his eyes, which were red like burning embers. Pulling Zara into his chest, he said, “Nothing happened to you. My sister is still just as pure as she was before.”
Abbas said, “Who will testify to that?”
Haider placed a hand over his lips, signalling him to be quiet.
“Not a single word.”
Ifra turned angrily toward the man.
“What did you say? That her honour is gone? Who gave you the right to say that? Sir, you were there.”
Ifra shouted, “Did your tongue fall off? When she herself is saying that nothing happened to her, who are you to say that her honour is gone?”
The man stepped back in shock.
“Bibi, this is how it has always been.”
Ifra was about to say something when Baba Sai said, “Enough. It’s enough. Calm down. Even today, we have the right to make the important decisions of both territories. Jahangir Alam will make this decision too.”
Haider was only looking at Zara.
The innocence had disappeared from her face, leaving it pale. Her entire body was trembling with fear. She was holding onto Haider as if no one except him could keep her safe. Haider understood everything in that very moment.
His innocent little gudiya life would no longer be easy.
She would not be able to live the way she had been living just moments ago. Perhaps even in his own mansion, some people would no longer look at her the way they had until yesterday.
Kissing Zara’s forehead, he closed his eyes.
Haider remembered his mother’s words.
“If you look at someone’s mother or daughter with wrong intentions, then this world has a way of making you pay for it. Someone else will look at your mother or daughter the same way.”
“If you throw someone else’s honour into the dirt, then no one will be left to protect your honour.”
He had never looked at any other woman.
(Haider ko apni maa ke alfaaz yaad aaye, "Tum kisi ki maa-beti ko galat nazar se dekhoge, tab is duniya par hi uska badla hai. Koi aur tumhari maa-beti ko usi tarah dekhega."
"Tum kisi aur ki izzat uchhaloge, tab tumhari izzat ki hifaazat karne wala koi na hoga."
Ye uske badon ka kiya tha. Ek shakhs uski masoom behen ki zindagi mushkil kar gaya tha.)
This was what his elders had done.
One person had made his innocent sister’s life difficult.
(Usne kabhi kisi gair aurat ki taraf nigah nhi uthai thi)
“Then we make this decision. Zara Ghazi will marry our grandson, Shehryar Jahangir. Along with this, the Ghazis will not be harmed in any way by the Jahangirs.”
Haider said, “You cannot make this decision. I will not send my sister to the Jahangirs.”
Sher Mohammad said, “This is better. Otherwise, who will marry her? Why won’t you marry her?”
“Because I don’t trust you. Another woman from my house fell in love with a man from that mansion and was ruined.”
Yaqub’s head lowered.
Yes, I could not keep my love safe. It had lost.
This realization neither allowed him to live nor let him die.
(Yaqub ka sir jhuk gaya tha. Haan, main apni mohabbat ko nibha nahi saka. Wo haar gaya tha. Ye ehsaas use na jeene deta hai, na marne.)
Abbas looked at Haider andsaid, “Haider, this is better for Zara.”
“No, Abba. Zara’s brother is not weak. I will not send her alone among the enemies.”
He tried to hide Zara within himself, as if he could protect her from the entire world.
“And what will you do after taking her away from here?”
At Ifra’s voice, Haider did not even look toward her.
“The men of your house are here. It would be better if you didn’t speak.”
“You will keep protecting her like this? Where and where will you protect her? One morning, when she was right before your eyes, you could not save her.”
“Remember, Haider Abbas Ghazi, Abdul Qadir is no longer in our mansion.”
“Control your tongue, Bibi.”
(Zubaan ko lagaam den bibi)
Everyone except Ifra was shocked. Haider had raised his voice at a woman for the first time.
After a long while, Haider finally said, “If one Ghazi girl goes to the Jahangirs, then one Jahangir girl will come to the Ghazis.”
("Ghaziyon ki ek ladki Jahangiron mein jaayegi, tab Jahangiron ki ek ladki Ghaziyon mein aayegi.")
“If this condition is acceptable to you, then you can stop the destruction that is coming.”
Shehryar pressed his lips together and wanted to say something, but Baba Sai held his hand and stopped him.
“Shehryar, you will not refuse.”
“Dada Sai, I...”
“You agree to it?”
Yaqub looked at him as he asked.
Shehryar shook his head.
“You know that you cannot force me.”
Hearing this, Sher Mohammad said, “Look at that innocent girl. She has been made a target in the enmity between two territories. The man lying at Haider’s feet belongs to our territory. You know what the consequences of this will be.”
