Hijaab Waali Part 2

Part 2 Hijaab Waali by Khuram Shahzad

"Frailty thy name is woman."

"An eye-opening statement for those who think that our East has disgraced or degraded women." She banged her fist on the palm of her other hand. "The greatest litterateur of the West is saying that woman is a weakness."

"Williams Shakespeare was an honest man I guess." The other girl who looked a little younger smiled naughtily.

"Even now," The first girl continued, apparently ignoring the other girl's remark. "Their literature has not attained what Urdu literature had achieved in eighteenth or nineteenth century."

"Ofcourse we have Ghalib, Meer, Iqbal and so many…. The list just never ends…"

"I would never understand one thing sister." The younger girl raised the tea mug to her mouth.

"No surprise Sheeba. Infact you don't understand any thing." The older girl shrugged her shoulders.

"Deeba…I will kill you." She threw a heavy pillow toward her sister, which Deeba caught expertly.

"But I must admit…" Sheeba smiled. "That you're a good catcher. Atleast you could teach our Pakistani good cricket team how to take some good catches."

"Yuck. I hate cricket." Deeba made her mouth like she had swallowed something really bitter.

"Now, I won't doubt that. A nerdy, book-worm kind of girl like you should only go for poetry and prose." Sheeba took another fine sip.

"Why? OK. Tell me honestly, didn't you ever feel any interest in poetry?" Deeba's voice had a slight tingle of disappointment in it.

"I just couldn't get it, the failures in love, crying, and all that painful stuff. This is Internet age my dear." Sheeba said fluently. "You have to look forward instead of wasting your tears, time and energy for your past. And that's what all poets do. I just don't understand why don't they get some life and begin to work on something constructive."

"Really, you think that way?" Deeba said sadly.

"Yes, and it's 'my' way of thinking." Sheeba said proudly.

"But shall we risk our ideals, our interests and our dreams for such 'modern' age?" Deeba looked deep into her sister's eyes, her style challenging.

"Oh my gosh. You're really stupid Deeba. You're twenty now, yet it seems like you have made a dream world of your own, a world you never want to climb out of." Sheeba said.

On Deeba's silence, she went on.

"Be practical my sister. This is new millenium. Poetry, idealism, fantasies, dreams… you've got a lot more to do than thinking about such primal things, move on."

"I wonder if this new millenium has anything to do with human emotions and feelings. Does this 'mechanization' and' industrialism' govern our tender feelings and soft sentiments too? Sorry, if it will, I refuse to accept such so-called 'modern' life style which is devoid of our natural feelings."

"My own philosophy is, if you like something, just go and get it, or other wise don't love what you can't get!" Sheeba said rigidly.

Deeba laughed on her statement.

"Why are you laughing? Did I say something funny?" Sheeba raised her brows.

"On your materialistic thinking, sort of a selfish one. Life is not business my dear. Sometimes you just have to live for others, have to care about others more than you do for yourself and have to give sacrifice…

"Ok, ok. That's enough… " Sheeba cut in thickly. "I don't want to argue with you. We can never convince each other." Sheeba raised her hand in a gesture of some final word.

"I never wanted to convince you, I was just presenting my own opinion." Deeba said plainly. "I'm sorry but I just can't agree with your 'just do it' style."

"Well, so what're we talking about?" Sheeba caught.

"Frailty thy name is woman." Deeba smiled slowly.

"You mean, back to Shakespeare again?" Sheeba asked.

"No, enough of him now. I just wanted to say that our East has always been very fertile for language, culture and customs you know." Deeba said swiftly. "Even today, we've got fabulous poets like…

"Oh God. Don't tell me you're talking about 'him' again. Are you?

"Ofcourse, it's him." Deeba smiled in answer.

"My God Deeba, don't you have any other topic to talk?"

" No. And you know the reason that why…

"Oh I forgot to tell you." Sheeba said quickly, before her elder sister could finish her sentence. "And now I'm thinking how can I forget such a thing which is purely of your interest. But first tell me what can you do for me if I tell you something about 'him'?"

"WHAT? Don't tell me that!" Her sister's voice and style totally changed suddenly. No one could believe now that this desperate and excited girl was the same one who was talking so calmly just few moments ago.

"Yes, it's about him. And you're such a an admirer and fan of him, I fear if the news I'm about to tell you would cause you to have an heart attack or something." Sheeba smiled devilishly.

"Oh, you can't tell me more than what I already know about him. Can you?" Deeba gave her a challenging smile.

"And what if I tell you he's finally appearing in some poetry-show?"

"What?" You're kidding right?" Deeba couldn't believe if she'd heard her correctly.

"I really have a confirmed news that he's finally coming to some 'Mushaa'era' in front of the public for the very first time." Sheeba smiled satisfactorily. "And guess what, it's going to be in our own city, our sweet dear Karachi."

"Sheeba really?" Deeba was really excited, her breathing fast. "Please…please…tell me how and when?"

"No, not like this" Sheeba rose and put her hands on her waist.

