The Girl In Black [On Hold Till Further Notice]

"Let me live MY way..." Ending the year on a sad but hopeful note...

One day, a few days before Christmas, her mother called her, while she was making coffee in the kitchen for her flat mate and herself. She touched the screen to receive the call and was elated to hear the same sing-song voice on the other end of the line. "As Salam-u-alaikum (greetings) Amma (mother), how are you?" she sang, kind of. "Wa-alaikum as Salam (greetings to you too), we are fine, how about you?" "So, child, are you not coming for the holidays?" her mother asked, without giving her the chance to reply. "No Amma. I've got a truckload of work to do, so I won't be coming this year, maybe in the next holidays, I'll be there, Insha'Allah."

"Next holidays? But all this training stuff was for just one year, right?" her mother asked confused. "Yeah. Oh! How silly of me? I totally forgot to tell you. I got a job here, Amma, I'm not a trainee anymore. Isn't that awesome. So, that's why I won't be coming back after this year. I know Amma, I'm being very selfish here and it's a little sad to know that I won't be seeing you for a long time, but look at the bright side...." "You will not stay there for even a second more after this year, do you get it?" her mother shouted at the other end, before she could finish what she was saying.

After calming up a bit, she spoke again, "You remember Jamal sahib, your father's friend and ex-employer. He has asked for your hand for his son." "What the heck, Amma, are you serious? What did you tell them?" "Of course, we said yes" her mother replied. "God! Amma, are you out of your mind? Don't you see that they are extremely rich and all.

"They've got one big heck of an export empire. Do you even know what they think of people like us? You could've at least asked me once before giving your answer to them. Why do they even want to marry their son with a beggar like me I wonder?" "Hold your tongue Zahra, no one is a beggar here, at least not you. I called only to ask you to consider it once" her mother chided her severely for her lack of manners.

"There's a lot more to it than meets your eye, child" she said after sometime, her voice becoming soft and distant. "You already know that your father and I, we....we were not able to even make two ends meet when you were small. Where we lived, a famine came over the whole land once, and there was nothing to eat for months. We ran away from there, like everyone else.

"It was a cold December night, when we reached the outskirts of a city, after walking for days and crossing many jungles on the way. There was a lone but grand house in front of us and we breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that we'd get shelter for the night there, and look for some work in the city the next day."

"We knocked and a young man, your uncle Jamal, opened the door. We told him the whole story. He was reluctant to take us in at first, but after some time, I don't know why, he threw a glance at you and agreed, saying "I've a son of about your daughter's age. I will let you in, only when you agree to give her over to us in marriage with my son, when she gets to that age. You see, my wife wants to have a daughter who has got brown eyes, but she can't have one" he admitted sheepishly.

"It was a strange condition, but, nevertheless, as we were very desperate, we agreed to it and he let us in. After that, he even gave work to your father in his company. But even after your father had worked for him for so many years, he never gave him any promotion, but that is another thing. But....I think you should know the whole story" she said, apparently changing her mind to hide nothing from her daughter.

"After many years had passed, when you must have been in high school, your father asked him for a promotion one day, he refused and when he asked for a resignation, he refused to that too and threatened him with.....things. He told your father that he knew about our past and wouldn't let us get away with it. And was also ashamed that he had let such thankless people in his home that night. Well, he finally did let us come to Bangalore, but with a promise that we wouldn't marry our daughter anywhere else."