Its August 1995; I am in class 8th, Green Lawns School. I live with my badi nani and her youngest sister fakhra nani. About badi nani, an old 58 something lady, extremely punctual of her namaz. She is the only family member i have known to be around me always. She says my mother and father died in a car accident soon after my birth and she had been taking care of me since then. By the way, They say my mother was an actress. I have a photo of her and dad in my room, she is really very pretty. She has great charm on her face.Badi nani says my eyes are just like hers. In that picture, she is wearing a white flowing kameez with silver embroidery on chest and blue handcuffs. Long hair, laughing with wide open mouth. That's how i have known my mother for last 13 years. She remains like that always laughing. She has never grown old since then. Though i haven't known her but i really miss her when i see my friends mothers dropping their sons to school.
Anyways, badi nani is a columnist in an urdu daily. My grandfather used to own that newspaper. After his death, His partner sarfaraz uncle bought my grandfather' share in the company and offered badi nani a permanent place in its office. Badi nani goes to office only once or twice a month just to submit her articles. She helps fakhra nani in regular household chores.
About Fakhra nani, She left her house after her husband died and had been living with us for past 2 years. She is quite young compared to my badi nani. Though she doesn't have any children; She is the most amazing and lively lady i have ever come across. She is punctual of namaz too. She ties her rubatta like scarf around her head and wears burqah whenever she goes out to market. She is also the one who backs me up when badi nani scolds me. She serves me food when i am sad or disappointed. She also taught me to read arabic. She sits with me every thursday and tells me meaning of each verse as i go by reciting the Holy Quran. She is very funny and knows all the fascinating stories in this world. I also want to tell stories when i grow up.
Its thursday, i was sitiing besides fakhra nani and reciting Quran, Time would have been somewhere around the 5-5:30 PM in the evening. Phone starts ringing.
Badi nani's voice coming from the kitchen "Akbar dekho kiska phone hai"
I kept a bookmark on Quran, closed it gently and ran to the phone.
"Hello, Kaun"
It was Haajra nani from Aligarh. Oh wait, i forgot to tell you about haajra nani, she is middle sister of badi nani and fakhra nani. She lives in my badi nani's ancestral town of Aligarh. I have never met her but she seems to be sweet too. Her husband is shamim nana. He owns a tannery in meerut. Haajra nani rarely calls us in bombay but it must be some occasion that we received a call from her. I shout back to badi nani in kitchen
" badi nani, its haafra nani from aligarh" .
Badi nani comes running while wiping her hands with a napkin. She picks her rubatta from dinner table and rubs off little sweat off her forehead.
" salaam haajra, kaisi ho ? bachchey kaise hain ?"
" sab achchey hain aapa, aapko bohat yaad karte hain. aap kaisi hain. Fakhra kaisi hai ?"
" mashallah dua hai oopar wale ki, sab achchey hain, fakhra tumhe bohat yaad karti hai"
Fakhra nani also runs to the phone and takes seat next to badi nani to overhear the conversation.Badi nani now hands over phone reciever to fakhra nani.
She shouts very loudly on the phone
" Hello baaji"
I turn to fakhra nani and signalled her to lower her voice. it was too loud. Fakhra nani now speaks a little less loudly
" haan baaji, kaise ho aap? jiju aur bachchey kaise hain? achcha, achcha, tum log bombai aa rahe ho ? kab ? agle hafte ? Kahan thehroge ? yahin aa jao na bajjo ke yahan, Tum sab ko dekhe zamana beet gaya"
Badi nani signals fakhra nani, not to mention this. Suddenly, Badi nani takes reciever back from fakhra nani and starts talking
" hello? hello ? lagta hai phone kat gaya"
Badi nani keeps the reciever back to phone dial and moves her hear head to fakhra nani. Fakhra nani says
" wo log agle hafte bombai aa rahe hain. shamim ki koi business meeting hai. Colaba mei koi guest house hai wahan rukenge "
"fakhra, Tum kyu sabko yahan iss ghar mei bulane lagti ho, itna chhota sa ghar hai, ussme bhi mehmaan aa jayein to jagah hi na rah jaye"
" achcha thik hai aainda se khayal karungi, waise suno iss baar haveli ke baare mei zaroor baat kar lena. kambakht log abbu ki saari kamayi hadap kar gaye. Aakhir hum bhi unki aulaad the. Humara bh haq banta hai uss ghar pe"
" haan thik hai thik hai kar lungi, bombai ki mehngayi ne to qamar tod di hai , ab jo mil jaye wohi thik hai"
Days went by and one fine day early in the morning phone rang. i received the phone. it was Haajra nani saying that they are in town and we should go visit her and shamim nana. Later in the day around 4-4:30 PM we went to a guest house in Colaba where they were staying. both nani's were wearing burkha and i was wearing a white chikan kurta. Fakhra nani pressed the door bell and one huge built lady opened the door
" assalaawalekum baaji. aao akbar beta andar aao. Badi nani took a seat next to the door.
