Of Smokeless Fire A.A. Jafri (books to read to improve english TXT) 📖

sobs, she begged her father to take her home. Jumman pleaded with Noor about her innocence, but to no effect. The order had been issued; the edict had been given. There was no backtracking.

*

When things settled down a little, Noor summoned Mansoor, who had gone into hiding in his room. He came and stood at the door of his father’s study, his mouth drooping, his head bowed down, a confusing jumble of emotions. Noor asked him, ‘Tell me exactly what happened.’

But the exact words betrayed Mansoor at that moment and he began to sob. Noor went towards him and hugged him. ‘Take your time, beta. But I want you to slowly tell me what exactly happened this afternoon, all right?’ he said gently.

Mansoor told him the entire story then, hesitatingly at first, but with great confidence gradually, and ended up amplifying Zaidi’s offences and minimizing Mehrun’s.

‘All these obscenities hurled at the poor girl, just because she wanted to learn English?’ Noor asked.

S.M. Zaidi was a graduate of the Aligarh university. He was a teacher of English language and literature, someone who was supposed to nurture civility in speech and promote the sanctity of the spoken word, especially in front of his pupils. How could he, a supposed idealist, have stooped to such vileness? His behaviour was absolutely unacceptable. His service must be terminated, and Jumman must be rehired.

So, the next day, Noor sent Sikander first to Zaidi’s house with a letter of termination and one month’s salary in an envelope, and then to Jumman’s home to entreat him to come back; but Jumman had his pride too. He felt hurt and betrayed and sent Sikander back empty-handed. Mansoor blamed himself for the unfortunate fracas, but there was nothing he could do. The die was cast, and the lots were sealed. He resigned himself to the thought of never seeing Mehrun again. When Kaneez heard about the whole incident, she said, ‘That djinn did this to my daughter,’ and then she flogged Mehrun for associating with Mansoor in spite of her warnings.

*

Afternoons at the Kashana became too painful for Mansoor after the incident with Zaidi and Mehrun. The sense of estrangement with Mehrun, the blighted hope, the deep hurt, the utter guilt, all of it made him miserable. The precious time that he would have spent playing with Mehrun was now wasted in either sulking in his room or sitting under the guava tree, hoping to hear her voice, wishing to see her do her antics. To make matters worse, his favourite uncle, Zahid Mamoo, left for Germany for his studies soon after Eid. His week-long stay in Karachi had cheered Mansoor up a little, but what had truly lifted his spirits was the puppy his uncle had left behind as a parting gift. The Scottish terrier was nothing but a furry ball of utter mischief. Farhat was adamantly opposed to having an unclean animal in the house. But Mansoor manipulated her by insisting that Zahid Mamoo would be deeply hurt if he gave the puppy away. Farhat agreed to Mansoor keeping the puppy, but on one condition: the animal shall never enter the house. Mansoor promised. Because of the spirited nature of the puppy, he began calling him Chaos.

*

After Jumman was dismissed from the Kashana, his family’s income came down by a third. But for him, it was a question of honour. His entire life had been devoted to the Haq family. He was not going to put up with slogging for any other aira gaira nathoo khaira’s family; working for any Tom, Dick and Harry was entirely out of the question. So, Jumman withdrew from being part of the labour force altogether and ordered Kaneez to find extra work to supplement the lost income. She obeyed and began toiling at several other odd jobs. But with only twenty-four hours in a day, someone else had to pull her weight, too. Intense pressure was put on Mehrun to quit school and find work. But Mehrun shrewdly convinced her parents that she could do both. So, she stayed in school and began looking for a job.

However, as the days passed, Jumman began to sorely miss his garden at the Kashana, and so, he eventually found it expedient to forgive Noor, without insisting on an apology. He returned to the Kashana as if what had happened was just a horrible dream. With Jumman’s return, Mansoor knew it was but a matter of time before he would find Mehrun sitting under the guava tree, singing some meaningless Urdu ditty or the other. But when days passed and Mansoor got tired of seeing Jumman at the Kashana without Mehrun, he finally went up to him and asked when she would return.

‘Oh, she is working at Sadiq Sahib’s house now.’

Mehrun had seen the professor at the Kashana and knew that Sadiq was very fond of Mansoor. She also knew that he was an English teacher.

The professor and his wife, Talat, a kind, petite woman in her fifties, lived in the newly built university housing complex. They had three daughters, who were all happily married. Lately, Talat had developed constant aches and pains in her joints, and when the doctor diagnosed her with arthritis, she began looking for hired help to assist her with all the work around the house. When Mehrun learned about it, she promptly offered her services.

At first, Talat had been reluctant to hire a young girl as a servant. But after hearing Mehrun dramatize her family’s plight, she employed her to do the cooking and the dusting. Mehrun, however, had an ulterior motive in working there: she wanted to work at the professor’s house to learn English from him. After all, he was a teacher of English literature and she was someone who was eager to learn this foreign language—a perfect match!

So, every day after school, Mehrun started taking the bus to go to work at the professor’s house. Intelligent and industrious, she impressed Talat with her efficiency and her cooking skills.