“Shehryar Jahangir is not weak, but Zara Ghazi is. She is a girl who knows neither the reason behind this enmity nor the boundaries between these territories. If you can make your heart big enough for her, then that will be your goodness. This is your father’s command. If you wish, I can even place my cap at your feet.”
“Abba...”
Shehryar Jahangir finally bowed here.
Baba Sai looked at Ifra, who was shaking her head in refusal.
Laal haveli
Khadija Begum entered.
“Ifra Hayat, it is your nikah. Aren’t you going to get ready?”
“You think anyone can make me say ‘I accept’ without my consent?”
She took out a red veil.
“I had kept this for my Hina, but look, today it has come to your share. Her share was a shroud, wasn’t it?”
Ifra looked at her with reddened eyes.
“This nikah will not happen, Dadu.”
Khadija Begum kept looking at her. Then, placing the veil over her head, she said, “The nikah will happen, child.”
“You want this nikah to happen?”
She looked at Ifra’s face.
“What will happen just because I want it? If this nikah doesn’t happen, then your Haider...”
“Dadu...”
Her fists clenched, and it was as if fire rose in her eyes.
Khadija Begum laughed.
“It feels bad right now. After some time, these words will begin to feel like your own. You will forget everything.”
Ifra clenched her fists and said, “I will forget nothing, Dadu. Nothing.”
She placed her hand on Ifra’s face and said, “If you want to remember everything, then marry.”
Taking something out of the cupboard, she placed it in Ifra’s hand.
“Go, say ‘I accept’. Save your doll, save your father and brothers.”
Ifra tightly closed her fist.
Yaqub’s voice came from outside.
“Amma Sai, I need to talk to Ifra.”
“Come in. I was waiting for you. Look at her, she says no one can make her say yes.”
“Explain it to her.”
Yaqub came and knelt down near Ifra’s feet. Holding her hand in his own, he brought it to his eyes and said, “Your Chachu taught you how to walk. You are like my own child.”
“There is a difference between being like a child and actually being one, Chachu. If I were your daughter, you would never sacrifice me like this. You destroyed everything for your own child.”
“Where am I sacrificing you? A woman is very powerful. And a woman is such a being who can carry on an enmity and can also end it.”
“Do you remember? Once you asked me what would have happened if Rukhsar had become mine.”
Yaqub touched her cheek and said, “If this enmity had ended, Rukhsar would have been mine, and I would have been in Rukhsar’s wedding. Rukhsar wished for this enmity to end, but along with that wish, Rukhsar herself ended.”
(Rukhsar meri hoti aur main Rukhsar ke nikah mein hota. Rukhsar ki khwahish thi ki ye dushmani khatam ho jaaye, lekin us khwahish ke saath Rukhsar khatam ho gayi."
"Kya tum ye kar sakti ho?)"
“Can you do this?”
Tears flowed down Ifra’s cheeks. Her head could no longer remain held high, and she bowed before Yaqub.
It was Yaqub who had taken care of her for four years. He had become both a father and a mother to her. When Halima could not reach her during her illness, he would sit beside her all night, caring for her like her mother. He was the same for every child in the mansion, always putting himself before their parents.
“Will you do this?”
Ifra nodded yes through her tears.
Yaqub pulled her into his chest.
“I love you very much, Chachu.”
“I know.”
Ifra said angrily, “You only love Rukhsar.”
He laughed.
Baba Sai was in his room when Sher Mohammad came.
“They both have agreed. Why did you make this decision, Baba Sai?”
“At this moment, this is extremely necessary. We know Ifra’s answer, and we also know the person behind that answer. But for now, it is better to keep our tongues sealed.”
Sher Mohammad placed a hand on his head.
“What will Ifra do about Haider?”
“That is for Haider to decide. He was the one who desired this.”
Within a few hours, preparations for Zara and Ifra’s nikah had been completed.
Halima was unconscious. Mumtaz, too, was not willing to send her doll away, but she could do nothing against the decisions of the men.
“Qazi Sahib, conduct the nikah.”
“How can this...”
Baba Sai placed a hand over his chest.
“Yaqub, I am going to have a heart attack today.”
Shifa was standing upstairs. A shotgun rested on her shoulder, which she had picked up from the nearby wall. Her face was filled with uncontrollable anger.
She looked at the chandelier hanging above where Haider was sitting.
She fired at it.
The chandelier came crashing down at Haider’s feet.
Write a comment ...