" Arey bohat seediyan chadha di mujhey. lift kharab thi. saans phool gayi meri"
fakhra nani took seat next to her. i directly went to the balcony. It had a wonderful view.
"lijeye paani lijeye baaji, bohat zehmat ho gayi aapko"
a manly voice said. I turned back and saw one middle aged man with moustache . He then said to me
" Akbar beta, pehchana ki nahi aapne shamim nana ko ? 2 mahine ke the aap jab aapko maine apni god mein khilaya tha. Mashallah kaafi bade ho gaye hain"
He calls me and makes me sit on his left leg while grabbing my shoulders with his hand. Talks to Haajra nani now
"Haajra, baaji aur bajjo ke liye kuch nashta waghairah order karo."
"jee karti hoon"
Haajra nani picked up the phone and ordered pastry and coca cola"
" To akbar saab, kaun si class mei pahunche aap"
"ji, class 8th mei hoo "
Some usual family discussion were taking place, i was totally uninterested and was waiting for coca cola to arrive.
Snacks arrived in no time. Haajra nani served them to us. Then I took cola. meanwhile shamim nana went inside and came back with some fansily packed things.
"baaji, bajjo ye aapke liye, khas zari ka kaam hai. mashallah aap donon pe bohat junchega"
"Arey shamim ye zehmat karne ki kya zaroorat thi. Hum to ab zayeef ho gaye, baal bhi sufaid ho gaye. mashallah haajra ke baal to abhi bhi siyah hain."
"baaji nazar na lagayein ab mere baalon pe"
Everybody started launghing and then shamim uncle gives me one of those fansily packed boxes too and says
"Ye lijeye, aapke liye tape recorder laaye hain. Zara khol ke to dekhiye. Bohat umda cheez hai"
"Itna mehnga tohfa mat diya karo bachhon ko. Arey akbar, nana ko adaab to karo. Gift ke liye shukriya to karo"
I opened the box, thanked shamim nana and started experimenting with the tape recorder in the balcony. Time went by very quickly, even the coke in my hand was finished in no time. I don't know how suddenly atmosphere got heated up. I heard some noises and came back running. I heard fakhra nani saying
" dekho hajra, abbu ki jayedaad bechke jo kuch bhi mila usspe hamara kuch to haq banta hi hai."
" Haan beshak banta hai, lekin agar kuch haasil ho tab na, sab tabah ho gaya. ab wahan kapde ka godown hai"
fakhra nani argues and badi nani is mute just listening to everybody and silently supporting fakhra nani
" haan aur bechke kuch paise to mile honge hi, dekho hamara kam se kam 2 lakh to banta hai. mujhey sab maloom hai."
shamim nana argues too
" haan lekin agar abbu karze chuka gaye hote tab. Sabka karza chukaya. yahan tak maine bees hazar apni jeb se lagaye"
"apni jeb se lagaye ? Khuda ke liye jhooth na bolo. Ussko bhi ek roz moo dikhana hai. arey shamim mai sab jaanti hoo. behis haajra ne tumhe diye aur tumne apni factory mei laga diye humara haq maarke kambakht"
Shamim nana gets angry
"fakhra tamiz se baat karo. akbar, iss budhiya ko yahan se le jao"
After listening all this. I said
" nana, aap bhi tamiz se baat kariye"
fakhra nani again
" Arey mera na sahi, iss bechari bajjo ko to de do isska haq. Akbar ko kis museebat mei pala hai, ye wo hi jaanti hai"
Shamim nana: " Kyu isska baap nahi deta kya issko"
I got irritated and said to shamim nana, " mere abbu ka inteqaal ho chuka hai"
Shamim Uncle makes a strange face " Waah ! Humein jhoothi thehrati hain ye. Achchey khaase zinda aadmi ko murda kar diya. Gul khila raha hoga apni mashooqa ke sath kahin."
