Aa beth mere samne, tuj say qalam karun.
Lafz aik bi na bolun zindagi tere naam karun.
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"Tabrez why are you not eating anything?", Rukhsana begum scowled peering at his untouched plate.
"I don’t want to eat", Tabrez pressed his back against the back rest of the chair.
"The food is not that oily as you complained yesterday and skipped the meals", Shanaya raised an eyebrow.
Tabrez gave her a blank look.
"It seems like I'll have to terminate the kitchen staff", Rukhsana begum growled.
"Or you can just call Hadia", Shanaya took a sip of tea. Tabrez instantly shifted his eyes towards her. “As much as I don’t want acknowledge, that girl perfectly has a taste in her hand”, she added.
“No, it’s alright”, Tabrez pretended to dodge the idea. He could feel his mother’s eyes on him.
"Where is she by the way? It's been a while since I've seen her in the haveli", Chaudhary Aslam said while placing the cup back on the saucer.
"That's not really needed. I can cook something for my son", Rukhsana begum was about to stand up.
"You don't have much time for that", Chaudhary Aslam glanced at his wristwatch. "We would get late for the inauguration of the carnival".
He turned his head to the left side where a house help was standing.
"Call Hadia", he ordered.
A slow smile crept across Tabrez's face.
"She has been assigned another task", Rukhsana begum reasoned. The deep lines etched on her forehead showed her discontent.
"That's not a big deal Rukhsana, you can assign someone else on her position", Chaudhary Aslam replied back. But Rukhsana begum wasn’t ready to let go of the matter so easily and the conversation was somehow turning into a full-fledged argument between the both.
"Assalam u alikum", Hadia's voice came from behind. Everyone turned their eyes towards her.
"Did you call me Chaudhary sahb?", Hadia asked adjusting the dupatta on her head properly.
"Yes", Chaudhary Aslam nodded.
"Where were you? It's been a while since I have seen you inside the haveli".
"Umm I was working in the backyard", Hadia replied in a low voice.
"From now on you will cook whatever Tabrez likes, that's your only task until he is in the haveli", Chaudhary sahb stated.
"Me?", She almost screamed.
"Hun?", Chaudhary sahb frowned. " Is there any problem?"
"I mean how can I?", She cleared her throat and looked at Rukhsana begum, it seemed like she would burst any moment. "I don't know what would Tabrez sahb like to eat", Hadia added.
"He can lead the way if that's the only problem", Shanaya intervened. She turned her face towards her brother and winked. Tabrez had an amused expression on his face.
"But-" Hadia was trying to think of any excuse.
"Tabrez tell her whatever you want to eat", Chaudhary Aslam cleaned his mouth with a napkin.
Tabrez thought for a moment and then said, "Fettuccine Alfredo".
"Fetu....what?", Hadia frowned.
"Fettuccine Alfredo", Tabrez repeated softly.
"I don't know what it is", she gave him a quizzical look.
"Perfect", Tabrez mumbled.
He coughed and continued, "And pair it up with a Zucchini bread".
"Hmm", she nodded her head. The mere names were enough to confuse her.
She left the dining area.
“Do you think so she would have understood whatever you told her, I bet she didn’t Bhai”, Shanaya chuckled.
“Seems like I’ll have to guide her. Excuse me.”, Tabrez stood up from the chair and followed her.
“Why did you have to call that girl inside the haveli? I don’t understand this Aslam”, Rukhsana begum huffed. " It would take a spark to blow up everything".
“You are thinking about it way too much Rukhsana begum. Tabrez was immature back then. I know our son won’t do anything against our will”, Chaudhary Aslam said.
“You are going to regret letting him come back despite knowing the reason why did we have to send him abroad”,
“We can no longer let him live in a foreign land. Sooner or later, he has to come back permanently, and take his responsibilities. This land belongs to him and he is going to rule it”, Chaudhary Aslam said in a determined way.
“This girl is his past”, Rukhsana begum reminded him.
“Not the future”, Chaudhary Aslam replied back.
*****
Hadia stepped inside the kitchen and directly went towards the huge wall rack where different type of utensils was kept. She picked up a pan in her and starred at it.
“I don’t even know how to pronounce it and he wants me to cook it for him”, she growled in annoyance.
She mindlessly put down the pan on the rack and shuffled through the other utensils to find a large pan. A stainless-steel vessel slipped out of her hand, falling on the floor making a loud noise.