"Black mailing?"

"Whatever,

"Okay, what do you want? Ice-cream, money, dinner or what?" Deeba asked helplessly, rising from her place.

"Umm I guess dinner would be fine, but I'd choose the menu, right?"

"Oh Sheeba please. Now for God sake, tell me everything in detail."

"Okay Baba, but first sit down please." Sheeba held her sister's hands in her own and made her sit in front of her.

"Well, do you remember I told you about Inter-colleges poetry contest?" Sheeba began after taking a long breath.

"Yes, what about that?"

"It was today. Today, classes were off early and we had nothing to do in college, so we decided to check that out. They'd invited him, as a chief guest."

"But he never goes…." Deeba interrupted quickly.

"Yes, I know until now he'd never been to any functions or contests or has not even given an interview ever. But someone told me that our college administration used a 'big' source to invite him there."

"What do you mean?" Deeba asked, her eyes showing frustration and desperation.

"They contacted him through his teacher, someone he really respects and calls as his 'spiritual teacher', his 'Maulana uncle'." Sheeba told her all in one breath.

"Oh, and who told you all this?"

"One of my class fellows is a daughter of our college principal." Sheeba smiled, opening a chewing gum from its wrapper.

"And that's where we met him." She added.

"You mean, you alone?" Deeba's eyes widened with astonishment.

"No. We were five girls in total, my class fellows." She put the bubble gum into her mouth. "We all went to the contest, and it was just amazing. I don't have words to explain what I felt out there. It was all fabulous and fantastic. The aroma, the atmosphere, guys, umm well…"

Deeba said nothing, perhaps she'd been lost in the trance of what her sister was telling her.

"And although until now I've been arguing with you about him, but I must admit that he is different and has very impressive personality." Sheeba nodded, smiling.

Deeba smiled proudly like it was not him but she, whom her sister was praising.

"He came only in the end, and read just one poem, but it was enough to steal everyone out there."

"Oh Sheeba, I am sooo jealous of you right now. I wish I were there…" Deeba clutched the pillow to her bosom, her face showing clear disappointment. "Tell me how does he look like?"

"Umm, now that will charge another treat, what about an ice cream too?" Sheeba winked naughtily.

"Oonhhh," Deeba clenched her teeth and threw the pillow on Sheeba, who bent her body perfectly to save herself from the 'expected' attack.

"Well sister, that's a surprise, you'll find out soon." She said satisfactorily,

"Meaning?"

"Now 'how' will you find out that how does he look like is another 'surprise'." Sheeba laughed with total momentum.

"Perhaps, today is the day full of surprises and shocks for me." Deeba said helplessly.

"You got my point." Sheeba twisted her lips to make a big bubble out of her chewing gum."Actually I want to get rich soon, and for all these 'services' of mine, you'd have to pay me heavily."

"Hmm, yeah I was thinking the same. You should probably apply for a job in FBI or CIA"

"That would be a waste of me, I guess." She told Deeba proudly, a lazy grin dancing on her face.

"So, how I'm going to find out that how does he look like?"

"Deeba, are you just making it or are you really 'this' serious about him?" Sheeba's question was sudden and more than that, her unexpected serious tone surprised Deeba.

"Sorry, I didn't get you." Deeba was confused.

"I mean, are you having some crush on him or what?" Sheeba looked deeply into her sister's eyes.

Deeba laughed loudly on her question.

"Come on Sheeba, don't talk stupid." She said finally, as her laughter dissolved in the air. "I just like him as a poet, and that's all. I've never even met or saw him. It's just curiosity and suspense."

"Hmm. I hope this is the case." Sheeba said thoughtfully, her eyes searching something 'particular' on her elder sister's face.

"But I wonder sometimes…" Sheeba threw her head back on the bed and lay still. "That he never gave an interview, no news paper ever published his pictures… and yet with in such a short time, he has become so famous and popular, specially among the youth of Pakistan."

"You can say so because you've not read his work." Said Deeba. "But he sure sounds like some mysterious or hidden person."

"That's why like any other mysterious personality, there're rumors about him." Sheeba closed her eyes, yawning.

"Yeah I have heard some of those." Deeba placed her hands behind her head and lowered herself on the bed in a half-sitting posture.

"Some say he's a playboy. Some say he has a dark past. Many think he's a womanizer."

Sheeba didn't say anything in reply now. She was sleepy.

"Sheeba, you can't sleep unless you tell me."

"Tell you what? Don't you ever get tired of him Deeba?" Sheeba said angrily. "Please let me take some rest. It's one a.m. now, and I have not slept a wink this whole day.

" You told me about seeing him soon."

"Oh! My goodness." Sheeba gazed at her sister who looked like she was about to cry at any time. "He's been invited in all Pakistan young poets' function and he's agreed to participate. Happy now?" She said finally, her voice louder than before.

"REALLY? When?" Deeba couldn't believe her ears.

"This weekend. Ten p.m. SHARP!"

to be continued...