I was speechless. I have no idea of what he was saying right now. Badi nani was also trying to avoid eye contact with me. This created a doubt in my mind that whatever shamim uncle was saying is probably true. I yelled at badi nani
" ye sab jhooth hai na badi nani? Aap kuch bolti kyu nahin ?"
I got very irritated as badi nani was still trying to avoid the eye contact. This confirmed the little doubt i had. I started crying. I felt like cheated. I was kept in dark for all these years. I was so hurt that i ran out of the room. Shamim uncle shouted
" Beta, aapka gift to lete jayein"
" Mujhey nahi chahiye kiska gift. Aap sab bohat bure hain. Mujhey kisi se baat nahi karni"
I slammed the door hard and ran down the stairs very fast. I was crying continuously. From the ground floor, i started running faster to the gate, guard tried to chase me but i was fast. I ran for quite a long time on the road and then i stopped by a roadside gandhi statue when i got exhausted. I kept sitting there for the whole evening. I just kept my head down between my legs. Meanwhile the whole time, That photograph of mom dad laughing together which was in my room. I missed my mother the most that day. It felt like as if i am the only one in this world without a mother and everybody is gifted one.
It was 10 PM. Shops around were closing one by one. I was feeling hungry too. I had very little money in my pocket. Just enough to reach back home. Though i felt so cheated that i did not want to go back home but i had no other place to go. I travelled back home. As i entered the building gates, Guard uncle came running to me
" Arey akbar, kahan the aap, badi nani aapki bohat fikr kar rahin thi"
i climbed up the stairs. knocked the door; badi nani opened the door and tried to hug me. I distanced her with my hand. Fakhra nani was seeing all this. I avoided eye contact with badi nani and said to fakhra nani
" fakhra nani, inse bol dijeye ki hum inse baat nahi kar rahe."
I ran back to my room. I was still very hungry but i avoided asking anybody for food. I dont know if i was thinking that this might lighten the mood or just that i didn't felt like eating. Whatever it was i do not care but somehow i think fakhra nani noticed all this silently. She is a genius. After about half an hour she came to my room with food; A round steel plate with one small katori on it. some rice and chapati by its side in the plate. I dont know, though the food was supposed to be cold but i think fakhra nani warmed it up and then came to me. She sat next to me. I was half lying on the bed; leaning my back on the wall by the bed.
"Akbar miyan, khana kha lijeye. Aapko pata hai ki jab aap khana nahi khatey to dana aapko baddua dete hain. Khuda se complaint karte hain ki iss bande ne meri respect nahi ki aur fir allah miyan black book mei issko note kar lete hain. Jawab maangengey aapse qayamat ke roz"
I said with an almost crying voice " Haan mujhey pata hai"
She kept the plate on the side table and came closer to me. Grabbed me in her arms. Hugged me tight and thumpe my back couple of times. i dont know if it was a magic or some kind of a therapy. I was feeling a little better and agreed to eat food. She made small bites with pieces of chapati, some amount of sabzi stuffed in it and dipped in katori. She used to blow lightly on the piece before feeding it to me. I was also feeling sleepy. She fed me almost half the plate and came back after keeping the plate in the kitchen. By that time i had lied down on the bed for sleeping. She laid on the bed by his side and startedthumping my chest very slowly and at low frequency as if she was reciting a lullaby to me.
I had my eyes open still. For almost 10-15 minutes there was silence and then i said to fakhra nani
" Mujhey abbu se baat karni hai. Mujhey unka address chahiye. main khat likhoonga unhe"
Fakhra nani looked back at me for sometime and said
" Thik hai, abhi kaafi raat ho gayi hai. Kal inshallah hum baith ke abbu ko khat likhenge"
Atleast i trusted fakhra nani well and hence went to sleep soon after that.
