My name is Gul Mehar and I belong to a prosperous family in Sarhad. I was born with great vows and desires because I came into this world ten years after my parents' marriage. I was the only one and very much loved. My parents would not let me out of their sight even for a moment. It seemed as if their life was tied to my breath. Children are dear to everyone, but there is hardly a daughter as dear as I was.
I was about seven years old in those days. A house became vacant in our neighborhood and a woman came to live in it. This woman was sixty years old, she was a widow and she had no children. Terrified of loneliness, she would often come to our house and become my mother's obedient sister. Whenever she came to our house, she would stare at me with strange eyes and I would get scared. Then when she called me in front of my mother, my mother would scold me. Son! Why don't you go to her when your aunt calls you? She calls you with so much love. She has no children, her heart is thirsty. Such women do not show their hearts. I had to go to her because of my mother's repeated words, but I would soon return home.
A year passed, and this woman had been living in our neighborhood for a year. I was now eight or nine years old and I had become more mature than before. One day when I was playing in the street, this woman called me to her and said, Chinnu! Come with me to the market, I have to go to buy vegetables. Pick up this basket. I said, I have asked my mother, and she is saying why are you going to the market alone, take my Chinnu with you. There is also a fair here, whatever you want, I will take you from the fair. I asked innocently, Aunt, will you also find a sleeping and waking doll there? Aunt replied, Yes, you will. What do you want? I said eagerly, yes, Aunt, but wait, I will get the money from my mother. But Aunt held my arm and said, no, don't choose, I am getting late, let's go now, I will get the money from your mother later.
Thus, I went with Aunt, in my passion for dolls.
It was eleven in the morning. My father had gone to work and my mother was busy with household chores. At that time, there was no one else in the street who could see me going with Aunt. The aunt also specifically changed her route and walked through the streets instead of the road and reached quite a distance. I asked her, Aunt, how far do you have to go yet? My feet are starting to hurt. So Aunt said, girl, you are not used to walking much, you have been brought up very fondly, right? That is why you must be tired. The market is still far away, but the fair is in the square in front. Will you go to the market first or to the fair?
I immediately said, Aunt, to the fair! The aunt said, good! My brother is coming, they tell him. Meanwhile, the man, who was probably waiting for Aunty, came closer after seeing Aunty. Aunty said, Brother, this girl is from my neighborhood, she needs a sleeping doll. So, just buy a doll from the fair that is held in the square in front of her. I will bring vegetables, buy a doll and bring the girl here, then I will take her home with me. Saying this, Aunty took out a five rupee note from her dupatta and placed it on the man's hand and I unknowingly walked with the man in the dream of the doll as if someone had cast a spell on me. There was no fair in the square in front, yet I kept walking silently with the man whom Aunty called her brother.
The man brought me straight to the station. I had never seen a station before. The man started saying that a fair was held here. He took a doll from the stall and then said, she will sit on the train, she will tour the city. I was so enchanted with joy when I put the doll to my heart that I shook my head. The train was ready to leave and I heard it whistling. The noise and rush were so much that I could not understand where I was and where I was going. The man made me sit in a compartment of the train and the train started moving.
For two hours I sat quietly watching the whole scene from the train. Today I saw such new scenes that for a few moments I forgot about home and family. I don’t even remember that aunt must have returned from the market with vegetables and must be waiting for me now.
Suddenly I realized that I was going somewhere far away and this man was taking me away from my aunt and family. That’s when I started crying. On this, the man gave me a lado to eat and said, "Shut up, Chinnu, the train will stop now and I will come home. Eat lado, if you cry, the police will come and take you away." He threatened me with the police, so I kept quiet and started eating lado. I don't know what was in the lado, but as soon as I ate it, I fell asleep. I don't know how long this journey continued. When I woke up the next day, we had got down at a station and people were saying that this was Hyderabad. The man put me in a taxi and started taking me somewhere, so I started crying. This time I started crying very loudly. Even though I was a naive child, I had felt separation from my parents and some unknown danger.
My kind stranger tried to explain and silence me and started saying words as if he were my relative and was taking me to my home. He started mentioning my mother and family, but I didn't hear a word and started screaming so much.
The matter got out of control. Now the taxi driver got suspicious and asked, who is this girl? She is crying as if you are forcibly taking her somewhere. Then the driver asked me, daughter, is this man your uncle? Who is this? I said, there is no uncle, there is no one, take me home, I have to go home. I replied this while crying and then started crying again. Now the taxi driver was convinced that something was wrong. He turned the taxi in another direction, but the so-called brother of the aunt got very scared, and as soon as the taxi slowed down due to some obstacle, he opened the taxi door and ran away.
The driver stopped the taxi on one side and tried to chase her, but in the middle, a traffic signal came and she managed to run away. I was still sitting in the taxi. Probably the taxi driver understood my condition and returned immediately. Then he brought me to the police station.
I was very scared to see the police. Even now, when I saw the police, I started trembling with fear. Once a man was caught in our neighborhood. He was running away and people were calling him a thief. Then a policeman caught him and started beating him and he was taking him away while beating him. I was four or five years old at that time and I could not forget this scene. That is why whenever I saw the police, I used to tremble with fear. Whenever my mother wanted to scare me, she would tell me that look, the policeman is coming to catch you. Just at that, I would immediately go under the four-pai and hide.
There were many policemen at the police station. All of them were wearing police uniforms and my throat was dry with fear. I was already going through unusual and uncomfortable situations. When I saw the policemen from above, my senses were disturbed. They were asking me various questions: Where do you live, Bibi? What is the name of your city? What is the name of your father? What is your name, girl? What does your father do? I could not answer even one of them. It was as if my power of speech had been taken away. I was standing on the bus, clinging to the legs of the taxi driver. Tears were flowing from my eyes and soft sobs were coming out of my mouth.
The police questioned the taxi driver. He was a man with a lot of hair. They probably told him that until the heirs of the girl are known, you should keep her at your home. In this way, holding on to the longing of a sleeping doll, within a few hours, I had come from the loving cradle of my parents to the house of a stranger taxi driver.
The taxi driver’s wife was a good woman. He had four children. I got the fifth. She gave me a lot of love and comfort. I got used to her. Still, I used to ask every day, when will I go home, please take me to my house. That poor taxi driver also kept going around the police station for many days, but the policemen probably failed to contact my parents because I could only tell them that I lived in Peshawar, where I live, and what my father's name was, I could not tell them. Then how would they take me to my house? They were very poor, where would they get the money they needed to find my parents? Then gradually I became a member of this family. I considered it my home. After two or three months, these people also stopped looking for my parents. Once that taxi driver had even gone to the newspaper office, but I do not know whether any of my advertisements were printed or heard or not.
The taxi driver's name was Ali Bakhsh. He was a Sindhi and a very good and kind person. He kept me in his house like his own child. When I was sixteen, he married me off to his wife's brother. My husband was thirty years older than me. He was about forty-five years old. His first wife had died and left behind four small children. I had to raise these children. Perhaps Allah Almighty had brought me to this point for their sake. I was not happy with this marriage, but I was forced to. I devoted myself to raising these children. Then Allah Almighty gave me my children. I have two sons and a daughter.
Twelve years of marriage passed peacefully. After that, my husband passed away. Now I am alive among seven children. I want to live for my husband’s children. What is the use of wishing to die? Because wishing does not bring death. Then why don’t people live with courage? So many years have passed and we have separated. Even today, the memory of my family haunts me, so I curse that aunt who entered my life as a witch, who destroyed the happiness of my parents and pushed me away from my loved ones forever. May Allah protect everyone’s children from such witches. Amen, Amen.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0