“Hadiaa”, She heard a loud voice.
“Haye Rabba! (Oh God!)”, she mumbled and closed her eyes.
“Hadiaaa”, Irshad called her again.
“Yes Chacha”, she slowly turned around.
“I knew it must be you”, he said angrily. “You clumsy oaf, why can’t you do anything without breaking things”.
“But I didn’t break it chacha”, she bent down to pick up the vessel from the floor.
“That’s not the point. When will you start acting maturely?”, one of the house helps replied.
“It slid out of my hand, by mistake, sorry about that. I will wash it and put it back on the rack”, Hadia smiled.
“I don’t understand why are you always furious Irshad Chacha”. She tried to sound a bit cheerful.
She took a step towards the washbasin.
“Wow, she will get away easily”, another house help taunted.
“Not this time Hadia”, Irshad Chacha rumbled making her stop in her tracks.
“Chaudharani sahiba had granted us the privileges to discipline you years ago but we all have been very lenient and forgiving. But that’s not going to work anymore. You will get punished for your misconduct”,
Hadia’s smile slowly evaporated. She looked around, there were a lot of staff members present in the kitchen. Some were busy in work while the others were having breakfast, but one thing was sure, they all were attentively watching her.
“I am sorry”, she said again.
“You better be”, the woman who was washing the vessels said. “This girl is a walking disaster”.
Hadia comprehended everyone was trying to humiliate her, just like the way they always do.
A ripple of ache washed through her features but she tried to disguise it and said, “No, I am not”.
A surge of smothered laughter circled the surroundings.
“Pipe it down everyone”, a voice boomed.
Everyone stopped cracking up and whirled towards the entrance, figuring out were well who it was.
Tabrez was standing at the threshold of the kitchen.
“What the hell is going on here?”, his voice was stamped with fury, provoking a pin drop silence. He glanced at Hadia she was looking away.
One of the house help paced ahead and said, “This girl has-”,
“This girl?”, Tabrez raised an eyebrow.
“Hadia-”,
“Umm Hadia?”, he nodded his head.
He sat down on one of the chairs, plopped one leg on the other in a manner that his ankle touched the knee of the lower leg. He shook the upper leg and looked around.
“So why don’t you call her clumsy oaf, disaster and….”, he said keeping a calm demeanor and feigned an expression of contemplation, “and disciple her in front of me”.
Everyone exchanged a troubled look that he has heard everything.
“Who has the guts to punish her, I want to see”, he said pressing his back against the headrest of the chair.
The silence grew taut. Hadia looked at him their eyes met, he averted his gaze and called out, “No one wants to do that now?”,
“Hadia-”,
“Hadia bibi, Irshad Chacha”, Tabrez corrected him. Irshad Chacha was taken back by Tabrez’s words.
“If you all can say Shanaya bibi, I speculate Hadia bibi must not be a big deal. After all, she is one of us”, Tabrez added. Irshad Chacha bobbed his head.
“She is so careless”, Irshad Chacha debated.
“But she did apologize”, Tabrez replied back. “No one has the right to humiliate, mock or punish Hadia and I hope it should be clear from now on”.
“Now, one by one apologize to her, I don’t have much time”, Tabrez said. He could hear the murmurs around.
“Come on, hurry up”, he clapped and stood up.
One by one, everyone started coming up towards Hadia, they apologized, and left the kitchen. With each apology, Hadia’s smile was getting wider. She was enjoying the situation pretty much.
When the last person left the kitchen she turned around, Tabrez was standing behind her. Her eyes shone with joy.
“I am starving”, he pressed his lips together and shrugged.
She nodded and walked up to the rack again. She starred at the vessels for a moment, adjusted the dupatta over her head, and then negligibly turned back.
“What?”, he asked.
“I don’t know what it is? Should I cook something else?”, she questioned. “It would be quick”.
“That’s what I don’t want”, he mumbled.
“Huh?”,
“No, I am craving Fettuccine Alfredo and Zucchini bread”, he replied.
She nodded again.
Tabrez knew she had no inkling of what it was.
“Can you make it if I show you a recipe?”, he asked.
“Yes”, she agreed promptly.
Tabrez picked up his cell phone, dug through the recipes on Youtube, and passed her his cell phone. She times to time paused the video and compiled the ingredients.
