The Fallen Widow

26. The Ultimate Panchayat

It was Meh'r-Bano final night in the barn and in Jahanpur. The stench of wet hay and manure surrounded Meh'r-Bano but she was nose blind. The bull was patient with Meh'r-Bano sharing it's space, snorting and nestling into the damp hay.

Sitting in a corner of the barn, Meh'r-Bano sharpened the blunt three inch knife on a stone. Back and forth. Back and forth. It was late into the night but Meh'r-Bano body was on high alert rigid with energy.

Wailing from the house trilled all night long. After a pause, Kaneez would wake and remember her son was dead and wailed again. A little commotion followed, but this was the pattern all night. Meh'r-Bano pressed her ear against the barn door to hear babu's mumbling, but nothing. She was worried for him. Would he survive the heartbreak?

Every moment flashbacked through the night and charged her body with anger. Shah Nawaz was behind everything. Since the slap, he was hell bent on punishing her and her family. He trapped her to submit to him. He falsely accused Shafiq of murder. Threatened him with a death sentence so she had to plead to Shah Nawaz for his life. When she was ready to give her body and honour to him, he rejected her, smacking her face with humiliation. Why was Shafiq released before the panchayat? That didn't make sense. His journey home proved fatal. A journey he took a hundred times, he missed a turning, or over took a vehicle sharply and veered off the road. Did he drive off on purpose?

Since the news of Shafiq's death, Meh'r-Bano tears froze. Her body was stunned into shock and revenge and the scrape of he knife induced wild fantasies that satisfied her. How did she get him so wrong? She pressed her hand on her heart as it pounded like a drum. Tomorrow, Kaneez would drag her before the panchayat. Meh'r-Bano grit her teeth. She was ready to look him in the eyes and take her revenge in front of the villagers.

In the morning was the ultimate panchayat of the fallen widow.

***

By morning villagers were gathered at the usual field where the panchayat was held every Sunday. But today was different, everyone wanted the front seat. Rain hadn't stopped since last night and the ground was muddy. Make shift shelters were created for the panchayat members and the chief of Jahanpur. Held with bamboo sticks, the thick black tarpaulin sheets draped across the raised platform where all the leaders sat. All twelve village elders to the left and in the centre was Shah Nawaz's throne with his two trusted security chiefs standing at each side. The clouds formed their grey, bleak burden overhead over the panchayat fields. The villagers were left to sit in the rain, or provide their own cover.

By late morning the panchayat was full and the court was in session. The villagers climbed the tree to sit on the best branch for the view- rumours spread thick and fast that Shah Nawaz would be forced to face the truth with Peer Haider Ali as he dragged a married woman from a chillah. They all heard the name Meh'r-Bano, but today they wanted to see the woman who had bewitched Shah Nawaz. Did she do black magic on the handsome, young, powerful King? She must be a witch. Men are weak; women were evil.

Shah Nawaz rubbed his forehead as the throbbing pain increased as the hours dragged on. He'd taken a handful of painkillers this morning with a bottle of whiskey. Last night, he drank the night away. News of the death of Shafiq spiralled with questions in the haveli all night. Shah Nawaz locked himself away in his room with just his bottle and painkillers. The field was thick and muddy as the morning rain developed into a downpour.

The sound of rain hitting the tarpaulin sheets stabbed the right part of his brain. Where was Meh'r-Bano? How was she coping with the death of Shafiq? The road chase played over and over in his head. He grit his teeth with anger thinking of Shafiq, but now Meh'r-Bano was safe, he was at peace. He yearned to see her. It was would be difficult now she was a widow, he would have to wait four long months for her purdah period. That was too long. He had to speak to her.