A Sisyphean Affair

V

Zu’hra was going on leave because of her sister’s wedding. On her last day, she looked slightly glum, her chin buried in her palms with her fingers resting on her freckled cheeks.

“Baaji, you don’t like breaks very much, do you?” I said.

“Hehe! No, it isn’t that.”

“You look sad! ‘Cause your sister would move out?”

“Yeah,” she continued after a pause, gazing at the floor, “she’s five years younger than I.”

“Uh-huh… when will you—” my eyes opening wide and eyebrows starting to rise.

“Allah only knows,” she said, followed by a faint chuckle.

There was a brief silence.

“Baaji, I won’t be here when you come back,” I said.

Yousuf was obviously the chief suspect. He was searched and inspected. Nothing suggested he was the culprit but nothing implied his innocence either.

“Aww! Be well, study well. Do come along with Papa some time!” She embraced me and ruffled my hair.

“Hmm…” I nodded.

In the second and final month of my stay at the factory, a gentleman apparently dropped his mobile phone while praying. He claimed that he had switched it off before the prayers and only realized once he was at his workstation that the phone was not on him. Yousuf was obviously the chief suspect. He was searched and inspected. Nothing suggested he was the culprit but nothing implied his innocence either.

To redress the situation, without sacking him, he was transferred to the factory warehouse, where he loaded and unloaded trucks. The last time I saw him was when he was going up the stairs in plain clothes, his head bent, still muttering under his breath.

Father had been most certain of Yousuf’s guilt.

“Lekin, Ub’ba ji, woh waisay achha aadmi tha. Aur phone uskay paas toh mila hee naheen[20],” I dared to say.

“Beta, tumhay nahee pata! Yeh choorhay[21] aisay hee hotay hain. Chor, bay-eemaan! Ye hidaayet paa hee naheen suktay. Inn key dilohn pe muhrein lug chuki hain.” [22]

“Kya woh Christian tha[23]?” I asked, surprised.

“Mutlub… inn logon ka Christianon wala hee ‘hissaab’ hota hai[24].”

On my last day, I took home in my bag one of the grey cups, in which I drink tea to this day.

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[20] “But, Father, he was generally a good man. And the phone wasn’t even found on him.”

[21] Choorha: A Punjabi derogatory term for someone who has a cleaning/janitorial job, chiefly one who is a lower caste ex-Hindu having converted to Christianity.

[22] “Son, you don’t know! These ‘choorhas’ are people of this very kind. Thieves, faithless people! They simply cannot assimilate divine guidance, as their hearts have been seared.”

[23] “Was he a Christian?”

[24] “[I] mean… these people are effectively the same as Christians.”

 

By Abubakar Mehmood