When she watched the recipe for Zucchini bread, she understood what Zucchini was. She glanced at Tabrez, who was patiently waiting for her, sitting on the kitchen island. She looked back at the screen and frowned.
“He could eat anything, but Zucchini”, she thought.
“Are you sure you want to eat that?”, she asked without looking at him.
“Yeah”, Tabrez replied.
“He has changed so much”,
“Alright”, she mumbled and started cooking.
It took her almost 2 hours to cook the food. He kept talking to her to which she would sometimes give him a short reply or simply nod her head. He was still delighted to have her around.
She dished out both dishes for him and put them in front of him.
“Thanks, Hadi, I was saying why don’t yo-”, he paused as he looked up from the plate towards her retrieving figure until she disappeared.
He glanced back at the plate and looked at it intently.
"Thanks!", he smiled.
“I have made her cook that for me, but how will I eat it now”, he thought.
*****
Hadia picked up Hashim’s and Hakim’s school uniforms from the bed and hanged them. She peeked inside the room, Hashim was sleeping there.
She walked up to the single bed, sat down beside Hashim.
“He must be tired”,
She adjusted the quilt over him. She starred at him for a while.
“I wish we could give you both a better life but I know your hard work will pay off one day, In’Sha’Allah.”, she bent down, placed a soft kiss on Hashim’s head, and then straightened up.
“Where is Hakim”, she suddenly remembered him. She stood up and looked for him in the house.
“Oh God it's heaven”, Hadia heard Hakim saying. She paused and turned towards the kitchen.
“Yummy”, she heard him saying again and then his chuckle.
She stepped inside the kitchen. Hakim was not there.
“Hakim”, she called out and Hakim’s chuckle died. Her eyes fell on the table, placed in the corner.
She bent down and picked up the corner of the table cloth. Hakim was sitting there with his eyes sealed.
“Hakim, why are you sitting here?”, she asked. “Come outside”.
Hakim opened his eyes and looked at her. She knew that look very well.
“Have you done something?”, she questioned. “See, it’s alright if you have done something. You can tell me. We will find a solution together. Quickly come outside Hakim”, she said in a soft tone.
“No, it’s not like that. You go Hadia baji, I’m coming”, Hakim said nervously. His hands were moving as if he was hiding something in his lap.
Her eyes shifted towards his hands.
“What are you hiding?”,
“Umm no..thing”, He stuttered.
She knew he was up to something but was trying to protect it.
“Hakim come out right now, and tell me what are you up to”, she stated seriously.
He understood she was not going to leave him that easily. He gulped and nodded his head.
She backed off and he slowly came out. His eyes were low and there was a food container in his hand. She took the food container from him, disregarding his grievance but the minute she opened the lid of the container she froze.
It was the food she had cooked for Tabrez in the morning.
“From where did you get it?”, she asked in skepticism as she moved her eyes towards Hakim.
“I can’t tell you”, Hakim replied.
“Why in the world did you have to take it from Tabrez”, she asked again. She was trying to control her anger.
“Didn’t I teach you, Hakim that we do not accept the favors from others, didn’t I?”,
“I didn’t take the favor Hadia baji, I promise”, Hakim quickly jerked his head. “We just exchanged our food. Tabrez Bhai took the potato curry and naan from me the one you have cooked for lunch and in exchange, he gave me this. I didn’t ask him to do that, Tabrez bhai proposed it”.
“If he didn’t like it, why did he has to ask me to cook that for him”, She frowned.
“Are you angry?”, Hakim asked meekly.
“I am, Hakim”, Hadia replied and heaved a sigh.
She sat down on the floor, on her knees in front of him. “We might be poor but that does not mean we do not have any self-respect. Bua works so hard to provide us whatever she can, you know that. We should be grateful for what we have Hakim”, she tried to make him understand.
“But Tabrez Bhai is different Hadia baji”, Hakim replied.
“He is a good man, but don’t get too close to him so when he takes off it doesn’t hurt you”, she said. For a moment she felt like, whatever she said, it was for her too.
“Okay, I’m sorry Hadia baji. I won’t hide anything from you again”, he said.
“It’s alright”, She gave him a tight-lipped smile and stood up.
“But can I finish this one please?”, He said pointing towards the food container. “I’ve already apologized for this one”.
“Take it but you have to share it with Hashim”, she handed him the food container.
“Okay”, he replied cheerfully.
“You have started this game Tabrez, now I’ll show you how to play it”.
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Holla!
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