Got tired! My daughter had her first paper today. It was supposed to be the second paper as given in the schedule but the first paper was canceled due to law and order issue in KU. I had to sit outside for three hours on the cold marble stairs. There were no wooden seats available. The college, APWA, is a place big enough to build a castle. Unfortunately, it was giving a look of a ruined village on the back side. The front side is also deserted in the middle. There was no shade, no seats for visitors. Anyway, as my daughter was finally settled in a room, I chose to sit outside her room on the stairs, took out the book and started reading. Other mothers were scattered around on the stairs and the round marble fence around the trees. After one and a half hour, a lady requested me to move and let her sit at the corner so she can lean on the wall and can read Qur'an. So I moved. At around 4 o'clock, she asked me the time. I said it's four and noticed that she wanted to talk to me. We had a nice conversation till quarter past five. All the time she looked depressed and had a sad smile on her face.
During our conversation I came to know that she is from India but at the end I realized that she belonged to India. Twenty years of living in Pakistan couldn't wipe off the good old days from her mind, nor caused the change in accent. She thinks that she is alone in 20 million Karachiites. "Meray susral to aisi hi hay", she said that with a rude face expressions. Her entire family lives in India and she got married to a Pakistani man so she had to come here. "Apni currency to gir gai hay na", she said and I nodded in yes without knowing that the word 'apni' was used for her motherland. She clarified, "phelay theek tha, abhi wahan jaao to nuqsaan hay, wo log idhar aaen to faida".
"Meray bhai to abhi train say gai hain, main do martaba gai plane say", she seemed like pouring out the as many words as she can in a short period of time. "yahan teachers' kay training kiyon nahi kartay, India main to teachers ko training detay hain, itna acha system hay, sub bachay bhi phartay hain", she kept glorifying her lost soil for several minutes.
"Meri beti boli kay Science pharna hay, phir main nay is ko madrassah Bannat main dala, abhi bolti hay Mamma meray ko Science nai pharna, main Allah ki ho ker rahna chahti hoon. Wo aalma kay short course kay second year main hay aur main first year main", she went on and I didn't want to interrupt her. I wanted her to let out her true feelings. May be after that she would stop complaining about us. May be now she would change her mind about Pakis being rude. She gave me her phone number and address and asked me to visit her as she lived at near distance from our residence. She was a talented woman with many plus points.
I wanted to ask her many things but I didn't. Such as why doesn't she blame her parents or siblings for selecting a Paki for her to marry? Why is she so depressed and sad with the life in Pak? Do in-laws in India behave differently than in Pakistan? How does she explain the life in Pakistan to her family? Is life in her home-town is really that peaceful and pleasant that she couldn't accept Pak as her homeland, after 22 years? When Pakis go abroad, they don't waste a second in declaring the new land as their final destiny, they own wholeheartedly. I want to give her some time to relax. I am thinking about visiting her or invite her to my place. Then may be I will let myself out on this issue. I know she won't understand and that will be another break up. Who cares!
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