Next morning badi nani came to wake me up. She shook my body a little and said
" Akbar , school nahi jana kya ? " I moved myself in the bed and replied
" Main aapse baat nahi kar raha aur behtar hoga ki aap bhi mujhey tang na karien. Main school nahi jaunga. Meri marzi"
Probably i was too rude to her while saying this. Badi nani felt bad and left the room. Though i did not feel bad about it at all. I still felt cheated and was very angry over badi nani for keeping me in dark for this long a time.
I did not go to school that day. Later in the day, i and fakhra nani sat down to write a letter to abbu, i wrote the letter and then went to post the letter in letterbox outside the building.
Days went by, i was still very angry at badi nani and not talking to her. She kept to herslef and never said anything to me. Maybe she was aware that how hurt i was and how guilty she felt about.
The atmosphere in the home used to very tense and silent these days. I had started smoking secretly after school. That very evening i and fakhra nani played carrom. I dont know if it was deliberately but she lost to me for the first time. It was after many days that i smiled and felt a little refreshed.
My final results were the very next day, i brought back my performance report card back home. Threw the bag on dining table, quickly took out the report card from schoolbag. Ran to fakhra nani. She was as usual reciting some religious verses sitting on the musalla (muslim prayer mat with beautiful embroidery ). She slowly closed her book and blew some wind on my face. Now she took the card in her hand. She says
" mashallah, mera akbar to aaj awwal aya hai, khuda tumko kamyaab banaye. Tu bada hoke doctor engineer ya afsar bane"
" nani mujhey doctor engineer nahi, writer banna hai, i want to tell stories"
" Achcha baatein baad mei karna, pehle bazaar se jaake kuch mithayi le aa. Tere awwal aane ki khushi mei nazr karte hain"
she takes out some money from her side pocket and keeps them in my hand. While i was going out she loudly speaks to badi nani
" bajjo sun rahi hain aap ? akbar iss baar class mein first aya hai"
When i came back from market,Fakhra nani opened the door, she hugged me tight. Myself and badi nani was not at speaking terms yet. She just stayed a little distant and watched me enjoying the moment. As if she was looking for something or maybe she was feeling a little relaxed after seeing the happy and jubilant akbar back to life.
Later that evening, fakhra nani was giving the sweets to me after offering the fateha(a religious comemoration of God to thank him) . Still badi nani was standing a little distant watching us silently. Door bell rings. Fakhra nani opened the door, it was guard uncle at the door.
" Postman aaya tha baji aaj, ye khat de gaya tha"
Fakhra nani took the letter from him and closed the door politely. She shouted
" Akbar, Tumhara khat hai beta"
As soon i heard this i came running and snatched the letter out of her hand. I opened the envelope it had a handwriteen letter and som reciept kind of a thing attached with it. I handed over the attachment to fakhra nani and started reading out the letter.
"Akbar,
Tumhara khat mila. Tumhari nani to mujhse bohat nafrat karti hain. Pata nahi kaise unhone tumhe ijazat di mujhey likhne ki. But mujhey pata hai ki tumne mujhey kyun khat likha hoga. Iss khat ke saath paanch hazar ka bank draft bhej raha hoon. Magar aayinda se mujhe mat likhna kisi bhi cheez ke liye.
Tumhara,
Nawaz"
As soon as i read this. I was shattered. I didnt knew how to react to all this. I started crying very loudly, I think even people on other floors of building would have heard me. Badi nani was standing at a small distance. I ran to her, grabbed her around the stomach and hugged her tighly while still crying. She ran her fingers in between my hair very slowly; kissed on my head affectionately. I kept myself hugged to her for very long. I kept crying for quiet a long time. Maybe i got tired of crying or maybe i had the comfort of badi nani's hg or maybe some other force; Within moments i calmed down and serenity prevaied all through me.
Disclaimer: Section of this story is inspired from a classic movie mammo, directed by shyam benegal. Author does not intend any commercial purpose and aspires to give due credits to the original copyright owners of above mentioned feature film.
